Invasive round gobies may be poised to decimate endangered French Creek mussels
| psu.edu
The round goby — a small, extremely prolific, invasive fish from Europe — poses a threat to endangered freshwater mussels in northwestern Pennsylvania's French Creek, one of the last strongholds for two species of mussels, according to researchers.
PoreDesigner improves protein channel design for water treatment, bioseparations
| psu.edu
PoreDesigner, a fully automated computational workflow process for altering the pore size of a bacterial channel protein, is the result of a collaboration between researchers from Penn State and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This process enables assembly of the proteins into artificial membranes for precise sub-nanometer scale separation of solutes of marginal size difference, which can improve water purification and bioseparations.
Seminar to offer better understanding on AI technology and real-world uses
| psu.edu
C. Lee Giles will present a seminar on AI and machine learning and its current uses in real-world cases as part of Penn State's Institute for CyberScience seminar series.
Manure injection offers hope, challenge for restoring Chesapeake water quality
| news.psu.edu
Widespread adoption by dairy farmers of injecting manure into the soil instead of spreading it on the surface could be crucial to restoring Chesapeake Bay water quality, according to researchers who compared phosphorus runoff from fields treated by both methods. However, they predict it will be difficult to persuade farmers to change practices.
Penn State Hazleton students work on engineering project for Bellefonte
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A group of engineering students at Penn State Hazleton is already getting the opportunity to put their knowledge and skills to use on a real-world project. They are working on designing a drinking water protection system for the borough of Bellefonte on its historic Big Spring, which provides water for about 9,000 customers.
LaJeunesse and colleagues receive 2017 Tyge Christiansen Prize
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Three Penn Staters, including Associate Professor of Biology Todd LaJeunesse, his former graduate student Drew Wham, and Director of the Microscopy Facility Gang Ning, have been awarded the 2017 Tyge Christiansen Prize by the International Phycological Society, an organization dedicated to the study of algae.
Fracking wastewater accumulation found in freshwater mussels' shells
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Elevated concentrations of strontium, an element associated with oil and gas wastewaters, have accumulated in the shells of freshwater mussels downstream from fracking wastewater disposal sites, according to researchers from Penn State and Union College.
Energizing the food-energy-water nexus: the fortuitous tale of duckweed
| psu.edu
Rachel Brennan knows how precious of a commodity water is. During her time as the director of Penn State's Eco-Machine, her work has involved a helpful little plant that is impacting the food-energy-water nexus.
Larger cities have smaller water footprint than less populated counterparts
| psu.edu
Global sustainability is important now more than ever due to increasing urban populations and the resulting stress it can have on natural resources. But increased populations in cities may lead to greater efficiency, as a team of Penn State researchers discovered when they analyzed the water footprint of 65 mid- to large-sized U.S. cities.
NSF funds $3 million graduate training program focused on Food-Energy-Water
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The National Science Foundation has awarded a $3 million grant to an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers to create a new graduate program that will train students to find solutions to real-world problems facing Food-Energy-Water (FEW) systems.
Diverse symbionts of reef corals have endured since 'age of dinosaurs'
| psu.edu
Coral-algal partnerships have endured numerous climate change events in their long history, and at least some are likely to survive modern-day global warming as well, suggests an international team of scientists.
Penn State hydrologist Elizabeth Boyer honored by American Geophysical Union
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Elizabeth W. Boyer, associate professor of water resources in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, has been honored with the 2018 Witherspoon Lecture Award by the American Geophysical Union.