Penn State is buying a farm; here’s how the research space will be used

Photo: CENTRE DAILY TIMES/ABBY DREY. Penn State is set to purchase 20.36 acres in Benner Township, Centre County, for $2.35 million — in an effort to further agricultural research. The property includes a 25,000-square-foot research greenhouse, a 3,324-square-foot residence and nearly 10 acres of adjacent land that can host field experiments, such as testing new […]
Prolific IBM inventor takes on Penn State Research: Let’s make this into Happy Silicon Valley

By Stephanie Kalina-Metzger Photo: Provided. All it took for Madhavan Swaminathan was a little encouragement to jumpstart his career in innovation. The new head of the Department of Electrical Engineering in Penn State’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science comes to Penn State by way of Georgia Tech, where he spent 28 years leading […]
FREE intrapreneurship conference focuses on employees as change makers

Mark your calendars for the Conference on Intrapreneurship Employees as ChangeMakers, taking place May 11 at the Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub. The conference, which is free, is presented by the Penn State College of Engineering’s School of Engineering Design and Innovation and will focus on how employees can create innovation from within a company. […]
Penn State’s AIMI ushers in Industry 5.0 with a bold vision for the future

By Caryn Anderson AIMI connects you with Penn State. Photo: Provided. Penn State’s Center for Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Industry (AIMI), which launched on June 30, 2022, has a complex, multifaceted goal. In part, AIMI aims to help small and medium manufacturers (SMMs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) get the […]
Penn State engineers optimizing water purification system for the U.S. Marines

By Timothy Kelly An experimental MCDI unit. Photo: Chris Arges. A team of researchers, led by Chris Arges, Penn State associate professor of chemical engineering, is working to optimize a water desalination process called membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) for mobile teams of U.S. Marines. We asked Arges to explain how the system works, why he […]
Finding inspiration in the tiny-but-mighty hummingbird

By Holly Riddle You don’t need to be a mechanical engineering professor like Penn State’s Dr. Bo Cheng to recognize that hummingbirds contrast significantly with their avian relatives. The smallest of bird species, hummingbirds flit and dart their way from food source to food source in a way no other bird can. Flying backward, forward […]
Only 9% of plastics actually get recycled. These engineers aim to change that.

By Timothy Kelly The rapidly growing chemical recycling industry is picking up steam, but it faces important obstacles — obstacles that the Toraman Research Group at Penn State hopes to overcome. This research group focuses on plastic pyrolysis, or the process of breaking down plastics with heat, in an oxygen-free atmosphere. The group’s aim? Optimize […]
Penn State research unlocking treatments for cancer, Alzheimer’s to extend patient lives

By Timothy Kelly Two life science research teams were recently awarded Lab Bench to Commercialization (LB2C) grants from the Penn State Eberly College of Science to commercialize their research. The teams have discovered novel interventions to address diseases from cancer to Parkinson’s and diabetic retinopathy. The grant program will help these researchers bring the benefits […]
Getting creative with football weekend accommodations

By David Rockower According to the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau’s recent report on the impact of sports and tourism, when you consider ticketed attendees, media, tailgaters, and opposing teams, around 890,500 people enjoy Happy Valley during a typical football season. This regular influx of visitors has spurred creativity among lodging and accommodations businesses who have […]