Biological materials are ~80 percent water and many materials are designed for use under aqueous and/or hydrated conditions. However, imaging /analyses of these systems are often performed after dehydration or freezing which can significantly alter the chemistry/structure from the native hydrated state. This talk will highlight several techniques available at Penn State that enable sample analysis in aqueous and/or controlled humidity environments with an emphasis on the additional information that can be obtained via these approaches.
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 week's events will feature daily webinars, each featuring subject matter experts followed by an open question & answer discussion providing folks the opportunity to share their questions and receive feedback in real-time. For any questions, please contact the GreenGov Council at ra-gsgreengov@pa.gov.
2023 Commonwealth Sustainability Week Kickoff – Sustainability Leadership
Monday, 10/2 @ 1:00 PM
ChatGPT can craft essays that appear human-made, significantly influencing how liberal arts and humanities are taught and graded. Soon, its impacts will be felt by the world of science and engineering. In this talk, I'll showcase how ChatGPT can produce convincing and thorough reviews of scientific papers and proposals, using my past IEE seed grants as case studies. These AI-generated reviews sound authentic, but it's uncertain if they match the quantitative rankings human experts would provide.
The cold universe and the sun are two important renewable energy resources. We have developed a device that can passively cool to about 5 ˚C below the ambient temperature via radiative cooling and generate electricity using sunlight at the same time and same place. I’ll use this example to highlight novel opportunities for harvesting renewable energy sources.
The Millennium Café runs 10-11am in the 3rd floor Café Commons of the MSC Bldg. Join researchers from across campus for a stellar cup of coffee and two <10 min interdisciplinary talks.
The Transportation Asset and Infrastructure Management (TAIM) Conference attracts professionals from throughout Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region. It is an outreach program of the Center for Integrated Asset Management for Multimodal Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CIAMTIS), a USDOT Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic) University Transportation Center (UTC) housed at the Larson Transportation Institute (LTI).
Despite its ubiquity, a complete theory to describe the underlying rheology of granular flows remains elusive. Central to this problem is the lack of detailed, in-situ measurements of the granular flow field. To this end, we present two non-invasive imaging techniques currently employed to measure the flow of individual grains within granular flow systems that span simple mono-sized flows of plastic beads to complex industrial mixture flows of rocks and slurry.
The week's events will feature daily webinars, each featuring subject matter experts followed by an open question & answer discussion providing folks the opportunity to share their questions and receive feedback in real-time. For any questions, please contact the GreenGov Council at ra-gsgreengov@pa.gov.
2023 Commonwealth Sustainability Week Kickoff – Sustainability Leadership
Monday, 10/2 @ 1:00 PM
The Transportation Asset and Infrastructure Management (TAIM) Conference attracts professionals from throughout Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic region. It is an outreach program of the Center for Integrated Asset Management for Multimodal Transportation Infrastructure Systems (CIAMTIS), a USDOT Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic) University Transportation Center (UTC) housed at the Larson Transportation Institute (LTI).
It is envisaged that Multiterminal DC (MTDC) grid will be a key cornerstone of the sustainable future of our planet. MTDC grids are planned in and around Europe to integrate significant amount of offshore wind energy and onshore solar energy to the Pan-European AC grid. In this talk, the speaker will lay out some of the key challenges facing DC grid systems and focus on the frequency support issue among ‘asynchronous’ AC grids interconnected by the DC network.
Arash holds an MSc in Agricultural Entomology from the University of Tehran in Iran and completed his Ph.D. in Entomology at Penn State University. His expertise covers a diverse range of areas, including biological control, plant-plant and plant-insect interactions, pesticide fate, plant growth-promoting bacteria, and, most recently, tick behavior.
The Dive Deeper Summit is a multi-state environmental education summit spotlighting innovative teaching about water. This biennial conference is for anyone who teaches youth about water, or anyone interested in educational tools and resources for teaching about water.
The Dive Deeper Summit is a multi-state environmental education summit spotlighting innovative teaching about water. This biennial conference is for anyone who teaches youth about water, or anyone interested in educational tools and resources for teaching about water.
Insects are the most diverse and successful creatures on Earth. There are more than 10 quintillion insects on the globe. All these bugs! How can they be so successful? Insects are so resilient – they reproduce quickly, and they transform and adapt to their environment. Humans have been inventing and using pesticides to control insect pests that damage crops, or spread disease; however, insects have evolved robust capabilities to fight back. Our scientist will share their research and the questions they are exploring about how insects, specifically potato beetles are thriving.
Mark Dyreson, the 2022 recipient of the Pauline Schmitt Russell Distinguished Research Achievement Award, will present "The Curious Case of the Rarámuri Foot-Runners: Unlikely Avatars of Modern Health and Wellness."
Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are the dominant rainfall producer in the U.S. during the warm season, causing natural disasters and severe weather every year. GCMs have large uncertainty in modeling the MCS life cycle and projecting its future precipitation changes, highlighting an urgent need for a better understanding of MCS dynamics. In this talk, I will introduce two theoretical frameworks that we developed recently to isolate the bare-bone mechanisms for MCS initiation, intensification, and propagation.
Neha Khanna studies the effects of exposure to noise pollution. Noise pollution is defined as unwanted or excessive sound, which can trigger the human stress response system which, in turn, induces cognitive impairment in children and interferes with sleep causing mental fatigue and poor mental health outcomes. Mental illness is costly to society and imposes a multi-billion dollar burden on the U.S. economy each year through poor educational outcomes for children and productivity and earning penalties for adults.
Learn from an expert during this informative webinar about the truths and myths of microbiological contamination in well water!
Forests of Central Appalachia are an important part of the region’s landscape, providing a range of economic, cultural benefits, ecological, and ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration. The region has the potential to contribute to national and global efforts to mitigate climate change through carbon programs and markets.
Alicia (Cici) Cruz-Uribe, University of Maine, AWG Distinguished Lecturer. Her research focuses on metamorphic petrology and geochemistry, particularly of subduction zone rocks. Some of the overarching questions she pursues include:
How does subduction zone metamorphism influence arc magmatism?
How do the physical processes occurring at the slab-mantle interface impact the mantle wedge and overlying arc structure?
What are the spatial and temporal scales of equilibrium in metamorphic rocks?
How to Prepare a Successful Seed Grant Proposal: This webinar will discuss elements of an ideal seed grant proposal, how they are reviewed, and address any questions that individuals have about the overall process.
Recording: https://iee.psu.edu/funding/seed-grant-program/2024#seed-grant-webinar