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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A region famous for the coal that once fueled a growing nation is now the focus of a $1.2 million project, led by Penn State researchers, aimed at establishing domestic supplies of critical minerals needed to produce modern technology from cell phones to fighter jets.

Penn State alumna Elana Chapman, senior fuels and biofuels engineer at General Motors (GM), has been recognized for her impacts within the fuel industry. 

The Penn State Materials Research Institute (MRI) has announced the 2021 recipients of seed grants that will enable University faculty to establish new collaborations with partners outside their own units for exploration of transformative ideas for high-impact materials science and engineering. There are four research themes for the seed grants, with 12 grants totaling more than $500,000 which were awarded by MRI in partnership with Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory and the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

Fiber-optic cables run underneath nearly all city grids across the United States and provide internet and cable TV to millions, but what if those systems could also provide valuable information related to hazardous events such as earthquakes and flooding? A team of researchers at Penn State have found they can do just that.

Chiara Lo Prete, associate professor of energy economics in Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, received a Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation to investigate electricity market structures to provide efficient incentives for generation capacity investment under increasing renewable penetration.

Barbara Arnold, professor of practice in mining engineering at Penn State, has been awarded honorary membership in American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (AIME). AIME honorary membership is one of the highest honors that the institute can bestow on an individual.

Penn State has entered a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Colorado School of Mines to establish a collaboration designed to be responsive in supporting the United States’ need for critical minerals.

A single-step, plasma-enhanced catalytic process to convert sulfur dioxide to pure sulfur from tail gas streams may provide a promising, more environmentally-friendly alternative to current multistage thermal, catalytic and absorptive processes, according to scientists at Penn State.

The 2020 Millennium Café Pitch Competition was held virtually on Tuesday, June 2, 2020. Sponsored by PPG Industries, the Millennium Café Pitch Competition is an opportunity for graduate students to pitch research in two minutes or less using no more than four supporting slides. 

Mohammad Rezaee, assistant professor of mining engineering in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, has been awarded the Outstanding Young Engineer Award from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration’s (SME) Mineral and Metallurgical Processing Division.