Center for Biodevices expands scope for higher impact
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Since its inception in 2020, the Center for Biodevices has united Penn State’s interdisciplinary research in engineering, science and medicine, accelerating innovation by creating a dynamic community focusing on the advancement of biodevices across the medical field. Recently named the director of the Center for Biodevices, Scott Medina, William and Wendy Korb Early Career Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, is expanding the center’s impact beyond medicine to encompass agricultural and environmental applications.
New director expands Center for Biodevices scope for higher impact
| psu.edu
Since its inception in 2020, the Center for Biodevices has united Penn State’s interdisciplinary research in engineering, science and medicine, accelerating innovation by creating a dynamic community focusing on the advancement of biodevices across the medical field. Recently named the director of the Center for Biodevices, Scott Medina, William and Wendy Korb Early Career Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, is expanding the center’s impact beyond medicine to encompass agricultural and environmental applications.
Engineer to present lecture on topology, design innovation at Stuckeman
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The Department of Architecture in the Stuckeman School will continue its fall lecture series by virtually hosting Robin Oval, structural engineer and researcher from the École des Ponts, Paris, at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be livestreamed via Zoom in the Stuckeman Family Building Jury Space where attendees are encouraged to watch.
Q&A: Bacteria research could be a gut-punch to inflammatory bowel disease
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With a $450,000, three-year U.S. National Science Foundation grant and equivalent funding from the Binational Science Foundation in Israel, an international team of researchers co-led by Penn State Professor Thomas Wood will investigate the role E. coli plays in the gut and how it may affect intestinal inflammation.
Key indicator signals nutrient distribution in chicken feed, researchers report
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In poultry houses where broiler chickens are grown, feed is delivered through long feed lines, which are mechanized systems that automatically deliver feed from storage silos to feeding pans. Nutrients becoming unevenly distributed can lead to inconsistent feed quality, which can affect bird growth and health. To help the poultry industry determine the extent of this problem, researchers at Penn State conducted a study of how nutrient distribution affects broiler chicken performance, processing yields and bone mineralization.
Salty soil, scrappy bugs and shared ideas drive graduate student’s research
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Penn State doctoral candidate Sahil Pawar studies how environmental stressors, primarily salty soil — a problem often overlooked in agriculture — affect the relationships between plants and insects.
Penn State undergraduates reflect on Malawi fieldwork with ECODRYFOREST project
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For two Penn State undergraduates, July 2025 brought an experience far from campus classrooms. Geography majors Jesse Ehrlich and Cadence O’Brien spent a month in Malawi as part of the ECODRYFOREST project, a U.S. National Science Foundation–funded effort to study the ecological and social outcomes of landscape restoration in Southern Africa.
Q&A: Could liquid metal be used to contain the power of stars?
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The same reaction that fuels stars, known as nuclear fusion, could be used to produce a clean, powerful and abundant source of energy, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which recently awarded $128 million to seven teams researching how to harness the reaction.
Schreyer Institute names leaders for AI-Aware Instruction
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Sixteen Penn State faculty have been named leaders for AI-Aware Instruction by the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence.
Good vibrations: Ceramic material harvests electricity from waste energy
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Some tech companies have already begun to harvest electricity from waste vibrations to power lights and recharge batteries using a class of piezoelectric ceramic materials, which emit electrical charges when stepped on or manipulated. Now, a team led by materials scientists at Penn State has expanded these early efforts of energy harvesting by improving the structure and chemistry of a piezoelectric material made of potassium sodium niobate, or KNN.
Fox Graduate School accepting submissions for 'Three Minute Thesis' until Dec. 5
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Graduate students are encouraged to submit three-minute videos recapping the main points of their research to the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School's 2025-26 Three Minute Thesis competition until Dec. 5. Participants will compete for cash prizes of up to $1,000 and could receive national recognition for their work.
Amid renewable-energy boom, study explores options for electricity market
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To support the clean-energy transition, the process of communities shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, a professor at Penn State participated in a study of 11 proposals to adjust electricity market designs.