November 3, 2025
A novel technique developed by researchers at Penn State has revealed that activity matters more than abundancy for which soil microbes can help plants with nutrient uptake and disease resistance.
October 27, 2025
In the age of social media, the battle against invasive species in nature is increasingly unfolding online. A new study analyzing over 500,000 tweets posted between 2006 and 2021 found that that mammals, especially urban pests like cats, pigs and squirrels, dominated online conversation with aquatic habitats and island ecosystems as frequent backdrops for viral posts.
October 16, 2025
Through a $50,000 gift and the support of her extended family, including her nephew, Joe Walker, Maureen Bail has created the Helen M., Ignatius J., and Joseph A. Bail Scholarship in Forest Ecosystem Management.
October 7, 2025
New research conducted by ethnobiologists — scientists who study the relationships between people and their environments — at Penn State revealed that harvesters collect a surprisingly wide variety of wild mushroom species in the region, primarily for food and medicinal purposes. In addition to foraging varied fungi, the researchers found that harvesters built communities focused on knowledge sharing and expansion.
October 7, 2025
New research conducted by ethnobiologists — scientists who study the relationships between people and their environments — at Penn State revealed that harvesters collect a surprisingly wide variety of wild mushroom species in the region, primarily for food and medicinal purposes. In addition to foraging varied fungi, the researchers found that harvesters built communities focused on knowledge sharing and expansion.
October 6, 2025
Carrie Laboski, a Penn State alumna and research leader for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service’s Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, has been named head of the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, effective Nov. 3.
October 1, 2025
Caroline Hunter, a senior majoring in environmental resource management in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, had the opportunity to grow her knowledge of environmental policy during a summer internship with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
September 22, 2025
The Rock Ethics Institute and the Maurice K. Goddard Chair in Forestry and Environmental Resource Conservation are now accepting applications for the 2026–27 Faculty Fellows program. The program offers a one-course release from teaching during a single academic year to support Penn State faculty with ethics-related research projects.
September 22, 2025
Six Penn State students and recent alumni have been nominated for the 2026 Rhodes and Marshall scholarships, two of the most prestigious and competitive awards available to U.S. students. Nominees will submit their materials to the national review committees, and finalists will be invited to interview in November.
September 12, 2025
Freshwater tidal marshes trap large amounts of diverse plastics and the most hazardous polymers — such as the large molecules found in single-use plastics — are posing significant environmental dangers, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State.
September 8, 2025
On the heels of the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Penn State faculty will host the Goddard Forum 2025 — Flood Risk in the Mid-Atlantic, with the aim of enhancing collaboration and engagement in flood risk management.
September 4, 2025
Flathead catfish, opportunistic predators native to the Mississippi River basin, have the potential to decimate native and recreational fisheries, disrupting ecosystems in rivers where they become established after their introduction or invasion from a nearby river drainage. A team of researchers from Penn State, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission assessed how flatheads are affecting the food web and energy flow in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania.
August 27, 2025
Penn State graduate students conducted research on Beech Creek’s abandoned mine drainage, using community input and educational outreach to promote awareness and restoration efforts.
August 22, 2025
Birds of a feather flock together, often traveling over enormous distances that can cross international borders. This can make managing and conserving critical populations of migratory birds extremely difficult, according to scientists at Penn State leading a team working to improve the understanding of migration movement at regional, continental and global scales. The team recently received a $848,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to support their work, which focuses on integrating two tracking methods into one powerful tool called an Integrated Movement Model.
August 15, 2025
Bridget Reheard, a Lancaster, Pennsylvania, native, has been named the student marshal for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ (EMS) summer 2025 commencement ceremony. A Penn State Millennium Scholar and Schreyer Scholar, Reheard will graduate with two bachelor of science degrees: one in geosciences from EMS and another in wildlife and fisheries science from the College of Agricultural Sciences.
July 22, 2025
Research in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences aimed at helping amphibians fight fungal disease by strengthening their natural defenses has received a $120,000 grant from the Morris Animal Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to advancing animal health through scientific research.
July 7, 2025
A wildlife behavioral ecologist at Penn State is part of a multi-institution team that received funding from Scialog: Neurobiology and Changing Ecosystems, a international three-year initiative that aims to spark new science exploring neurobiological responses to rapidly changing environments.
July 2, 2025
In early June, Bogotá, Colombia, became the center of global páramo research as faculty and students from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences joined forces with international partners to host the landmark Páramos 2025 Symposium.
July 2, 2025
Leading North American forest genetics researchers, professionals and students joined together at Penn State for the 2025 Forest Genetics Conference, where they shared ideas and made connections to enhance research dedicated to preserving forests.
June 27, 2025
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences hosted the fourth annual Broadening Extension through Student Training, or BEST, program in May, welcoming its largest group yet. For the first time, this year’s cohort included students and extension professionals from North Carolina State University.
June 24, 2025
Faculty members Jill Hamilton, Wenrui Hao and Gustavo Nader have been named the 2025-26 Huck Leadership Fellows. As fellows, they will take part in a yearlong, high-level professional development program.
June 12, 2025
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and the Pennsylvania Forest Products Association co-hosted the 2025 Forest Products Equipment and Technology Exposition, June 6-7 at Penn State's Ag Progress Days site at Rock Springs. The college's dean, Troy Ott, was on hand to support the partnership among Penn State, the state's forest products industry, forest landowners and government agencies.
June 3, 2025
The key to trees' ability to adapt to varied growing conditions and, ultimately, their survival, may reside in the complex genetic makeup of replacement trees, according to forest geneticists tasked with reintroducing tree species. A study of one of the rarest pine trees in the world, Torrey pine, conducted by a team including Penn State scientists, has yielded what the researchers called valuable insight into the value of genetic diversity and the importance of ensuring locally adapted diversity is maintained for restoration.
May 9, 2025
Pennsylvania’s nearly $22 billion forest products industry will be the focus of the 2025 Forest Products Equipment and Technology Exposition, to be held June 6-7 at Penn State's Ag Progress Days site at Rock Springs.
May 8, 2025
A debate continues among scientists over whether tree composition in forests in eastern North American historically have been influenced more by climate or by cultural burning, which is the intentional and controlled use of fire by Indigenous people to manage their environment. Now, a new study of southern New England forests by a team including a researcher from Penn State lends credence to the cultural burning hypothesis, suggesting that fire-tolerant vegetation — oak, hickory and pine — were significantly more abundant near Indigenous settlements over the last 5,000 years.
April 29, 2025
Graduate students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences were recognized for their accomplishments during the 2025 Graduate Student Award Celebration, hosted by the Office for Research and Graduate Education and held recently on the University Park campus.
April 25, 2025
Despite a long history of traditional medicinal use in the United States, the collection, consumption and efficacy of the peculiar forest plant aptly named ghost pipe, scientific name Monotropa uniflora, remains a mystery. Now, with social media and the internet driving a resurgence in the harvest and economic trade of the parasitic species — which appears strangely white because it is devoid of chlorophyl — a research team from Penn State has taken the first step toward documenting its new status.
April 25, 2025
Penn State Sustainability has announced the 2025 recipients of its sustainability awards. These accolades, including the John Roe Sustainability Impact Award, the Student Sustainability Advisory Council Tree Award and the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium Campus Sustainability Champion Award, commend the extraordinary contributions of students in spearheading sustainability initiatives.
April 22, 2025
Seeing the “huge juxtaposition” between streams flowing near her childhood home in Lancaster County impaired by pollution from intensive agriculture and the seemingly pristine creeks tumbling down the forested mountains around her family’s cabin in Mifflin County led Bridget Reheard to study how contaminants in waters affect aquatic organisms and aspirations for a career working to protect natural resources.
April 1, 2025
On the latest episode of “Growing Impact,” a team of Penn State researchers discusses how their seed grant project aims to address nitrous oxide emissions from the agricultural sector.
