EMS Sustainability News

Penn State is offering two new graduate certificates in its energy and sustainability portfolio that can help professionals seeking to play a role in the global shift towards sustainable energy solutions.

Two Penn State students are playing an instrumental role in helping the city of Allentown, Pennsylvania, develop its first climate action plan.

The Penn State Department of Geography will conclude its spring 2025 Coffee Hour lecture series with a talk by Jessica Omukuti, senior research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Institute for Science, Innovation and Society and Oxford Net Zero. 

To protect against rising sea levels in a warming world, coastal cities typically follow a standard playbook with various protective infrastructure options. For example, a seawall could be designed based on the latest climate projections, with the city officials then computing its cost-benefit ratio and proceeding to build, accordingly.

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.