UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Campus and Community Sustainability Expo will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on April 30 at the State College Municipal Building. Hosted by the Sustainable Communities Collaborative (SCC), the free public event will feature student projects focused on applied sustainability research in partnership with Pennsylvania communities. Kathy Bieschke, senior vice provost and interim dean of Undergraduate Education, will provide remarks.
This year, several of the projects were inspired by topics of discussion at the Central Pennsylvania Regional Rural Health Summit, hosted by Juniata College in June of 2025. Pennsylvania hosts rural health care events across the commonwealth, and the regional summits are designed to convene local stakeholders to “catalyze a regional approach to community engagement and partnership … for long-term rural health care sustainability and economic revitalization,” according to the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services website.
“I’m always on the lookout for opportunities to pair Penn State students with community partners to explore local challenges and develop sustainable solutions,” said Ilona Ballreich, director of SCC, who attended the summit. “The Rural Health Summit not only facilitated networking opportunities with potential partners, but it highlighted community priorities — the areas where students could make significant contributions.”
A major topic of discussion at the summit was HR-1, the federal budget reconciliation act signed into law in July 2025. That inspired a two-semester collaboration between master of public policy students in a capstone course taught by Emily Vargo, assistant clinical professor and the director of graduate studies and professional development for the master of public policy (MPP) program, and rural health and health administration experts focused on how HR-1 has impacted rural health care. Molly Graham, Kelsey Brown, Emmanuel Kraft and Paige Myers — all master of public policy students anticipating graduating in May — consulted with Lisa Davis, director of the Pennsylvania Office of Rural Health and outreach associate professor of health policy and administration at Penn State, and Mark Stephens, associate dean for medical education at Penn State College of Medicine as their project sponsors.
“As public policy students, it has been incredibly valuable to connect what we’re learning in the classroom to real-world challenges facing Pennsylvania communities,” Graham said.
For their project, the students have conducted a series of interviews and surveyed stakeholders within the communities impacted by HR-1 to better understand and characterize the law’s effects on rural health sustainability and health care outcomes. Brown and Graham were invited by Karin Rhodes, special adviser on rural health to Pennsylvania Secretary of Human Services Valerie A. Arkoosh, to attend the most recent Regional Rural Health Summit at Juniata College in February. This summit brought together state and local leaders to discuss new opportunities and challenges predicated by HR-1 and an ongoing health care crisis in rural communities.
“Over the past several months, my team and I have been analyzing HR-1 and its potential impact on rural health sustainability and outcomes,” Brown said. “While understanding how these reforms may affect rural communities has been disheartening, attending the summit gave us a renewed sense of optimism and a fresh perspective for our capstone research. It was an incredible opportunity to learn from professionals and advocates across the health care sector, and I am deeply grateful to Dr. Rhodes for inviting us.”
Brown added that the event was a powerful reminder of how people come together in times of need, with the speakers highlighting how the communities are meeting the challenges by building new partnerships and collaborations.
“The conversations at the summit reinforced how critical this moment is for rural health care systems navigating policy and funding changes,” Graham said. “Rural communities are facing significant pressures, but there is also a strong sense of resilience and innovation driving new solutions.”
The students brainstormed alongside more than 160 professionals, exploring how rural communities across the state can respond to unfolding Medicare and Medicaid reforms.
“The experience opened our minds to new possibilities and practical strategies for mitigation,” Brown said.
For Graham, the experience reinforced both the challenges and opportunities ahead.
“The summit made it clear that rural health challenges are complex, but not insurmountable when communities, policymakers and institutions work together," she said. “Engaging directly with stakeholders helped us better understand how policy decisions translate into real impacts on access to care.”
Davis lauded the students and their work.
“It has been so exciting to see public policy graduate students have such a strong interest in rural population health,” Davis said. “The team developed a well-structured project and gained skills in research protocols, and the results will be quite interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing the outcome!”
The students will present their research at the expo, where many other student projects will be featured, including:
- Students in EGEE 437: Solar Design, taught by Nelson Dzade, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering and chair of the undergraduate energy engineering program at Penn State, working with the Primary Health Network to explore solar options for three facilities.
- Students in COMM 232: Communication Strategies for Social Justice, taught by Rachelle Pavelko, assistant teaching professor in the Bellisario College of Communications, working with Centre Region Council of Governments traffic engineer Anne Messner on communication strategies that aim to ensure bicyclist safety.
- Students in CE 465, an engineering capstone taught by Lauren McPhillips, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering with a co-appointment in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, addressing stormwater mitigation in Juniata Terrace, Mifflin County, State College and other central Pennsylvania communities.
- Students in PLANT 462, a plant science capstone taught by Heather Karsten, associate professor of Crop Production / Ecology, exploring a more sustainable public park planting approach in Harris Township and sustainable grazing applications in Huntingdon County.
- Students in FIN 596: Applied Financial Modeling for Community Emergency Medical Services, taught by Jason Lunn, working on a project with an ambulance company near Lock Haven, Pennsylvania, to help ensure proper financial accounting and forecasting, which could serve as a model for other small volunteer emergency medical service companies.
For more information about the Campus and Community Sustainability Expo on April 30, or about the Sustainable Communities Collaborative, contact Ilona Ballreich at ixb20@psu.edu.