Penn State Energy and Environment News

Geography Coffee Hour to explore colonialism and Indigenous identity on Oct. 25

| psu.edu

The Penn State Department of Geography will host Meredith Alberta Palmer, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and the Department of Indigenous Studies at the University at Buffalo, for its fall 2024 Coffee Hour lecture series. 

Wildfires are coming to the Southeast. Can landowners mitigate the risk in time?

| salon.com

The benefits of controlled burns are well established, and the practice, along with other Indigenous land management techniques, has seen a resurgence in the West. This article mentions Penn State research.

Penn State Climate Consortium seeks workshop proposals for 2025 Accelerator

| psu.edu

The Penn State Climate Consortium has announced its 2025 call for level one workshop proposals for its Climate Solutions Accelerator, which seeks to establish and/or advance research teams aligned with the consortium's themes. The deadline for workshop proposals is Nov. 18.

Penn State’s research expenditures reach record $1.337 billion

| psu.edu

Penn State’s total research expenditures reached a record high of $1.337 billion in fiscal year 2023-24, an 8% increase or $99 million jump from the previous year, bringing the research expenditures of external and internal funding to the largest total in the University’s history. For the first time in Penn State’s history, external funding from sponsored grants and contracts surpassed $1 billion — a nearly 11% increase over the last fiscal year.  

Andrew Read leads conversation with community on research enterprise

| psu.edu

Penn State Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Read recently hosted a conversation with the community on the University’s research enterprise. It was an opportunity for Penn State faculty, staff and students to learn more about current initiatives to strengthen the University’s research enterprise and engage with Read about the challenges and opportunities Penn State faces in today’s research landscape.

Hemingway, after the hurricane

| theconversation.com

In 1935, a hurricane devastated the Florida Keys, killing over 400 people, many of them World War I veterans. Ernest Hemingway joined the relief efforts – and became enraged at government inaction.

From Catwoman to Han Solo, newly discovered wasps named after famous thieves

| psu.edu

Twenty-two new species of gall wasps have been identified and named for the first time, thanks to new research led by a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences graduate student.

$5 million gift endows directorship of Behrend’s School of Engineering

| psu.edu

A $5 million endowment and estate gift has created Penn State Behrend's first named school directorship: The James R. Meehl Director of the School of Engineering. The fund also will support Behrend's School of Science.

Penn State professor awarded UNESCO Janusz Korczak Jubilee Medal

| psu.edu

Mark Brennan, professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State, was recently awarded the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Janusz Korczak Jubilee Medal at a special ceremony in Poland.

Invasive flathead catfish impacting Susquehanna’s food chain, researchers find

| psu.edu

Flathead catfish — native to the Mississippi River basin — were first detected in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania in 2002, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In the two decades since then, the invasive species has spread throughout the river basin. The impact of the large predator on the waterway’s food webs and ecology was unknown, but now a team including researchers from Penn State is beginning to understand what Susquehanna flatheads are eating and how their presence is affecting native aquatic species in the river.

Penn State named site for World Food Forum Youth Food Lab

| psu.edu

Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has been selected to host a prestigious World Food Forum Youth Food Lab, a key initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to address global food security and climate change.

Climate Consortium awards projects to drive climate solutions across key sectors

| psu.edu

The Penn State Climate Consortium has awarded funding to four research projects that look to put promising climate solutions into action through interdisciplinary partnerships.