News

Erica Smithwick, distinguished professor of geography at Penn State, will discuss a vision for a university-wide climate consortium and Penn State’s role in combating climate change during a seminar at 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday, April 21. 

The Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) has awarded the first round of RISE seed grants, made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

As a child, Edward Spagnuolo dreamed of dinosaurs and hunting for fossils buried in the ground. He never outgrew the phase, and he eventually chased his dream to Penn State. Now a junior majoring in geobiology, Spagnuolo has found a new avenue for pursuing his passion – fossil leaves.

Penn State alumnus Joe Gofus remembers precisely when he knew that he wasn’t going to become a weather forecaster.

Marilyn Fogel, who graduated in 1973 with a degree in biology, may have come to Penn State for the football games, but she left with an appreciation for the interdisciplinary research that would define her career.

Kristina Douglass, Joyce and Doug Sherwin Early Career Professor in the Rock Ethics Institute and assistant professor of anthropology and African studies at Penn State, will discuss the importance of local, Indigenous and descendant knowledge to climate change adaptation and sustainable practices during a seminar at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday, April 14. The talk will be broadcast via Zoom.

Sir Dieter Helm, professor of economic policy at the University of Oxford and fellow in economics at New College, Oxford, will discuss the need for a carbon price as a means of lowering emissions at a talk at noon on Monday, April 19.

At its height in the mid-20th century, American organized crime groups, often called the mafia, grossed approximately $40 billion each year, typically raising that money through illegal or untaxed activities, such as extortion and gambling.

The Penn State and materials research communities are mourning the loss of Della M. Roy, emeritus professor of materials science and a founding member of the Penn State Materials Research Laboratory (MRL), now the Materials Research Institute (MRI). Della died on March 27 at age 94. 

Jean Paul Allain, professor of nuclear engineering and head of the Ken and Mary Alice Lindquist Department of Nuclear Engineering at Penn State, will discuss the recent progress made in nuclear fusion, emerging technologies and the remaining challenges to realizing energy generation from a star here on Earth at a talk at 4 p.m. Monday, April 12.