UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, through its Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science, known as SAFES, recently announced its latest awards to accelerate the advancement of its Critical Issues Initiatives.
These initiatives serve as the college’s research and impact hubs, addressing urgent and high-impact challenges through targeted efforts and innovative projects.
Heather Preisendanz, director of SAFES and professor of agricultural and biological engineering, announced that the projects received funding through the Seed2Sustain program. Awards are structured to provide support across three funding levels to support the maturity and needs of each Critical Issue Initiative. Two of the projects are being co-funded by Penn State’s Institute of Energy and the Environment.
“Addressing today’s agricultural and environmental challenges requires new ways of thinking and working together,” she said. “SAFES is investing in the Critical Issues Initiatives to encourage collaboration across disciplines, accelerate discovery and position Penn State to pursue larger, more competitive funding opportunities that support long-term impact.”
The projects that received funding are as follows:
- “Reframing Agricultural Conservation: A Proposal to Initiate a SAFES Critical Issue Initiative,” Kathy Brasier, professor of rural sociology, and Andy Smolski, assistant professor of rural sociology. The grant of nearly $2,100 will support the development of a national network of faculty, students and staff invested in understanding and incorporating effective knowledge of conservation adoption.
- “Who controls the flood? How working landscapes shape flood outcomes,” Kate Zipp, associate professor of environmental and resource economics. The $1,650 award will support a campus-wide workshop that examines the causes of flooding, how water moves through agricultural landscapes, the impacts on infrastructure and agricultural production, and potential solutions. Beyond the workshop, funding will support the formation of a “Data, Donuts, and Disasters” working group to enhance collaborations and advance proposal development.
- “Integrating Social Science into AMR and Animal Health Research: A Workshop at the 2027 NIAMRRE Annual Conference,” Jennifer Ida, assistant research professor of veterinary extension, and Erika Ganda, associate professor of food animal microbiomes. The $3,400 grant will support a workshop at the 2027 National Institute for Antimicrobial Resistance Research and Education annual conference, to be held at Penn State.
- “Amplifying precision biodiversity: eDNA biodiversity assessments at stream, basin and social-ecological scales,” Daniel Allen, associate professor of aquatic ecology. The grant of nearly $40,000 will support research to understand the complex drivers of biodiversity decline in aquatic ecosystems and to develop assessment tools to improve ecosystem management and restoration outcomes.
- “Amplifying impact of research, extension and teaching through interdisciplinary collaborations,” Daniela Carrijo, assistant professor and extension specialist, grain crop production. The nearly $32,500 grant will advance work to mitigate methane emissions, develop decision-support tools and agricultural drone applications, and build regenerative landscapes.
- “From mapping to action: Watershed-scale prioritization of hydrologically sensitive areas and runoff attenuation features to protect agricultural productivity, water quality, and downstream populations in the Susquehanna River Basin,” Patrick Drohan, professor of pedology. The $12,250 grant will support research, education and outreach to benefit agricultural systems across Pennsylvania’s rural-to-urban landscape. The project advances a coordinated effort to translate existing mapping capabilities into actionable tools that support field and watershed-scale decision-making and are validated by stakeholders.
- “Advancing spatially expansive synoptic sampling and high frequency nitrate monitoring networks in Lower Susquehanna priority watersheds” and “Immersive Train-Ag: A VR-based intelligent agent platform with digital twins for onboarding and training agricultural conservation professionals,” Jon Duncan, associate professor of hydrology; Matt Royer, director, Agriculture and Environment Center; Cibin Raj, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering; Femeena Valappil, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering; and Weiyun Hua, assistant teaching professor of agricultural and biological engineering. The nearly $41,500 award will help researchers focus water-quality monitoring efforts on watershed areas where problems are most likely to occur, extend a network of high-frequency water-quality sensors to monitor the Little Conewago Creek, and further enhance partnerships with the U.S. Geological Survey and other key watershed partners. A related project involves the Immersive Train-Ag initiative. This proof-of-concept training platform combines virtual reality, digital technology and an AI-powered assistant to provide real-time guidance in agricultural environments.
- “Pivoting to applied forest management,” Jason Kaye, distinguished professor of soil biogeochemistry. The $15,000 in funding will be used, in part, for conducting fertilization experiments at the Forest Common Garden in Stone Valley Forest. The grant will support the collection of the first year of field data, including surveying, marking trees, measuring their diameters and filling gaps with new trees as part of forest management studies, with long-term results leading to species-specific management strategies.
- “Responsible AI for food: A pilot field experiment of AI-based food recommendations in a real-world dining environment” and “The lasting lessons of waste: Evaluating the long-term behavioral impact of a university organics recycling program,” Yizao Liu, associate professor of agricultural economics, Ran Li, assistant professor of agribusiness management, and Ted Jaenicke, professor of agricultural economics. The approximately $14,000 grant will support projects that explore how behavioral interventions, artificial intelligence and policies can improve food choices and reduce food waste, with a pilot study to take place at Café Laura on the University Park campus.
- “From execution to amplification: Integrating contaminants science for sustainable water, biodiversity, and communities,” Jon Sweetman, assistant research professor of aquatic science. The nearly $19,000 grant will support the continued development of interdisciplinary teams to address the occurrence and impacts of emerging contaminants in aquatic ecosystems, with a focus on microplastics. The grant also will support the development of new educational materials to enhance Penn State Extension’s responses to stakeholder questions about emerging contaminants.
- “Building integrated bioeconomy pathways with anaerobic digestion and nutrient recovery,” Juliana Vasco-Correa, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Jay Regan, professor of environmental engineering. The team will use its $15,000 grant to advance collaborative interdisciplinary research that couples anaerobic digestion for bioenergy and biomanufacturing with nutrient recovery from manure, with implications for policy and downstream product development.