EMS Sustainability News

As an undergraduate student at Penn State, Olivia DiPrinzio discovered a passion for sustainability and pursued it to help transform the University’s approach to sustainability education. 

Brandi Robinson, associate teaching professor in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, has received the 2025 Penn State Award for Community Engagement and Scholarship for her work on the Local Climate Action Program. 

Readily available but underused Doppler radar data can help predict the height of the planetary boundary layer — the lowest part of the atmosphere and where weather forms — and, in turn, improve severe weather forecasts, according to scientists at Penn State.  

Emily Grubert, associate professor of sustainable energy policy at Notre Dame, will give the talk, “Public Support for Energy and Climate Technology Deployment,” at 4 p.m. on Monday, April 14, via Zoom.

Award-winning author and journalist Susan Freinkel will give the virtual talk “How Did We Get Hooked on Plastic?” at 2:30 p.m. on Monday, April 14. It will be streamed in Foster Auditorium of Paterno Library and available on Zoom. 

The April Climate Conversations Café will host Brianna Craft, a climate justice researcher and author, for a discussion on diplomacy, climate-change negotiations and storytelling. 

The Penn State Department of Geography’s GeoGraphics Lab will host its first Community Mapping Day on Saturday, April 5, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Walker Building at University Park. The event, free and open to the public, will kick off with an optional breakfast at 8 a.m. and bring together students, faculty and community members for a day of hands-on mapping, creative geospatial storytelling and collaborative problem-solving centered on sustainability and local climate action.

Faced with more extreme weather events, communities may need to adapt to heightened risks from sea-level rise, flooding or wildfires. And while scientific research can help inform adaptations, the process requires an alignment of academic resources and real-world needs and partnerships that can be challenging for scientists to navigate.

Eleven research labs in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) have earned My Green Lab certifications at one of the three highest levels available: gold, platinum or green.  EMS My Green Lab certified labs represent 27.8% of the labs certified on the University Park campus and 25% of the labs certified on all campuses. The college also has seven additional labs enrolled in the certification program.

Penn State’s Sustainable Labs Program ushers participating labs through a yearlong certification process, guiding them in implementing sustainable practices across multiple domains, including energy efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation, green chemistry and sustainable purchasing. The program will host a virtual information session from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 18, and from 11 a.m. to noon on Friday, Feb. 21, for those interested in learning more or applying for the next cohort.