Category Archives: Society & Culture

Lights Out! Penn State Students and Researchers Face the Apocalypse

A lot of people think that scientists and researchers spend all their days and a lot of their nights toiling away in sterile, dimly lit labs, sequestered from students and the rest of the university community. Every once and a while, they may shout “Eureka!” to an unaware, but appreciative group of students and staff as they uncover the cure for a disease or add an extra letter to a really cool-looking math equation.

That’s not how research is done at Penn State. You’ll find research and teaching are tightly woven together in a positive feedback loop here. Research inspires lessons, which inspires students, which, in turn, inspires more research.

That’s especially helpful when you face an apocalypse.

Continue reading Lights Out! Penn State Students and Researchers Face the Apocalypse

A Banner Weekend for Penn State Research

At the AAAS annual meeting last weekend I learned a lot, such as:

  • How our preconceptions of viruses as nasty things may have thwarted our knowledge of the long list of positive interactions humans have with these microbes.
  • How evolution changed us from furry creatures into lean, mean, skin-covered, sweating machines.
  • And how we can now take pictures and make movies of atoms. Actual atoms.
jablonski
Dr. Jablonski addresses media questions at AAAS news briefing.

One thing I did not learn is that I am not a great photographer. I have known that for a long time. In fact, if you couple my lack of photographic skills with my out-of-focus iPhone camera, the pictures of the atom have finer resolutions and were much clearer.

But I tried.

Continue reading A Banner Weekend for Penn State Research

Just off press: A Guide to Historic Penn State

Did you know that Penn State faculty did pioneering research to make diesel engines more fuel efficient? Or that Penn State physics professor Erwin Mueller was the first person ever to “see” an atom? Or that Henry Armsby’s research in animal nutrition helped lay the foundation for today’s high-value, low-cost livestock feeds?

HistoricMapYou can learn more about Penn State research – and other aspects of the University’s history – in a new keepsake edition of A Guide to Historic Penn State, highlighting the University Park campus’s series of blue-and-white historical markers, just released by the University Relations office and the Penn State Alumni Association. In map form, the guide lists all 63 historical markers – many of which call attention to Penn State’s research activities. Others highlight achievements in teaching and a variety of other historic milestones.

But wait – there’s more. The map identifies the 31 major structures within the two campus historic districts and gives thumbnail descriptions of each. Plus six more equally interesting and historic sites that are located outside the two districts. Many of these also have a connection to research.

Map in hand, you can stroll the campus and soak in all the history up close and personal.

As an added bonus, the map includes an 8 x 15 inch reproduction of Richard Rummell’s (modestly) famous 1910 bird’s-eye view engraving of the campus.

The Guide to Historic Penn State, sure to be a collector’s item, is not available in stores or even online. To obtain a free copy, you have to stop by 221 Ritenour Building or the reception desk at the Hintz Alumni Center, or send a nice email to Cathey Chaffee in the University Relations office.

A Spicy Afternoon at The Village

Residents of The Village at Penn State enjoy a variety of activities—after all, variety is the spice of life. Sometimes that spice is literally the tongue-tingling kind, as it was during last week’s Research Unplugged event on site at The Village, with a talk by John Hayes and Nadia Byrnes titled “Some Like it Hot!” (Yes, we are indeed keeping John, assistant professor of food science, and Nadia, who works in his lab at the Sensory Evaluation Center, hopping this semester with a variety of public engagement talks for Research Communications. Our thanks to them both!)

IMG_6567
An attendee raises her hand to ask a question of the researchers.

Continue reading A Spicy Afternoon at The Village

Ending on a high note!

Research Unplugged ended its fall series on a literal and metaphorical high note on Thursday with a presentation and performance by Anthony Leach and the Essence of Joy chorus.

Tony Leach, professor of music and music education, is the group’s founding director. To watch him conduct the student singers is to watch a master in action. They are attuned to every nuance of his directions through his voice, his gestures, even the most subtle body language, and the respect and affection they feel for him as a mentor is palpable to all who observe them working together.

Continue reading Ending on a high note!