John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering | Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Sekhar Bhattacharyya, associate teaching professor of mining engineering; Ashish Kumar, assistant professor of mining engineering; and Shimin Liu, Deike Chair Professor in Mining Engineering

Penn State will host the 20th North American Mine Ventilation Symposium (NAMVS) in collaboration with the Society of Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) and the SME Underground Ventilation Committee (UVC) on June 21–26 in Pittsburgh.

In this collage, from left, is: spodumene, the mineral concentrate containing the lithium to be extracted; spodumene roasted with sodium hydroxide; leach solution, or the liquid leaching lithium from the roasted mixture; and the final product of lithium carbonate.

Lightweight lithium metal is a heavy-hitting critical mineral, serving as the key ingredient in the rechargeable batteries that power phones, laptops, electric vehicles and more. As ubiquitous as lithium is in modern technology, extracting the metal is complex and expensive. A new method, developed by researchers at Penn State and recently granted patent rights, enables high-efficiency lithium extraction — in minutes, not hours — using low temperatures and simple water-based leaching.

Parker Przybylski, left, has been named Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ student marshal, the top graduate overall; and Shahad Alsadoon has been named the college’s engineering honor marshal, the top graduate in an engineering discipline

Parker Przybylski has been named Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ student marshal, the top graduate overall; and Shahad Alsadoon has been named the college’s engineering honor marshal, the top graduate in an engineering discipline. They will be recognized during the college’s spring 2025 commencement ceremony, scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 10, in the Pegula Ice Arena on Penn State's University Park campus.

Students in Nelson Dzade’s Design of Solar Energy Conversion Systems class who recently completed a project facilitated by the Sustainable Communities Collaborative are, left to right: Kieran Cox, Leighton Eddy, Bernardo Elizondo, Kayla Sucro, and Yuxiang Zhang

Students in Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering Nelson Dzade’s "EGEE 437: Design of Solar Energy Conversio

Lee Kump, John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, addresses attendees at the National Academies U.S.-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering and Medicine Symposium

For some pressing research problems, an ocean’s worth of distance isn’t enough to prevent the connection to some common ground. That’s the point behind the annual National Academies U.S.-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) Symposium. And it’s why the College of Earth and Minerals Sciences (EMS) joined Google, the Gates and Rutter Foundations, the Department of Defense and others as sponsors of the event.

Brandi Robinson, associate teaching professor in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, has received the 2025 Penn State Award fo

Andrew Waxman, assistant professor of economics and public policy at the Lyndon B.

The Materials Research Institute (MRI) at Penn State has announced the recipients of the 2025 Interdisciplinary Seed Grants and Trans

Olivia DiPrinzio, who graduated from Penn State in 2024 with honors in energy engineering and Earth science and policy, is now associate director of the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium.

As an undergraduate student at Penn State, Olivia DiPrinzio discovered a passion f