March 22, 2023
A novel study by a Penn State-led research team suggests that “manureshed” management in the Susquehanna River basin could make a big difference in the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay.
March 22, 2023
Penn State student Emma Luksic recently traveled with classmates to Chile and the Patagonia region of South America, where she learned about environmental conservation efforts aimed at protecting Chile’s ecosystems.
March 19, 2023
Concrete is as ubiquitous in cities as it is impervious. Amid worsening storms due to climate change, it only deflects runoff toward the drain, threatening sewer capacities. Lauren McPhillips is partnering with researchers across the commonwealth to engineer stormwater solutions using nature to replace hard surfaces and help control the flow.
March 13, 2023
The recently released documentary “Plastic Earth” features Penn Staters Judd Michael, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Sherri Mason, associate research professor, director of sustainability at Penn State Behrend, and a leading researcher of freshwater plastic pollution.
March 13, 2023
ABE professor Jeffrey Catchmark, along with Doug Peck from Foods Science, present food packaging alternatives.
March 10, 2023
A new interactive “carbon calculator” tool can help dairy farmers see sustainability principles in action and improve farm management decisions related to climate change. The carbon calculator expands on the existing “virtual farm” website developed by researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and Penn State Extension, in partnership with several universities, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an industry partner, the Dairy Innovation Center, and the creative services team at WPSU.
February 28, 2023
Each station is solar powered with battery backup and transmits one-minute measurements in real-time via a cell modem connection. Stations measure air temperature and relative humidity, wind speed and direction, solar radiation, air pressure, rainfall, and feature an environmental camera that shows local conditions. This one is located at Penn State Beaver.
February 24, 2023
Workers tasked with moving products in the immense U.S. food system are at a high risk of serious injury, according to a new Penn State-led study, and pandemic-caused, supply-chain problems have worsened the situation, researchers suggest.
February 13, 2023
Makaila Holston Smith, a junior biorenewable systems major in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a Future Leader in Agriculture.
January 26, 2023
A machine vision system capable of locating and identifying apple king flowers within clusters of blossoms on trees in orchards was devised by Penn State researchers — a critical early step in the development of a robotic pollination system — in a first-of-its-kind study.
January 9, 2023
ABE Faculty and Staff wish to congratulate our Fall 2022 Graduates
December 2, 2022
Twelve Penn State students have been selected as College of Agricultural Sciences Alumni Society 2022 Internship Award winners. The award, which includes a $1,000 stipend, was established to encourage students to participate in a credit or noncredit educational internship program related to their field of study.
November 28, 2022
Sewage treatment plants provide an important service to communities around the world. Through several processes, these facilities take dirty water and transform it into water that can be reused safely. Treating water that comes from our homes and offices – domestic wastewater - to be reintroduced into the environment protects both human and environmental health.
November 14, 2022
Farmers in Pennsylvania can get state reimbursement to pay for retrofitting their older tractors with life-saving rollover-protection structures — often referred to as ROPS — aided by a new Penn State program.
November 8, 2022
Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences lauded outstanding accomplishments in research during the college’s inaugural Research Awards Ceremony, held Oct. 25 at the Hintz Family Alumni Center on the University Park campus.
November 1, 2022
Penn State student Divya Pant participated in the Miss Nepal North America pageant to help raise awareness of her project Carbon Away, which she founded with the goal of converting waste generated during the agricultural process into energy and fertilizer.
October 26, 2022
PFAS (per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances) persist through wastewater treatment at levels that may impact the long-term feasibility of ‘beneficial reuse of treated wastewater,’ according to a study conducted by researchers at Penn State and recently published in the Agronomy Journal.
October 6, 2022
October 6, 2022
The team visits the stream in Mount Union Borough as a first step in developing their design.
September 9, 2022
ASABE’s Resource magazine has been devoted this issue to capstone projects from programs around the country, including Penn State University.
September 8, 2022
Certain drugs used to treat COVID-19 patients — including remdesivir, dexamethasone and antibiotics for associated bacterial infections — persist through wastewater treatment and may occur in waterways at levels high enough to negatively affect aquatic organisms, according to a new study led by researchers at Penn State. The findings highlight the broad utility of wastewater surveillance as a tool for monitoring the effects of human health on water quality and ecosystem health.
September 8, 2022
Penn State’s successful efforts to reduce waste going into a landfill after football games at Beaver Stadium are spotlighted in a case study in the Green Sports Alliance’s just-published “Food Waste Diversion and Compostable Packaging Playbook.”
September 7, 2022
Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus has installed a weather station on campus as part of the Pennsylvania Environmental Monitoring Network, which includes 20 similar systems across the commonwealth. The project, which began development in 2017, is funded by the Penn State Office of the Vice President for Research, the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.
August 22, 2022
August 18, 2022
As doctoral students in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Wei-Shu Lin and Parisa Nazemi Ashani are dedicating their academic studies and future careers to improving ecosystems, including the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States.
August 16, 2022
A light-based food sanitization technique successfully eliminated multiple harmful pathogens in a new study carried out by Penn State researchers.
August 1, 2022
Visitors to the Farm Safety Demonstration Area at Penn State’s Ag Progress Days, Aug. 9-11, can learn about the hazards of flowing grain in confined-space grain storages and best practices to avoid and respond to entrapment risks.
July 18, 2022
Penn State agricultural engineers have developed, for the first time, a prototype “end-effector” capable of deftly removing unwanted apples from trees — the first step toward robotic, green-fruit thinning.
July 11, 2022
A scientist in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences has received a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to lead a team conducting research on using biofilters to mitigate methane from enteric emissions produced in livestock facilities.
July 6, 2022
A new embedded course, “Antarctica: Human Impacts on a Fragile Environment,” will be offered at Penn State in the fall 2023 semester.
