CONSOL Energy recently presented a gift of $25,000 to Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus. The gift is part of CONSOL Energy's "Financial Aid to Education" initiative, which supports the campus' mining technology associate degree program. This program at Penn State Fayette offers students the education they need to fast-track into supervisory positions in mining production and maintenance.

For the first time, a silicon-based optical fiber with solar-cell capabilities has been developed that is capable of being scaled up to many meters in length. The research, led by a Penn State University chemist, opens the door to the possibility of weaving together solar-cell silicon wires to create flexible, curved or twisted solar fabrics. More information and high-resolution images are online at http://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2012-news/Badding12-2012. The information is published in the early online edition of the journal Advanced Materials.

Experts say it takes an estimated 13 trillion watts of energy to power our economies, and by 2050 expect that number to increase to 30 terawatts of power. Jeffrey Brownson, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering at Penn State, notes that less than one-tenth of one percent of today’s electricity comes from solar photovoltaics. But the path to 30 terawatts, he adds, almost certainly goes through the Sun. Brownson, an expert in photovoltaics and sustainability, is one of a number of Penn State researchers pursuing solar-powered technologies.

Flynt Leverett, whose distinguished government career has included positions with the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department and most recently as the senior director for Middle East affairs with the National Security Council, will discuss the changing nature of U.S. foreign policy strategy in a talk titled "Energy, Economics, and the Lost Art of Grand Strategy: American Policy Toward the Persian Gulf and Rising Asia in the 21st Century."

Leverett will deliver the talk at 6 p.m. on April 3, in the Apfelbaum Courtroom/Auditorium in Lewis Katz Hall, at 333 W. South St., Carlisle, Pa. His presentation is open to the public and a reception will follow; the presentation will be simulcast to Lewis Katz Building in University Park and webcast live.

Just because you don't find it the first time doesn't mean it isn't there. That might be the chief lesson drawn from the recent re-test of a generally accepted 44-year-old theory about how cyanobacteria—the photosynthetic bacteria formerly known as blue-green algae—make energy.