News

Fifty-eight years ago, Terry Engelder wasn’t yet a world-renowned geoscientist. He was a kid with a keen interest in science, a passion ignited by the space race and fueled by the funds that flowed into schools as the nation sought the next generation of discovery. Using a posterboard and markers, Engelder sketched “Faulting in Western New York” for the junior high science fair. Among the layers Engelder shaped below his hometown was the Marcellus Shale, which decades later Engelder would make famous after successfully projecting it as the second-largest extractable natural gas field in the world.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Alton D. Romig Jr., executive officer of the National Academy of Engineering, will deliver the address for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) baccalaureate degree commencement ceremony, to be held at 8 p.m. May 5 in Pegula Ice Arena on Penn State’s University Park campus.

The Integrative Studies Seed Grant Program, offered through the Penn State Office for General Education, will support 71 different course development projects this summer. In response to the large volume of highly qualified proposals, the budget was generously increased by more than 50 percent by the Office of the Provost and the Office of Undergraduate Education.

Spring 2017 produced a record-breaking number of applications for Global Programs Travel Grants.