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Vincent H. Crespi, distinguished professor of physics, materials science and engineering, and chemistry, for being named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. He is being recognized for his distinguished contributions to the theoretical understanding of nanoscale materials, including carbon nanotubes and artificial spin ice.

For the first time, the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has Millennium Scholars in all class levels — from graduating seniors to first-year students. MatSE's own Donovan Moses and Ana De La Fuente Duran are two of the more than two dozen scholars that are making an impact on improving diversity in STEM fields.

The College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) will be raising money to support the Millennium Scholars Program on Giving Tuesday, slated to begin at 6:55 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 2, and lasting through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3.

Researchers at Penn State have been awarded more than a combined $3.3 million to support advancements in the performance and efficiency of combustion turbines and turbine-based power cycles in fossil fuel power generation. 

Electric vehicle owners may soon be able to pull into a fueling station, plug their car in, go to the restroom, get a cup of coffee and in 10 minutes, drive out with a fully charged battery, according to a team of engineers.

Bacteria and other swimming microorganisms evolved to thrive in challenging environments, and researchers struggle to mimic their unique abilities for biomedical technologies, but fabrication challenges created a manufacturing bottleneck. Microscopic, 3D-printed, tori — donuts ­­— coated with nickel and platinum may bridge the gap between biological and synthetic swimmers, according to an international team of researchers.

Joshua Robinson, associate professor of materials science and engineering (MatSE), and Natalie Briggs, doctoral candidate in MatSE, are hoping their accidental discovery could join the list of some of science’s most welcome surprises that revolutionized the way we approach medicine and medical testing.

John A. Coppola ’69g, ’71g, member and past president of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering External Advisory Board, is  one of sixteen to be honored on Oct. 23 with the Alumni Fellow Award, the highest award given by the Penn State Alumni Association. 

Penn State’s research expenditures reached a record high for the third year in a row in fiscal year 2018-19, according to incoming Senior Vice President for Research Lora Weiss. The total figure of $968 million represents a $47 million increase over last year’s figure, and includes a record $593 million in federal funding, as well as $375 million from a combination of private funders, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and University sources. 

Zi-Kui Liu, Penn State distinguished professor of materials science and engineering, is a co-principal investigator for the study and is part of the team that will design an integrated computational and experimental workflow driven by data science and machine learning tools.