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Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has drastically improved the uniformity and speed of metal parts manufacturing, but the printed parts are often plagued with defects, such as pores, that limit their performance. The process also requires an inspection of each part after printing, which can slow down production and limit where parts can be made.

Special biomedical materials that can be injected as a liquid and turn into a solid inside our bodies — called thermogels — could provide a less-invasive way to deliver drugs or treat wounds. Scientists at Penn State have developed a new design for these materials that further improves their properties and may hold particular promise for use in tissue regeneration, the researchers said.

Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) recognized exceptional students and faculty for their academic excellence, service and leadership during its annual Wilson Awards Celebration, held on March 30. The Wilson Awards are named in honor of Matthew and Anne Wilson, major benefactors of the college. 

“We are extremely proud of the accomplishments of our faculty and students,” said Lee Kump, the John Leone Dean in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. “We have a tremendously talented faculty and students who do remarkable things, and this is a chance to honor them.”

Penn State recognized 42 graduate students with annual University awards that celebrate students' impact in research, scholarship, teaching, outreach, mentoring and more. The students are being recognized at a special lunch on April 21. The annual recognition awards are sponsored by the Office of the President and administered by the Fox Graduate School.

Sai Venkata Gayathri Ayyagari, doctoral candidate in Materials Science and Engineering, received the 2025 Intercollege Graduate Student Outreach Achievement Award.

Thirty-one graduate students received awards at the 2025 Graduate Exhibition, hosted by the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School on Friday, March 28, on the University Park campus.

• Research Poster Category — Physical Sciences and Mathematics 
  First Place: Cyril Chu Fubin Kumachang, Materials Science and Engineering, “Ambient-Processed Semitransparent Perovskite Solar Cells from Environmentally Benign Solvents”

The 2025 David Ford McFarland Award Lecture for Achievement in Metallurgy will be held at 3:05 p.m. on Thursday, April 10, in 101 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building on Penn State's University Park campus. Rose Hernandez, science program director at the International Space Station National Laboratory, will deliver the lecture, “From Earth to Space: Advancing Materials Technologies and Embracing Life's Mission.”

Blood loss is the leading cause of death in trauma patients between the ages of 1 and 46 years, largely because they cannot access safe blood sources quickly enough. A possible solution? Freeze-dried synthetic blood.

Zhiqiang Mao, professor of physics, materials science and engineering, and of chemistry, has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Election as a Fellow is an honor bestowed by peers upon members of the AAAS, the world's largest general scientific society, for their extraordinary achievements in advancing science. Mao was honored for outstanding contributions to the discovery and crystal growth of novel quantum materials, and for the understanding of unconventional superconductivity, correlated electron phenomena, and topological electronic states.

Newly achieved precise control over light emitted from incredibly tiny sources, a few nanometers in size, embedded in two-dimensional (2D) materials could lead to remarkably high-resolution monitors and advances in ultra-fast quantum computing, according to an international team led by researchers at Penn State and Université Paris-Saclay.

Penn State researchers aim to enhance the University's research and development capabilities in next-generation semiconductor technology thanks to $4.3 million in infrastructure funding and in-kind support through the University’s membership in MMEC, a consortium of regional partners focused on microelectronics research and development. The funding from MMEC, part of a broader initiative under the Department of Defense Microelectronics Commons effort under the federal CHIPS Act, will help the University establish an advanced lab for semiconductor thin films and device research in the Materials Research Institute’s (MRI) facilities in the Millennium Science Complex at University Park.