<p>Jess Mruzik, an outside hitter on the Penn State women’s volleyball team, and Tyler Warren, a tight end with the Nittany Lions football team, have been selected as the 2025 recipients of the Ernest B. McCoy Memorial Award.</p>

Two Penn State student-athletes honored with 2025 Ernest B. McCoy Award

<p>Emmanuel Kraft, who is earning consecutive undergraduate degrees in political science and communication arts and sciences, as well as a master’s degree in public policy at Penn State University Park, and Sean Martin, a junior majoring in digital media, arts, and technology at Penn State Behrend, are the recipients of the 2025 Jackson Lethbridge Tolerance Award.</p>

Two undergraduates recognized with Jackson Lethbridge Tolerance Award

<p>Findings from a new study from researchers in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies suggest that relationship closeness between couples where one person has chronic back pain led to more marital satisfaction on days when the couple felt closer; however, on emotionally close days, the partner of the pain-affected person also experienced more distress.</p>

Closeness may cause distress in relationships affected by chronic pain

<p>The public is invited to a new exhibit at Penn State Wilkes-Barre’s Friedman Art Gallery. “Empty and Full: Series &amp; Introduction to Self-Painted Korean Traditional Art Pieces” by artist and doctoral student Tae Hee Kim ("Ajin") is open April 2-30 during regular gallery hours.</p>

Korean artwork exhibit by artist Ajin opens at Penn State Wilkes-Barre

<p>Tricia Hart, a recent doctoral graduate in nutritional sciences, took home first place in Penn State Three Minute Thesis competition, which challenges graduate students to highlight the impact of their research in three minutes. Chemical engineering doctoral candidate Adam Smerigan earned second place, and energy and mineral engineering doctoral candidate Patrick Sarpong earned the People's Choice Award in the 2025 competition, hosted by the Fox Graduate School on March 29. </p>

Three graduate students receive awards in 2025 Three Minute Thesis competition

<p>Corey Wheeler originally went back to school to finish his bachelor’s degree. He found success as a Penn State World Campus online learner that led him to three degrees and big plans for the future.</p>

How a Penn State education empowered this alum to dream big

<p>People with PTSD can have difficulty resolving relationship concerns with their romantic partners. Some of these problems may stem from people’s fear of their emotions, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State.</p>

PTSD can undermine healthy couple communication when people fear their emotions

<p>The American Heart Association awarded Nivetha Gunaseelan, a doctoral candidate studying biomedical engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, a predoctoral fellowship.</p>

Biomedical engineering grad student earns American Heart Association fellowship

<p>Lauri Accardi is a working mother of four children who is earning two graduate business degrees online through Penn State World Campus.</p>

Smeal alumna invests in herself through graduate programs

<p>Penn State students, faculty, staff and symposium attendees are invited to present their work at an in-person poster session highlighting innovative climate solutions.</p>

Call for posters for 2025 Penn State Climate Solutions Symposium

<p>A team led by researchers at Penn State is working to accelerate drug discovery, with the potential to treat rare diseases, by improving the National Institutes of Health’s Biomedical Data Translator — a network of computer interfaces that take biomedical research questions and provide fact-based responses.  </p>

Translator for biomedical research aims to speed up patient care

<p>A group of 15 Penn State graduate students and postdoctoral scholars have been selected to participate in the Bayer Crop Science 2025 University Mentoring Program, a global initiative that pairs students with industry professionals for career guidance and professional development. </p>

Fifteen Penn Staters selected for Bayer Crop Science mentoring program

<p>The Penn State Competitive Cyber Security Organization will host its first Capture the Flag (CTF) event, SillyCTF, on March 29. The virtual cybersecurity competition is open to everyone, and college students with an ".edu" email address can win prizes.</p>

Student cybersecurity organization to host national Capture the Flag competition

<p>Nearly 300 graduate students will be presenting research and scholarship and honing their communication skills at the 40th annual Graduate Exhibition, hosted by the Fox Graduate School. Community members can view research videos, chat with students about their scholarship, and see musical performances on Friday, March 28, on the University Park campus.</p>

Graduate Exhibition to showcase research and scholarship for community

<p>Four graphic design students from the Stuckeman School were honored in two esteemed design competitions: the 2024 AIGA Flux National Student Design Competition and the 2024 International Design Awards.</p>

Penn State graphic design students earn national recognition in two competitions

<p>Insecticides may help growers hoping to protect their crops from harmful insects, but they also may contribute to a larger amount of some weeds, according to a study led by researchers at Penn State.</p>

Insecticides may contribute to bigger problems with certain weeds

Penn State Human Resources shifting to virtual Form I-9 completion

<p>The Engineering Ambassadors Network recently held a three-day-long Spring Leadership Conference at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.</p>

Engineering Ambassadors conference connects student engineers at Penn State

<p>A new workshop series at Penn State aims to help postdoctoral scholars and advanced doctoral students navigate the fellowship application process and strengthen their funding proposals. Workshops will take place on March 20, April 13 and May 5 at University Park and on Zoom. Registration is required for each workshop.</p>

Series to help early-career researchers navigate funding process begins March 20

<p>Increased antibiotic use can lead, seemingly paradoxically, to more problematic infections, as the bacteria evolve to resist the treatment. The answer to this antimicrobial resistance, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention called “one of the world’s most urgent public health problems,” might be a medication used for kidney disease, according to a team led by researchers at Penn State.</p>

FDA-approved dialysis drug may help fight against antimicrobial resistance

<p>Community members are invited to engage with graduate students as they present their research and scholarship at Penn State's 40th annual Graduate Exhibition, set for March 28 on the University Park campus. </p>

Community invited to judge 2025 Graduate Exhibition

<p>Penn State graduate students will showcase their research in Penn State’s second annual Three Minute Thesis competition on Saturday, March 29, hosted by the Fox Graduate School. Community members are invited to attend, support participants, and vote for their favorite presentation.</p>

Stage set for final round of Three Minute Thesis competition on March 29

<p>Switching daily snack foods to pecans improves cholesterol levels and enhances overall diet quality, according to a new study by researchers in the Penn State Department of Nutritional Sciences.</p>

Replacing other snacks with pecans may improve cholesterol, diet quality

Ag Sciences research institute SAFES funds projects addressing critical issues

<p>A new study has described a potential mechanism that could help explain why some proteins refold in a different pattern than expected. The researchers, led by chemists at Penn State, found that a type of misfolding, in which the proteins incorrectly intertwine their segments, can occur and create a barrier to the normal folding process.</p>

Protein accidentally lassos itself, helping explain unusual refolding behavior

<p>A team of researchers from Penn State and Baylor College of Medicine found that the Zika virus builds tiny tunnels, called tunneling nanotubes, to stealthily transport material needed to infect nearby cells, including in placental cells — which is one way the virus transmits from mother to fetus during pregnancy. The team also demonstrated, for the first time, that one specific Zika protein is responsible for the formation of the nanotubes.</p>

Tunnel-building virus: How Zika transmits from mother to fetus

<p>Professors of Recreation, Park and Tourism Management Andrew Mowen and Bing Pan received national honors at the recent 2025 Academy of Leisure Sciences Conference.</p>

Recreation, park and tourism management faculty receive national awards

<p>Nazifa Tabassum and Katie Yan, both graduate students at Penn State, are this year's I AM STEM winners, a contest dedicated to encouraging Penn State Eberly College of Science students to tell their science stories. They will both serve as this year’s keynote speakers for ENVISION on March 29, sharing their experiences in STEM and providing advice to middle school and high school students eager to get involved as scientists.</p>

Graduate students to present their journeys in science

<p>Brook trout may have a genetic trick up their scales when it comes to adapting, with limitations, to heatwaves that threaten their existence. A novel study led by researchers at Penn State suggests that brook trout — an iconic coldwater fish species native to streams and lakes in the eastern United States and Canada — are capable of mounting a protective genetic response to thermal stress that can be passed on from one generation to the next. </p>

Threatened by warming waters, brook trout may be able to adapt to hotter weather

<p>Newly achieved precise control over light emitted from incredibly tiny sources, a few nanometers in size, embedded in two-dimensional materials could lead to remarkably high-resolution monitors and advances in ultra-fast quantum computing, according to an international team led by researchers at Penn State and Université Paris-Saclay.</p>

‘Nanodot’ control could fine-tune light for sharper displays, quantum computing

<p>The Penn State Alumni Association will honor eight prominent young alumni for their outstanding professional accomplishments at the 2025 Alumni Achievement Awards Ceremony on March 28. The event will be livestreamed. </p>

Eight Penn Staters honored with 2025 Alumni Achievement Award

<p>Artificial intelligence models may help clinicians identify factors to predict long-term recovery from and personalize treatments for generalized anxiety disorder, according to researchers at Penn State.</p>

AI may help clinicians personalize treatment for generalized anxiety disorder

<p>As an undergraduate student majoring in mathematics at Texas Tech, Nicholas Prince got involved in research and loved it, he said. He never considered earning a doctorate, but his undergraduate research adviser convinced him otherwise. Now, at Penn State, he's a We Are for Science Fellow in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and he's helping to build a support network for graduate students.</p>

Earth and Mineral Sciences graduate fellow builds belonging safety net for peers

<p>Mary Zuccato, who earned her master of business administration from Penn State Great Valley, applied her knowledge to a variety of roles at Vanguard before taking on the role of chief operating officer at Every Cure, a nonprofit biotech organization that uses artificial intelligence to identify and evaluate repurposing opportunities for existing medicines that could be used to treat other diseases.</p>

Great Valley MBA alumna leads biotech nonprofit using AI to find new treatments

<p>A synthetic microbiome therapy, tested in mice, holds promise as a new treatment for C. difficile, a notoriously difficult-to-treat bacterial infection, according to a team of researchers at Penn State. The targeted treatment was as effective as human fecal transplants in mice against C. difficile infection with fewer safety concerns, protecting against severe symptoms and decreasing recurrent infections.</p>

Synthetic microbiome therapy suppresses bacterial infection without antibiotics

<p>Auja Bywater, a doctoral student in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been awarded second prize in the Global Challenges University Alliance 2030 research competition.</p>

Penn State Ag student Auja Bywater wins global research award

<p>Soilless growing systems inside greenhouses, known as controlled environment agriculture, promise to advance the year-round production of high-quality specialty crops, according to an interdisciplinary research team at Penn State. But to be competitive and sustainable, this advanced farming method will require the development and implementation of precision agriculture techniques. To meet that demand, the team developed an automated crop-monitoring system capable of providing continuous and frequent data about plant growth and needs, allowing for informed crop management.</p>

New computer vision system can guide specialty crops monitoring

<p>Kelli Volkomer earned an undergraduate and graduate degree through the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and Penn State World Campus.</p>

Online energy and sustainability policy degree programs changed this grad’s life

<p>Scientists at Penn State have harnessed a unique property called incipient ferroelectricity to create a new type of computer memory that could lead to new electronic devices that use much less energy and can operate in extreme environments like outer space.</p>

Material’s ‘incipient’ property could jumpstart fast, low-power electronics

<p>Penn State’s Autonomous Robotics Competition Club recently developed a low-cost, unmanned aircraft system. The two-drone system includes 2D and 3D mapping technology that can assist law enforcement and first responders in indoor searches.</p>

Prize-wining drone system can assist first responders in indoor searches

<p>Penn State’s Autonomous Robotics Competition Club recently developed a low-cost, unmanned aircraft system. The two-drone system includes 2D and 3D mapping technology that can assist law enforcement and first responders in indoor searches.</p>

Prize-winning drone system can assist first responders in indoor searches

<p>A Penn State engineering student's work on a century-old math problem that expands research in aerodynamics, unlocking new possibilities in wind turbine design, was recently published in Wind Energy Science.</p>

Student refines 100-year-old math problem, expanding wind energy possibilities

<p>A new study, by a multinational team of researchers, including Penn State scientists, has gained critical insights into these regulatory control mechanisms in Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of the malaria parasites. The findings provide new opportunities for the development of therapeutic approaches against a disease that affects millions of people worldwide every year, according to the research team.</p>

Disrupting parasite gene regulation reveals new malaria intervention strategy

<p>Frank Igwé is the first recipient of the Dean’s Alumni Excellence Award in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology. The newly created honor highlights and celebrates the extraordinary work and accomplishments of IST alumni.</p>

Moravia Health president receives IST’s first Dean’s Alumni Excellence Award

<p>Elham Rahimi, a graduate student in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, will receive the Raja V. and Geetha V. Ramani Graduate Students Award from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) at the society’s gala dinner during their annual conference, MINEXCHANGE, in Denver, Colorado, on Feb. 23. </p>

Elham Rahimi awarded the Raja V. and Geetha V. Ramani Graduate Students Award

<p>The corn earworm causes the loss of more than 76,000 bushels of corn in the United States annually, and there is mounting evidence that increasingly extreme weather events and temperatures will exacerbate the damage done to agricultural output by insect pests. Responding to that threat, a team of researchers at Penn State conducted a study that demonstrated that genetic lines of corn have inherent compounds that serve as insecticides, protecting them from the larvae that feed on them.</p>

Select corn lines contain compounds that sicken, kill major crop pest

<p>The 17th annual Materials Visualization Competition, an annual scientific and artistic visual competition open to all current undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, faculty and staff working on materials-related topics, is now accepting submissions through March 7.</p>

Now accepting submissions for annual Materials Visualization Competition

<p>Penn State Behrend is inviting prospective graduate students to learn more about the college’s master’s degree programs through free online info sessions, beginning Feb. 19.</p>

Behrend to host graduate degree info sessions