Pennsylvania DEP secretary to deliver keynote at Climate Solutions Symposium
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Jessica Shirley will deliver the keynote address May 20 at the 2026 Penn State Climate Solutions Symposium, where she will outline priorities for building a more resilient Pennsylvania.
Ezgi Toraman named rising star in chemical engineering
| psu.edu
Hilal Ezgi Toraman, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering and of chemical engineering at Penn State, is one of five faculty to be recognized as a rising star in chemical engineering by the journal ACS Engineering Au for her work developing fundamental research on the utilization of pyrolysis — a chemical recycling process that heats plastic waste in an oxygen-free environment to turn it into valuable fuels, chemicals and new plastic feedstock.
Six seed funding opportunities to support Commonwealth Campus faculty research
| psu.edu
Faculty at Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses are invited to apply for six seed funding programs designed to support research, foster collaboration and advance projects across campuses. Offered through the Office of the Vice President for Commonwealth Campuses, the programs support a range of priorities, including early-stage and mid-career research and professional development, mentorship, community impact, industry partnerships and undergraduate research engagement.
April 15 talk: Effect of renewable diesel on air quality
| psu.edu
Gabriel Lade, an associate professor and C. William Swank Chair in Rural-Urban Policy at Ohio State University, will give the talk, “Does Renewable Diesel Clean the Air? Evidence from California Highways,” at noon on Wednesday, April 15, in 157 Hosler Building on Penn State's University Park campus. The talk is free and open to the public.
EMS faculty member co-chairs critical minerals session to foster US-Africa link
| psu.edu
Nelson Dzade, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering and chair of the undergraduate energy engineering program, recently co-chaired the critical minerals and materials session at the annual National Academies U.S.-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Symposium, held this past February in Dakar, Senegal.
Four Penn State faculty members elected AAAS Fellows
| psu.edu
Four Penn State faculty members in the biological sciences, engineering and statistics have been elected to the latest cohort of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science.
New software could cut cooling energy use by 25% in data centers
| psu.edu
Penn State researchers developed artificial intelligence-powered software to dynamically adjust data centers’ power usage to peak when the weather is favorable and electricity is affordable. They plan to present their work at the IEEE ITherm conference in May and integrate the software in a Harrisburg-based data center later this year.
Penn State seeking proposals for the next phase of Presidential Public Impact Research Awards
| psu.edu
Penn State is launching the next phase of its Presidential Public Impact Research Awards, which supports faculty–student research teams across Commonwealth Campuses to address challenges across Pennsylvania.
Superconductivity switched on in material once thought only magnetic
| psu.edu
New research has now revealed that iron telluride, a compound composed of the chemical elements iron and tellurium and long thought to be an ordinary magnetic metal, is in fact a superconductor.
President Bendapudi receives national ARIS Impact Innovations Award for advancing public impact research
| psu.edu
Neeli Bendapudi has received the 2026 Impact Innovations Award for her leadership in making real-world impact a central part of Penn State's research mission.
Climate Solutions Symposium poster call open to Penn State community, beyond
The Penn State Climate Solutions Symposium is now accepting submissions for climate-related posters for its 2026 event. Undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, extension educators, faculty, staff and symposium participants are invited to present their work during an interactive, in-person poster session highlighting climate solutions. Submissions from all disciplines are encouraged.
Before we build more gas pipelines, we need better data
| utilitydive.com
Building energy infrastructure takes years, billions of dollars and massive political capital. Better data costs a fraction of that, write researchers at three universities.