All posts by Melissa Beattie Moss

Earth & Environment

It’s easy being green

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Kermit the Frog sang “It’s not easy being green,” but on an early summer evening in Central Pennsylvania, when the air is soft and smells of sweet hay,  and people’s gardens are shooting up almost as you watch, green can feel like the easiest thing of all.

So it was in Dorothy Blair’s backyard garden a few days ago.

I had interviewed her for a recent Probing Question article on local and organic foods. In one email, she mentioned that she’d just come in from gardening. I can’t resist a garden so I quickly wrote back, “Can I come by and have a look?” and a plan was hatched. Continue reading It’s easy being green →

Society & Culture

Penn State Research is On the Road!

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Good morning from our nation’s capitol! I traveled to Washington, D.C. yesterday for the launch of the University’s newest outreach program, Research on the Road. The concept? To bring faculty researchers to locations around the country with active alumni chapters for lively conversations on timely topics.

We could not have had better partners for our inaugural Research on the Road event than the dynamic folks of the Metro D.C. Penn State alumni chapter!

Continue reading Penn State Research is On the Road! →

Earth & Environment

A Tale of Two Beekeepers

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I’ll admit right up front that the title of this blog post is misleading: there’s only one beekeeper in this story. But trust me, she’s a very good one and she appears twice in this tale, in two different settings.

I’ll explain.

In my role developing public programs featuring Penn State researchers, I immediately thought of Maryann Frazier as a speaker for spring semester’s Research Unplugged series. Maryann is Penn State’s senior extension associate in the department of entomology, as well as a seasoned bee researcher, and a spokesperson for the work of the University’s Center for Pollinator Research.  I knew from a past interview with her for my feature on Colony Collapse Disorder that she could wax eloquent (bad pun, sorry!) on the topic of bees.

In her first Research Unplugged talk for us this semester, Maryann showed up at our new location at Schlow Centre Region Library looking more the professor than the beekeeper, wearing a tailored and professional-looking blouse and skirt. The cameras were rolling and there was a “standing room only” crowd of over 100 people in the library’s Downsbrough Community Room.

 

Continue reading A Tale of Two Beekeepers →