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REPORT ONACTIVITIES

I N S T I T U T E S O F E N E R G Y A N D T H E E N V I R O N M E N T

2017

Communications Manager: Kevin SlimanDesigner: Brenna RichnerEditors: Tori Indivero, Whitney LloydWriters: Derek Bannister, Wyatt DuBois, Chuck Gill, Tori Indivero, Liam Jackson, Whitney Lloyd, Caroline Rosini, Kevin Sliman

Penn State is an equal oppor tunity, af firmative action employer, and is commit ted to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. This publication is available in alternative media on request. U.Ed. 17-49

3 Message from the Director 4 Institute Overview 6 New Faculty

7 Faculty 10 Energy and the Environment Laboratory

BEST Center 11Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories

Odette Mina

12 Science Communication 13 Energy Days

Rare Earth Elements 14 Colloquium on the Environment

15 Past Colloquiums 16 Modeling Weather-Related Change 17 Sustainable Climate

Risk Management

18 Rural Flooding Impacts 19 Global Building Network 20 Solving Ag Water Issues through Engagement

21NEWBio Advances Biomass Energy Efforts

Critical Zone Observatory 22 Environmental Inquiry Minor 23 Hands-On Learning

at The Navy Yard

24 Seed Grants 25 Communicating Fire’s Benefits 26 Improving Health

through Parks

33Institute Overview |

Message from the Director

Leadership

Tom RichardDirector

Chunshan SongAssociate Director

Elizabeth BoyerAssistant Director

Lara FowlerAssistant Director for Outreach and Engagement

Greetings! This report summarizes the progress the Institutes of Energy and the Environment at Penn State in 2017. In addition to reporting on the nuts and bolts of our organization, we have highlighted some of the impacts we are having to advance scholarship that links data, knowledge, and impact for our communities, our nation, and the globe. Our goal is to educate the next generation of researchers and other professionals to achieve healthy, robust, and resilient environmental and energy systems across the many dimensions of sustainability.

The last year has made the importance of resilient systems more visible than ever. From the hundreds of thousands of citizens still without reliable power in Puerto Rico, to Texas, Maine, California, and New York, we have seen massive disruptions associated with intense hurricanes, extreme heat, and bitter cold and ice. The realities of climate change, coupled with rapid transformations in energy supply, distribution, storage, and interconnectivity, have challenged everyone from federal regulators to corporate leaders to reevaluate the paradigms of the past.

Penn State faculty, students, and staff are working with our partners in business, government, and communities to identify and address these challenges. We have teams working on the linkages between food, water, and energy systems; water quality and quantity including flood policy and response; climate science, ecosystem change, and human responses including adaptation and mitigation; next generation grid technologies including demand response and distributed energy and storage; cleaner energy sources and greater efficiency. Through our Energy University initiative, the University Strategic Plan Implementation Teams, and international efforts including Project Drawdown, we are building linkages with partners in Pennsylvania and across the globe.

In this issue, you will read about a few of these programs, including partnerships to transform the way we manage water for agriculture, fires for biodiversity, and parks for health; address flooding and other risks from extreme weather; develop regional sustainable energy systems; and lead a global network to transform the building industry. To state that these efforts are ambitious is an understatement. But we are ambitious. We are stewarding our planet’s resources. We are Penn State!

How else can we as educators and researchers accelerate innovation and help our students acquire the skills and expertise to find and implement meaningful and lasting solutions? This report illustrates some of those steps: engaging our students through inquiry and hands-on learning, partnering with stakeholders, leveraging interdisciplinary expertise, building highly functional teams, and honing science communications skills so that the solutions we develop are both appropriate and actionable. I hope you find this report both informative and inspiring. And I look forward to working with you to achieve even more this coming year!

Tom RichardDirector, Institutes of Energy and the Environment, Penn State

Our mission is to advance the energy and environmental research missions of the University.

4 | Report on Activities

The Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) is one of seven interdisciplinary research institutes at Penn State. We work to build teams of experts from different disciplines to see how new partnerships and new ways of thinking can solve some of the world’s most difficult energy and environmental challenges. We look to impact our world and our future with data that is turned into knowledge that generates positive change locally, nationally, and globally. A key element of Penn State’s mission is to promote the general welfare of the citizenry. We take that charge to heart as we search for innovative solutions that will positively impact every person in the areas of energy and the environment. This includes areas of health and well-being.

We understand that our world needs clean, sustainable, and cost-effective sources of energy. We also know that we cannot sacrifice our environment to obtain it. We look at every option and strive to continuously improve upon it, aiming for a healthy planet and healthy people.

IEE seeks to achieve its mission through four key methods: Networking, funding, training, and providing facilities and instrumentation.

NetworkingAt Penn State, we recognize that interdisciplinary teams have a significantly higher likelihood of discovering new and innovative solutions. That is why IEE focuses on fostering and facilitating scholarship and collaboration that spans colleges as well as Penn State campuses throughout the Commonwealth. We coordinate meetings and events to bring people together to network and discuss partnership opportunities. We build communities by communicating the latest energy and environment research and news through newsletters, websites, social media, and more. We recommend and connect Penn State researchers through our staff ’s extensive knowledge and expertise.

FundingIEE allocates funding for research and scholarship related to our mission.

This is most evident in IEE’s Seed Grant Program, which is available to Penn State faculty members and researchers. The program funds early-stage interdisciplinary research proposals in the areas of energy and the environment. Since the program’s beginning, more than $1.5 million have been awarded to seventy projects. These investments have resulted in more than $4 million in external funding. In 2017, more than $500,000 was made available to Penn State faculty members.

Other examples of funding include faculty salaries in strategic areas, graduate student support, matching support for large interdisciplinary grants, and start-up funding to further exploration of initiatives.

TrainingWe continually improve the skills and experience of our faculty members, researchers, and graduate students through regular meetings, workshops, and events. One important training goal is to improve researchers’ ability to translate their work into accurate and usable communications. We aim to help researchers clearly articulate their work so that it is easily understood and made relevant to the media and the public.

IEE has also conducted trainings and workshops on calls for proposals for external funding. Here senior faculty members share their insights and experiences with their junior colleagues on how to build effective teams and how to develop a strong proposal.

Providing Facilities and InstrumentationOver the years, IEE has invested heavily into developing a cluster of cutting-edge facilities and instruments for use by researchers at Penn State. Through the Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories (EESL), IEE provides the facilities as well as the expertise of well-trained laboratory scientists who can assist users with testing and data collection. EESL consists of seven laboratories. Learn more on page 11.

Institute Overview

User Facility SupportSeed Grant

OtherMatching

Graduate Student Support (excluding GIA)

Equipment PurchaseDirect ExpensesCenter SupportFaculty Research Support (Including Salary and Fringe)

Administrative Salaries and Fringe

60%

13%

7%

6%

2%

4%

1%

3%3%

1%

Distribution of IEE

Expenditures

User Facility SupportSeed Grant

OtherMatching

Graduate Student Support (excluding GIA)

Equipment PurchaseDirect ExpensesCenter SupportFaculty Research Support (Including Salary and Fringe)

Administrative Salaries and Fringe

60%

13%

7%

6%

2%

4%

1%

3%3%

1%

Distribution of IEE

Expenditures


Financials IEE invests financially into a diverse portfolio of Penn State centers, personnel, and programs.

Center Support

ADAPT (Center for Advanced Data Assimilation and Predictability Techniques) BEST (Battery and Energy Storage Technology) CenterC-MaST (Center for Marine Science and Technology)Center for Molecular Toxicology and CarcinogenesisCLIMA (Center for Climate Risk Management) Ecology + Design InitiativeEcology Institute EEEP (The Initiative for Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy)Center for Landscape DynamicsMCOR (Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research) Penn State—Dalian JCER (Joint Center for Energy Research) Partnership University of Freiburg Global Engagement Network (Global Building Network Initiative)

Event Support

2017 Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology Student Symposium (ECMSS)2017 Shale Network WorkshopBehavioral Sciences for Energy and the Environment Seminar Colloquium on the Environment COMPASS science communication workshops Ecology Seminar SeriesEnergy Days Feminism, Race, and the Anthropocene Conference Gender, Agriculture and Environment Initiative Research 2016 Penn State Summer Symposium in Molecular Biology

Faculty Research Support

Building Energy Efficiency—Undergraduate Research on Building SystemsChesapeake Bay Center for Collaborative ComputationChesapeake Research ConsortiumDatabase of Energy Sector Financial Data Remote Water Quality Monitoring StationImprovement of Traps and Lures for Exotic Wood-boring BeetlesMatch for EPA Wetlands ProjectThe Navy Yard in PhiladelphiaResearch Collaboration Fellowships

Seed GrantsSince 2013, IEE has contributed more than $1.5 million in seed grant funding. Learn more on page 24 .


Jillian Goldfarb | College of Earth and Mineral SciencesJillian Goldfarb is an assistant professor in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering. Her research focuses on the issues surrounding energy generat ion and its impact on the environment. She works to incorporate inorganic compounds into cellulosic feedstocks—or the raw materials used for an industrial process—to engineer co-products such as nanomaterials, electrodes, or heterogeneous adsorbents.

Gregory Pavlak | College of EngineeringGregory Pavlak, assistant professor of architectural engineering in the College of Engineering, has research interests that focus on increasing the intelligence and autonomy of building energy systems and generation technologies. His past research accomplishments include optimizing commercial building participation in energy and ancillary service markets, optimal control of commercial building thermal mass port folios, an energy signal tool for decision support in building energy systems, and Bayesian calibration of inverse gray-box building model parameters.

Kristina Douglass | College of the Liberal ArtsKristina Douglass, assistant professor in the College of the Liberal Arts’ Department of Anthropology, is an Africanist anthropologist. She focuses on the anthropology and archaeology of sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean, as well as the way humans interact with their environment. Douglass’ current work investigates human-environment interaction in Madagascar. For the last five years, she has directed the Morombe Archaeological Project in Madagascar, a project that combines regional excavations with gathering oral histories in southwest Madagascar.

Jonathan Duncan | College of Agricultural SciencesJonathan Duncan, assis tant professor of hydrology in the College of Agricultural Sciences’ Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, is interested in understanding how the biophysical template of watersheds af fects the hydrologic transpor t and biogeochemical transformations of nutrients. He uses geospatial analysis, environmental sensors,and modeling approaches to answer questions about nutrient transport and the resiliency of cer tain watersheds.

New Faculty

The Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) announced the addition of four new co-funded faculty members joining Penn State during the 2017-18 academic year. The faculty members are Kristina Douglass, Jonathan Duncan, Jillian Goldfarb, and Gregory Pavlak.

The addition of these faculty members aligns with the goals of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment to strategically hire researchers who are interested in interdisciplinary work as well as fostering research, education, and outreach in the areas of energy and the environment.

College of Agricultural Sciences College of Earth and Mineral Sciences College of Engineering College of Liberal Arts College of Medicine Eberly College of Science

Curtis OmiecinskiProfessor of Veterinary ScienceCollege of Agricultural Sciences


Jason Kaye Professor of Soil BiogeochemistryCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Donald Davis Professor of Plant Pathology College of Agricultural Sciences

Robert BrooksProfessor of Geography and EcologyCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Adam Glick Professor of Veterinary ScienceCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Armen Kemanian Assistant Professor of Production Systems and ModelingCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Elizabeth Boyer IEE Assistant Director – Water Resources College of Agricultural Sciences

Douglas Wrenn Assistant Professor of Environmental and Resource EconomicsCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Heather GallAssistant Professor of Agricultural and Biological EngineeringCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Howard SalisAssistant Professor of Agriculture and Biological EngineeringCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Jason Rasgon Professor of Entomology and Disease EpidemiologyCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Kathryn Brasier Associate Professor of Rural SociologyCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Sandeep Prabhu Professor of Immunology and Molecular ToxicologyCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Scott Isard Professor of AerobiologyCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Tom Baker Distinguished Professor of EntomologyCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Katherine ZippAssistant Professor of Environmental and Resource EconomicsCollege of Agricultural Sciences

Jennifer Baka Assistant Professor of GeographyCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Seth BlumsackAssociate Professor of Energy Policy and EconomicsCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Faculty In alphabetical order by college | Names of IEE faculty bolded throughout report


Jonathan MathewsAssociate Professor Energy and Mineral EngineeringCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Kenneth DavisProfessor of MeteorologyCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Klaus KellerProfessor of GeosciencesCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Mort WebsterAssociate Professor of Energy and Mineral EngineeringCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Peter WilfProfessor of GeosciencesCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Roman Engel-HerbertAssistant Professor of Materials Science and EngineeringCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Randy Vander WalProfessor of Energy and Mineral Engineering and Materials Science and EngineeringCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Christopher GorskiAssistant Professor of Civil EngineeringCollege of Engineering

James FreihautProfessor of Architectural EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Michael Janik Professor of Chemical EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Nilanjan Ray Chaudhuri Assistant Professor of Electrical EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Noel Chris GiebinkAssistant Professor of Electrical EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Angela Lueking Associate Professor Energy and Mineral EngineeringCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Chiara Lo Prete Assistant Professor of Energy EconomicsCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Chunshan Song Distinguished Professor of Fuel Science and Professor of Chemical EngineeringCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Erica Smithwick Associate Professor of GeographyCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Gregory Jenkins Professor of MeteorologyCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Ismaila Dabo Assistant Professor of Materials Science and EngineeringCollege of Earth and Mineral Sciences


Robert RiouxProfessor of Chemical EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Adri van DuinProfessor of Mechanical EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Bruce Logan Evan Pugh and Kappe Professor of Environmental EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Donghai Wang Associate Professor of Mechanical EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Jeffrey YanoskyAssociate Professor of EpidemiologyCollege of Medicine

John ReganProfessor of Civil and Environmental Engineering College of Engineering

Li LiAssociate Professor of Environmental EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Manish Kumar Assistant Professor of Chemical EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Sven Schmitz Assistant Professor of Aerospace EngineeringCollege of Engineering

Douglas KennettProfessor of Environmental Archaeology and Human Behavioral EcologyCollege of the Liberal Arts

Xun CaoAssociate Professor of Political ScienceCollege of the Liberal Arts

Benjamin LearAssociate Professor of ChemistryEberly College of Science

Charles Anderson Assistant Professor of BiologyEberly College of Science

Todd LaJeunesseAssociate Professor of BiologyEberly College of Science

Miriam Freedman Associate Professor of ChemistryEberly College of Science

Peter HudsonDirector, Huck Institutes of the Life SciencesEberly College of Science

Ying GuAssistant Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyEberly College of Science


In July 2017, the Materials Research Laboratory was renamed the Energy and the Environment Laboratory to more accurately represent the research occurring in the building. Tom Richard, director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE), requested the name change.

“The building is now designed and managed to foster interdisciplinary research in the fields of energy and the environment. We have co-located four clusters of researchers organized around carbon research, solar energy, batteries and energy storage, and material-environment interactions,” Richard said. “Each of these topics is critical to our society’s energy future, and the interactions within and among these clusters is generating novel science and creative solutions.”

He added the facilities in the building, which is managed by IEE, will aid in recruitment and retention of top-notch faculty who focus on interdisciplinary energy and environmental research.

The largest occupant in the Energy and the Environ-ment Laboratory is the Batteries and Energy Storage Technology (BEST) Center, which includes a half-dozen faculty and their associated research groups (see below). The carbon research portfolio includes carbon dioxide utilization and storage, carbon soot, carbon

materials, and the use of carbon to explore human impacts, ranging from ancient societies to modern climate change.

Recently, EEL, a 79,000 square-foot facility, underwent extensive renovations totaling approximately $25 million. It included the following:

1. New 100 percent outside-air HVAC systems for all labs improves lab safety

2. Lab HVAC units have a heat wheel that captures warm building exhaust air to preheat outside air, resulting in energy savings

3. Offices received new HVAC systems4. New low-flow fume hoods in labs

create reduced airflow requirements, resulting in energy savings

5. Solar panels on roof to help heat domestic hot water

6. New building process cooling water system7. Two reverse osmosis/deionized water systems 8. New building chilled water system9. New building automation controls 10. New roof11. New lighting fixtures, including

use of LED fixtures

Energy and the Environment Laboratory

Batteries have become central to our lives, and battery energy storage is closely associated with renewable energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions.

“The battery train has left the station,” said Chris Rahn, associate dean for innovation and professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. He added that companies are investing heavily into battery technology. Rahn is also co-director of the Battery and Energy

Storage Technology (BEST) Center, which focuses on partnering with industry to further the progress in battery technology. Researchers at BEST are developing solutions for challenges, such as reducing battery degradation and reliability in extreme temperatures.

“In the BEST Center, we are looking at that wide range of activities, everything from material science advances that could really revolutionize the industry, to building a better electric car,” Rahn said.

The BEST Center requires interdisciplinary teams of experts from across the University.

“If you are going to build a car, you need mechanical and elec trical engineers, computer scientists, chemists, material scientists,” Rahn said. “You have people who are thinking about the chemistry to those who are thinking about and designing the power train for a vehicle. One of the most impor tant things about interdisciplinary work is how it makes connections.”

BEST Center

1111Facilities |

The Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories, or EESL, are multi-user research facilities available for the Penn State research community and researchers at other institutions of higher education, as well as industry professionals. Just as the Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) focuses on interdisciplinary research, EESL utilizes exper tise from several colleges, of fering cut ting-edge instruments and facilities to help further the research of the Univer- sity community. EE SL , whic h i s suppor te d by IEE, prov ides quick acces s to instrumentation and experienced researchers who work with faculty and students to help design field and laboratory research, as well as conduct sample analysis. In addition, the researchers are also available to train students on modern techniques and state-of-the-art instrumentation. Seven facilities make up EESL: The Accelerator Mass Spectrometer Laboratory, the Center for Quan-ti tat ive Imaging, the Laborator y for Isotopes and Metals in the Environment, the Laborator y for Analysis of St rategic Element Resources, the Water Quali t y Laborator y, the Satelli te Energy and Environmental Sustainability Lab, and the Deployable Energy and Environmental Sustainability Lab. Odette Mina, managing director of EESL, is working to create a coordinated way to schedule use of the facilities and equipment. All EESL laboratories have established rates for internal users as well as other academic institutions and industrial clients.

“EESL was created to offer researchers the opportunity to work with cutting-

edge equipment, specifically in the areas of energy and the environment,” Mina said. “The Institutes of Energy and the Environment is focused on transforming data into knowledge, which can then be used to make positive impacts in our communities and around the world. EESL is one way that IEE hopes to suppor t researchers at the University and beyond.” The Accelerator Mass Spectrometer provides high-precision radiocarbon dating in a wide range of carbon-bearing materials. It is the most recent addition to EESL, installed in 2016. The Cente r fo r Q ua nt i t a t i ve Imaging of fers micro- and nano-x-ray tomography imaging and charac terization of complex 3D structures. The Laboratory for Isotopes and Metals in the Environment provides measurements of isotopes and major and trace elemental compositions in a wide range of materials. The Laboratory for Analysis of Strategic Element Resources suppor t s research focused on identification of mineral deposits including rare earth elements. The Water Quality Lab offers a full range of analytical instruments for various water quality testing. The Satellite EESL is comprised of two labs, offering a stopped flow spectrometer and a gas chromatog-raph/mass spectrometer. The Deployable EESL offers seven deployable pieces of field equip-ment, that are available for both shor t-term and long-term field data collection.

Learn more at eesl.iee.psu.edu.

Odette Mina is no stranger to the lab-oratory. Beginning her career as a bench chemist, she worked her way up to become vice president of lab services working for engineering consulting firms. Now, as managing director of the Energy and Environ-mental Sustainability Laboratories (EESL), Mina combines her thirty years of experience managing commercial laboratories with her education and her interest in the environment. Joining the Institutes of Energy and the Environment in February 2017, Mina is the first managing director for EESL.

“I want to know what we can do t o help researchers , not only Penn State researchers, but researchers in other academic institutions as well as industry,” Mina said. “My primary goal is to really grow EESL from a research and education perspec tive, helping to propel research forward. We want to give researchers shared acces s to equipment they may need to conduc t their research, but might not have funding to purchase their own.” Prior to Penn State, Mina did environ-mental health and safety analytical work, including on drinking water, waste water, and air quality. She also managed and directed environmental health and safety consulting services. In 2010, Mina joined the Penn State family as a s tudent to earn her master ’s degree in environmental engineering. In 2016, she received her doctorate in natural resource engineering/agricultural and biological engineering, also from Penn State. She has an undergraduate degree in chemistry and master of business administration.

Odette MinaEnergy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories


Science CommunicationFor scientists who dedicate years of time, energy, and resources to their research, they can find that sharing their knowledge through the media can be challenging. The Institutes of Energy and the Environment (IEE) has made it one of its priorities to help faculty members and researchers improve their science communication skills. This includes training, seminars, and support for a new science communication program in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications.

In pursuit of this goal, IEE has par tnered with COMPASS annually since 2013. COMPASS was founded to help scientists share their knowledge in a way that effectively communicates their message to the general public but doesn’t compromise the accuracy of the science.

In October 2017, COMPASS provided a faculty member workshop, a graduate student workshop, and a plenary panel of science and research journalists who shared their experiences and stories with research in the media.

Kathryn Brasier attended the COMPASS workshop in 2016 hoping to gain a better understanding of what journalists and policymakers are looking for from researchers.

“[I wanted to know] how they take information from us and create their stories and their policy briefs and how to whittle down my information to something that is reasonable for their purposes without getting something that is inane or out of context,” Brasier said.

COMPASS training introduces a process used to ident i f y the mos t usef u l information to share with a researcher’s audience. It helps scientis ts distill their research by answering several questions, including identifying the issue the research is trying to help or solve and determining the benefits and solutions the scientist has found.

Graduate student Veronika Vazhnik participated in the 2016 graduate student workshop and uses that experience to help guide how she approaches science communication now.

“Since participating in the workshop, I try to make implications of my research more explicit,” said Vazhnik, who studies biorenewable systems in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. “I recognize that adding personal s tories and connections to the scientific study helps the listener to be excited as well, and now I am less afraid of sounding non-scientific when adding these anecdotes.”

Many participants have said they found the COMPASS training to be useful, and it has helped them to think more “big picture” about their work and how it relates to issues that people care about.

“Many of our faculty and students are passionate about their research and are eager to apply it in ways that help society,” said Tom Richard, IEE director. “In today’s fast-paced teleconnected world, effective communication strategies are critical to reaching the audiences who care about our work. These are powerful skills for getting a message across, regardless of whether your audiences are students, policymakers, and the public, or colleagues, reviewers, and collaborators.”

Additionally, IEE has been supporting the newly created science communication program in the College of Communications. In November 2017, the program hosted Erik Nisbet, who drew from the fields of communication, psychology, and political science to deliver a lecture titled “The Partisan Brain: The Science of Communication about Controversial Science.” Nisbet is an associate professor of communication, environmental policy, and political science at The Ohio State University.

“IN TODAY’S FAST-PACED TELECONNECTED WORLD, EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

STRATEGIES ARE CRITICAL TO REACHING THE AUDIENCES WHO CARE ABOUT OUR WORK.”

1313Networking & Events |

Energy is ubiquitous in our world, but massive innovation is needed if we are to provide the clean, safe, abundant, and affordable energy a prosperous future will require, according to Penn State President Eric Barron. Leaders in the energy field project that 50 percent more energy will be needed by the year 2040.

To help identify and address the energy challenges facing society, the Institutes of Energy and the Environment organizes Energy Days, an annual interdisciplinary event that brings together leaders from across the energy sector, including members of industry, government, non-profits, and academia. Energy Days aims to build a network of engaged stakeholders and identify areas where Penn State can be a strong partner in education and research.

Energy Days features focused workshops on key topics where specific and compelling outcomes are in reach. Ultimately, the conference looks to create new partnerships that provide results and innovative solutions to energy challenges.

“Energy Days is not your typical conference. We have plenary sessions with great speakers and brilliant ideas, but we’re really organized around workshops,” said Tom Richard, IEE director. “There are in-depth workshops on a variety of topics, each of which are selected and organized around a set of outcomes that are ambitious but also achievable.”

The workshops cover a wide range of topics related to energy and its use, including fossil and renewable resources, grid infrastructure, efficiency, additive manufacturing, and water quality.

“Energy Days will continue to help lay the groundwork for addressing critical energy issues—locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally,” said Lara Fowler, assistant director for outreach and engagement of IEE.

“By bringing people together for this kind of discussion, we hope to better understand our challenges and find ways to work together—from industry to university, from policymaker to students—to find solutions.”

Energy Days 2018 is on May 30–31, 2018. energydays.psu.edu.

Energy Days, an annual conference organized by the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, sparked a million-dollar collaborative project, which aims to extract rare earth elements from coal. The project is funded by the Department of Energy through the National Energy Technology Laboratory.

“I don’t think we can overstate how important the development of rare earth elements out of our anthracite coal is and the potential it ’s going to have,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said. “Our goal is clear. It ’s to develop an economically competitive supply of rare earth elements.”

Rare ear th elements are seven-teen metals necessary to produce high-tech equipment used in health care, transportation, electronics, and many others. The goal of the project is to f ind an economical way to e x t r a c t t wo groups o f e lement s — r are ear th elements and critical elements, such as manganese and cobalt—from coal byproducts.

Penn State’s main role in the project is to identify ways to scale up and expand upon the initial research results of Sarma Pisupati, professor of energy and mineral engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

Industry partners include Texas Min-eral Resources Corporation, Inventure Renewables Inc., K-Technologies, and Jeddo Coal Company.

Rare Earth Elements

Energy Days

Sarma Pisupati (second from left) speaking with Secretary Rick Perry (fourth from left)

“BY BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER FOR THIS KIND OF DISCUSSION, WE HOPE TO BETTER UNDERSTAND

OUR CHALLENGES AND FIND WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER—FROM INDUSTRY TO UNIVERSITY, FROM POLICYMAKER TO STUDENTS—TO FIND SOLUTIONS.”


Paul Hawken was the featured speaker at the Institutes of Energy and the Environment’s 2017 Colloquium on the Environment in November 2017. He spoke on Project Drawdown, a project aimed at identifying and assessing solutions to reverse global warming.

Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, author, and activist who has dedicated his life to environmental sustainability and changing the relationship between business and the environment. He is a sustainability thought leader who has addressed the U.S. Forest Service, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Commerce, and several other organizations and government agencies around the globe.

“Paul Hawken has been at the forefront of business and the environment for decades,” said Tom Richard, IEE director. “His current leadership of Project Drawdown, supporting strategies to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations, represents a solution-based approach that is both inspiring and essential.”

Hawken is considered by many to be one of the most inf luential voices in the environmental movement and is widely known for being a lifelong business innovator. His work includes establishing success ful environmentally conscious businesses and writing about the impact of commerce on the environment.

Among Hawken’s entrepreneurial successes is Erewhon Trading Company, one of the first natural food companies in the U.S. that relied on sustainable agriculture methods. His other businesses include Smith & Hawken, a retail company that was sold to Target in 2005, and One Sun solar, a company focused on economical solar energy.

He is also an accompl ished a u t h o r a n d e d i t o r, having writ ten dozens of articles, op-eds, and papers concerning the impact of a bus ine s s on t he env ironment and its social and ethical obligations to the world.

His writings have appeared in widely read publications such as the Harvard Business Review and the Boston Globe.

Hawken has published seven books—four of which are national best sellers. His most recent book, Drawdown, is a product of Hawken’s recent endeavor as the executive director of Project Drawdown, a nonprofit exploring the possibility of reversing global warming.

As leader of Project Drawdown, Hawken helped establish 100 of the most substantive solutions to address climate change over the next thirty years. Among these solutions are installing rooftop solar panels, educating girls, and planning walkable cities.

Partners Colloquium on the Environment• Center for Climate

Risk Management• College of Earth and

Mineral Sciences• Eberly College of Science• EMS Energy and

Sustainability Office• Global Entrepreneurship

Week• The Hamer Center• Net Impact in Smeal

College of Business• Office of Physical Plant• The Rock Ethics Institute• School of International

Affairs• Student Affairs• The Sustainability Institute

Watch: Paul Hawken’s presentation:

http://bit.ly/paul-hawken

1515Networking & Events |

IEE’s Colloquium on the Environment features a nationally known speaker discussing a current topic related to energy or the environment. For more than a decade, the colloquium has hosted a variety of environmental leaders.

Regular partners include the Office of Physical Plant and the Sustainability Institute.

2015 | Naomi Oreskes | “Why We Should Trust Science (Most of the Time)”Harvard Professor of History of Science

Past Colloquiums

2014 | Lisa Jackson | “The Private Sector as Public Servant”Apple’s Vice President of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives and former EPA Administrator

2013 | Majora Carter | “Home(town) Security”Urban Revitalization Strategist and Public Radio Host

2012 | E.O. Wilson | “The Social Conquest of Earth”Biologist, Researcher, Theorist, Conservationist, and Author

2011 | Andrew Revkin | “9 Billion People + 1 Planet = ?”Science and Environmental Journalist and Author

2010 | Bill McKibben | “The Most Important Number in the World”Environmentalist, Author, and Journalist

2009 | David Suzuki | “The Challenge of the 21st Century: Setting the Real Bottom Line”Academic, Science Broadcaster, and Environmental Activist

2008 | Amory Lovins | “Whole System Thinking and Radical Energy Efficiency”Rocky Mountain Institute Co-founder, Chairman, and Chief Scientist

2006 | William McDonough | “Renewing Hope: A Design Strategy for the Next Century”Internationally Renowned Designer and Leader in Environmental Design

2005 | Christine Todd Whitman | “Shaping the Future: America’s Environment Today”Politician, Activist, and former EPA Administrator

2004 | Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. | “Our Environmental Destiny”Radio Host, Environmental Activist, Author, and Attorney specializing in environmental law


A $20 mil l ion, f ive-year projec t wi th the U.S. Depar tment 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. Penn State is one of two lead institutions on the project and will receive half of the funding. Stanford University is the other.

According to Karen Fisher-Vanden, the projec t ’s co-director and professor o f env i ronm en t a l an d resource economics in the College of Agricultural Sciences, models are typically operated indepen-dently of one another. This project looks to integrate multiple existing models to capture important energy-water-land inter-actions and feedbacks between the natural and human systems.

“Under different scenarios of changing weather patterns and extremes, the impacts on the human and natural systems can vary,” she said. “Interactions between systems can be critical. Take scarce water as an example. In times of drought, more water may be diverted for agricultural use. What does this mean for water-cooled electric power plants? No longer can we rely on individual models to assess the problem. We need an integrated system of models.”

Understanding the connections and interactions among the energy, water, and land systems is crucial to achieving a comprehensive, holistic view of the entire integrated system, Fisher-Vanden said.

Additionally, the project plans to produce tools that

can help to assess, and ideally improve, the resilience of critical infrastructures.

“This project has real implications,” she said. “Having an integrated modeling system will allow us to assess future weather-related risks and what infrastructure changes may be needed to manage those risks.”

These risks are driven, for example, by changes in sea levels, storm surges, temperatures, or precipitation.

Fisher-Vanden said the project will provide important tools and data for stakeholders and scientists all the way from local water board authorities to individuals working on internat ional t ransboundar y and migration issues.

Because the key innovation of this project is the integration of models, the project must comprise multidisciplinary team members who are willing to work together to figure out how to connect these systems, according to Fisher-Vanden.

“ You have to k now enough abou t the di f ferent disciplinary modeling approaches to be able to make these connections,” she said. “The innovation is on the connections and coupling of these systems which, given dif ferences in spatial and temporal scales a cross models, can be very complicated.”

To do so, the project team includes economists, climate scientists, hydrologists, engineers, lawyers, statisticians, and others.

Modeling Weather-Related Change

“HAVING AN INTEGRATED MODELING SYSTEM WILL ALLOW US TO ASSESS FUTURE WEATHER-RELATED

RISKS AND WHAT INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGES MAY BE NEEDED TO MANAGE THOSE RISKS.”

“THIS IS AN EXCITING PROJECT THAT TACKLES IMPORTANT AND HARD QUESTIONS AT THE INTERFACE BETWEEN MANY DISCIPLINES.”

1717Research in Depth |

“We have the full spectrum of disciplines involved because a complicated problem like this requires a multidisciplinary approach,” Fisher-Vanden said. “It requires a team of researchers from many disciplines working closely together.”

Klaus Keller is a collaborator on the project and contributes to the area of risk analysis.

“This is an exciting project that tackles important and hard questions at the interface between many disciplines,” Keller said. “It also provides a unique opportunity for students to engage in mission-oriented basic research.”

Penn State will also be the hub for the computational facet of the project.

“Given the significant computational demands of this project, we will be relying heavily on computing resources provided by the Penn State Institute for CyberScience ( I C S) ,” F i sher-Vanden s a id .

“ Penn S t a t e i s wel l -posi t ioned to provide the computational resources and expertise we will need, and the project will be making a large investment in ICS to build up the computational infrastructure resources needed to do this work.”

A c c o r d i n g t o J e n n i E v a n s , d i r e c t o r o f I C S , interdisciplinary projects such as this are at the core of what research ICS promotes.

“Penn State has the computational technology and resources and the diverse exper tise to make a significant impact on research in this area,” Evans said.

Fisher-Vanden said that ICS and the Institutes of Energy and the Environment as well as the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute were instrumental in the success of the project proposal.

The project will involve nearly thirty collaborators from across Penn State, including faculty and staff members, graduate students, and postdocs from the colleges of Agricultural Sciences, Earth and Mineral Sciences, Engineering, Eberly College of Science, and Penn State Law.

The project includes collaborators from Stanford University, University of New Hampshire, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Boston University, University of Texas at Austin, Purdue University, Columbia University, Dartmouth College, and Cornell University.

The Network for Sustainable Climate Risk Management (SCRiM) is centered at Penn State but links a transdisciplinary team of scholars from nineteen universities and five research institutions across six nations. The network seeks to find sustainable, scientifically sound, and technologically feasible climate risk management strategies. The Center for Climate Risk Management, also at Penn State, was a key building block to launching SCRiM.

“One of the purposes of SCRiM is to help people make well-informed decisions,” said Klaus Keller, principal investigator of SCRiM. “To do this we create models, which are like maps—a map doesn’t tell you where to go, but shows you how to get there. Our models don’t tell you which outcome to aim for, but shows you which decisions to make to reach the desired outcome.”

People from a wide range of disciplines have come together to form this network, including meteorologists, philosophers, statisticians, and more. Keller points out, “Your work is never really done. You can always improve.” He and his colleagues seek to educate those who can educate others and to provide new tools and insights for managing climate risk.

SCRiM is funded by the National Science Foundation and has existed since October 2012. At the time of printing, SCRiM’s grant has been extended through September 2018.

Watch: Managing Risk in a Changing Climate http://bit.ly/scrim-film

Sustainable Climate Risk Management


A recent report examines how flooding and recent changes to the federal flood insurance program are impacting rural Pennsylvania in unique ways.

Flood Mitigation for Pennsylvania’s Rural Communities: Communit y Scale Impac t of Federal Pol ic ies was authored by an interdisciplinary team of r e s e a r c h e r s from Penn State, Bucknell University, and Florida Gulf Coast Universi t y. L a r a Fowler, senior lec turer at Penn State Law and assistant direc tor for outreach and engagement at the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, led the team. The project was funded by The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

Pennsylvania, with its historic pattern of development along rivers and streams, already is one of the most flood-prone states in the U.S. Predictions are for more frequent and damaging storms in the future. The researchers estimate that, out of Pennsylvania’s population of 12.8 million residents, 831,000—or about 6.5 percent—live in floodplains. There are about 374,000 housing units in floodplains—or about 6.7 percent of all homes in Pennsylvania. Recent storms have impacted not just those in the floodplains, but residents in surrounding areas as well.

Nationwide, the impact of severe storms has put the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) around $25 billion in debt. As NFIP expired in September 2017, the research team sees an opportunity to refine the program in a way that addresses Pennsylvania’s local government structure. T h e r e p o r t o f f e r s guidance at a federal, state, local, and individual level.

In 2012, Congress p a s s e d t h e B i g g e r t - W a t e r s F l o o d I n s u r ance Reform Act to help stem the f inancial impac t exper ienced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) af ter a series of damaging storms across the U.S. The legislation called on FEMA to adopt “full risk” or

“actuarially fair” rates for flood insurance, causing substantial premium increases for policyholders,

especially those with subsidized rates. To slow the rate of these increases, Congress passed the Homeowner Flood Insurance Af fordabili t y Ac t in 2014.

“Even with the 2014 modifications, these changes have and will impact Pennsylvania,” Fowler and her colleagues wrote. “Increased rates will lead to decreased housing prices and short-term loss in property values; changes in the amount of housing stock; higher impacts to lower-income households; and declines in overall household wealth.”

Despite the rise in premiums (some nearly a sixteen-fold increase), NFIP has been critical in helping Pennsylvania’s rural communities mitigate the impact of floods.

“The NFIP is unquestionably a benefit for residents and businesses in mitigating the extensive flood damage seen every year in Pennsylvania. Yet the structure of the NFIP produces challenges and problems for homeowners, renters, business owners, and other residents in many ways,” the researchers write.

In addition to Fowler, the report’s authors are Ryan Baxter (College of Earth and Mineral Sciences), Scott J. Colby (College of Agricultural Sciences), Maurie Kelly (Smeal College of Business), Kayla Kelly-Slatten (Penn State Law), and Katherine Zipp (College of Agricultural Sciences) of Penn State; L. Donald Duke of Florida Gulf Coast University and Bucknell University; and Michele Weitzel of Florida Gulf Coast University.

Rural Flooding Impacts


Penn State has been asked by the United Nations to lead a global network to advance building science, construction processes, and building management. The network aims to create an international framework that will make buildings more sustainable, more efficient, and healthier to live and work in.

The Institutes of Energy and the Environment will be one of the lead institutes for the Global Building Network due to its co-funded faculty’s vast experience in these areas.

According to Scott Foster, director of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), Sustainable Energy Division, approximately 40 percent of today’s global greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings. The Global Building Network seeks to drastically decrease this number.

Another issue that the network hopes to help solve is that of indoor air quality. Traditional buildings in both developed and developing areas often have poor air quality that can be linked to health issues and lower cognitive capabilities.

“The overall goal of the network is to radically reduce, and eventually eliminate, fossil fuel energy utilization in the operation of residential and commercial buildings while measurably improving the indoor environments,” said James Freihaut, technical director of Penn State at The Navy Yard in Philadelphia. “This can only be accomplished by establishing integrated design, implementation, and operational methodologies for renovating existing buildings and for newly constructed facilities and, from those facilities, acquiring operational data that serves to continuously improve the methodology.”

In an attempt to solve this interdisciplinary problem, the Global Building Network will rely on t he exper t ise of researchers from several departments and colleges across the University, including Architectural Engineering, Architecture, Penn State Law, and others. The Navy Yard, which houses some of Penn State’s engineering research facilities, will also play a significant role in this network.

Global Building Network

The Navy Yard was the implementation and dem-onstration site for the five-year Penn State Energy Efficient Buildings Hub Program, funded in part by the U.S. Department of Energy. This program has transitioned into the UNECE Global Buildings Network Hub.

“The UNECE initiative is a concrete realization of the land-grant responsibility of the University translating research and design, and academic science and engineering into practical, societal impact activities,” said Freihaut.

The Global Building Network will work toward creating a systems approach to the way buildings come into existence, from construction to finance—including engineers, architects, carpenters, consumers, building code officers, and financiers—helping to reduce energy needs and improving human health. This approach will also be used as existing buildings will need to be upgraded and improved.

As it exists now, each contractor working on a building is essentially an island, making decisions independently.

“There is little incentive for the contractors to work together at this point,” said Tom Richard, director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment. “With the Global Building Network, contractors will begin to work together to design and construct buildings with better insulation and ventilation, less waste, and lower cost.”

“The implementation of a systems approach to building design, construction, and operation is key to success everywhere,” Freihaut said.

Components of the new effort include an online curriculum and hands-on workshops to help educate and inform, which are being developed currently.

“THE OVERALL GOAL OF THE NETWORK IS TO RADICALLY REDUCE, AND EVENTUALLY ELIMINATE, FOSSIL

FUEL ENERGY UTILIZATION IN THE OPERATION OF RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS WHILE

MEASURABLY IMPROVING THE INDOOR ENVIRONMENTS.”

Solving Ag Water Issues through Engagement


A group of institutions led by Penn State has received nearly $2.2 million for the first year of a planned four-year, $5 million project aimed at developing a model for engaging communities and stakeholders to ensure adequate supplies of good-quality water both for and from agriculture.

The project, funded by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will enable researchers to promote sustainable water for agriculture by developing a proven, flexible model of stakeholder engagement that transforms the way scientists, the Cooperative Extension System, and agency officials approach critical water-availability issues.

“ This projec t wil l develop and implement an engagement model that works across dif fering hydrological and agricultural contexts in the United States,” said lead researcher Kathryn Brasier. “The model will be tested in three case study locations—in Arizona, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania—that represent a range of biophysical and social contexts yet share long-standing and emerging water availabilit y concerns related to water for agriculture.”

Water availability, in terms of both adequate quantity and quality and both for and from agriculture, is a pressing issue in the United States and beyond. While water for agriculture is necessary for crop and animal production and processing, agriculture’s use of water is under pressure given competing demands, such as residential and municipal consumption, instream flows, and industrial and energy production.

T h e r e s e a r c h e r s c o n t e n d that many water-availabil i t y rojects focus on a biophysical issue and propose an engineering o r t e c h n o l o g i c a l

f i x . Significant public funds h a v e b e e n u s e d t o incent i v i ze t he vo lunt ar y adopt ion of b e s t management practices (BMP), yet implementation of these technical solutions and BMPs fall far short of water quality and quantity goals in many regions.

“Current approaches are insufficient and ignore the complex web of social, economic, cultural, institutional, legal, and biophysical conditions that influence individual landowners’ and water resource managers’ choices and behaviors,” Brasier said.

She explained that the project will examine basic questions about how engagement influences capacity to address water-availability challenges, landscape-management behaviors and, ultimately, water quality and quantity outcomes. Changes attributed to the engagement efforts will be assessed at the individual, collective, and institutional levels.

“The active participation of all stakeholders—local agr icul tural producers and decision-makers, institutional actors, social and biophysical scientists, and outreach and education specialists—is required to transform how water challenges are understood and addressed,” Brasier said. “The ultimate goal is to create a transferable model of stakeholder engagement that can be used in any area facing critical questions related to water for and from agriculture.”

Besides Brasier, the project ’s management team inc ludes L ara Fowler, senior lec turer a t Penn State Law and assistant director for outreach and engagement, IEE; Jack Watson, professor of soil physics and biogeochemistry, Penn State; Mark Burbach, environmental scientist, University of Nebraska; and Clinton Williams, lead research soil scientist, USDA-ARS Arid Land Agricultural Research Center, Maricopa, Arizona. In addition to the participating institutions, the University of Maine will provide external review of the project.

“THE ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO CREATE A TRANSFERABLE MODEL OF STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT THAT CAN

BE USED IN ANY AREA FACING CRITICAL QUESTIONS RELATED TO WATER FOR AND FROM AGRICULTURE.”


The land stretching between New England and the Ohio River is a region dominated by agriculture and forests, but also hosts four of the largest metropolises in the nation with rapidly increasing demand for sustainable energy. With countless rural communities suffering decades of decline, the economic, social, and ecological potential for biomass energy is greater than ever.

That ’s why from 2012–17 a regional network of individuals from leading universities, businesses, and government entities came together to advance sustainable bioenergy in the Northeast. Together with $10 million of federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), they formed the Nor thEast Woody/ Warm-season Biomass C o n s o r t i u m (NEWBio) ef for t to advance the science and practice of sustainable bioenergy for the region.

“Our focus has been on perennial biomass crops, specifically warm-season grasses and short-rotation willow, and the production strategies, policies, and markets relevant to this region,” said Tom Richard, NEWBio project director, who is also a professor of agricultural and biological engineering in the College of Agricultural Sciences and director of the Institutes of Energy and the Environment. “Our goal was to pursue our shared vision, that biomass energy could provide the social, economic, and ecological drivers for a sustainable regional rural renaissance.”

According to Richard, NEWBio made tremendous progress building robust, scalable, and sustainable value chains for bio-based energy, chemicals, and materials across the Northeast.

With NEWBio drawing to a close, Project Manager Barbara Kinne reflects on the accomplishments of the team.

“ Knowing what the projec t set out to do—build robust value chains for biomass— I ’ d say we’ve met that goal in a number of ways. One tangible

success is the development at Cornell of high-y ie lding wi l low feed s tocks . One c u l t i v a r has received a pa ten t and several others have been submit ted to the U.S. Patent Of fice,” Kinne said.

“We’ve increased our understanding of the environ-mental, economic, and emotional considerations that landowners focus on when pursuing marketable c rops for the i r f ie lds , and helped indus tr ial manufacturers with the challenges they face in refining their planting and harvesting equipment.”

An important NEWBio goal was to identify options where bioenergy crops could improve environmental outcomes without competing with food production. One was floodplains and buffers along streams where these crops can improve water quality; a second was to utilize abandoned and marginal lands left behind by the agriculture and coal industry. The patented high-yielding willow and various warm-season grasses can help accomplish both, and breathe vitality into former strip-mine lands and waterways across the region.

NEWBio is one of seven USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative grants in the country.

In addition to Richard and Kinne, there have been fif teen Penn State faculty collaborators from the colleges of Agricultural Sciences, Education, Medicine, and Smeal, and Penn State Extension working on the NEWBio team. Altogether, 120 team members participated in the consortium and its activities over the five-year life of the project.

NEWBio’s consortium includes the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Cornell University, Ohio State University, Delaware State University, Rutgers University, Drexel University, University of Vermont, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, West Virginia University, Idaho National Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, University of Maine, and Stony Brook University.

Critical Zone ObservatoryPenn State is home to the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory (CZO), one of nine national CZO programs. The “critical zone” is considered to be from the top of the trees down to the bottom of the ground water. For the last decade, researchers have been working to understand how the Shale Hills watershed has evolved and how it continues to change.

“We are projecting the future by testing models against the past,” said Susan Brantley, principal investigator of the Shale Hills CZO and distinguished professor of geosciences, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

There are a dozen faculty members and ten graduate students from departments across the University that contribute to the work at Shale Hills, from geosciences,

meteorology, and forestry to civil and environmental engineering, ecosystems science and management, and geography, as well as faculty from the Penn State campuses.

The Susquehanna Shale Hills CZO is located in Central Pennsylvania, and is in the same area as Shaver’s Creek Environmental Center in the Penn State Experimental Forest.

NEWBio Advances Biomass Energy Efforts


Addressing environmental concerns, enriching a wide range of majors, and making an impact in the community—those are some of the benefits the Environmental Inquiry (ENVI) minor offers, according to Larry Gorenflo, faculty-in-charge of ENVI and professor of landscape architecture and geography at Penn State. The minor recently launched a new website.

ENVI, a minor supported by the Institutes of Energy and the Environment, is designed to expose students to crucial cross-disciplinary environmental studies that supplement their major coursework, providing students with the vital perspectives needed to initiate changes the planet desperately needs. To complete the minor, students must take eighteen credits from one or more focus areas: biodiversity and ecosystems; environment and society; environmental explorations; ideas about the environment; water resources; human settlements; and energy resources. At least six of those credits must be 400-level courses.

Gorenflo said environmental literacy is important in a student’s academic development.

“I think the environmental inquiry minor provides a great opportunity for a student to learn more about environmental issues of personal interest during their studies at Penn State,” said Gorenflo. “Such coursework will help prepare students to work on environmental challenges following their years at the University.”

ENVI is open to all majors. The ideal candidate for the minor, according to Gorenflo, is someone with curiosity about environmental issues and a sense about how their major might be better connected to the environment.Students who graduate with an ENVI minor gain the tools necessary to communicate about environmental issues and solutions with people in fields outside of their own.

Jack Swab, a 2017 Schreyer Honors College graduate who completed the Environmental Inquiry minor, is now a first-year master’s student in the geography program at the University of Oklahoma.

“The minor gave me a broad basis in interdisciplinary environmental studies, which has been helpful in grad school,” said Swab.

Not only does ENVI help shape students into valuable members of academia or the workforce, it also prepares them to be productive, informed members of society. According to the ENVI website, being familiar with current environmental issues is an important part of being an informed citizen.

Alana Fiero, a senior majoring in media studies in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, is pursuing minors in both environmental inquiry, and entrepreneurship and innovation. Fiero said she believes ENVI has equipped her with the knowledge necessary to frame scientific research in a way that dispels misinformation.

“The minor has allowed me to approach environmental issues from the sociological perspective, as it’s opened my eyes to an entirely new way of communicating with people about problems that plague our Earth,” Fiero said. “Understanding where people come from and tailoring environmental solutions to their needs can bring people together.”

Visit the minor’s new website at envi.psu.edu.

Environmental Inquiry Minor

“THE MINOR GAVE ME A BROAD BASIS IN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, WHICH HAS BEEN HELPFUL IN GRAD SCHOOL.”

2323Student Engagement |

Hands-On Learning at The Navy Yard The Navy Yard in Philadelphia houses engineering programs and courses as well as industrial and research facilities. In addition to educating students, The Navy Yard works on projects with the City of Philadelphia and throughout the state in different communities, working on a variety of energy projects while providing students opportunities to gain hands-on experiences.

“The Navy Yard has evolved into a ‘commun-iversity,’ which is a university engaged in scholarship that is directly related to the interests and needs of the local community, in this case Philadelphia, but also in the state as a whole,” said James Freihaut, technical director of Penn State at The Navy Yard.

The Navy Yard has programs that involve under-graduate and graduate students from Penn State as well as universities from around the world.

“Students measure building energy efficiency, develop methods to increase building energy efficiency, and design onsite energy systems for buildings, both in existing and new communities,” said Freihaut.

The Navy Yard has an undergraduate program where students take classes and participate in internship programs with companies such as GE, Siemens, and United Technologies. There they work on a project of interest to that company related to sustainability and energy.

It’s not just technical engineering. Students can focus on energy policy studies, regulatory issues, incentive programs, and job training for the new kinds of energy jobs that are developing.


Established in 2013, the Institute of Energy and the Environment’s Seed Grant Program has awarded more than $1.5 million to seventy interdisciplinary projects with investigators from fifteen Penn State colleges and campuses. The intent of the program is to foster basic and applied research focused on IEE’s strategic research themes:

• Climate and Ecosystem Change• Future Energy Supply• Smart Energy Systems• Water and Biogeochemical Cycles• Health and the Environment

Additionally, IEE looks to promote the development of new thinking and collaboration to stimulate new knowledge that can help meet today’s energy and environmental challenges. IEE looks for:

• The development of new interdisciplinary research teams to position them for substantial external funding success;

• Novel research in theme areas, especially high-risk proof of concept projects; and

• Collaboration between junior and senior faculty to promote research development, mentorship.

In 2017–18, IEE will make at least $300,000 in funding available for its Seed Grant Program focused on Climate and Ecosystem Change, Future Energy Supply, Smart Energy Supply, and Water and Biogeochemical Cycles. IEE will also provide $100,000 in funding for the Health and the Environment Seed Grant Program in 2018.

In 2016–17, the Health and the Environment research theme was given its own Seed Grant Program. IEE along with the Clinical + Translational Science Institute, College of Medicine, The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Institute of CyberScience, Materials Research Institute, and Social Science Research Institute partnered and provided $525,000 in funding, $100,000 of which was provided by IEE. The program is scheduled to continue in 2017–18.

Description 2013-2014 2014-2015 2015-2016 2016-2017Without Health and

the Environment Research

2016-2017 Health and the

Environment Research

Pre-Proposals 97 51 65 37 40

Full Proposals 39 30 39 26 22

Full Proposal Amount $789,451 $649,939 $857,317 $555,855 $1.7 Million

Awards 20 18 19 13 11

Awarded Amount $400,905 $409,056 $413,895 $312,081 $524,937

External Proposals Developed 35 19 4* Not Yet Available Not Yet Available

External Funded Projects 10 7 1* Not Yet Available Not Yet Available

External Funded Amount $2.3 Million $2 Million $1.3* Million Not Yet Available Not Yet Available

Resulting Publications 28 21 6* Not Yet Available Not Yet Available

Resulting Presentations 27 18 21* Not Yet Available Not Yet Available

Resulting Students Supported 43 28 4* Not Yet Available Not Yet Available

* = Partial Data

Seed Grants

2525Seed Grants |

Typically, when talking about fire in the wild, prevention is the topic. However, Erica Smithwick, a fire ecologist, sees fire differently. She would like to get prescribed fire back on the Pennsylvania landscape, where appropriate.

“We are increasingly recognizing that the management of fire on landscapes requires that we also engage with stakeholders and the community,” Smithwick said.

A seed grant from the Institutes of Energy and the Environment helped

Communicating Fire’s BenefitsSmithwick and her colleagues develop a process through which they interviewed community members to understand what they valued about forests.The project originated with local fire managers who were having difficulty communicating with the community on why they were burning.

“Managers were using fire for habitat management, biodiversity, and conser-vation, but none of that was very clear to the communities,” Smithwick said.

Theme Program

Funded Not Funded Total Proposals

Funded Not Funded Dollars Proposed

Climate 13 13 26 $286,035 $252,954 $538,989

Future Energy 11 10 21 $259,923 $212,073 $471,996

Health 8 11 19 $173,975 $249,431 $423,406

Water 11 7 18 $239,700 $170,000 $409,700

Smart Energy 14 6 20 $264,203 $135,000 $399,203

Total 57 47 104 $1,223,836 $1,019,458 $2,243,294

The project aims to help fire managers better communicate with the community through targeted value-based messaging.The project received external funding from the Joint Fire Science Program. It includes Alan Taylor, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Margot Kaye, College of Agricultural Sciences (Ag); Peter Newman, College of Health and Human Development; Katherine Zipp, College of Agricultural Sciences; and Hong Wu, College of Arts and Architecture.


A team of Penn State researchers is helping the National Park Service measure and improve its impact on people’s health. According to Derrick Taff, assistant professor of recreation, park, and tourism management (RPTM) in the College of Health and Human Development, although many people think parks provide health benefits, there is very little empirical evidence to support that notion.

“We must improve our understanding of what aspects of nature, and in what doses, and in what contexts, provide for wellbeing,” Taff said. “Empirical evidence regarding the role of parks and nature on human health provides the necessary arguments to leaders and policy makers who play a key role in conservation.”

With this in mind, Taff created a working group of experts from across Penn State whose mission was to advance the understanding around this topic. It includes researchers from multiple disciplines, including RPTM, kinesiology, landscape architecture, nutritional sciences, geography, biobehavioral health, and psychology. Researchers from Harvard University, University of Montana, and North Carolina State University also participated in the project.

Mallika Bose, associate professor of landscape architecture in the College of Arts and Architecture, said the project’s interdisciplinary examination of how parks impact physical and environmental health had a clear connection to her interest in place-making.

“Knowing how users relate to and are impacted by landscape features and park facilities will help us design and plan parks more effectively and allow us to create parks that help users to achieve a better quality of life,” Bose said.

Funding for the project was provided by the Institutes of Energy and the Environment through their Seed Grant Program.

“Our project was a good fit for this grant,” Taff said. “Additionally, i t was great t iming to work with the National Park Service because they wanted to understand the health resources that parks provide.”

Diana Allen is chief of the Park Service’s Healthy Parks Healthy People Program, which was established to reframe the role of parks and public lands as health resources, as well as promote the health of people and the environment.

“The interdisciplinary research that Derrick Taff is leading at Penn State to support Healthy Parks Healthy People is invaluable in helping to better understand and act on the role of parks in promoting health,” Allen said.

Taff and his team conducted the research at two Park Service units, Gettysburg National Military Park and Catoctin Mountain Park.

“We had park visitors complete a short survey that has a variety of health indicator questions,” Taff said. “It included a wide range of questions, including topics such as nutrition, emotional response, and general health.”

Once the survey was completed, the visitor was given a GPS tracker that documents information such as location and travel speed.

“When they return with the GPS unit, the visitors were given a post-visit survey to discover what state

Improving Health through Parks

“THE INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH THAT DERRICK TAFF IS LEADING AT PENN STATE TO SUPPORT

HEALTHY PARKS HEALTHY PEOPLE IS INVALUABLE IN HELPING TO BETTER UNDERSTAND AND ACT ON

THE ROLE OF PARKS IN PROMOTING HEALTH.”

2727Seed Grants |

of emotion and health had changed,” Taff said. “So we have data that ties location back to an emotional response in a visit.”

Taff said that the group also tested health messages in the parks.

“Using simple signage, researchers explored if signs with health messages would affect behavior,” Taff said.

“Visitors who read the sign were offered a healthy activity to participate in.”

For example, at Gettysburg, visitors were encouraged to walk Pickett’s Charge, a mile-long grassy battlefield.

“Penn State’s research at Catoctin Mountain and Gettysburg is providing us with information that can be directly applied to management decisions in our parks to promote parks as health resources,” Allen said.

“We want to optimize strategies, actions, and practices that can promote parks as places for people to derive health benefits.”

A central aspect of this is understanding the behaviors and perceptions of the visitors themselves, Allen said.

“One key finding is how a seemingly very small change in communications with park visitors can encourage people to take a walk in the park,” Allen said, referring to the Pickett’s Charge messaging. “The impact of this message in promoting physical activity in the park and having a quality experience interpreting the significance of the battles that took place at Gettysburg is something that has application for many of our parks and how we can help develop fun, educational, and healthy visitor experiences.”

Additionally, the group’s work is informing the Park Service’s Healthy Parks Healthy People Criteria Tool,

which will be used by parks and protected-area managers in the U.S. and internationally to assess their own efforts to effectively manage parks as health resources for visitors and employees.

“The tool will provide set criteria and standards for ‘ W hat is a Heal thy Park ’ and a means to identif y practical approaches for managing and protecting park health resources,” Allen said. “We have already received expressions of interest from park authorities, governing bodies, and nongovern-mental organizations in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Colombia, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand.”

“Our hope is that other parks will employ similar strategies in the U.S., as well as other protected areas globally,” Taff said.

In addition to Taff and Bose, the Penn State researchers who are members of the working group are Jacob Benfield, associate professor of psychology at Penn State Abington; Melissa Bopp, associate professor of kinesiology in the College of Health and Human Development (HHD); Xiang Gao, associate professor of nutritional sciences in the College of HHD; Brian King, associate professor of geography in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; Andrew Mowen, professor of RPTM in the College of HHD; Peter Newman, department head and professor of RPTM in the College of HHD; Joshua Smy th, distinguished professor of biobehavioral health and medicine in the College of HHD and College of Medicine; and Heather Costigan, an RPTM graduate research assistant.

“OUR HOPE IS THAT OTHER PARKS WILL EMPLOY SIMILAR STRATEGIES IN THE U.S., AS WELL

AS OTHER PROTECTED AREAS GLOBALLY.”

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