Recent Research News & Features

• Root Biology Center aims to boost crop yields around the globe
  Jonathan Lynch, professor of horticulture at Penn State, investigates ways to increase crop yields through improving plant root systems. His work recently received a boost when philanthropist Warren G. Buffett offered him the use of a 50-acre field in South Africa along with a $1.5 million research grant. Having an experimental base in the ...  Read on
  

• Anthropology researcher explains why humans have no fur
  Humans are the only primates whose bodies are covered by mostly naked skin, not by fur. The evolution of our oddly bare bodies has been crucial in the development of other human traits. In the February issue of Scientific American magazine, Penn State anthropologist Nina Jablonski writes about the evolutionary origins of human hairlessness. ...  Read on
  

• Study: Geographic diversity impacts corporate social responsibility
  The geographic location of a corporation's headquarters affects its approach to social responsibility, according to research supported by the Arthur W. Page Center for Integrity in Public Communication at Penn State....  Read on
  

Faculty Spotlight

• Four faculty members to receive Presidential Early Career Awards
  The White House announced today (July 9) that four Penn State researchers will receive 2009 Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Sean Hallgren and Adam D. Smith, both assistant professors in computer science and engineering; Michael A. Hickner, assistant professor of material science and engineering; and Susan E. Parks, assistant professor of acoustics and research associate at the University's Applied Research Laboratory, were among 100 named by the White House to receive this highest honor presented to beginning scientists or engineers in the U.S. They will be recognized at a future ceremony at the White House... Read on
  
• Seven Penn State faculty win NSF CAREER awards
  Seven assistant professors at Penn State have received Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) awards. This is the most prestigious award in support of junior faculty exemplifying the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research in the context of their organizations...  Read on
• Materials scientist named Security Science and Engineering Fellow
  Susan Trolier-McKinstry, professor of ceramic science and engineering at Penn State, has been selected as one of six distinguished scientists from U.S. universities to form the inaugural class of the Department of Defense's (DoD) new National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows Program. This program provides long-term funding to faculty scientists and engineers to pursue basic research of crucial importance to next-generation DoD technologies....  Read on