News | The Huck Institutes (en-US)

Christine Kirchhoff (left), associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and associate professor of law, policy and engineering, poses with two of the members of the Civic SciTech Traineeship, a new initiative of COPA-STEP that matches trainees with governmental offices to develop civic science tools. Vijay Bhaskar Chiluveru (center), a recent graduate of the master’s program in energy and mineral engineering in Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and Soumita Mukherjee (right), a doctoral candidate in informatics in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, will work on developing civic science tools for air quality monitoring and heat island mapping in Allentown. Credit: Poornima Tomy/Penn State . All Rights Reserved.

Oct 30, 2024

New initiative in Law, Policy and Engineering trains state governor’s fellows

Faculty and staff in Penn State’s Law, Policy, and Engineering initiative (LPE) were recently tapped by the governor’s office to lead a two-day training program in September in Harrisburg on science and technology policy.

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Oct 30, 2024

Physiology Conference to feature celebration marking 50 years of Noll Lab research

Penn State and the American Physiological Society will celebrate a half century of research at the groundbreaking Noll Laboratory, welcoming attendees of the Integrative Physiology of Exercise (IPE) conference with commemorative “Noll@50” events centered around the landmark facility.

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Oct 30, 2024

Kantor appointed to the executive board of the Society of Nematologists

Mihail Kantor, assistant research professor of nematology, has been appointed to the executive board of the Society of Nematologists (SON). A nonprofit, international organization dedicated to advancing the science of nematology in its fundamental and economic aspects, SON is the highest professional organization for nematology and fosters knowledge across all areas of nematology.

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Oct 29, 2024

Penn State’s Neurosciences Biorepository expands access to University Park

The Neuroscience Biorepository, a collection of specimens and data housed at the Penn State College of Medicine, will be expanding its availability to researchers at University Park.

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Reuben Kraft, professor of mechanical engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, is using computational tools — such as mouthguard sensors — to model and predict injury in the human brain. Here, a 3D visualization shows deformation in the brain caused by physical impact during a game of football. Credit: Kraft Lab. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 29, 2024

Research team aims to better understand traumatic brain injuries

Penn State researchers are using computational methods and tools — such as custom mouthguard sensors — to model and predict injury in the human brain.

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Joseph Cotruvo, Jr., professor of chemistry at Penn State, and Wonseok Choi, a graduate student, have been researching ways to separate rare earth elements using re-engineered bacterial proteins that are found in nature. Credit: Michelle Bixby / Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 29, 2024

Bacterial protein discovered, engineered to better separate rare earth metals

A newly discovered protein naturally houses an unusual binding site that can differentiate between rare earth elements, and researchers at Penn State have made it even better.

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Jill Arriola, left, and Daniel Guarin collecting cores at the inlet to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum, which houses the largest remaining freshwater tidal marsh in Pennsylvania. Credit: Lisa Emili. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 29, 2024

Microplastics increasing in freshwater, directly related to plastic production

Microplastics have been steadily increasing in freshwater environments for decades and are directly tied to rising global plastic production since the 1950s, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.

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Paul Markowski, head of the department of meteorology and atmospheric science at Penn State, presents tornado research at the Penn State-hosted workshop titled "Improving the Prediction and Communication of Weather/Climate Extremes in Africa and the United States." Credit: David Kubarek / Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 28, 2024

Extreme weather workshop focuses on saving lives worldwide

Experts from across the globe look for options to enhance outcomes for nations most impacted by climate change.

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In modern apple production, blossoms must be thinned, so that remaining blooms can reclaim the plant’s resources to grow better fruit. Credit: Penn State. Creative Commons

Oct 25, 2024

Research team gets grant to study precision chemical thinning of apple blossoms

To assist apple producers and mitigate environmental harm, the USDA has awarded a three-year, $601,125 grant to a team of Penn State researchers for the development of a robotic precision spraying system.

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Researchers developed novel contrast agents that target two proteins implicated in osteoarthritis, a degenerative joint disease commonly characterized as wear-and-tear arthritis, and imaged the proteins using a photon-counting CT scanner. Here, the green and red are the targeted nanoparticles, while the yellow is adipose tissue. The white is bone and the gray is cartilage. Credit: Provided by the Pan Lab. All Rights Reserved.

Oct 25, 2024

New technique allows technicolor imaging of degenerative joint disease

Photon-counting CT scanner uses novel contrast agents in rats to observe multiple biological processes, revealing evidence of osteoarthritis long before clinical symptoms develop.

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