About 60% of all plastics ever produced are currently in waste sites, resulting in a yearly loss of $80-120 billion USD. Additionally, plastic production, which makes up 6% of global oil use, is expected to increase to 20% by 2050.
Past Events: Penn State Energy and Environment Calendar Archive
You're viewing an archived collection of past energy and environment events from around Penn State and beyond. Please visit our Event Calendar to view current and upcoming events.
As a popular emission reduction tool, the carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) can potentially add an economic incentive for building owners to retrofit buil
Attend this enlightening session unveiling the evidence and future projections of climate change in Pennsylvania, exploring Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) and its role in mitigating climate risks while delving into current financial programs supporting CSA initiatives.
Revisiting Past Lectures on the 30th Anniversary of the Ashtekar Frontiers of Science
Halie Kampman, a postdoctoral scholar in Penn State’s Department of Geography, will present "Health in Transition: The Politics of Nutrition and Food Systems Change in Ghana" at the next Department of Geography's Coffee Hour lecture.
Kampman will delve into the rapid and dramatic food system transition currently occurring in Ghana, driven by urbanization and globalization. The focus will be on the changing dietary patterns and the corresponding rise in diet-related illnesses such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.
The Large-Scale Solar in Pennsylvania: 2024 General Update webinar is presented by Extension Educators who closely follow developments with PJM (a regional transmission organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in all or parts of 13 states and the District of Columbia.) and PUC (Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission) along with proposed legislation and policy changes. Educators will discuss recent trends in large-scale solar, also called utility-scale solar, in Pennsylvania. Educators will explain what is happening in the Commonwealth and why.
2024 Women Advancing River Research Seminar Series
All seminars will be presented online live at 11:00 a.m. ET on the third Thursday of each month. Seminar recordings will be posted later. Please register in advance for all talks.
"Fire and Water"
Sheila Murphy, USGS
Gabrielle Boisrame, Desert Research Institute (U.S.)
Department of Geosciences
Colloquium Series
Spring 2024
Eric Roden
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Host: Sue Brantley
MCL now offers a range of analytical techniques that can be used to determine important electronic properties of your device or material system. These properties include: band gap (Eg), work function (WF), valence band maximum (VBM), ionization energy (IE), electron affinity (EA), conduction band minimum (CBM) and carrier concentration. We have techniques for studying electronic defect states in the band gap which can impact device performance and for those making heterojunctions we can determine valence and conduction band offsets.
In this special edition of the Millennium Café, we will have a panel discussion with researchers from different disciplines to the consider the state of science and engineering in related fields, such as synthetic biology, materials, and living materials, and how advances across these fields can expand our understanding of the dynamic structures and processes that underpin life on Earth. Don’t miss this unique event, starting at 10a on 2/13 in the 3rd floor Café Commons of the MSC Bldg.
A growing majority of the world’s population lives in cities.
Revisiting Past Lectures on the 30th Anniversary of the Ashtekar Frontiers of Science
The Water Cooler Series is a monthly event for the water student community planned to bring the community together and share interesting research/ideas/plans with peers from different disciplines and backgrounds. The informal setup for the “Water Cooler Series” will provide students a platform to discuss brewing ideas about water-related research and get help/support from the peer group. The presentation need not be research focused. If you have some interesting field anecdotes or stories to share, this is the forum for you!
The next 2024 Energy Xchange Seminar Series at the EMS Energy Institute will be held on February 8 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
On Wednesday, February 7th at 7pm (EST), Penn State Sustainability will show a program of short films as part of its ongoing Intersections Film Series program. This upcoming showing, from the Soundings series, revolves around issues of water justice and access to effective water and wastewater infrastructure. It is being screened in collaboration with the Penn State Water Council. A post-film breakout discussion will occur after the films are screened. The free event will take place over Zoom.
Meteorology & Atmospheric Science Colloquium: Is Tropical Cyclone Predictability Changing with a Warming Climate?
112 Walker Building
3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Candidate: Jhordanne Jones
Organizer: Meteorology and Atmospheric Science
Richard Alley
Climate Dynamics Seminar
"Ice sheets and Sea Level- Processes and Models with Long Tails"
Department of Geosciences
Colloquium Series
Spring 2024
Lee Hsiang Low
University of Oslo
Host: Sarah Ivory
With so much buzz around AI in the press, we should see big payoffs in science. Yet it doesn’t seem like major advancements with chatbots and image generators in recent years have also extended to scientific breakthroughs. In this talk, I will discuss the concept of representation learning: the way that AI algorithms understand data, and a major bottleneck in repurposing existing AI algorithms to solve new problems. I will specifically highlight challenges and opportunities in materials science applications including molecular simulation, characterization, and small molecule design.
Alarming rates of mental health challenges and social isolation among today's young people have called for unique and innovative approaches to supporting student well-being. I will provide an overview of current academic and research efforts at Penn State to support skills and mindsets related to student flourishing. We will explore what it means to flourish and why it's important to challenge the status quo of today's "college life".