Past Events: Penn State Energy and Environment Calendar Archive

Halting deforestation and forest degradation are central in the efforts to protect forests and achieve sustainability goals in forest landscapes, particularly in the tropics. Forest sustainability has increasingly been framed within broader policy agendas of conservation, climate change and sustainable commodity supply.

Rachel Brennan, Associate Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering, Director of Advanced Ecological Engineering Systems Laboratory, Penn State

Lindsey Sloat, UC Irvine

Join us this Thursday 10/17 for the next Energy for the Future Seminar Series talk: Using Bioelectrochemical and Electrochemical Technologies for Used Water Treatment and Resource Recovery by Bruce E. Logan. This will be from 4-5 p.m. in 401 Steidle building.

Join us for a free and informative webinar! We will welcome Doug Speerstra from Energy Transfer to discuss the process of pipeline construction, covering all aspects of planning and development of the route, the permitting process, construction, reclamation of the site, operations, and the safety and environmental concerns taken on such a project. Don't miss out on this vital information!

Geoscientists (volcanologists) study and monitor active volcanoes to understand the processes that lead to eruption. This talk will review the history of volcanology, monitoring techniques, and use specific examples from the speakers research of active volcanoes in Central America and the Galapagos Islands.

The next century will see unprecedented changes to the climate system with direct consequences for society. As stated in the National Climate Assessment, “changes in extreme weather events are the primary way that most people experience climate change.” In this sense, the characteristics of extreme weather are key indicators of climate change impacts, at both local and regional scales.

Martina Vecchi, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics, Penn State

The common popular image of the geography of U.S. agriculture is that the nation’s “Heartland” (or breadbasket) dominates in producing the nation’s food. Maps prepared by the USDA’s Economic Research Service have long shown that it is primarily counties in the nation’s center that depend on farming for 25% or more of their income, or at least 16% of their jobs, even as fewer and fewer counties meet this designation. This image leaves only a smaller role for regions such as the Northeast to play in assuring the nation’s food supply.

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Jae Edmonds, Chief Scientist and Battelle Fellow, Joint Global Change Research Institute at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will present "The Paris Agreement's Article 6: Estimating its potential to increase ambition"

Chris Forest, Penn State

Dr. Tom Benson, Lead Global Geologist, Lithium Americas Corp

William Driscoll, PSU Harrisburg Biology

Erika Ganda, Penn State

Waseem Bakr, University of Princeton

Pollinator gardens can be vital places for pollinator habitat, but our scientific understanding of how to build these landscapes is just coming into focus. The soon-to-be-built four-acre Pollinators' Garden at the Penn State Arboretum is an exemplar of pollinator resources, including 351 species of plants, nest sites, and educational displays and a beautiful landscape to help build a human connection to nature.

Dr. Wei Peng, Assistant Professor of International Affairs and Civil and Environmental Engineering, Penn State

Carbon taxes have uncertain emissions outcomes, which can be a particular problem for certain constituencies and when international agreements are based around quantity targets. Many studies examine ways to reduce price uncertainty under cap-and-trade, but very few look at reducing emissions uncertainty under a carbon tax.

Climate Dynamics Seminar and ESSC Brown Bag: Methane, the Overlooked Culprit of Global Warming. Presenter: Kristina Rolph, Department of Meteorology & Atmospheric Science, Penn State