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Closeup of false-colored portlandite (calcium hydroxide) crystals in blue.

Concrete in Space

1/23/19

“Be prepared.” This famous mantra isn’t just for the Boy Scouts of America. The need to build durable infrastructure on other planets is coming. To prepare, Penn State researchers have teamed up with NASA to explore how cement solidifies in microgravity environments.

Frederick Wernstedt

Wernstedt Fund continues legacy of helping students

1/23/19

Both seasoned researchers and then-budding students remember Frederick Wernstedt for his contributions to geography. The Department of Geography is highlighting the career of Wernstedt and his continuing contributions to learning through the Frederick L. Wernstedt Geography Enhancement Fund in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

Young boy in trouble at school

Children's race, not disability status, may predict more frequent suspension

1/23/19

Suspension is one way schools discipline students, but the high number of and disparities in suspensions in the U.S. has sparked controversy and policy debate. New Penn State-led research has found that students who are black are more frequently suspended than white students of similar behavioral, academic and socio-economic backgrounds. However, students with disabilities, including those of color, were not more frequently suspended.

5 birds

Without habitat management, small land parcels do not protect birds

1/22/19

Designating relatively small parcels of land as protected areas for wildlife with no habitat management — which has frequently been done in urban-suburban locales around the world — likely does not benefit declining songbird species, according to a team of researchers who studied a long-protected northeastern virgin forest plot.

David Stensrud and oger Wakimoto hold award certificate

Stensrud receives top honor from American Meteorological Society

1/22/19

David Stensrud, head, Penn State's Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, was awarded the Charles Franklin Brooks Award for Outstanding Service to the Society from the American Meteorological Society at the 99th AMS Annual Meeting held Jan. 6-10 in Phoenix. Stensrud received the award for “exceptional contributions to the society through service as editor and co-chief editor of Weather and Forecasting, chair of the Mesoscale Processes committee and STAC commissioner.”

Lizard on rock

Having stressed-out ancestors improves lizards' immune response to stress

1/21/19

Having ancestors who were frequently exposed to stressors can improve one's own immune response to stress, according to Penn State researchers who studied fence lizards and their stress response. The results suggest that family history should be considered to predict or understand the health implications of stress.

Autonomous Cars

Proper messaging is vital for autonomous vehicles as the technology emerges

1/18/19

Fully autonomous vehicles may not be crisscrossing the United States just yet, but they are causing traffic on news sites and social media. New research shows this heavy media coverage influences how the public perceives the vehicles, which can have lasting effects on the emerging technology and society.

Alan Wagner, assistant professor of aerospace engineering, and graduate student Sagar Lakhmani adjust a pair of Braccio robotic arms on the latest generation of emergency evacuation robots.

Safety in numbers: Mobile robots could save lives during emergency evacuations

1/17/19

To address the unique challenges that emergency evacuation scenarios present, Alan Wagner, assistant professor of aerospace engineering, and a team of researchers propose to use a coordinated collection of mobile robots as authority figures to direct evacuees for rapid, orderly and safe evacuations, thanks to a $1.5M National Science Foundation grant.

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