Read the latest news about research conducted by investigators in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Our faculty and students are continually advancing technology, creating solutions and expanding knowledge with new and innovative research.
News
Researchers team up to tackle state’s acid mine drainage problem
As Penn State researchers stood on the banks of Scalp Level Run, an acid mine drainage-polluted stream in Cambria County, a scientific question formed: How is nature removing toxic metals from the drainage at a rate faster than any other tested waters in the state, under pH conditions deemed too low to do so?
Liberal Arts student has research paper accepted by international conferences
Penn State Schreyer Scholar Doran Tucker will present his research on medieval armor at Western Michigan University and University of Leeds this spring and summer.
Fellowship allows meteorology graduate student to advocate for diversity
In the middle of a Category 1 hurricane in Cape Verde, off the coast of Africa, Aara’L Yarber discovered her passion for meteorology. Coming from Los Angeles, California, she had never experienced a hurricane before.
Scalable two-dimensional materials advance future-gen electronics
Since the discovery of the remarkable properties of graphene, scientists have increasingly focused research on the many other two-dimensional materials possible, both those found in nature and those concocted in the lab. However, growing high-quality, crystalline 2-D materials at scale has proven a significant challenge.
Repetition key to self-healing, flexible medical devices
Medical devices powered by synthetic proteins created from repeated sequences of proteins may be possible, according to materials science and biotechnology experts, who looked at material inspired by the proteins in squid ring teeth.
NSF grant to help create sustainable fuels through artificial photosynthesis
A grant totaling $1.2 million over three years has been awarded to researchers at Penn State and Cornell University by the National Science Foundation to identify a material that can most efficiently separate water into hydrogen and oxygen, to collect hydrogen as a sustainable fuel source.
Data driven dialogue: Scientists bring groups together on water quality concerns
Shale Network, a team of scientists studying water quality around Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania, has spent the last six years fostering a dialogue between concerned citizens, watershed groups, government regulators and representatives from large energy companies around water quality data in the state. The team published a paper in the journal Science last week discussing the impacts of its project.
Doctoral student melds passions for science, helping others in FEMA job
As an emergency management specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Association, Adrienne Kramer is applying her geography skills to build maps, analytical tools and other resources to help the agency improve its response and recovery operations.
Microbes may help astronauts transform human waste into food
Human waste may one day be a valuable resource for astronauts on deep-space missions. Now, a Penn State research team has shown that it is possible to rapidly break down solid and liquid waste to grow food with a series of microbial reactors, while simultaneously minimizing pathogen growth.
Century of data shows sea-level rise shifting tides in Delaware, Chesapeake bays
The warming climate is expected to affect coastal regions worldwide as glaciers and ice sheets melt, raising sea level globally. For the first time, an international team has found evidence of how sea-level rise already is affecting high and low tides in both the Chesapeake and Delaware bays, two large estuaries of the eastern United States.