Penn State Energy and Environment News

Two faculty members join the Institutes of Energy and the Environment

| psu.edu

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.

Efforts to control livestock disease should focus on management style, not age

| psu.edu

An animal's age does not affect its risk of transmitting PPRV, which produces a highly infectious and often fatal disease in sheep and goats. New research by an international team including researchers at Penn State has important implications for control of this widespread virus.

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

| psu.edu

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.

Assistant professor recognized for green stormwater infrastructure research

| psu.edu

Lauren McPhillips, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Penn State, was recently named a recipient of the 2020 Best Paper award from the ASCE Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment.

Guertin recognized with 2020 President’s Award for academic integration

| psu.edu

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

Listening to your gut: A powerful new tool on the microbiome and cell metabolism

| psu.edu

Many aspects of our lives — not only the presence or absence of certain diseases, but conditions like obesity, sleep patterns, even mood — may be determined, to a surprising extent, by the microbes living inside of us. Patterson, Tombros Early Career Professor and professor of molecular toxicology at Penn State, is using one of the newer and more promising of these technologies, called metabolomics, to learn about the microbiome of the human gut.

Teaching excellence recognized in College of Agricultural Sciences

| psu.edu

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

Penn State researchers study how flooding has impacted Pennsylvania

| collegian.psu.edu

Two Penn State researchers are studying the area where lower rates of home ownership and the potential effects of climate change intersect. For Katherine Zipp and Lara Fowler, the intersection

Digging into the past

| psu.edu

Penn State assistant professor Sarah Ivory uses special fossils to study how climate changed in the deep past in some of the driest places on Earth, and how plants, animals and humans responded.

The economy as complement, not detriment, to environment

| news.psu.edu

Jennifer Baka works to identify methods to foster synergies between environmental regulation and economic development. Her research not only solicits information from community members, but it informs and empowers people with data so they can be part of the conversation.

Kilometers of “dark cable” form the newest seismic sensors

| scientificamerican.com

Fiber-optic cables stretching below cities, through glaciers and along the seafloor could record earthquakes and more.