Penn State Energy and Environment Calendar

Department of Geosciences Colloquium Series Spring 2026Mark HarrisonUCLAHost: Chris House

On March 18-19, the 2026 PHRC Housing Conference highlights best practices, regulation, and innovation in the housing industry. Invited speakers present on a wide-range of topics, including codes & construction, high-performance housing, weatherization & building science, and land development & planning.

The Pennsylvania Housing Research Center is hosting the 8th Residential Building Design & Construction Conference (RBDCC) in person on March 18-19, 2026 at The Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center in State College, Pennsylvania. It provides a forum for researchers, design professionals, product manufacturers, builders, developers, and more to discuss opportunities and challenges to advance the quality of and to introduce innovations in residential construction.

Climate adaptation scholar Maria Carmen Lemos will discuss how to scale up actionable knowledge for climate resilience in a talk at 9 a.m. on March 18 on Penn State’s University Park campus. Her talk, titled “Scaling up Actionable Knowledge for Climate Adaptation,” is part of the Penn State Climate Consortium’s Climate Conversation Café series. It will focus on linking climate information, decision-making and on-the-ground adaptation in ways that can be used by communities, practitioners and policymakers.

Madeline Yozwiak, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, will give the talk, “Grid Hardening and the Effectiveness of Climate Adaptation in the U.S. Electricity Sector,” at noon on Wednesday, March 18, in 157 Hosler Building at Penn State University Park. The event is part of a spring seminar series hosted by the Initiative for Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (EEEPI). Talk is free and open to the public.

Nearly 60% of the U.S. population participates in outdoor recreation, which has continued increase annually since the Covid-19 Pandemic. One of the most frequently cited motivations for seeking these nature-based recreation opportunities includes the health benefits we obtain through these experiences, such as reprieve from our largely urban and manufactured existence, and restoration. However, increased use of our parks and protected areas – where outdoor recreation takes place – can create ecological impacts and social conditions that negate the benefits we seek.

Extended salt deposits in a 220,000-year long Dead Sea sediment core, mark episodes ofextreme aridity during interglacials (MIS 7, MIS 5, and the Holocene). These intervals coincidewith maxima in Northern Hemisphere fall precession and with intensified North Atlanticlatitudinal SST gradients in transient simulations. The enhanced gradient drives a poleward shift of the winter jet and storm track, increasing subtropical sea-level pressure and reducing

Prepare PA will host four regional network meetings across Pennsylvania in March and April, bringing together current and prospective members of the PA Climate Network to help shape the direction and goals of the statewide initiative.

On March 18-19, the 2026 PHRC Housing Conference highlights best practices, regulation, and innovation in the housing industry. Invited speakers present on a wide-range of topics, including codes & construction, high-performance housing, weatherization & building science, and land development & planning.

The Pennsylvania Housing Research Center is hosting the 8th Residential Building Design & Construction Conference (RBDCC) in person on March 18-19, 2026 at The Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center in State College, Pennsylvania. It provides a forum for researchers, design professionals, product manufacturers, builders, developers, and more to discuss opportunities and challenges to advance the quality of and to introduce innovations in residential construction.

Phillip Christopher earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from University of California, Santa Barbara in 2006 and his M.S and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from University of Michigan in 2011 working with Prof. Suljo Linic. From 2011-2017 he was an Assistant Professor at University of California, Riverside. In 2017 he moved to the University of California, Santa Barbara where he is a Professor and Vice Chair for Undergraduate Affairs in the Chemical Engineering Department.

2026 Women Advancing River Research Seminar SeriesClimate Impacts on Weathering and FlowSara Warix, University of Utah, United StatesJennifer McIntosh, University of Arizona, United StatesAll seminars will be presented online live at 11:00 a.m. ET on the third Thursday of each month. Seminar recordings will be posted later. Please register in advance for all talks. 

The Geochemistry Forum hosts Isabel Fendley, presenting on "Crustal bottlenecks in volcanic degassing: How much carbon do volcanoes actually emit?"

The 13th annual Penn State Berks Losoncy Lecture in Physics and Astronomy will be presented by Leah G. Dodson, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of Maryland. Dodson will present “The Quantum Identity Crisis of Molecular Hydrogen: Why the Simplest Molecule Isn’t So Simple” on Wednesday, March 25. A reception will begin at 4 p.m. in the college’s Perkins Student Center Multipurpose Room and the lecture begins at 4:45 p.m. in the Perkins Student Center Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public.

Prepare PA will host four regional network meetings across Pennsylvania in March and April, bringing together current and prospective members of the PA Climate Network to help shape the direction and goals of the statewide initiative.

Evolutionary principles are essential for understanding how biological systems adapt and for predicting how they will respond to future selective pressures. By leveraging these principles, we gain a powerful predictive framework to tackle some of society's most urgent challenges, including conserving biodiversity, protecting endangered species, managing invasive organisms, combating emerging infectious and epizootic diseases, and advancing sustainable agriculture.

The Penn State Association of Water Students (PAWS) and the Penn State Water Council invite abstract submissions for the Penn State Water Conference 2026. Faculty, postdoctoral researchers, graduate and undergraduate students from all institutions and backgrounds are invited to attend, participate in discussions, and present their research through oral and poster presentations.Abstract submission deadline: February 27

Penn State Altoona will hold a panel discussion for Women’s History Month at noon on Thursday, March 26, in the Fireside Lounge of the Slep Student Center. This year’s theme is “Leading the Change: Women Shaping a Sustainable Future.” The event is free and open to the public.Women leaders from the region will share how they are driving environmental, social and economic sustainability in their communities.Panelists include:

Civil infrastructure—energy, water, buildings, and transportation—exists to support people, communities, and the broader living systems upon which civil society depends. Historically, these infrastructures have been designed and operated as separate, centralized systems. Electrification, climate constraints, and increasing system complexity now require a fundamentally different approach: infrastructure must operate as an integrated, coordinated, and adaptive whole.

Evolutionary principles are essential for understanding how biological systems adapt and for predicting how they will respond to future selective pressures. By leveraging these principles, we gain a powerful predictive framework to tackle some of society's most urgent challenges, including conserving biodiversity, protecting endangered species, managing invasive organisms, combating emerging infectious and epizootic diseases, and advancing sustainable agriculture.