This year’s online conference will feature four distinct discussion tracks, including "Shining a Light: Uncovering Insights through Analytics," "Blazing the Trail: Turning Insights into Impactful Outcomes," "Lighting the Way: Emerging Trends and the Future of Data," and "Enlightening Data Processing and Analytics: IT System Innovations."
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 Stuckeman School welcomes artist and architect Yussef Agbo-Ola, founder of Olaniyi Studio, for a virtual lecture to kick off the school's spring 2024 Lecture + Exhibit Series.
Titled “The Art of Poetic Environmental Architecture and Design,” Agbo-Ola’s lecture will highlight the importance of the ephemeral, entropy in design and poetic environmental architecture relating to his work over the last decade. Attendees are encouraged to watch the virtual lecture in the Stuckeman Family Building Jury Space. The lecture will also be available to attend via Zoom.
The specific technique, details of the acquisition method, along with how data is processed all influence the quantification of surface roughness. Furthermore, the commonly reported roughness parameters of average roughness and RMS roughness are often inadequate to fully characterize the texture of a surface. This talk will provide an overview of what differences you should expect between surface roughness data coming from AFM, OP, and even stylus profilometry as well as an introduction to advanced surface texture parameters.
Chirality, or non-superimposable mirror image structures are common across the natural world (think left and right hands). Even at the nanoscale, proteins are chiral molecules where their specific structure (left or right hand) drives function. In my group, we leverage sequence-definition and enantiomeric-control of synthetic peptides to tune the chirality and shape of nanoparticles. I will discuss how such nanoparticles can enable discovery of next-generation sensors.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into social work practices presents an innovative pathway to address complex social issues with greater precision, efficiency, and personalized care. This talk delves into the transformative potential of AI in redefining the landscape of social work, offering insights into how cutting-edge technologies can augment traditional methodologies to better serve individuals and communities in need.
Quantifying interactions between social systems and the physical environment we live within has long been a major scientific challenge. A better empirical understanding of dynamic interactions between the physical or natural context and urban social structure is necessary to support predictions of how people and cities might respond to climate change, disease, and other emergent threats, ensure energy and water security for their residents, and to facilitate urban sustainability and resilience. In her lecture, Dr.
Explore USDA Climate Smart mitigation categories, discover Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices, and locate financial assistance programs for CSA.
Climate Smart Agriculture Practices aim to deliver quantifiable reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and/or increases in carbon sequestration. This presentation will review the USDA’s mitigation categories and common agricultural conservation practices that are classified as climate-smart in Pennsylvania.
Who is this for?
Join the Graduate School on February 26 for an enriching forum on establishing and strengthening partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). This gathering will also include a talk about a new book, HBCUs: The Power of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, co-authored by Marybeth Gasman and Levon T. Esters. Registration is required.
Revisiting Past Lectures on the 30th Anniversary of the Ashtekar Frontiers of Science
Dr. Luis Escobar, University of Vermont
Meteorology and Atmospheric Science Colloquium
Yan Jiang
Postdoctoral Scholar
University of California, San Diego
Yanhong Jin estimates the impact of childhood obesity on intergenerational income and social mobility in the US. Utilizing the polygenic scores of Add Health participants, she proposes a novel instrument variable for childhood obesity based on genetic information related to weight status. She finds strong evidence that childhood obesity lowers intergenerational income and social mobility of adult children.
Climate change is upon us. Catastrophic fires in Canada and out west, deadly heat waves in the south, floods across our region… the list goes on. The impacts on ecosystems and human systems are already tragic and getting worse. Decarbonization is all the rage but falls woefully short of the need. Wind, solar, and energy efficiency provide important emission reduction benefits, but at best they can achieve zero emissions. With fossil fuel use continuing at excessive rates, the world needs negative carbon strategies.
Hazleton, Pennsylvania has changed significantly since its founding in 1857. Historically a coal mining town, the city of 30,000 is now home to a growing Hispanic community representing 65% of the population. In 2013, Krista Schneider began working with a local nonprofit community and economic development organization that collaborates with a coalition of community organizations to revitalize the city’s downtown.
Climate Dynamics Seminar (Meteo 575)
Devon Kerins
(Penn State University, Environmental Engineering and Biogeochemistry)
You are invited to join Penn State’s Materials Research Institute (MRI) and Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE) for a happy-hour networking event. During the event, you'll have the opportunity to talk informally with the core facility staff about materials testing, fabrication, and synthesis needs. Additionally, IEE core facility staff will be on hand to discuss environmental contaminant testing, radiocarbon dating, and high-resolution 3D imaging.
From her time as a Penn State student through her 20-year career in Urban and Community Forestry at the Georgia Forestry Commission, and current role as Assistant Director of the Cooperative Forestry Program/Forest Legacy Program Leader in the US Forest Service Southern Region, Susan will share the challenges, highlights, and opportunities that led to her career advancements, and the unbreakable bonds of Penn State alumni formed along the way.
Blackouts are common in college students and are associated with increased alcohol-related harms. Self-report is the most common way to assess college student drinking but becomes less reliable at higher quantities of alcohol consumption. Self-report also does not tell us how students are drinking, which may be important in the prediction of harm. In this talk, I will discuss the use of alcohol biosensors to measure the manner in which students drink to predict the occurrence of alcohol-induced blackouts.
About 60% of all plastics ever produced are currently in waste sites, resulting in a yearly loss of $80-120 billion USD. Additionally, plastic production, which makes up 6% of global oil use, is expected to increase to 20% by 2050.
As a popular emission reduction tool, the carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) can potentially add an economic incentive for building owners to retrofit buil