Latest News

October 12, 2022

Penn State University Libraries will participate in the 14th annual global observation of Open Access Week, Oct. 24–30, by hosting a virtual panel of Penn State faculty at noon Tuesday, Oct. 25. The panelists will discuss questions related to this year’s theme for Open Access Week, which is “Open for Climate Justice.”

October 11, 2022

With a four-year, $500,000 NSF grant, a Penn State team led by Penn State Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering Julian Wang is developing a new holistic framework to understand the relationship between thermal resilience and sustainable design strategies for buildings and communities.

October 6, 2022

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has funded a $750,000 grant for research by a team of Penn State scientists to strengthen infectious disease surveillance, detection, and preparedness by developing an accessible bioinformatics platform and tools for utilization by the CDC’s Laboratory Response Network.

October 6, 2022

A common misconception is that viruses become milder over time as they become endemic within a population. Yet new research, led by Penn State and the University of Sydney, reveals that a virus — called myxoma —that affects rabbits has become more deadly over time. The findings highlight the need for rigorous monitoring of human viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox and polio, for increased virulence.

October 5, 2022

Research Unplugged is a collaboration between Penn State’s Office of Government and Community Relations and Schlow Centre Region Library. Research talks continue Oct. 6 and will be held from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. each Thursday through Oct. 20. The Oct. 6 and Oct. 13 events will be held in the Schlow Community Room, with the final talk on Oct. 20 happening at the Pasto Agricultural Museum.  

October 3, 2022

After more than five years at the helm of Penn State’s Microbiome Center, founding director Carolee Bull has stepped down. Though she will continue serving as department head of plant pathology and environmental microbiology and as a professor of plant pathology and systematic bacteriology at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Bull has handed off leadership of the Microbiome Center to recent Penn State hire Seth Bordentstein.

September 23, 2022

A team of Penn State plant scientists has received a grant of nearly $1.25 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to study the interactions between corn and soil fungi, with the aim of boosting crop resilience and production.

September 21, 2022

The National Science Foundation’s Navigating the New Arctic program recently awarded researchers from Penn State and the University of New Hampshire a $3 million grant to examine earthquake impacts on community well-being and perception and preparedness toward potential earthquakes.

September 21, 2022

When it comes to adding carbon to the soil, all cover crops don’t perform equally, according to a team of researchers whose new study revealed the disparity for the first time.

September 19, 2022

Funding of up to $25 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will support a new Penn State-led collaboration with dairy industry associations and producers to develop and implement climate-smart practices on Pennsylvania dairy farms. The project is aimed at generating climate commodities that add value to dairy products along the supply chain and leveraging agriculture’s potential to provide solutions to climate change.

September 19, 2022

Penn State was named a collaborating institution in a $66 million dollar U.S. Department of Energy Urban Integrated Field (Urban IFL) program designed to study the impacts of climate change on American cities. 

September 16, 2022

A $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will enable a team of researchers — led by Penn State entomologists — to assess foraging patterns of honey bees on organic farms, with an eye toward creating opportunities for beekeepers to produce certified-organic apiary products.

September 15, 2022

Penn State’s “Stories from the Field” conversation series is returning this fall with three new sessions. Each was designed to bring together academics and practitioners to discuss the challenges and opportunities of applied research and community engagement.

September 14, 2022

Scientists have long known that no-till farming reduces erosion and lessens water and nutrient runoff from crop fields, but now a new study by a team of Penn State researchers suggests that limiting soil disturbance may also diminish releases of nitrous oxide.

September 14, 2022

A Penn State animal scientist has received a four-year, $650,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to study the regulation of fatty acid metabolism in dairy cows with the goal of boosting revenues and efficiency on farms by increasing milk fat and optimizing use of dietary fat in cow rations.

September 13, 2022

Penn State researchers will study the monkeypox virus to understand the potential for it to spill over from humans to animals, as its pathogenesis — or disease development — in animal and human cells in vitro. In addition, they will study potential targets for therapeutics to treat the monkeypox disease.

September 13, 2022

Most viral infections negatively affect an organism’s health, but one plant virus in particular — soybean vein necrosis orthotospovirus, often referred to as SVNV — may actually benefit a type of insect that commonly feeds on soybean plants and can transmit the virus to the plant, causing disease, according to Penn State research.

September 13, 2022

The first-ever round of Interdisciplinary Innovation Fellowships will support the work of Microbiome Center members and allow them to acquire knowledge and techniques to then share with other University colleagues.

September 8, 2022

Certain drugs used to treat COVID-19 patients — including remdesivir, dexamethasone and antibiotics for associated bacterial infections — persist through wastewater treatment and may occur in waterways at levels high enough to negatively affect aquatic organisms, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. The findings highlight the broad utility of wastewater surveillance as a tool for monitoring the effects of human health on water quality and ecosystem health.

September 7, 2022

Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus has installed a weather station on campus as part of the Pennsylvania Environmental Monitoring Network, which includes 20 similar systems across the commonwealth. The project, which began development in 2017, is funded by the Penn State Office of the Vice President for Research, the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

September 7, 2022

Supplementing the feed of dairy cattle with enzymes from two funguses simultaneously has a positive effect on the animals’ lactational performance, according to Penn State researchers, who studied the concept in an experiment with cows.

September 6, 2022

The COVID‐19 pandemic affected American households in countless ways, but according to researchers, some of the most tangible shifts are taking place in the food system.

September 2, 2022

The primary goal of Penn State’s Metabolomics Core Facility, established a decade ago and housed in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, is to identify and quantify the small molecules (or metabolites) in plant and animal biofluids, cells and tissues.

September 2, 2022

A team of researchers is investigating a government policy that increases solar-powered irrigation pumps in India and how the use of solar irrigation pumps may impact India’s highly exploited groundwater reserves and the country’s food and energy production.

September 1, 2022

A backyard discovery by 8-year-old Hugo Deans, son of Penn State Professor of Entomology Andrew Deans, eventually led to the revelation that oak galls — plant growth triggered by insects — are part of an elaborate relationship among ants, wasps and oak trees, turning a century of knowledge about plant-insect interactions on its head.

August 29, 2022

Over a six-year period in southcentral Pennsylvania, measures of biodiversity among wild bee communities declined and one-third of species experienced decreases in abundance, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers.

August 24, 2022

Military service members who experienced adversity or trauma during childhood, combined with exposure to warfare, including as participants in the military or as bystanders, are more likely than others to experience Military Sexual Trauma during their service, according to new research led by Penn State.

August 23, 2022

Flavonoids produced by sorghum leaves have shown promising results in combating fall armyworm larvae. When sprayed on the leaves of corn, sorghum flavonoids stunt the growth of fall armyworm and often kill the pest, Penn State researchers report in a new study.

August 22, 2022

Labels alerting customers that products contain ingredients from genetically engineered plants may reduce sales, at least in the short term, according to a new study from a research team including an agricultural economist in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

August 19, 2022

More than 10,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the United States since May, triggering the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare the outbreak a public-health emergency. As the fall semester begins, many are wondering if they should be concerned about monkeypox. Suresh Kuchipudi, the Huck Chair in Emerging Infectious Diseases at Penn State and an expert on emerging and zoonotic viruses, explains what is known about monkeypox and how to protect yourself.