Past Events: Penn State Energy and Environment Calendar Archive

Tropical cyclones cause widespread damage and loss of life globally each year. In a future warmer climate, tropical cyclones are expected to have stronger maximum wind speeds, but could they also get larger? This talk will discuss how I integrate theory, observations, idealized models, and global climate models to understand what sets the size of tropical cyclones on Earth. I will focus in particular on how size depends on both the Coriolis parameter and its meridional gradient.

College Connections is a monthly webinar series moderated by Bob Roberts to give you a unique, inside perspective of the programs, people, and partnerships of the Penn State College of Ag Sciences.  Food Sensory analysis uses human senses to measure food characteristics such as tast, texture, smell, and appearance, which helps the food industry understand consumer demands and develop new and improved products. 

Forests play a crucial role in protecting creeks, rivers, and lakes. However, the reasons behind this are not commonly known. This presentation will delve into the connections between forests and water quality. We will examine how trees function as stormwater management machines, define how watersheds help land managers measure the water quality benefits of forest buffers, explore the influence of woodlands on the water cycle, including groundwater, and observe how cities are increasingly planting trees and other vegetation to help alleviate their growing stormwater management issues.

As housing costs continue to climb, solutions for creatively housing people are popping up nationwide. A traditional single-family detached home may be financially out of reach for potential homebuyers. It may not be the best fit for communities with changing household sizes. An accessory dwelling unit is a small house or apartment located on the same lot as a single-family home - and can be one of the solutions for people of various ages, abilities, and income levels.

Limited access to information and technical expertise hinders farmers in developing countries from adopting innovative technology and enhancing agricultural practices. The rapid growth of information and communication technologies, particularly mobile phones, presents opportunities to deliver information and boost agricultural productivity. In this study, Qingxiao conducted a two-arm cluster-randomized controlled trial to investigate the impact of technical training via a mobile app for grape farmers in rural China.

The focus of the symposium this year will be on how research leads to specific, meaningful outcomes/impacts. We will take you on a journey from the beginning—the research idea/hypothesis to the results of the research then to what impact it has had on the community, university, broader audience. We will do this using storytelling—speakers will tell their research story, from discovery in lab to impact in society. This will permeate the entire symposium including posters where we will want to see not only the research methodology but also the impact as part of the poster.  

This introductory session will provide participants with an overview of GIS data, software and map resources available to use in projects from Penn State and the University Libraries. Participants will learn about openly available U.S. and international geospatial data sources. Information will be provided on access to ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro. An optional tour of the Donald W. Hamer Center for Maps and Geospatial Information (1 Pattee Library) is available for those attending in person.

The C-CHANGE Grass2Gas project is funded by USDA-NIFA’s Sustainable Agricultural Systems program to determine ways that perennial and winter crops can be used more widely as feedstock for anaerobic digestion and simultaneously meet goals for environmental protection, rural economic development, and national energy security. This webinar will introduce the project goals and team and provide a high-level summary of initial findings to introduce this winter webinar series.

This talk will introduce ImageJ (now called FIJI), an open-source image analysis software with a plugin that runs a machine learning algorithm (WEKA segmentation) and how this can be used to help with feature recognition and image segregation from any image-producing characterization technique (optical microscopy, SEM, TEM, AFM, etc.). I will provide examples where this software has been implemented to accelerate materials identification and improve statistical analysis of material concentration.

Throughout October one of the two talks at the Millennium Café each week will provide a unique perspective on atmospheric particulates. 

Sustainable (or environment-conscious) computing concerns the consumption of compute resources in a way that leads to a net zero impact on the environment. It is a very broad concept that includes not just power/energy but also ecosystems,  pollution (e.g., discarded hardware), and natural resources (e.g., water).  While reducing power/energy consumption of computing certainly contributes to sustainability, it is only one part of a very complex problem. Specifically, to achieve sustainability, one needs a multipronged strategy, which spans green sourcing, e-waste, regulations, and AI.

The Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference is one of the largest tech startup conferences in the Mid-Atlantic. The conference highlights innovations from high growth and emerging markets including IT, Energy, Advanced Manufacturing, Biotechnology, Healthcare, B2B and B2C among others. This year's conference is expected to be an even bigger draw than in the past. We cannot wait to introduce you to these remarkable trailblazers and to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that is embraced at Penn State.

The Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference is one of the largest tech startup conferences in the Mid-Atlantic. The conference highlights innovations from high growth and emerging markets including IT, Energy, Advanced Manufacturing, Biotechnology, Healthcare, B2B and B2C among others. This year's conference is expected to be an even bigger draw than in the past. We cannot wait to introduce you to these remarkable trailblazers and to celebrate the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that is embraced at Penn State.

Severe asthma has been shown to occur in the combined presence of high pollen and thunderstorms, termed thunderstorm asthma. Previous research has focused on rare ‘epidemic’ events, such as in Melbourne, 2016 where emergency room usage was 900% higher during a single thunderstorm asthma event. In this work, we investigate thunderstorm asthma conditions in the Twin-Cities metro region using detailed exposure estimates from a network of weather sensors along with daily pollen records, and asthma-related emergency department (ED) visits from 2007-2018.

Mass manufacturing and our ability to produce goods quickly and efficiently via a linear economy has led to rapidly depleting natural resources and a host of environmental problems. The National Institute of Standards & Technologies (NIST) supports the nation’s transition from a conventional ‘take, make, use, dispose’ linear economy to a ‘take, make, use, return’ circular economy (CE) via research in measurement science that facilitates the development of suitable technical standards.

In 1968 she enrolled for a medical degree at the University of Natal, where she became involved in the South African Students Association (SASO) and was a founder, with Steve Biko, of the Black Consciousness Movement.  In 1976 she was detained under the Terrorism Act, and from 1977 to 1983 she was banned to Tzaneen in the Northern Transvaal.

Department of Geosciences Colloquium Series Fall 2023 Christelle Wauthier Penn State University Unveiling Nature's Slide Show: Characterizing Volcanic Landslide Behavior

Dr. Mamphela Ramphele is a South African politician, anti-apartheid activist, medical doctor, and businesswoman. She is a leading voice on issues of social justice, economic development, and gender equality. She is a powerful advocate for the poor and marginalized and a tireless champion of change. She is an inspiration to people all over the world who are working to build a better future. Ramphele is a recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the Order of Mapungubwe, the highest civilian award in South Africa.

Annie Nigra, who does work on drinking water quality and environmental exposures, will present a talk at the Population Research Institute.  

Whether during initial development of a device, in the scale up for manufacturing, or during an established manufacturing process, engineers often need to address thin film adhesion failures.  This talk will highlight some of the methods available within the Nanofab and MCL to characterize adhesion failures and thus help identify the necessary process modifications required to increase device quality and/or reproducibility.  We will use an example of a failure that occurred at a metal contact layer on a passivation oxide to walk through the testing decisions that lead to an understanding of