Rare insect found at Arkansas Walmart sets historic record, prompts mystery
Photo: PSU. A giant insect plucked from the façade of an Arkansas Walmart has set historic records. The Polystoechotes punctata or giant lacewing is the first of its kind recorded in eastern North America in over 50 years — and the first record of the species ever in the state. The giant lacewing was formerly […]
ARL awarded $734M contract by Naval Sea Systems
Photo: U.S. Navy photo by Mr. John F. Williams (RELEASED). The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State (ARL) was recently awarded a $734 million cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract by the Naval Sea Systems Command for research, development, engineering, and test and evaluation in support of programs throughout the Department of Defense (DOD) […]
New $88M Engineering Design and Innovation Building opens on campus
Photo: Penn State College of Engineering. Penn State celebrated a ribbon cutting at its new $88M Engineering Design and Innovation Building on the west end of campus. The building features “cornerstone to capstone” maker spaces to help undergraduates collaborate with academia and industry partners to solve real-world problems. The building, which is formally known as […]
Penn State is buying a farm; here’s how the research space will be used
Photo: CENTRE DAILY TIMES/ABBY DREY. Penn State is set to purchase 20.36 acres in Benner Township, Centre County, for $2.35 million — in an effort to further agricultural research. The property includes a 25,000-square-foot research greenhouse, a 3,324-square-foot residence and nearly 10 acres of adjacent land that can host field experiments, such as testing new […]
Prolific IBM inventor takes on Penn State Research: Let’s make this into Happy Silicon Valley
By Stephanie Kalina-Metzger Photo: Provided. All it took for Madhavan Swaminathan was a little encouragement to jumpstart his career in innovation. The new head of the Department of Electrical Engineering in Penn State’s School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science comes to Penn State by way of Georgia Tech, where he spent 28 years leading […]
FREE intrapreneurship conference focuses on employees as change makers
Mark your calendars for the Conference on Intrapreneurship Employees as ChangeMakers, taking place May 11 at the Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub. The conference, which is free, is presented by the Penn State College of Engineering’s School of Engineering Design and Innovation and will focus on how employees can create innovation from within a company. […]
Penn State’s AIMI ushers in Industry 5.0 with a bold vision for the future
By Caryn Anderson AIMI connects you with Penn State. Photo: Provided. Penn State’s Center for Applications of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to Industry (AIMI), which launched on June 30, 2022, has a complex, multifaceted goal. In part, AIMI aims to help small and medium manufacturers (SMMs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) get the […]
Penn State engineers optimizing water purification system for the U.S. Marines
By Timothy Kelly An experimental MCDI unit. Photo: Chris Arges. A team of researchers, led by Chris Arges, Penn State associate professor of chemical engineering, is working to optimize a water desalination process called membrane capacitive deionization (MCDI) for mobile teams of U.S. Marines. We asked Arges to explain how the system works, why he […]
Finding inspiration in the tiny-but-mighty hummingbird
By Holly Riddle You don’t need to be a mechanical engineering professor like Penn State’s Dr. Bo Cheng to recognize that hummingbirds contrast significantly with their avian relatives. The smallest of bird species, hummingbirds flit and dart their way from food source to food source in a way no other bird can. Flying backward, forward […]
