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.
It’s OK to love all the bees (the honey bees, too)
| by Christina Grozinger, Harland Patch
North America’s bee populations are in trouble, but don’t blame the honey bees. While some people argue that an overabundance of managed honey bees – those raised to help pollinate crops and produce honey – is causing native bees to disappear, the evidence doesn’t support the claim.What is true is that populations of many species of bees, including honey bees, are struggling.
Faculty panel to discuss migration, asylum and refugee experience on April 16
| psu.edu
The College of Arts and Architecture’s Woskob Family Gallery, located at 146 S. Allen Street in downtown State College, will host a cross-disciplinary faculty panel to discuss the current migration landscape, asylum and refugee law and on-the-ground advocacy efforts at 4 p.m. on April 16.
Water conservation works, but climate change is outpacing it: Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas offer a glimpse of the future
| by Renee Obringer
When a drought turns into an urban water crisis, a city’s first step is often to limit lawn watering and launch a campaign to encourage everyone to conserve. It might raise water-use rates or offer incentives for installing low-flow devices.While demand management techniques like these have had a lot of success in reducing water use, our new research suggests that they may not be effective enough in the face of climate change.
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.
Landscape architecture faculty recognized at international conference
| psu.edu
Several landscape architecture faculty members and one graduate student from the College of Arts and Architecture’s Stuckeman School at Penn State were recently recognized at the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture 2026 annual conference in Cincinnati.
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.
Coffee Hour talk to explore gentrification, migration and labor in rural America
| psu.edu
Lise Nelson, professor in the School of Geography, Development and Environment at the University of Arizona, will present at the Department of Geography’s Coffee Hour lecture series at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17, in 112 Walker Building.
‘Growing Impact’ podcast examines India’s ‘largest groundwater experiment’
India pumps more groundwater than any other country — more than China and the United States combined. This is because in India, groundwater is a lifeline for hundreds of millions of people and a cornerstone of the nation’s food system. As wells deepen and water tables decline, a team of researchers is examining how communities can manage this critical resource more sustainably and equitably.