Lecture to explore how demography influences environmental research and policies
| psu.edu
Penn State’s 18th annual De Jong Lecture in Social Demography, “Reflections on Necessary, Next Generation Population & Environment Research Agendas,” will be presented by Sara Curran on Oct. 4 from 9 a.m. to noon in the HUB Robeson Center room 233 B and virtually.
Mentions
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Emily Pakhtigian
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Sara Curran
Sara Curran -
Aubrey Dorélien
Aubrey Dorélien
IEE research award program opens call for nominations
| psu.edu
Nominations for the Institute of Energy and the Environment's new research award program are being accepted now through Oct. 6.
Mentions
Science communication panel discussion on Oct. 4 to aid researchers
| psu.edu
The Institute of Energy and the Environment will hold a science communication panel discussion titled “Science Communication: How to Connect, Get Noticed, and Get Funded” at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 4, in 134 HUB-Robeson Center.
Mentions
Penn State’s Radiocarbon Lab helps move Ukrainian archaeological project forward
| psu.edu
For more than a decade, Thomas Harper, adjunct lecturer in Penn State’s Department of Anthropology, has collaborated with colleagues in Ukraine to examine the movements of prehistoric agricultural communities across Eastern Europe. Recently, the group shed new light on that timeframe with radiocarbon measurements made by the accelerator mass spectrometer in the Radiocarbon Laboratory of Penn State’s Institute of Energy and the Environment.
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Laurie Eccles
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Douglas J. Kennett
Douglas J. KennettFormer Professor and Department Head, Department of Anthropology
Institute renamed to reflect holistic approach to energy, environmental research
| psu.edu
The newly named Institute of Energy and the Environment has rebranded to better communicate its current structure and collaborative approach to solving energy and environmental challenges.
Mentions
How will carbon chemistry change in warmer and drier Rocky Mountain streams?
With drought in the West and decades of declining snowpack in the Rockies, there is less and less water in Rocky Mountain streams. Although water quantity is being discussed, drier, warmer conditions are also impacting water quality.
Authors
Climate change strains Pa. farmers with extreme heat, floods, droughts
| lehighvalleylive.com
Hugh McPherson, a fifth-generation farmer in southeastern York County, has stopped growing the perennial favorite McIntosh apple and has switched to varieties that fare better in warmer climates. This article quotes Erica Smithwick, a distinguished professor of geography.
Mentions
'Growing Impact' podcast discusses fungi as a possible plastic waste solution
| psu.edu
Season 4 of the “Growing Impact” podcast opens with an episode that dives into plastic waste, specifically plastic film, and a potential biological solution of upcycling the material with fungi.
Mentions
Seed Grant Projects
Growing Impact: Upcycling plastics with fungi
Plastic is everywhere. It's part of our homes, our clothing, our vehicles. It wraps our food, and it's part of virtually every technology. It really is an amazing, versatile, and affordable material. And a highly used plastic is plastic film—as in garbage bags, grocery bags, and plastic wrap. Generally, plastic film is a one-time use material. After that one use, it's usually thrown into a landfill, which comes to nearly 6 million tons every year. Enter our team of researchers who found inspiration from a Netflix documentary. That inspiration? The amazing fungus. Now the team is exploring if fungus could help us manage our plastic waste economically.
Guests
Seed Grant Projects
Microplastics may increase riverbed sediment movement, erosion
| psu.edu
An international team of researchers have confirmed that microplastics impact how sand travels along riverbeds, which could increase riverbed erosion and have effects on river habitats.
Mentions
Striking gold with molecular mystery solution for potential clean energy
| psu.edu
With some luck and a lot of work, Chandler said, a Penn State-led research team has discovered how and why hydrogen spillover occurs and provided the first quantitative measurement of the process. They published their findings in Nature Catalysis.
Mentions
Penn State professor to lead DOE climate study in Baltimore area
| arm.gov
An upcoming field campaign supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will study surface-atmosphere interactions around Baltimore, Maryland, to see how they influence the city’s climate. Ken Davis, professor of atmospheric and climate science at Penn State, is the principal investigator for this new campaign, called the Coast-Urban-Rural Atmospheric Gradient Experiment (CoURAGE). Campaign operations are expected to start as early as October 2024 and run through September 2025.
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Kenneth Davis
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Lisa Iulo
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Natasha Miles
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John Peters
John Peters -
Scott Richardson
