Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has named Dipanjan Pan, Dorothy Foehr Huck & J. Lloyd Huck Chair Professor in Nanomedicine and professor of materials science and engineering and of nuclear engineering, to serve as the Huck’s first director for innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems.
Seven Schreyer Scholars and two faculty members have been selected as the recipients of the Schreyer Honors College Awards for the 2025-26 academic year. “We are thrilled to celebrate the hard work and dedication of our recipients this year,” said Patrick Mather, dean of Schreyer Honors College.
Every child can recall their first trip to a museum and the sense of wonder and excitement that comes from laying eyes on the real-life remnants of a dinosaur or the preserved artifacts of our ancestors. For a group of students taking a course on the impacts of colonization on science museums, that spark was ignited by all the work that went into the completion of those museum exhibits.
Jimmy Kroon’s work at the Delaware Department of Agriculture has changed over the years, but the focus has stayed rooted in the same place: helping people solve problems. Kroon, a Penn State alumnus who earned his master of geographic information systems (MGIS) in 2011, recently was appointed deputy secretary of the Delaware Department of Agriculture after more than two decades with the agency.
John Mauro, department head and professor of materials science and engineering at Penn State, has been named interim John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, effective July 1.
As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 18 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University.
Emily Shor, from Swarthmore, has been named the student marshal for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ (EMS) spring 2026 commencement ceremony, which will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, in the Pegula Ice Arena at Penn State University Park.
Nitin Samarth, Verne M. Willaman Professor of Physics and professor of materials science and engineering, has been elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences for distinguished contributions to the physical sciences. He is one of 252 leaders in academia, the arts, industry, journalism, philanthropy, policy, research and science elected in 2026.
Penn State Sustainability recently published a guidebook to support Penn State faculty in implementing sustainability into their curricula. The guidebook was created by Sustain Penn State, located within the Office of Undergraduate Education and one of the offices that makes up Penn State Sustainability.
Metin Çakır, the Austin A. Dowell Professor of Applied Economics at the University of Minnesota, will give the talk, “California Drought, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Prices, and Consumer Welfare,” at noon on Wednesday, April 29, in 157 Hosler Building at Penn State University Park. The event is part of a spring seminar series hosted by the Initiative for Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (EEEPI). Talk is free and open to the public.