Dr. Smithwick reviews the socio-ecological barriers and opportunities for incorporating fire, sustainably, into landscape management, with implications for understanding fire-prone ecosystems globally. By using Pennsylvania and New Jersey as case-studies, we begin to understand the challenges of Prometheus’ “gift” of fire to humans.
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.
Jack Dangermond, founder and president of the world’s leading geographic information system (GIS) software developer, will visit Penn State on Oct. 2 as part of the Department of Landscape Architecture’s Bracken Lecture Series. His talk — titled “Geography and Landscape: The Foundations for Geodesign” — will be held at 6 p.m. in the HUB’s Freeman Auditorium.
Dr. Arlene Laing, Coordinating Director of the Caribbean Meteorological Organization
Dr. Daniel A. Brent, Assistant Professor, Agricultural Sciences, Penn State
Dr. Dustin Trail, Assistant Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester
Earth’s Critical Zone (CZ) spans from the bedrock to the atmospheric boundary layer. Since 2007 the Susquehanna-Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory has been hosting interdisciplinary studies of water, energy and solute fluxes in the Shaver’s Creek watershed. In this talk, I will describe our local Observatory, the CZ approach, and how the interdisciplinary CZ lens is leading to water insights. One key contribution is describing how CZ architecture entrains water flowpaths with distinct chemistry.
Traditionally, stormwater has been managed with 'grey' solutions like sewer pipes and underground detention, but increasingly there's interest in implementing more nature-based or ecological approaches. I'll give a quick overview on what 'green infrastructure' means and talk about efforts to ensure the most effective designs for managing flooding, water quality, and providing other benefits- including a new 'living lab' for green stormwater infrastructure here on campus.
Hong Ma, Penn State University
The Great Insect Fair is our annual extravaganza celebrating insects with lots of activities, games, crafts, tasty treats and fun for everyone!
On September 20 and 27, 2019, the Fridays for Future movement has called for a global climate strike to demand an end to fossil fuels. We are responding to these calls from youth across the globe by convening an open conversation about the role of geography—and geographers—in responding to the climate crisis for the September 27 Coffee Hour.
Socioeconomic scientists are essential participants in many applied, transdisciplinary research projects. Transciplinary scientific teamwork includes scientists and scholars across diverse fields such as the arts, humanities, and social, natural, engineering, and computational sciences. They also include members from other sectors: industry; government; Tribal Nations; communities; and non-governmental organizations. Ideally, this teamwork results in deeply integrated research and outputs. However, this type of research is complex and difficult.
Penn State recently entered into an agreement with Lightsource BP to purchase solar electricity from what will be the largest solar farm in Pennsylvania. The Office of Physical Plant worked with many partners to arrive at this agreement, including the Sustainability Institute and the faculty in EMS! I will describe the process by which we arrived at the Power Purchase Agreement with Lightsource BP and the current status of the project.
1:00pm
Full details
In the past month, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported a new daily natural gas production record of 92.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), despite relatively low spot prices. In 2018, US petroleum and natural gas production increased 16% and 12% respectively, becoming one of the largest absolute petroleum and natural gas production increases from a single country in history. Will these trends in production continue?
In 2019, a number of changes are underway to enhance the delivery of the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) under the new 2018 Farm Bill. As the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service develops new rules for RCPP, this discussion will examine how the first generation of RCPP (under the 2014 Farm Bill) impacted farms and the technical assistance providers working with them.
Since fossil fuel combustion is the primary contributor to both local air pollution and greenhouse gases (GHGs) a policy targeting either of these pollutants will impact the other, which will have welfare implications unless the correlated pollutants are priced appropriately. Empirical work on this topic tends to analyze GHG policies targeting stationary sources and finds that changes in the correlated pollutant leads to large co-benefits. In contrast, we study a local air pollution policy targeting mobile sources and uncover a mechanism, avoidance, that can increase GHGs.
On Tues., Sept. 24 the Huck is co-hosting the kickoff of a new initiative, in partnership with the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences. It's called the Communication, Science, and Society Initiative (CSSI). The goal is to foster new and innovative transdisciplinary research collaborations across the life sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Aerosol particles impact the climate system through their interactions with light and clouds while also impacting human health by causing inflammation in the lungs. The Freedman group focuses on laboratory studies of aerosol physical and chemical properties, and in recent years, we have begun incorporating materials chemistry into our studies of ice nucleation and phase transitions under confinement. I am looking for ways in which our research may be applied more broadly in materials science and for applications to human health.
Sustainability in the supply chain provides a win-win for every organization—it’s good for the environment and for profitability. This program will equip you with the latest tools, concepts, and business practices for managing an environmentally and economically sustainable supply chain.
Part of the Food-Energy-Water Nexus Initiative Fall 2019 Speaker Series—Claudia Ringler, Deputy Director of Environment and Production Technology Division
America’s Largest Seed Fund is Coming to University Park, PA.
If you’re an innovator, entrepreneur, researcher, or small technology firm, don’t miss this opportunity. Gain an in-depth understanding of agency technology funding priorities, meet one-on-one with high-level decision-makers and connect with local support resources.