Ten interdisciplinary research teams have received funding through the Institute of Energy and the Environment’s (IEE) 2025 Seed Grant Program. The program supports basic and applied research that lays the groundwork to pursue external funding and is guided by IEE’s five research themes. This year, the program awarded seed funding to 34 Penn State researchers across seven colleges and 17 departments and units.

Eight research projects have been selected for support from the Penn State Commercialization GAP Fund. The GAP Fund is a competitive internal program designed to help promising technologies bridge the gap between academic research and industry adoption. 

Six Penn State students recently won a first-place award in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Solar District Cup division, the second consecutive first-place division win for the University. The national collegiate competition challenges multidisciplinary student teams to design and model distributed energy systems for a campus or district, learning the industry-relevant skills to become leaders in clean energy. There were 81 teams participating in the competition.

Thirteen Penn State engineering students from the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME) in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences took home several awards and scholarships from the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and the American Association of Drilling Engineers (AADE) this spring.

For high school sophomores, juniors and seniors interested in real-world lab experiences with automation technology or watching a blasting at a limestone quarry, there are only so many places they can go. If they want to learn the fundamentals from a top mining program in the United States, there is only one — the MINING ROCKS! Mining Summer Camp hosted by the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering (EME). The camp will be held on the University Park campus on July 20–25.