The One Health Microbiome Center (OHMC) in the Penn State Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences will host the One Health Microbiome Symposium on May 13 and 14, 2026. The symposium will bring together researchers from an ensemble of traditionally siloed disciplines to unify microbiome science, reflecting the center's mission. By welcoming industry partners and convening experts from the "One Health" pillars of human, agricultural and environmental health, the symposium highlights a central principle: Human health is inseparably linked to the health of our environment.
Past Events: Penn State Energy and Environment Calendar Archive
You're viewing an archived collection of past energy and environment events from around Penn State and beyond. Please visit our Event Calendar to view current and upcoming events.
Modern technologies, from electric vehicles to wind turbines, depend on rare earth elements and other critical minerals that are extremely difficult to separate due to their nearly identical chemical properties. In this talk, I will show how we can reprogram cellulose, nature’s most abundant biopolymer, at the nanoscale to selectively capture specific rare earth elements and precious metals from complex mixtures by precisely engineering its chemistry and structure.
Evolving regulations and consumer expectations are driving the food packaging industry to adopt new can coating chemistries, but evaluating how these coatings interact with food ingredients remains slow, empirical, and limited in mechanistic insight.
Parasitic plants obtain water and nutrients from other plants through specialized feeding structures known as haustoria. Having evolved on at least a dozen independent occasions, parasitic plants represent about 1% of flowering plant species diversity. Parasitic plants range from facultative, where plants retain an ability to live on their own without a host, to complete host dependence and loss of photosynthetic ability with associated morphological reduction to the point of being nearly unrecognizable as a plant.
The Geochemistry Forum hosts Manato Akishiba, Tohoku University, presenting on Oscillatory zoning in quartz and calcite veins: Implications for the seismic cycle and fluid migration in fault zones.
This month at Science on Tap, Dr. Melissa Bopp is asking how you commute to work or school, and Dr. Ana Carla Salamunes wants to use prunes to improve bone health for women in their 40s and 50s. Together they are giving us an interactive look at what it’s like to be a researcher in Kinesiology.
Join the Sustainable Communities Collaborative for its traditional end-of-semester celebration of student sustainability work with the Spring 2026 Campus & Community Sustainability Expo. See student poster presentations about projects from the semester, working in partnership with Pennsylvania communities on applied sustainability research. Meet community partners and faculty sponsors. Hear remarks by Kathy Bieschke, senior vice provost and interim dean of Undergraduate Education.
2026 Women Advancing River Research Seminar SeriesManaging for Water Scarcity in the Western United StatesDebra Perrone, University of California, Santa Barbara, United StatesElizabeth Koebele, University of Nevada, Reno, United States
10:35 – 11:35am
001 Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Building (Capone Learning Auditorium)
Full details
Prof. Michael Timko is the William B. Smith Professor and Department Head of Chemical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). Dr. Timko’s main research interests involve the study of new technologies for production of sustainable fuels, chemicals, and materials. He is author of more than 130 peer-reviewed journal articles and a recipient of a National Science Foundation’s CAREER award, the American Chemical Society’s Glenn Research Award, and a Fulbright Fellowship. Prof.
The economic impacts of extreme weather events have become a pressing policy concern as both their frequency and intensity continue to rise. This paper examines how recurrent droughts in California—America’s leading producer of fruits and vegetables—affect retail prices of fresh fruits and vegetables (FFV) across major U.S. metropolitan markets. Using data from 2009 to 2022, Dr.
Effective industry outreach is built on preparation, credibility, and relationship‑building over time. Drawing on lessons from years in both academia and industry, this presentation offers practical guidance on making strong first impressions, engaging companies strategically, and starting collaborations that can grow into long‑term partnerships. Attendees will leave with actionable tips they can apply immediately to strengthen industry connections and expand the impact of their research.
Volumetric defects in additively manufactured components remain a major barrier to their safe adoption in critical applications. This talk shows how we can guide machine learning (ML) models by encoding the underlying wave physics, allowing us to quantify volumetric porosity from raw ultrasonic signals and to image defects with unprecedented resolution. By combining physics-based models with ML, we move toward faster, more reliable, and more automated quality control.
Experience a day dedicated to innovation, collaboration, and the power of ideas. The first annual Cocoziello Institute Built Environment Showcase brings together leaders from across our community—Board members, faculty, students, and industry partners—for an inspiring celebration of discovery and impact.
The Geochemistry Forum hosts Matt Fantle, presenting "The diagenetic origin of carbon isotope excursions."
Emerging technologies, such as GPS, high-definition and autonomous imaging, eDNA, bioacoustics, and crowdsourcing, now generate multimodal, multiscale, multisensory data about life on Earth at unprecedented richness. Yet our ability to extract insight from these data still lags behind our ability to collect them.
Food Security and Access for Healthy Futures Symposium: Strengthening University–Community Partnerships through Participatory Research convenes university researchers, community-based organizations, and practitioners to co-develop practical pathways for improving local food access within charitable food distribution systems. The symposium’s scope emphasizes community-engaged, collaborative innovation grounded in analytics, operations research, and decision sciences, including responsible AI.
Rebecca Whiteash from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will host this seminar titled 'Microplastics Sampling and Analysis at the PA Department of Environmental Protection’. Rebecca will present preliminary results from a 2025 DEP pilot project focused on microplastics sampling in surface waters across the Commonwealth. Rebecca will discuss sampling protocols, comparisons across land uses, and lessons learned that will inform future monitoring efforts.
Join the Penn State community for its annual student-led celebration of Earth Day! Created by a coalition of student, campus, and community groups, the 4th Annual Student Sustainability Summit celebrates the many achievements, initiatives, leaders, and opportunities around sustainability at Penn State and in the neighboring community. The theme this year is “What Else is Possible?,” imagining a world not constrained by what we see today but full of the possibilities we collectively are working towards.
Sea surface temperature (SST) variability in the extratropical ocean has been associated with global and regional climate variability and impacts. The mechanisms that drive the SST variability from interannual to interdecadal time scales, however, has remain uncertain. Many previous studies have examined the role of atmospheric variability in driving SST variations, mainly at interannual time scales. At decadal time scale, however, the relative importance of atmospheric vs oceanic forcing on decadal SST variability has remained highly controversial.
The rising share of renewable electricity generation has led to an increased focus on demand-side mechanisms to balance the grid. For example, Direct Load Control (DLC) contracts allow utilities to curtail the electricity use of participating households at times of system stress. Christina McGranaghan uses a novel experimental design to show that intrinsic preferences for control can significantly impact the rewards required to encourage consumers to participate in such contracts.