October 12, 2022
Penn State University Libraries will participate in the 14th annual global observation of Open Access Week, Oct. 24–30, by hosting a virtual panel of Penn State faculty at noon Tuesday, Oct. 25. The panelists will discuss questions related to this year’s theme for Open Access Week, which is “Open for Climate Justice.”
October 6, 2022
A common misconception is that viruses become milder over time as they become endemic within a population. Yet new research, led by Penn State and the University of Sydney, reveals that a virus — called myxoma —that affects rabbits has become more deadly over time. The findings highlight the need for rigorous monitoring of human viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, monkeypox and polio, for increased virulence.
October 3, 2022
After more than five years at the helm of Penn State’s Microbiome Center, founding director Carolee Bull has stepped down. Though she will continue serving as department head of plant pathology and environmental microbiology and as a professor of plant pathology and systematic bacteriology at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, Bull has handed off leadership of the Microbiome Center to recent Penn State hire Seth Bordentstein.
September 19, 2022
PSU undergraduate student Celia Graef has authored a new pocket guide which provides information about PA's most common night singing insects. Email IBC Education Specialist Heather Desorcie for a physical copy/copies!
September 16, 2022
A $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture will enable a team of researchers — led by Penn State entomologists — to assess foraging patterns of honey bees on organic farms, with an eye toward creating opportunities for beekeepers to produce certified-organic apiary products.
September 13, 2022
Most viral infections negatively affect an organism’s health, but one plant virus in particular — soybean vein necrosis orthotospovirus, often referred to as SVNV — may actually benefit a type of insect that commonly feeds on soybean plants and can transmit the virus to the plant, causing disease, according to Penn State research.
September 2, 2022
Emily Sandall, who completed her doctoral studies in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences in 2020, has been selected by the American Association for the Advancement of Science to be part of its 50th class of Science and Technology Policy fellows.
September 1, 2022
A backyard discovery by 8-year-old Hugo Deans, son of Penn State Professor of Entomology Andrew Deans, eventually led to the revelation that oak galls — plant growth triggered by insects — are part of an elaborate relationship among ants, wasps and oak trees, turning a century of knowledge about plant-insect interactions on its head.
August 29, 2022
Over a six-year period in southcentral Pennsylvania, measures of biodiversity among wild bee communities declined and one-third of species experienced decreases in abundance, according to a Penn State-led team of researchers.
August 24, 2022
Penn State Extension Master Gardeners from Centre County recently debuted “POLLINATORS! The Musical,” a 30-minute production aimed at providing pollinator education in a fun and catchy way. Two upcoming performances will be held on Sept. 11 at the Millbrook Marsh Nature Center.
August 23, 2022
Flavonoids produced by sorghum leaves have shown promising results in combating fall armyworm larvae. When sprayed on the leaves of corn, sorghum flavonoids stunt the growth of fall armyworm and often kill the pest, Penn State researchers report in a new study.
August 19, 2022
Two graduate students who work in the laboratory of an entomology faculty member in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences recently received prestigious fellowships to further their graduate education and research.
August 17, 2022
With the hopes of increasing awareness and interest in public health and medical entomology, Penn State alumna Alexis Barbarin created an annual award for graduate students pursuing research and degrees in that field. The BEDBUGS Award is being funded by yearly royalties Barbarin receives from a patent for a bedbug pesticide she helped research while pursuing her doctorate.
August 17, 2022
With Penn State’s academic year and football season starting soon, thousands of people will be visiting Happy Valley, and the University wants to make sure they are not spreading the spotted lanternfly — an invasive pest that feeds on more than 100 types of plants.
July 12, 2022
Jason Rasgon, professor of entomology and disease epidemiology, has been named Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair in Disease Epidemiology and Biotechnology.
July 12, 2022
By Chuck Gill
July 12, 2022
Online registration and submission of abstracts now are open for the fifth International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy, which is scheduled for June 3-6, 2023, at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center on the University Park campus.
July 12, 2022
By Chuck Gill
July 12, 2022
By Jodie LeMaster
June 29, 2022
Jared Ali, Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair of Chemical Ecology and associate professor of entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named director of the Penn State Center for Chemical Ecology.
June 27, 2022
Jared Ali, associate professor of entomology in the College of Agricultural Sciences, has been named the Dorothy Foehr Huck and J. Lloyd Huck Chair of Chemical Ecology by the University’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.
June 23, 2022
Penn State's Center for Pollinator Research and the Insect Biodiversity Center, and the Department of Graphic Design in the College of Arts and Architecture, have formed a partnership, funded by the Apes Valentes Program, to develop, design and produce materials to help increase awareness of pollinator biodiversity, the importance of pollinators to food security and ecosystem health, and strategies that can be used to support pollinators in urban, agricultural and natural landscapes.
June 20, 2022
This is the second of eleven short news articles written by students, during the professional development class, about each other's research.
June 6, 2022
A new publication from Penn State Extension is a must-read for those who want the latest information about the invasive spotted lanternfly.
June 1, 2022
Warm, wet weather conditions and changing climate negatively influence the nectar intake and nutritional health of honey bees, but maintaining large tracts of grassy natural habitat with flowering plants around apiaries may help to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate, according to a new study by an international team of researchers.
May 31, 2022
This is the first of eleven short news articles written by students, during the professional development class, about each other's research.
May 26, 2022
Seth Bordenstein, Centennial Endowed Professor of Biological Sciences; professor of biological sciences and pathology, microbiology and immunology; associate director of the Vanderbilt Institute of Infection, Immunology and Inflammation; and director of the Vanderbilt Microbiome Innovation Center, Vanderbilt University, will take the reins of the Penn State Microbiome Center in the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences in the fall of 2022.
May 20, 2022
Ecology and CPR graduate student Darcy Gray discusses her research on honey bee colony management in Kenya
April 29, 2022
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Lyme disease, caused by a tick-borne pathogen, affects more than 400,000 people each year. To educate the public about tick risk and tick bite prevention for people and their animals, Penn State Extension will offer the spring 2022 “Tick Webinar Series.”
April 25, 2022
Four research teams in the College of Agricultural Sciences have tapped in to the computing and software engineering expertise at the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences' Research Innovations with Scientists and Engineers (RISE) team. Agricultural Sciences faculty are invited to apply for the 2022 SAFES-RISE Seed Grant Program; applications are due May 10.
