Read the latest news about research conducted by investigators in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. Our faculty and students are continually advancing technology, creating solutions and expanding knowledge with new and innovative research.
Deep groundwater aquifers respond rapidly to climate variability
Changes in climate can rapidly impact even the deepest freshwater aquifers according to Penn State and Columbia University hydrologists.
Broader updrafts in severe storms may increase chance of damaging hail
Strong updrafts — currents of rising air — in severe thunderstorms are a prerequisite for hail formation. The width of these updrafts may be an indicator of an increased hail threat, according to Penn State meteorologists.
Grad student examines links between housing, income and hazard risk
Penn State geography student Travis Young is researching why low-income neighborhoods in Houston are the only ones in the area at high risk for flooding. His research interests stem from many factors in his personal and professional life.
Penn State creates new center for microbiome research
A University-wide effort to promote the study of microbiomes at Penn State has led to the creation of a center for microbiome research, a fast-growing area of scientific inquiry. Microbiomes are the communities of microorganisms that live on or in people, plants, soil, oceans and the atmosphere.
Climate dynamics professor co-authors report assessing cost of climate change
Chris Forest, associate professor of climate dynamics at Penn State, was co-author of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report recommending new methods for estimating the social cost of carbon emissions worldwide. According to the report, new practices would strengthen the scientific basis, provide greater transparency, and improve characterization of uncertainties over the current estimates.
Big Ten’s Geospatial Data Portal connecting access to GIS, historical map data
The Big Ten Academic Alliance Geospatial Data Portal Project, of which Penn State University Libraries is a contributor, has launched an online spatial data discovery tool called the Big Ten Academic Alliance Geoportal. The project and geoportal aim to provide discoverability, facilitate access and connect scholars across the Big Ten Academic Alliance to often scattered geospatial data resources.
Fulbright takes researcher to Sweden to study new transistor materials
Joan Redwing, Penn State professor of materials science and engineering, chemical engineering, and electrical engineering, spent time at Lund University in Sweden as part of the Fulbright Scholar Program, through which she conducted research into semiconductor materials that could be used to power cell phones, laptops and other electronic devices in the future.
The effects of melting glaciers on tropical communities
A Penn State professor is researching the trickle-down effects that melting tropical glaciers have on food security and biodiversity, and what regional communities, like Cusco and Huaraz in Peru, can do about it.
Conservation practices may leave African indigenous populations behind
Conservation and logging groups in Central and West Africa are failing to fully incorporate local concerns into management, marginalizing the livelihoods of the local population, according to Nathan Clay, doctoral candidate in geography, Penn State.
Project to develop computational tools for coupled human-natural systems
Penn State researchers have received a $20 million, five-year project with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) looks to create a state-of-the-art framework of computational tools that will help to assess the impacts of weather-related variability and change.