Seminar Series in Preparation for the Confluence

An Introduction to Penn State Extension 

Click the link for a recorded presentation from Chris Houser (Assistant Director of Programs for Penn State Extension) and Jeff Hyde (Associate Dean of Ag Sciences and Director of Penn State Extension), giving an Introduction to Penn State Extension (10 min)

Penn State Extension's Program Development Process (PDP)

Click the link for a recorded presentation from Chris Houser and Crystal Henry (Marketing Strategy Specialist with Extension's Agronomy and Natural Resources team), talking about Penn State Extension's Program Development Process (PDP) (16 min)

Opportunities for research and extension at the Musser Gap Greenway and Penn State Fuller's Overlook

Date/Time: Friday, February 27, 11:00 am - 12:00 pm

Location: 342 Erickson Food Science Building

Mike Toolan, Musser Gap Conservation Director, and Corey Gracie-Griffin, Director for Fuller's Overlook, will kick off this series with 'Opportunities for research and extension at the Musser Gap Greenway and Penn State's Fuller's Overlook'. Please join us to learn about unique water research and extension opportunities available at both Fuller's Overlook and Musser Gap.

Recording: Mike Toolin on the Musser Gap Greenway (29 min)

• 00:42 Description of the Musser Gap site and facilities 
• 05:26 Mike's role at Musser Gap
• 06:08 The waters in and around the Musser Gap site, ongoing projects
• 07:18 Projects at Musser Gap - Riparian forest buffer project
• 09:30 Grassland habitat project
• 10:57 Tree nursery project
• 13:14 Bioswale project
• 14:19 Future projects
• 20:03 Ongoing research projects - Japanese barberry control
• 20:47 Non-timber forest products in small forests
• 21:16 Assessing buffer effectiveness in reducing fish stress
• 22:00 Extension programs at Musser Gap
• 23:19 Work with students
• 24:54 Project wishlist (habitat restoration and management, measurement and project assessment, agroecology)

Recording: Corey Gracie-Griffin on Fuller's Overlook (29 min)

• 00:00 Introduction to the Fuller's Overlook property
• 06:41 Resources at the site (39-acre lake, 10-acre active farm with regenerative ag practices, 25 bedrooms in three buildings)
• 12:50 Vision for the site (become a field research station, demonstration site for practices that improve the health of the land)
• 15:00 Research equipment that's already been placed out at the site
• 18:09 Lake at the site (naturally occurring, located downslope of a regenerative farm)
• 18:58 Housing on site
• 19:44 Next steps for working with Fuller's Overlook, fellowship opportunity
• 23:35 What if I have a project requires some management changes on the site's farm?
• 25:30 The Fullers have 10-years worth of reports from SUNY-ESF on their activities at the property  

Growing Research and Extension Opportunities: Overview of the Soils Research Cluster Lab

Date/Time: Tuesday, March 17, 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Location: 342 Erickson Food Science Building

Recording: Katya Bazilevskaya on the Soil Research Cluster Lab (44 min)

• 00:51 Research, teaching, and extension at Soil Research Cluster Lab (SRCL)
• 01:19 Analytical tools to measure chemical species in gas, liquid, and solid matrices
• 02:33 UNICUBE Organic Analyzer (for measuring carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and sulfur)
• 05:13 Applications of the UNICUBE Analyzer (upcycling wastewater nutrients to create protein-rich biomass)
• 06:52 Rigaku X-ray fluorescent (XRF) spectrometer (for measuring inorganic elements)
• 09:23 Using XRF for rapid identification of LionGlass in recycling streams
• 15:35 Portable XRF
• 17:19 Nutrient analysis, SEAL Spectrophotometer (for measuring nitrate, ammonium, and phosphate)
• 20:22 Using SEAL to evaluate effectiveness of riparian buffers
• 21:02 Total Carbon/Total Nitrogen Analyzer
• 23:24 Can total organic carbon (TOC) measurements estimate biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) risk?
• 25:09 Exploring the interactive effects of multiple stressors on plant-microbe interactions
• 26:20 Shimadzu Gas Chromatograph
• 27:05 Physical Methods (seive shakers, hydrometers, pressure plates, muffle furnaces, freeze dryers)
• 31:16 Who are SRCL users?
• 32:41 How to work with the SRCL
• 36:31 How does SRCL charge for training (to use the different pieces of equipment in the lab)?
• 42:46 What are the most in-demand pieces of equipment in the lab right now?

The Pasto Agricultural Museum and the Eberly College Office of Science Outreach

Date/Time: Thursday, March 19, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Location: 342 Erickson Food Science Building

Rita Graef, Director of the Pasto Agricultural Museum, will provide an overview of the unique research and outreach opportunities and facilities available within the museum. If you're interested in getting involved with the AgSci Action Labs, Plant Yourself in Ag Day (Thursday, September 17, 2026), or Ag Progress Days (August 11-13, 2026), please reach out to Rita (rsg7@psu.edu) and/or register for one or more of those events here!

Shauni Collins, Education Program Coordinator for the Eberly College Office of Science Outreach, will introduce the work of the Eberly College of Science’s Office of Science Outreach and their efforts to connect K–12 students and educators through hands-on STEM experiences such as summer science camps, year-round outreach initiatives, and the broader impacts support we provide to help researchers engage with communities.

Recording: Rita Graef on the Pasto Agricultural Museum (25 min)

• 00:20 The Pasto Agricultural Museum
• 03:10 "Broader Impacts" requirements at NSF
• 04:37 Three organizations involved in advancing research impacts (ARIS, APLU, Pew Charitable Trusts)
• 06:00 University-level working group building research impacts infrastructure
• 08:03 Logic model for translating research inputs to impact
• 08:52 Considering your audience when designing activities
• 10:37 Upcoming activities for summer/fall 2026 at the Pasto Museum
• 12:14 Plant Yourself in Ag Day, September 17 (hosting 300 high school students and their teachers at the Pasto Agricultural Museum and Rock Springs, let Rita know if you would like to be a presenter at this event!)
• 14:05 Ag Sci Action Labs
• 15:58 Providing experiences that authentically represent STEM fields
• 17:15 Upcoming TALiS Workshop (April 7) on developing your "impact identity"
• 22:50 Research Experiences for STEM Teachers Program (organized by Penn State's Center for Science and the Schools)

Recording: Shauni Collins on the Office of Science Outreach (25 min)

• 00:24 What is science outreach and why should you participate?
• 02:14 What is the Eberly Office of Science Outreach?
• 05:00 How to get involved?
• 06:17 Annual events and activities
• 12:33 How to initiate a partnership
• 13:39 Can College of Ag Sciences faculty/staff work with your office?
• 14:29 Do you bring students off campus in the course of your work? (e.g., tours of the Halfmoon Creek watershed)
• 15:18 Does your office work with Penn State Extension or with their 4-H program?
• 16:00 What's the most challenging concept you've seen translated to a youth audience?
• 17:14 Have you done any social science-related projects?
• 19:35 How quickly do your summer camps fill up, and what could we do to help relieve that bottleneck? (Demand is huge! There are opportunities to help fill that gap.)
• 23:29 Do you ever work with people to create digital content? (e.g., YouTube)

The Emerging Contaminants Analytical Laboratory (ECAL) - Capacity for PFAS Analysis

Recorded on April 24, 2025: PFAS Analytical Capabilities at Penn State

This talk from Odette Mina and Hlengilizwe Nyoni was part of the SAFES Institute's PFAS Seminar Series organized during the spring of 2025. In the first 12 minutes, Odette Mina gives an overview of the Emerging Contaminants Analytical Laboratory (one of Penn State's core facilities) and introduces the lab's PFAS analytical capacity. For questions about the lab and how to work with them, please reach out to Odette Mina (oom5021@psu.edu).

• 1:22 How is the Emerging Contaminants Analytical Laboratory (ECAL) different from a commercial lab?
• 3:50 Introduction to PFAS
• 5:04 Where are PFAS found?
• 5:40 Overview of analytical methods for PFAS
• 7:50 Sensitivity of ECAL's PFAS detection capability relative to EPA's drinking water regulations
• 8:55 Examples of PFAS research projects ECAL has worked on
• 9:35 Quality assurance and quality control protocol
• 10:54 How to work with ECAL
• 11:50 More details on the analytical equipment and methods (very technical!) 

Lab Capacity for Microplastics Analysis

Recorded on April 3, 2025: Overview of Microplastics Analytical Capacity at Penn State

This talk from Odette Mina and TJ Zimudzi was part of the SAFES Institute's Microplastics Seminar Series organized during the 2024-25 academic year. Odette gives an overview of the Environmental Contaminants Analytical Laboratory (ECAL), then she and TJ review the physical and chemical characterization techniques for microplastics in a wide range of environmental and biological matrices. The talk covers ECAL's quality assurance and control, standardized procedures for sample preparation, detection and identification, as well as small-scale, research-focused characterization techniques at the Materials Characterization Lab (MCL). See more detailed topic coverage in the timestamps below:

• 1:24 Overview of the Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories (EESL)
• 2:12 Introduction to the Emerging Contaminants Analytical Laboratory (ECAL)
• 2:55 Difference between working with ECAL versus a commercial lab
• 5:00 Introduction to microplastics and trends in microplastics publications
• 6:00 Microplastics in human tissue
• 9:20 Plastic chemistry
• 10:35 Sources of microplastics
• 11:05 Matrices where microplastics are found (all of which ECAL can handle)
• 12:20 Analytical challenges for microplastics
• 14:05 Analytical resources and capabilities at ECAL
• 14:50 Sample prep
• 18:10 Laser direct infrared (LDIR) imaging
• 22:35 Pyrolysis GC-MS
• 25:10 Quality assurance/quality control protocol
• 26:05 Key considerations for working with ECAL
• 27:50 TJ's talk begins

The Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories (EESL)

Link to recording: https://iee.psu.edu/events/eesl-labs-capabilities-and-applications-overview

In this talk (part of a previous year's webinar series), Odette Mina provides a brief introduction to the Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories (EESL), followed by presentations on three individual units within EESL: the Radiocarbon Lab, the Organics Lab, and the Center for Quantitative Imaging.

• 0:49 How to work with EESL
• 3:30 Overview of the Radiocarbon Lab
• 5:12 Principles of radiocarbon dating
• 8:12 Instrumentation in the Radiocarbon Lab
• 10:08 Skeletons in Roopkund Lake (Himalayan Mountains)
• 11:40 Mastodon tooth found in Huntingdon County
• 12:50 Fossil CO2 tracing
• 13:57 How to work with the Radiocarbon Lab
• 15:05 Overview of the Organics Lab with Sara Lincoln
• 18:23 Instrumentation in the Organics Lab (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry)
• 24:17 Example projects in the Organics Lab (plant volatile profiles, oil spill fingerprinting, PFAS in drinking water, microplastics pollution in PA streams, polymer analysis for forensic applications)
• 31:56 How to work with the Organics Lab
• 32:40 Overview of the Center for Quantitative Imaging 

An Overview of Water Infrastructure at Penn State

Link to Water Insights Seminar recording: Dave Swisher Water Infrastructure  

In this talk (part of the former Water Insights Seminar Series), Dave Swisher gives an overview of Penn State's drinking water and wastewater systems, including the reuse of treated wastewater to irrigate Penn State's "Living Filter."

• 1:46 What is water sustainability?
• 2:27 The mission of the Office of Physical Plant (OPP)
• 3:24 Utility systems at Penn State's University Park campus
• 5:30 The water and wastewater cycle at University Park
• 6:32 Stormwater management at University Park
• 10:10 Why don't we use infiltration systems?
• 11:25 Rainwater harvesting
• 12:21 Millbrook Marsh and other water resource preservation areas
• 14:58 Future stormwater management
• 16:17 Drinking water systems at University Park
• 20:25 Water sustainability in Penn State facilities
• 21:37 Water savings in new/renovated residence halls versus older halls (because of new design standards)
• 23:25 Chilled water plants
• 27:10 Trends in annual groundwater withdrawals at University Park
• 29:35 Wastewater management at University Park
• 31:08 Water quality challenges in the 1950s
• 32:18 Land application of wastewater (the "Living Filter")
• 35:30 Wastewater treatment plant upgrades at University Park
• 37:18 Usage of reclaimed wastewater
• 42:45 Future challenges and sustainability goals

An Overview of the Agricultural Analytical Services Lab

Link to recording: John Spargo Ag Analytical

In this talk (part of the 2021 Private Well Conference), Dr. John Spargo details the testing services offered by Penn State's Agricultural Analytical Services Lab. For questions about the lab, please reach out to John (jts29@psu.edu).

• 0:57 About the Ag Analytical Services Lab
• 2:21 Collecting water samples
• 3:07 Drinking water test packages
• 3:48 Understanding test results
• 5:49 Evaluating the quality and impact of the drinking water testing program
• 8:12 Additional links and contact information

Institutes, Centers, and Consortia (I/C/C) at Penn State

Recorded on February 11, 2025: Creation and Governance of Institutes and Centers

There are over 300 institutes, centers, and consortia (I/C/C) at Penn State. How do these get created? How do they function? The Huck Institute organized a panel discussion in February 2025 to talk about I/C/C creation and governance. The relevant portion for our purposes is a 15-minute segment starting at 08:17 that deals with what centers and institutes are and how they get started at Penn State. (Huck's goal for the panel was to prepare faculty to develop large proposals for "center grants" and to design effective organizational and governance frameworks for their centers, so the discussion goes on to highlight the experiences of different centers at Penn State, e.g., the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, the Neuroscience Institute, etc.)

See timestamps below for a more detailed breakdown of the topics covered during the 08:17-22:20 portion:

• 8:17 The roadmap for creating a new institute or center at Penn State
• 10:52 Interdisciplinary institutes under the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research (OSPVR)
• 11:22 Steps to establish a new institute or center
• 14:50 College-level institutes/centers
• 18:14 Huck governance structure
• 19:27 Policy (RAG05) for establishing research institutes, centers, and consortia
• 20:37 Approval process for establishing an institute, center, or consortium
• 21:18 Pilot initiatives (e.g., fora) as an alternative or stepping stone to a full-fledged institute or center