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The Penn State community mourns the loss of Carlo G. Pantano, a globally respected glass scientist, dedicated educator and former director of Penn State’s Materials Research Institute (MRI), who died on May 31. He was 74.

Silicon is king in the semiconductor technology that underpins smartphones, computers, electric vehicles and more, but its crown may be slipping, according to a team led by researchers at Penn State. In a world first, they used two-dimensional (2D) materials, which are only an atom thick and retain their properties at that scale, unlike silicon, to develop a computer capable of simple operations.

The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Academic Leadership Program (ALP) in 2025-26 will include five new fellows from Penn State. 

The BTAA is the academic consortium of the Big Ten Universities and the United States’ pre-eminent model for effective collaboration among research universities.

Irena Potochny first picked up a needle to sew buttons on felt in preschool, and she hasn’t put down crafts since. Now a student entering her senior year at Penn State, Potochny spends her free time creating upcycled clothing and tackling myriad projects, like 3-D printing her own spinning wheel one weekend this spring semester.

As biomedical challenges grow more complex, Penn State’s Dipanjan Pan is pioneering a multifaceted approach to nanomedicine that spans basic research, clinical translation and entrepreneurial deployment.

As global temperatures rise, the demand for air conditioning is surging, driving up energy bills and straining power grids. In the United States, air conditioning accounts for nearly one-fifth of all residential electricity use, and cooling systems in commercial buildings consume about one-third of their total energy. To meet this energy need, a team of researchers at Penn State is developing new materials that cool their surroundings when bent or stressed. On the latest episode of “Growing Impact,” the team discusses how this cutting-edge technology could transform the future of building climate control.

When optical networking company Infinera was acquired by telecommunications giant Nokia in early 2025, it was hailed as a strategic move that would solidify Nokia’s leadership in data transport technology. But behind this $2.3 billion deal lies a story of innovation that’s been quietly unfolding in central Pennsylvania, thanks to a long-standing partnership between Infinera and Penn State’s Materials Research Institute (MRI).

The following is a list of academic promotions for tenured and tenure-line faculty members at Penn State, effective July 1, 2025.

The following MatSE individuals have been promoted to professor: 

• Nasim Alem, professor of materials science and engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
• Hojong Kim, professor of materials science and engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Penn State’s Cocoziello Institute of Real Estate Innovation has awarded seed grants to five interdisciplinary research projects. These grants support collaborative projects led by Penn State faculty who aim to generate innovative solutions to complex challenges in real estate and the built environment.

Professor John Mauro of Penn State University shared the latest developments of the LionGlass project through a video presentation, highlighting its potential applications and environmental benefits. 

LionGlass is a family of glass engineered by researchers at Penn State University in the USA.