Impact Magazine 2024

Science Snapshots

• Penn State part of $6.6M consortium to improve weather forecasting
• Scientists examine how wastewater practices in Florida Keys impact water quality
• $4.5M grant to fund 3D-printed high-performance ceramics project
• Designing and assessing market designs to improve electrical grid reliability

• NIH grant for new tool development to help assess obesity-related behaviors
• Waste heat to green energy: Approach boosts thermoelectric generator efficiency
• $1.3M NSF grant to fund research into restoration of degraded ecosystems
• Lumpy, bumpy hail: Realistic hail shapes may improve modeling of severe weather
• $1.1M award to fund project exploring potential of geologic hydrogen

• Hydrogen battery: Storing hydrogen in coal may help power clean energy economy
• Ecofriendly glass invented at Penn State secures partner for product development
• $4.99M DOE grant to build domestic supply chain for critical minerals
• Online geospatial certificate program receives accreditation

Faculty Notes

• Sridhar Anandakrishnan, professor of geosciences, received a Fulbright Scholar Award for the 2024-25 academic year to conduct advanced research in Australia.
• Luis Ayala, professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering and holder of the William A. Fustos Family Professor, became the head of the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, effective July 1.
• Trevor Birkenholtz, professor of geography and associate head of resident graduate programs in geography, was named a Fellow for the Big Ten Academic Alliance’s Academic Leadership Program.
• Seth Blumsack, professor, energy policy and economics was elected to the Penn State Emerging Academic Leaders program for fall 2024.
• Susan Brantley, Evan Pugh University Professor and Barnes Professor of Geosciences, was named a Distinguished Daughter of Pennsylvania for 2024.
• Cynthia Brewer, professor of geography, was named associate dean for faculty affairs in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology.
• Guido Cervone, E. Willard and Ruby S. Miller Professor of Geography, was named interim director of the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.
• Kenneth Davis, professor of atmospheric and climate science, was named Person of the Year by the Penn State Institute of Energy and the Environment.

• Nelson Dzade, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering, received a 2024 Early Career Research Award from the U.S. Department of Energy.
• Russell Johns, professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering, received the 2023 SPE/AIME Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal from the International Society of Petroleum Engineers for technical leadership.
• Kevin Haworth, assistant teaching professor and Giles Writer-in-Residence, was appointed to Penn State’s Teaching and Learning Technologies Faculty Advisory Committee for the 2024-25 academic year.
• Danielle Hickey, assistant professor of materials science and engineering and of chemistry, was awarded an American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Doctoral New Investigator Grant.
• Robert Hickey, associate professor of materials science and engineering, was awarded the American Physical Society’s 2025 John H. Dillon Medal.
• Zuleima Karpyn, Donohue Family Professor of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, and EMS associate dean for graduate education and research, was named a distinguished member by the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
• Paul Markowski, head of the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science, was named a Big Ten Academic Alliance Department Executive Officer Fellow.

• John Mauro, Dorothy Pate Enright Professor in Materials Science and Engineering, elected as an academician by the World Academy of Ceramics.
• Tushar Mittal, assistant professor of geosciences, was named a 2024 Packard Fellow by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
• Clive Randall, distinguished professor of materials science and engineering and director of the Materials Research Institute, was named an Evan Pugh University Professor.
• David Stensrud, professor of meteorology, was voted presidentelect of the American Meteorological Society.
• Ezgi Toraman, assistant professor of energy engineering and chemical engineering, was selected as a “Pioneer of Catalysis and Reaction Engineering” by the CRE division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
• Christelle Wauthier, associate professor of geosciences, was appointed associate director of the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences.
• Karl Zimmerer, professor of geography, was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.