Alumni News

Alumni of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences volunteer their time to benefit students in the college in the numerous ways, the newest of which is an alumni-student mentoring program.

Five longtime Penn State champions and benefactors -- including John A. Dutton, professor emeritus of meteorology and dean emeritus of the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences -- will be recognized by the Penn State Alumni Association and named honorary alumni.

With one daughter a Penn State alumna, another daughter a current student, and their son a hopeful Nittany Lion, the Stoffas have instilled in their family what Penn State has instilled in them--pride. They'll return to Happy Valley this summer to express that pride during Arts Festival Weekend 2017, taking place July 12-16.

Penn State engineering seniors' capstone projects presented solutions to real-world problems at the recent Engineering Design Showcase.

The Presidential Leadership Academy's new class of 30 students represents 11 of Penn State's academic colleges.

A simple electronic device found in nearly every smartphone today is helping students learn about the science of earthquakes in one general education geosciences course, GEOSC 109, Earthquakes and Society. Taught by Charles Ammon, professor of geosciences, the course was designed to give students insight into how geoscientists understand earthquakes -- and, more generally, what's involved in conducting science.

Two recent Penn State graduates are taking part in the $30 million, NASA-funded Atmospheric Carbon and Transport-America. The project is led by Penn State professor Ken Davis.

Nicole Kirchner, of Birchrunville, Pennsylvania, and Jennifer Taylor, of Erie, Pennsylvania, have been named student marshals for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences' spring 2017 commencement. The ceremony will be held April 5 at Pegula Ice Arena on Penn State's University Park campus.

David Titley, professor of international affairs and of practice in the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science at Penn State, will discuss the role the military could play in combating climate change during the TED 2017 conference. Titley will join seven other speakers from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. April 26 for Session 6: Planet, Protection, hosted by Chris Anderson, the owner of TED, a nonprofit organization that provides idea-based talks.

Thirteen graduate students received the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award, Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medal, in recognition of their outstanding professional accomplishment and achievement in scholarly research in any of the disciplinary areas of fine arts and humanities; social sciences -- applied and basic; physical and computational sciences -- applied and basic; life and health sciences; and engineering. The graduate students were honored during the Graduate Student Awards Luncheon held on April 18 at the Nittany Lion Inn.