September 11, 2024
Camryn Hornbaker, a Penn State senior majoring in forest ecosystem management, was part of a wildland firefighting crew that spent two weeks supporting firefighting efforts in eastern Montana.
August 26, 2024
Several faculty members and graduate students associated with Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences recently received awards at the 70th annual North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Conference in Wooster, Ohio.
August 26, 2024
Two recent studies involving Penn State researchers shed light on the ecological importance of red-backed salamanders and confirmed that proactive measures could prevent costly impacts from a wildlife disease spreading across Europe that has not yet reached North America.
August 22, 2024
A bottle of water sampled from a lake or river can reveal what fish, amphibians insects and bacteria are present, thanks to environmental DNA, the genetic material shed by organisms. This way of measuring transforms scientists’ ability to determine the extent of aquatic life in various water bodies, according to a team led by Daniel Allen, assistant professor of aquatic ecology in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
August 19, 2024
Ten Penn State students, including nine associated with the College of Agricultural Sciences, have been awarded predoctoral fellowships by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, securing over $1.4 million in total funding.
August 16, 2024
Christopher Scott, a researcher with more than three decades’ experience in international and domestic water, food and energy policy, has been named an associate director of the Institute of Energy and the Environment at Penn State.
August 8, 2024
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences offers unique opportunities for hands-on learning, such as the soil judging team, which provides students interested in soil science with a way to develop field interpretation skills while having fun.
July 24, 2024
There will be a lot going on in and around the J.D. Harrington Crops, Soils and Conservation Building at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days, Aug. 13-15. Exhibits and activities will feature crop management, renewable energy, conservation education and planting demonstrations, as well as the signature hay show.
July 15, 2024
The discovery of a hybrid population of poplar trees in western Wyoming has provided insight into how natural hybridization informs the evolution of many plant species, according to a team led by Penn State researchers. They also said their discovery, which was published in the journal Molecular Ecology, suggests that genetic exchange between species may be critical for adaptation to environmental change.
June 26, 2024
The Himalayan ShePower project, created by graduate students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, is designed to help smallholder farmers in Nepal earn extra income by producing paper from rhino waste.
June 26, 2024
When Sloan Householder, of Richmond, Virginia, decided to pursue higher education in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, she was understandably nervous about navigating a large university. A first-year seminar class created with first-generation students like her in mind made all the difference during Householder’s first year.
June 13, 2024
Fire can help shape ecosystems, and after a century of suppressing naturally occurring fire that has thrown forests out balance, some states — including Pennsylvania — are using controlled burns to help manage forests on public lands. Now, a new four-state study by a team of Penn State researchers shows that many private landowners in the Keystone State value controlled burns and are willing to pay for them on their woodlands, too.
June 5, 2024
Mary Ann Bruns, professor of soil microbiology and biogeochemistry in the College of Agricultural Sciences, received the Commonwealth Award from Penn State’s One Health Microbiome Center on May 30.
May 21, 2024
The Sustainable Labs Program provides educational support and networking opportunities to labs across Penn State, helping them implement changes to become more energy and resource efficient. Actions taken by participating labs are estimated to result in over $155,000 in savings for the University and reduce about 490 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.
May 16, 2024
Xialing Zhao, a doctoral candidate in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, participated in the college's first-of-its-kind summer fellowship pairing Penn State graduate students with industry mentors to help students navigate the transition from academia to careers in industry.
May 3, 2024
The invasive insect emerald ash borer is killing ash trees at an unprecedented rate in the United States, and now five North American species of ash are considered critically endangered, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. But a small percentage are surviving, and research by Forest Service scientists suggests that those trees may hold the key for saving the species. In an effort to unlock the answer, researchers in the Louis W. Schatz Center for Tree Molecular Genetics at Penn State are working with The Nature Conservancy and the USDA Forest Service to conduct genomic analysis of range-wide collections of green ash, white ash and black ash.
April 29, 2024
Three Penn Staters have been selected as Goldwater Scholars for 2024-25: Nate Carey, Bridget Reheard and Mabel Tong. Goldwater Scholars are selected for their potential as leaders in the fields of natural sciences, mathematics and engineering.
April 18, 2024
Six Penn State faculty members in areas ranging from neuropharmacology to computer architecture have been elected to the 2023 cohort of fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. This year, AAAS recognized a total of 502 scientists, engineers and innovators with this lifetime honor, bestowed by their peers, for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.
April 18, 2024
Penn State Climate Consortium announced 11 workshops designed to create and implement climate change solutions through its Climate Solutions Accelerator program.
April 10, 2024
Penn State undergraduates Nate Carey, Bridget Reheard and Mabel Tong have earned the 2024 Goldwater Scholarship, a national award that recognizes undergraduates who show exceptional potential as leaders.
March 18, 2024
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has recognized Emma Chaplin, a second-year student majoring in environmental resource management in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, as a Future Leader in Agriculture.
March 13, 2024
Forests and streams are separate but linked ecosystems, existing side by side, with energy and nutrients crossing their porous borders and flowing back and forth between them. For example, leaves fall from trees, enter streams, decay and feed aquatic insects. Those insects emerge from the waters and are eaten by birds and bats. An international team led by Penn State researchers has now found that these ecosystems appear to keep the energy exchanges in balance — a finding that the scientists called surprising.
March 1, 2024
Undergraduate students from all campuses and majors can now apply for a Student Engagement Network Grant to support a variety of engagement experiences during Maymester and summer 2024. Engagement experiences can take many forms and grants of $1,000 to $2,000 can help students cover many kinds of costs.
February 16, 2024
An often-overlooked water plant that can double its biomass in two days, capture nitrogen from the air — making it a valuable green fertilizer — and be fed to poultry and livestock could serve as life-saving food for humans in the event of a catastrophe or disaster, a new study led by Penn State researchers suggests.
February 15, 2024
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is affecting human lives and the environment. Penn State Extension will explore these impacts during its webinar series, “The War in Ukraine: Impacts on the People, Forests, and Environment,” scheduled for noon to 1:30 p.m. Fridays, beginning March 1 and continuing through May 3.
February 7, 2024
For the first time, Penn State students could experience Antarctica’s wonders through an embedded course, “Antarctica: Human Impacts on a Fragile Environment,” offered this past fall.
January 30, 2024
On a brisk afternoon in December, students in a forestry course in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences ventured into a wooded field on the University Park campus, eager to discover woody plant specimens and claim bragging rights in the second annual Dendro Cup competition. Designed by instructors Eric Burkhart and Calvin Norman, the competition evaluates the expertise gained by students in the morning and afternoon sections of their fall semester field dendrology course.
January 29, 2024
Six Penn State researchers who were nominated by the Penn State community for their collaborative, interdisciplinary research efforts were recognized with Institute of Energy and the Environment’s Research Awards.
January 17, 2024
Funded by a $650,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a team of forest ecologists and social scientists in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will conduct research aimed at helping owners of small- to medium-sized forest tracts manage their woodlands for ecosystem services they deem desirable.
January 16, 2024
A team comprised of faculty from five departments in the Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences and the Department of Biology in the Eberly College of Science, funded by a $262,500 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has created a novel program to train doctoral degree students to conduct interdisciplinary research on the relationship between soils, plants and consumers.
