Neil Brown, Chatham University, 'Leveraging partnerships and lived experiences to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion in the Geosciences '
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.
The historic 2010 Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (Bay TMDL) was established for the water quality and ecological restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, and to maintain and improve the health of streams, rivers, and related ecosystems in the watershed. In 2017, a Mid-Point Assessment of the Bay TMDL was completed, for which the latest science, data, and tools were incorporated in developing Phase 3 of the Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs). The Mid-Point Assessment also called for evaluation and incorporation of a range of climate change impacts and considerations in the Phase 3 WIPs.
It is easier than ever to get information on any topic on the internet. Yet, divided information environments have created a world that allows us to live in our own filter bubbles and echo chambers in which identical scientific information may have different meanings to different audiences. What are the effects of these novel news environments on science and scientists? Why are we as a country less equipped than ever to debate controversial issues with each other in a civil fashion?
Dr. Leon Clarke, Research Director, Center for Global Sustainability; Research Professor in the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland
Seminar series is co-supported by Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI), Power and Energy Systems Transitions Lab (PESTL), Center for Climate Risk Management (CLIMA)
Join universities and colleges from across the nation for a three-day conference that will explore how higher education can strengthen preparedness, response, and recovery in the face of growing threats posed by a changing climate and extreme weather as we strive to build a national platform.
The Chesapeake Bay is the nation’s largest estuary, with a 64,000 square mile watershed spanning parts of six states and the District of Columbia. Despite the natural, social, and political diversity across the region, efforts to restore the Chesapeake are a model of success. Nevertheless, additional progress must be made before water quality goals are achieved.
Westinghouse is developing the eVinciTM micro-reactor to serve the growing distributed generation energy market segment. Potential first users of micro-reactors include remote communities and mining operations, and forward-operating military bases. The eVinci micro-reactor uses heat-pipe technology to deliver combined heat and power ranging from 200 kWe to 5 MWe. The micro-reactor core is a compact solid monolith surrounded by additional fission-product barriers, and enclosed in a protective canister that can be transported by road, rail and sea.
Large-scale flow pattern transitions can substantially influence US energy prices by altering surface temperature anomalies and thus anticipated consumer heating and cooling demands. Anticipating such pattern changes is therefore critical to firms such as Citadel that trade natural gas and electricity contracts.
In recent years, in the automotive industry, weight reductions are indispensable for complying with carbon dioxide emission regulations. Although automotive companies have been mainly using steel sheets, they want to employ multi-structures including extrusions, castings, or 3D printings of aluminum alloy or resin to achieve weight reductions. However, the structural design will be more complex because multi-material structures have a higher degree of geometric freedom than sheet metal structures.
How risks evolve under climate change will depend both on how alterations to natural systems affect hazards and how humans respond. Nevertheless, most climate change risk assessments focus on natural system drivers and outcomes. Wildfire activity in the western U.S. and damage caused by wildfires have increased dramatically over the past several decades, but among natural hazards, human responses to wildfire may be particularly effective.
The economic benefits of water body restoration often appear low, yet many public policies put a high priority on such efforts. This talk will explore reasons why low benefit-cost ratios may not be representative of the benefits derived from water quality and other ecological improvements. Using case studies from the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere, the talk will explore sources of missing benefits, cost-effectiveness of restoration approaches, and the role of complementary policies in producing a wide variety of ecosystem service benefits.
Newly acquired mass spectrometry instrumentation has greatly expanded organic molecular analysis capabilities at Penn State. This talk will highlight exciting applications in fields such as forensics, art history, food science, oil and gas, environmental contaminants of emerging concern, and astrobiology–including the technology behind the discovery of organic matter preserved in ancient Martian sediments.
11 a.m.–noon: Geospatial Technology Demonstration, Collaboration Commons Atrium. View examples of geospatial applications, projects, and technologies.
1:30–2 p.m.: "ArcGIS Online: Changing the Way Governments Do GIS." Keith Swavely, Esri. Foster Auditorium; viewable via Mediasite Live.
2–3 p.m.: Lightning Talk Presentations. Foster Auditorium; viewable via Mediasite Live.
3–4 p.m.: Networking and Refreshments. Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information, 1 Pattee Library.
3–6 p.m.: Center for Immersive Experiences Open House. Collaboration Commons Atrium, 3 Pattee Library.
Finding solutions to climate change requires big ideas – and oftentimes large government grants. But how are researchers, who spend most of their time at field sites or in laboratories, supposed to navigate the federal bureaucratic system? The Department of Energy’s Gary Geernaert will discuss federal science policy and priorities at the next EarthTalks seminar at 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 11, in 112 Walker Building.
Claude DePamphilis, Penn State University
12:00am
Full details
Join PERC to deliberate about climate change and build our capacity for citizenship on November 9th. What do we mean? All over the country, citizens are concerned about climate change. And young people, as the Climate Strikes show clearly, are most concerned of all. But what can we as citizens do about it? By getting together to deliberate, we can build knowledge, understanding, and the will to take action. But what actions should we take? We will spend the day exploring the question.
Historical and ongoing structural discrimination has created racialized geographies of inequality in the United States: wealth gaps, wage gaps, employment gaps, and so on. This history, coupled with continued constraints on state social services following the 2008 financial crisis, has prompted claims that private and charitable capital must fill these gaps.
Numerous critical mineral commodities are used in advanced energy systems, in applications involving gas turbines, renewable power generation, energy storage, and associated electronics. The development if new mineral production capacity in the U.S. can result in new opportunities for graduates with backgrounds in financial modeling, geosciences, mining, mineral processing, and extractive metallurgy.
Meet and support women scientists from across the university. Panel discussion on being a woman scientist, imposter syndrome, and work-life balance.