<p>Batteries power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles, with their performance hinging on the critical interface between the electrode and electrolyte. Penn State and industry researchers have developed a method to observe this interface at a higher resolution, which could potentially reveal new ways to improve battery efficiency and lifespan.  </p>

Revamping an old technique to see battery design in a new way

<p>A compound found in African wormwood — a plant used medicinally for thousands of years to treat many types of illness — could be effective against tuberculosis, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State.</p>

Plant compound used in traditional medicine may help fight tuberculosis

Upcoming events supporting graduate student success, Oct. 2-8

<p>Zita Oravecz, associate professor of human development and family studies in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development, is leading a four-year, $3.1 million National Institute of Aging-funded study to study the early signs of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias that may appear approximately 20 years before an official diagnosis.</p>

$3.1M grant to fund study on early signs and diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

Industry job search workshop series to highlight tips for graduate students

<p>Rates of sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) increased during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the immediate pre-pandemic period, according to new research led by a team from the Penn State College of Medicine. The pronounced increase in SUID cases correlated with a resurgence of seasonal respiratory viruses, particularly RSV, suggesting that the shift in SUID rates may be associated with altered infectious disease transmission.</p>

Rates of sudden unexpected infant death changed during the COVID-19 pandemic

<p>Beginning Oct. 8, Penn State University Libraries will offer three free workshops for students and employees on maps, GIS, aerial imagery and data visualization. No previous knowledge of maps or GIS is required.</p>
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Libraries to offer fall workshops on maps and GIS topics

<p>Using high<strong>-</strong>speed X-ray imaging, a team of researchers led by Christopher Kube, associate professor of engineering science and of acoustics at Penn State, captured footage of a cross-section of liquid metal as it cooled. Their results confirmed longstanding hypotheses in the field that through local pressure changes, ultrasonic vibrations encourage air bubbles to increase in number, enlarge, migrate to the surface of a melt pool and pop — increasing the quality of the finished product.</p>
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Bubbling up: Uncovering melt pool dynamics in metal manufacturing

<p>The sixth annual Penn State Health Administration Virtual Case Competition will take place Oct. 21-24 via Zoom. The competition is designed to help students in health administration, health policy, public health or related fields develop public speaking skills, gain experience working in teams, practice problem solving, engage in strategic thinking, practice and demonstrate professionalism, build networks and gain leadership experience.</p>

Health administration case competition to challenge students across the U.S.

<p>Recreation, park and tourism management researchers at Penn State conducted a survey of 267 households near Mkomazi National Park in northern Tanzania and found that food security was much more important than financial or educational security in motivating people to engage in poaching or illegal grazing in the park.</p>

Lack of food — not money — drives poaching in East African national parks

<p>To better guide farmers managing nitrogen in the soil, a team of Penn State agricultural scientists conducted a new study on dairy manure management strategies for ecosystem services in no-till crop systems. In findings recently published in Agronomy Journal, they report a new strategy that achieves multiple conservation goals while maintaining corn yield: injecting manure into a growing cover crop in early spring.</p>

Injecting manure into growing cover crops can cut pollution, support corn crops

<p>Using high-entropy materials, a team led by Penn State scientists created more efficient thermoelectric materials than previously possible, and the advancement could someday help make the technology as efficient as other renewable energy sources like solar. </p>

Waste heat to green energy: Approach boosts thermoelectric generator efficiency

<p>Praharsh Patel, doctoral candidate in energy, environmental, and food economics at Penn State, will give the talk, “Behavioral responses to two-part tariffs: evidence from the introduction of volumetric water pricing,” at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 25, in 157 Hosler Building at Penn State University Park.</p>

Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy seminar series continues Sept. 25

<p>Penn State researchers have developed a new nanoparticle that can prevent mineral buildup in oil extraction equipment and stabilize a commonly used emulsion, or liquid mixture. This development has the potential to make the oil extraction processes more efficient and less harmful to the environment, according to the team.</p>

New material prevents mineral buildup in equipment handling water-oil mixtures

Upcoming events supporting graduate student success, Sept. 25-Oct. 1

<p>Findings from an international team of researchers, including those from Penn State, suggest that Earth's natural forces could substantially reduce the melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and its impact on rising sea levels, but only if carbon emissions are swiftly reduced in the coming decades. By the same token, if emissions continue on the current rising trajectory, Antarctic ice loss could lead to more sea level rise in the future than previously thought, according to the researchers.</p>

Earth beneath ice sheet key to predicting sea level rise from warming climate

<p>A team of academic and enterprise researchers, co-led by scientists at Penn State, has developed a synthesis process to produce a “rust-resistant” coating with additional properties ideal for creating faster, more durable electronics.   </p>

Water-free manufacturing approach could help advance 2D electronics integration

<p>More than 46 million people in the U.S. suffered from substance use disorders and more than 100,000 died by overdose in 2001, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. To address this crisis, recovery community centers have emerged in cities across the U.S. A recent study by Penn State researchers has provided evidence that attending these centers support different aspects of their members’ wellbeing and recovery from substance use disorder.</p>

Recovery community centers linked to support factors for substance use recovery

Graduate application workshops scheduled for September, October

<p>Representatives from Penn State’s Department of Applied Linguistics and the Education University of Hong Kong recently gathered at Penn State to sign a memorandum of understanding establishing a partnership between the two entities.</p>

Applied linguistics program forges partnership with Hong Kong university

<p>People are 31.6% more likely to report higher feelings of safety in white light than amber light in nighttime outdoor settings like national parks, but they are willing to reduce lighting once educated about light pollution, according to new findings from researchers in the Penn State Department of Recreation, Park, and Tourism Management.</p>

Shedding light on how to make national park visitors feel safe at night

<p>Penn State has selected Hanover Research to aid with gathering data and providing suggestions to Penn State on the Academic Portfolio and Program Review (APPR) initiative. </p>

Academic Portfolio and Program Review team announce selection of external consultant

<p>Graduate students looking to highlight their scholarly achievements, compete for monetary awards and recognition, and hone their research communication skills are now able to register for the second annual University-wide Three Minute Thesis competition. The deadline for competitor and community judge registration is Oct. 25.  </p>

Graduate students can now register for annual Three Minute Thesis Competition

Upcoming events supporting graduate student success, Sept. 18-25

University Libraries to offer fall workshops on statistical data analysis

<p>Penn State Eberly College of Science graduate students Šárka Blahnik and Emma Steinebronn have been honored with the inaugural Be More Lovisa Graduate Student Scholarship in Physics. The award honors the life of Lovisa Arnesson-Cronhamre, a graduate student at Penn State who planned to transfer to physics to pursue her passion.</p>

Two physics students honored with Be More Lovisa Graduate Student Scholarship

<p>Family and friends of former Penn State graduate student Lovisa Arnesson-Cronhamre have established the Be More Lovisa Graduate Student Scholarship in Physics in the Eberly College of Science.</p>

New graduate scholarship to honor Lovisa Arnesson-Cronhamre

<p>Households were more likely to relax a vaping ban if someone in the family vaped or smoked or if their teen did not know that there was a vaping ban, according to a new study led by Penn State researchers.  </p>

Understanding what helps families with teens maintain household vaping bans

<p>A new experimental method allows researchers to dissect how certain proteins, called pioneer factors, can bind to selective regions of the genome that are inaccessible to other DNA binding proteins. The approach was developed by a team of researchers at Penn State.</p>

Genomic pioneers collaborate to access the inaccessible

<p>David Rábago, MD, has been named co-director of Penn State CTSI’s Translational Science Fellowship (TSF) program. The TSF program seeks to identify and develop promising medical and doctoral graduate students, with a wide variety of research interests, and across departments and campuses, who are interested in translational research.</p>

Co-director of Translational Science Fellowship named

<p>From yoga and meditation to teaching tips and skills for international students, graduate students are invited to participate in a variety of virtual and in-person opportunities that will provide support and guidance both inside and outside of the classroom this upcoming week.</p>

Graduate Student Event Digest, Sept. 10-17

<p>The Penn State College of IST offers nine integrated graduate-undergraduate degree (IUG) programs. Vinayak Jayaprakash, a fifth-year IUG student pursuing a master's degree in informatics, hopes to encourage more students to follow his path.</p>

Internships and IUG program key to IST student’s career goals

<p>Graduate students who want to share their perspectives on graduate education at Penn State — and connect with graduate education leaders in an informal setting — are invited to join Levon T. Esters, vice provost for graduate education and dean of the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School. Each monthly chat is co-hosted by a different college, and students from all programs can attend any discussion.</p>

Graduate students invited to coffee chats with the Fox Graduate School Dean

<p>The Penn State School of International Affairs (SIA) welcomed the class of 2026 to the Lewis Katz Building on Aug. 23 for an in-depth orientation that included essential academic and administrative information as well as time for community-building and camaraderie. Through the day’s events, students build a foundation for success at SIA and beyond as they begin their journey toward a global career.</p>

Penn State School of International Affairs welcomes class of 2026

<p>Josh Conroy, a third-year master of architecture student in the Department of Architecture, Stuckeman School, was named the winner of the department's 2024 Corbelletti Design Charrette. More than 210 posters were submitted for the competition this year, which marked the 35th year of the architecture charrette.</p>

Corbelletti design award goes to architecture master’s degree student

<p>Ram Neupane, a doctoral student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, received a $10,000 research award given by the Storkan-Hanes-McCaslin Foundation.</p>

College of Ag Sciences doctoral student wins national foundation award

<p>Penn State art history doctoral candidate Kyle Marini, who was recently named a 2024 McNeil Center Fellow and a 2025 Marilynn Thoma Predoctoral Fellow of the Art of the Spanish Americas, applies interdisciplinary approach to reconstruct Andean art’s ancient past. </p>

Art history doctoral candidate works to reconstruct Andean art’s ancient past

<p>Twelve Penn State alumni will be honored for their outstanding professional accomplishments and named Alumni Fellows, the most prestigious designation given by the Penn State Alumni Association.</p>

Twelve Penn Staters honored with 2024 Alumni Fellow Award

<p>Using butterfly and shrimp sight as inspiration, researchers in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science developed a metasurface, which uses tiny, antenna-like nanostructures to tailor light and encode the spectral and polarization information of a captured image. They also developed a neural network to decode the images.</p>

Seeing like a butterfly: Optical invention enhances camera capabilities

<p>Seventeen graduate students from Penn State have been awarded research fellowships and six undergraduate students from the commonwealth have been awarded scholarships for 2024 from the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium.</p>

NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant announces fellowship, scholarship winners for 2024

<p>LionGlass, a new family of glass engineered by researchers at Penn State, has secured its first corporate partner, a move toward bringing the ecofriendly alternative to standard soda lime silicate glass to market.</p>

Ecofriendly glass invented at Penn State secures partner for product development

<p>Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) staff recently represented Penn State at the annual Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing conference. Held in Rhode Island from July 21-25, the event brought together researchers, industry partners, discipline experts and students in a high-performance computing forum. Attendees from ICDS presented their research abstracts to full rooms and Jeff Nucciarone, ICDS RISE engineer, won the Best Abstract-Student award.</p>

ICDS engineers present, win best abstract award at national conference

<p>Older individuals are at the greatest risk during heat waves, and older women die more often than older men, a new study by researchers at Penn State found. It was not previously known whether this was due to physiological differences or population differences. The study found that older women are at greater risk than older men and that middle-aged women are as vulnerable as older men.</p>

Older women more vulnerable to heat than their male peers, researchers find

<p>Graduate students seeking to improve their research communication and presentation skills are invited to register for an online, faculty-led research communication workshop series. Hosted by the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School, the series will be offered three times in September and October. </p>

Workshops aim to help graduate students present complex research to the public

<p>Jennifer Crispell, director of alumni relations at the Penn State Smeal College of Business, has announced the addition of six alumni to the college’s Alumni Society Board.</p>

Penn State Smeal adds six members to Alumni Society Board

<p>As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 14 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.   </p>

Sending a 'We Are!' to these Penn Staters — Aug. 27

STEM Libraries announce fall 2024 events for graduate, undergraduate students

<p>Seventeen students pursuing doctoral degrees took part in the immersive and interdisciplinary International Geobiology Course that explores how microbial life and the Earth have shaped each other. Students conducted research in central Italy and New York’s Fayetteville Green Lake before traveling to Penn State to use the University’s extensive R1-ranked research lab facilities to analyze their findings.</p>

Grad students hone field, lab geobiology skills in global course