Research

Since the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was identified in 1983, roughly 91.4 million people around the world have contracted the virus and an additional 44.1 million have died from related causes. Currently, nearly 40 million people worldwide are living with HIV-1, the version of the virus that causes more than 95% of infections. While significant progress has been made in HIV vaccine research, according to Penn State Professor Dipanjan Pan, there is currently no approved vaccine for HIV.

The Quantum Hub, housed under the Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS), has awarded Quantum SuperSEED grants to three Penn State faculty research teams. The program, which invests in high-impact quantum research, is designed to bring together Penn State faculty from across different departments and disciplines to tackle complex research challenges and advance quantum science, engineering and computation.

A team of researchers at Penn State was awarded a $3 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to establish a graduate training program designed to equip the next generation of engineers and scientists with the tools required to affect transformative change in sustainable materials processing.

After more than a decade as director of the Penn State Materials Research Institute (MRI), Clive Randall, Evan Pugh University Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, will step down to refocus his efforts to teaching and research. He will remain on as director through the summer of 2026 to help guide the transition. 

Penn State’s LionGlass project has reached a major milestone in its partnership with Italian glassmaker Bormioli Luigi, marking one year of collaboration and the signing of a second-year agreement to continue commercialization efforts in the cosmetics packaging industry.

Penn State’s research enterprise continues to grow, despite continued shifts in the federal funding landscape, Senior Vice President for Research Andrew Read said during a conversation with the Penn State community on Nov. 3.

A bottled beverage might soon come with a lower carbon footprint thanks to a new partnership between one of the world’s leading glass manufacturers and scientists at Penn State. 

Verallia, the world’s third largest producer of glass containers for food and beverages, has announced a partnership with Penn State to scale up the use of LionGlass, a new family of glass developed by researchers at the University. The company has entered into a research partnership with Penn State to test the new type of glass for use in consumer packaging.

There’s a lion’s share of potential energy in the vibrations produced by footsteps on dance floors, exercise machines in the gym, or the engines of cars, planes or construction equipment. Some tech companies have already begun to harvest electricity from waste vibrations to power lights and recharge batteries using a class of piezoelectric ceramic materials, which emit electrical charges when stepped on or manipulated.

Penn State’s research enterprise reached a new milestone in fiscal year 2024-25 with $1.44 billion in total research expenditures, the largest in the University’s history. The amount — which is an 8% increase, or $110 million, over the previous year — reflects the combined external and internal investments in critical research areas, such as artificial intelligence, national defense, energy resilience, agriculture and public health.

A new twist on a classic material could advance quantum computing and make modern data centers more energy efficient, according to a team led by researchers at Penn State.