Engineering

College of Engineering

This fall, Penn State will launch a new bachelor of science degree in artificial intelligence engineering, one of the first of its kind in the country. The program, housed in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science within the College of Engineering, will be focused on foundations of AI, encompassing both hardware and software, in addition to applications of AI.

Penn State launches artificial intelligence engineering degree and minor | Penn State University

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This fall, Penn State will launch a new bachelor of science degree in artificial intelligence engineering, one of the first of its kind in the country. The program, housed in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science within the College of Engineering, will be focused on foundations of AI, encompassing both hardware and software, in addition to applications of AI.

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Penn State launches artificial intelligence engineering degree and minor 

Roughly 10,000 years ago, humans started shifting from being nomadic hunter-gatherers to building large agricultural settlements, marking one of the greatest transformations in human history. For decades, researchers have debated what drove this change. Did farming spread mainly because farmers themselves moved into new lands, or because hunter-gatherers adopted farming practices? New interdisciplinary research by scientists at Penn State provides the clearest answer to date.

Ancient DNA reveals farming spread through migration, locals slow to adopt it | Penn State University

Roughly 10,000 years ago, humans started shifting from being nomadic hunter-gatherers to building large agricultural settlements, marking one of the greatest transformations in human history. For decades, researchers have debated what drove this change. Did farming spread mainly because farmers themselves moved into new lands, or because hunter-gatherers adopted farming practices? New interdisciplinary research by scientists at Penn State provides the clearest answer to date.

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Research

Ancient DNA reveals farming spread through migration, locals slow to adopt it

This summer, 10 Penn State students from diverse majors immersed themselves in urban sustainability and high-performance building design thanks in part to the Franco Harris Pittsburgh Center at Penn State.

Urban sustainability, high-performance building design lessons in Pittsburgh | Penn State University

This summer, 10 Penn State students from diverse majors immersed themselves in urban sustainability and high-performance building design thanks in part to the Franco Harris Pittsburgh Center at Penn State.

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Outreach

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More research news

Plants have a sophisticated internal communication system to help them optimize energy production. Now, a new study by an international team of scientists led by Penn State researchers reveals for the first time the molecular messengers that control how and when plants “breathe” and “eat."

Messenger signals that cue plants to ‘eat’ and ‘breathe’ revealed for first time | Penn State University

Plants have a sophisticated internal communication system to help them optimize energy production. Now, a new study by an international team of scientists led by Penn State researchers reveals for the first time the molecular messengers that control how and when plants “breathe” and “eat."

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Birds of a feather flock together, often traveling over enormous distances that can cross international borders. This can make managing and conserving critical populations of migratory birds extremely difficult, according to scientists at Penn State leading a team working to improve the understanding of migration movement at regional, continental and global scales. The team recently received a $848,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to support their work, which focuses on integrating two tracking methods into one powerful tool called an Integrated Movement Model.

GPS-outfitted birds and citizen sightings to inform a better migration model | Penn State University

Birds of a feather flock together, often traveling over enormous distances that can cross international borders. This can make managing and conserving critical populations of migratory birds extremely difficult, according to scientists at Penn State leading a team working to improve the understanding of migration movement at regional, continental and global scales. The team recently received a $848,000 grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to support their work, which focuses on integrating two tracking methods into one powerful tool called an Integrated Movement Model.

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GPS-outfitted birds and citizen sightings to inform a better migration model

For most broken bones, bone cells regrow on their own while patients wear a cast or brace to keep the injury steady. More complex injuries require more complex solutions, though. Collaborating with orthopedic surgeons, a team led by biomedical engineering researchers at Penn State created CitraBoneQMg, an implantable biodegradable scaffold to support bone regrowth made by combining magnesium and glutamine with citric acid.

Broken bones regrow quickly with help of biodegradable implant | Penn State University

For most broken bones, bone cells regrow on their own while patients wear a cast or brace to keep the injury steady. More complex injuries require more complex solutions, though. Collaborating with orthopedic surgeons, a team led by biomedical engineering researchers at Penn State created CitraBoneQMg, an implantable biodegradable scaffold to support bone regrowth made by combining magnesium and glutamine with citric acid.

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Broken bones regrow quickly with help of biodegradable implant 

Featured Research

A research team led by Penn State has developed a sensor that can help diagnose diabetes and prediabetes on-site in a few minutes using just a breath sample. Previous diagnostic methods often used glucose found in blood or sweat, but this sensor detects acetone levels in the breath.

Breath test that can help diagnose diabetes developed at Penn State

Plants appear still, yet inside they are alive with communication. They must continuously balance how to capture energy without losing too much water. For decades, scientists suspected there were internal messengers guiding this process, but the exact molecules remained unidentified. A new study led by Penn State researchers finally reveals the nature of these signals. This work not only solves a long-standing mystery but also suggests new directions for agriculture and plant resilience research.

Scientists discover hidden messengers tell plants when to eat and breathe

If an extraterrestrial intelligence were looking for signs of human communications, when and where should they look? In a new study, researchers at Penn State and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California analyzed when and where human deep space transmissions would be most detectable by an observer outside our solar system and suggest that the patterns they see could be used to guide our own search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).

Study: Planetary alignments may hold the key to detecting alien life

A research team led by Penn State faculty member Igor Aronson explored how micro-sized robots can use sound waves to coordinate into large swarms that exhibit intelligent-like behavior.

Tiny robots can self-organize and communicate using sound, study finds

Phones, laptops, and electric cars all run on a single silvery metal that is tough to get out of the ground. Conventional techniques roast lithium-rich rocks at blast-furnace temperatures, soak them in acid, and burn through hours of energy, cash, and time. Now, researchers at Penn State say there is a simpler, faster route that works with little more than water and a pantry-grade chemical.

Scientists extract 99% of lithium from rocks using a simple water solution

Though scientists have long understood how lightning strikes, the precise atmospheric events that trigger it within thunderclouds remained a perplexing mystery. The mystery may be solved, thanks to a team of researchers led by Victor Pasko, professor of electrical engineering in the Penn State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Study: Lightning on Earth is sparked by a powerful chain reaction from outer space

Diagnosing endometriosis could soon be much easier thanks to a new at home-test that can detect a biomarker for the disease in period blood. The pregnancy-like test created by researchers at the Pennsylvania State University offers up a diagnosis with high sensitivity in just 10 minutes.

Simple home test for endometriosis developed at Penn State

A new approach to a 100-year-old math problem is reshaping how engineers understand wind turbines. Penn State engineering student Divya Tyagi developed a cleaner and more complete solution to a classic aerodynamic challenge. Her work, based on calculus of variations, fills key gaps in a model that’s long shaped wind energy theory.

Penn State student cracks 100-year-old math problem transforming wind turbine design

Christopher Scott, Maurice K. Goddard Chair in Forestry and Environmental Resource Conservation and professor of ecosystem science and management at Penn State, studies, among other things, climate-smart forestry and climate adaptation and resilience. He explained how recent severe weather events are connected to climate change.

Penn State professor explains how climate change affects weather

A recent Penn State study shows that eating just four to six prunes daily can help postmenopausal women preserve bone density and strength, significantly lowering their fracture risk. Using advanced 3D imaging, researchers found that prune eaters maintained bone quality in crucial weight-bearing areas, outperforming those who skipped the fruit.

Penn State study finds new bone-boosting benefits of prunes

A new study led by Kristina Petersen, associate professor of nutritional sciences at Penn State, determined that nighttime pistachio consumption affects gut bacteria in adults with prediabetes. Though the potential therapeutic implications of the findings remain unclear, according to Petersen, they may prove significant for people who are working to improve their metabolic health.

Study: Bedtime pistachio snacking may change gut bacteria in prediabetes

A research team at Penn State has reported a significant violation of Kirchhoff’s law of thermal radiation, a principle that has been a foundation of thermal physics for 165 years.

PSU scientists shatter 165-year-old physics law, could unlock energy breakthrough

Scientists at Penn State uncovered an ancient temple in the Bolivian Andes, offering archaeologists rare new insights into the Tiwanaku civilization, a once-powerful society that existed over a thousand years ago and was a precursor to the Inca empire before it mysteriously disappeared.

Temple that mysteriously vanished 1,000 years ago revealed in PSU study

Several years ago, a cosmic particle detector in Antarctica observed a series of unusual radio signals, according to an international research group that includes scientists from Penn State. The strange radio pulses were detected between 2016 and 2018 by NASA’s Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, a range of instruments flown on balloons high above Antarctica that are designed to detect radio waves from cosmic rays hitting the atmosphere, and a new study provides additional context to the nearly decade-old results.

Scientists discover bizarre signals coming from ice in Antarctica

The list of treatments for low back pain is endless, but few offer relief for the one in four Americans who suffer from this persistent pain and leading cause of disability globally. The good news? A multi-institutional team, led by researchers from the Penn State College of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found that eight weeks of either mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) training led to meaningful improvements among adults with chronic low back pain that’s currently treated with opioids and had not responded to prior treatments.

Chronic back pain? Study finds these 2 therapies helped people feel better

Fragrances and lotions don't just change the way people smell, they actively alter the indoor air chemistry around the wearer, disrupting a critical natural process the body uses to protect itself from pollution, according to an international research team that includes scientists from Penn State.