Penn State Energy and Environment News

Coral researchers recognized for significant contributions to field

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Iliana Baums and her research team were recognized by members of the coral reef community as making significant contributions to coral reef research.

Research team to study food resilience in the face of catastrophic global events

| news.psu.edu

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all become aware of how a global crisis can affect our access to food. But imagine the food security impacts of an even worse scenario — an all-out nuclear war, a large asteroid strike, or a supervolcano eruption.

Penn State promotions in academic rank, effective July 1, 2020

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The following is a list of academic promotions for tenured and tenure-line faculty members at Penn State, effective July 1.

New institute to help address complex food-energy-water-land challenges

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The seed for Penn State’s Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Science was planted well before the COVID-19 outbreak. The concept had been growing in the College of Agricultural Sciences for about two years when the pandemic emerged.

Penn State lab develops new procedures to improve high-quality scanning

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CQI developed new processes that resulted in a high-resolution scan 3D segmented rendering of a contrast-enhanced fetal mouse, which was chosen as the cover image for the journal Developmental Dynamics.

Gene-editing protocol for whitefly pest opens door to control

| news.psu.edu

Whiteflies are among the most important agricultural pests in the world, yet they have been difficult to genetically manipulate and control, in part, because of their small size. An international team of researchers has overcome this roadblock by developing a CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing protocol that could lead to novel control methods for this devastating pest.

Iron deficiency in corals?

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When iron is limited, the tiny algae that live within coral cells change how they take in other trace metals, which could have cascading effects on vital biological functions and perhaps exacerbate the effects of climate change on corals.

Two faculty members join the Institutes of Energy and the Environment

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Two researchers have become cofunded faculty members in the Institutes of Energy and the Environment: Hee Jeung Oh, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering, and Hilal Ezgi Toraman, an assistant professor in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences with a joint appointment in the College of Engineering.

Indigenous knowledge could reveal ways to weather climate change on islands

| news.psu.edu

Some islands have such low elevation, that mere inches of sea-level rise will flood them, but higher, larger islands will also be affected by changes in climate and an understanding of ancient practices in times of climate change might help populations survive, according to researchers.

A forest and its history, threatened

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The recent wildfires in Australia have impacted ecologically sensitive regions, including an area called the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia World Heritage Site, a region that is a living museum of paleo-Antarctic plants that are found nowhere else on Earth.

Guertin recognized with 2020 President’s Award for academic integration

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Laura Guertin, professor of earth science at Penn State Brandywine, has been awarded the 2020 President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Integration.

Teaching excellence recognized in College of Agricultural Sciences

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Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has recognized nine faculty members for outstanding teaching in 2019.