NSF grant supports research into geospatial intelligence during civil rights era
During the civil rights movement, activist groups such as the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) used geography and geospatial intelligence to identify protest sites and to plan civil rights protests. A new $373,000 National Science Foundation grant is letting researchers dig into those geospatial tactics to see what can be learned about patterns of racial inequality and how the SNCC collected and leveraged geospatial intelligence data to bolster its activist efforts.
Ancient plankton-like microfossils span two continents
Large, robust, lens-shaped microfossils from the approximately 3.4 billion-year-old Kromberg Formation of the Kaapvaal craton in eastern South Africa are not only among the oldest elaborate microorganisms known, but are also related to other intricate microfossils of the same age found in the Pilbara Craton of Australia, according to an international team of scientists.
Mayor's action plan, WPSU documentary highlight climate change in Pittsburgh
The Penn State Center Pittsburgh will host a screening of the WPSU documentary “Managing Risk in a Changing Climate” and a panel discussion featuring climate experts and Pittsburgh stakeholders from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on July 13 at the Energy Innovation Center, located at 1435 Bedford Avenue, in Pittsburgh.
Energy and mineral engineering professor awarded SME career development grant
Shimin Liu, Joseph Kreutzberger Early Career Professor and assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State, has been selected to receive one of the 2017 Freeport-McMoRan Career Development Grants from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration.
Recipients of 2017 Human Health and the Environment seed grants announced
The Human Health and the Environment seed grants for 2017 have been awarded to a pool of interdisciplinary researchers at Penn State. These seed grants were funded by eight separate Penn State research entities and institutes, which collectively contributed more than $500,000. “We had an exceptional pool of proposals from faculty across the university,” Tom Richard, director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, said. “The projects address emerging contaminants well as legacy environmental problems that seriously impact human health.”
2D layered devices can self-assemble with precision
Squid-inspired proteins can act as programmable assemblers of 2D materials, like graphene oxide, to form hybrid materials with minute spacing between layers suitable for high-efficiency devices including flexible electronics, energy storage systems and mechanical actuators, according to an interdisciplinary team of Penn State researchers.
Investigational cancer compound receives FDA approval to begin human trials
An investigational compound developed by Penn State researchers that targets and destroys cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed has been approved for phase one clinical human trials by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Robinson’s career at EMS evolved as quickly as technology he oversaw
Tim Robinson said he joined the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the technology field at an exciting time, and his decades-long career at Penn State reflects the rapid pace of the budding technology's impact on education. He's even expanded his role in the college, teaching classes related to energy and sustainability. Robinson is retiring on June 30.
Celebrating 60 years of Penn State TV weather broadcasts
The year is 1957. The average cost of a gallon of gas is 24 cents. American Bandstand began airing on ABC in August. Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, was launched by the Soviet Union in October. June 1957 is also when Penn State produced its first TV weather broadcast, and this month marks the 60th anniversary of televised weather broadcasts by the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science.
Parizek receives Faculty Scholar Award
Penn State DuBois Associate Professor of Mathematics and Geosciences Byron Parizek has been honored with the University College Faculty Scholar Award. In its inaugural year, the award will be given annually to a full-time or part-time faculty member in Penn State's 14-campus University College system who has demonstrated excellence in research, scholarship and/or creative accomplishments. It is also in recognition of significant and sustained contribution of research, scholarship and creative accomplishments accumulated during their employment at Penn State, as well as with undergraduate students, and to those who have had a significant impact on their academic field of study.