Health and the Environment

Just as humans affect the environment, the environment affects humans. Penn State researchers are collaborating on ways that human health is being impacted, from pollution and toxins to infectious disease and climate change.

Systems In Sync

Dynamics of disease, environmental change, and gene-environment interactions have been affecting human, animal, and plant health for decades. From indoor pollution to infectious disease to climate change, health is being impacted.

Researchers are addressing these important factors in order to disrupt infectious disease vectors, enable precautionary design of chemicals and materials, and develop medical treatments to minimize negative impacts.

Scientists are also identifying an increasing number of beneficial human/environment interactions, including the microbiomes in our digestive systems and on our skin.

Penn State continues to grow in this area with the College of Health and Human Development's focus on Environmental Health Sciences.

A team of Penn State researchers is collaborating on a potential new method to treat cancer by delivering a unique nanoparticle to a localized cancerous area in mice and activating the treatment through light exposure — Adam Glick and a team of Penn State researchers are collaborating on a potential new method to treat cancer by delivering a unique nanoparticle to a localized cancerous area in mice and activating the treatment through light exposure.

Health and the Environment Research

Featured IEE Researchers

Weston Whitaker

Assistant Professor, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences

Peter Hudson

Verne M. Willaman Professor, Biology

Institutes, Centers, & Programs

Health and the Environment News

Featured Stories

Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams receive 2026 IEE seed grants

July 1, 2026

Fourteen interdisciplinary research teams have received funding through the Institute of Energy and the Environment’s (IEE) 2026 Seed Grant Program. The program supports basic and applied research that lays the groundwork to pursue external funding and is guided by IEE’s five strategic research themes. This year, the program awarded seed funding to more than 40 researchers across 10 colleges and campuses and 21 departments and units.

Mentions: Vineet Vishwakarma, Saya Lee, Wesley Reinhart, Linxiao Zhu, W. Larry Kenney, Julian Wang, Bishwodeep Adhikari, Femeena Pandara Valappil, Hong Wu, Shirley Clark

U.S. Geological Survey grant to fund ag study of PFAS in small watersheds

May 18, 2026 | psu.edu

Researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences have received a grant of nearly $309,000 from the U.S. Geological Survey, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, to study the movement and impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in small agricultural watersheds across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

Mentions: Heather Preisendanz, Tyler Groh, Faith Kibuye, Odette Mina, Jon Sweetman, Onur Apul