Jon-Paul Maria, Dorothy Pate Enright Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State, has been named interim head of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MatSE), effective July 1. Maria will lead the department while John Mauro, current department head, begins service as the interim John Leone Dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS).

Alex Neill, an associate lecturer and doctoral researcher in applied social sciences at Newcastle University in Tyne, England, will give the talk “Towards Zero Waste Dining: Evaluating the Impact of Interventions on Sustainable Consumer Behavior” from noon to 1:15 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19, in 111 Borland Building on Penn State's University Park campus.

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.

Christina McGranaghan, an assistant professor of applied economics at the University of Delaware, will give the talk, “Taking a Load Off: Experimental Evidence of Preferences for Control with an Application to Residential Electricity Demand,” at noon on Wednesday, April 22, in 157 Hosler Building on the Penn State University Park campus.

Gabriel Lade, an associate professor and C. William Swank Chair in Rural-Urban Policy at Ohio State University, will give the talk, “Does Renewable Diesel Clean the Air? Evidence from California Highways,” at noon on Wednesday, April 15, in 157 Hosler Building on the Penn State University Park campus.

Susanna B. Berkouwer, an assistant professor of business economics and public policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, will give the talk, “Green subsidies with demand distortions,” at noon on Wednesday, April 8, in 157 Hosler Building at Penn State University Park.

Gabriel Agostini, doctoral student in information science at Cornell Tech, will give a talk, “Inferring Fine-Grained Migration Patterns across the United States,” at noon on Wednesday, April 1, in 157 Hosler Building on the Penn State University Park campus.

 Xiaoyong Zheng, professor of agricultural and resource economics at North Carolina State University, will give a talk, “The Unintended Consequences of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Taxes on Sales and Prices of Beer Beverages,” at noon on Wednesday, March 25.

 Madeline Yozwiak, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, will give the talk, “Grid Hardening and the Effectiveness of Climate Adaptation in the U.S. Electricity Sector,” at noon on Wednesday, March 18.

As part of our regular “We Are!” feature, we recognize 19 Penn Staters who have gone above and beyond what’s asked of them in their work at the University including Alexandra Lloyd.