The AI literacy framework outlines what it means to be AI literate at Penn State and offers guidance for learning, teaching,&nbsp;research&nbsp;and administrative work across the university.

Penn State launches AI literacy framework to advance University-wide AI literacy initiative | Penn State University

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The AI literacy framework outlines what it means to be AI literate at Penn State and offers guidance for learning, teaching, research and administrative work across the university.

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Administration

Research

Penn State launches AI literacy framework to advance University-wide AI literacy initiative 

Eberly College of Science

Penn State Eberly College of Science alumna Vivian Valenty graduated in 1971 with a doctoral degree in chemistry. Now, 55 years later, she is celebrating almost 20 years of her award-winning nail polish brand — Dazzle Dry — and a new partnership with her alma mater.

Chemistry alumna finds her passion in nail polish with Dazzle Dry | Penn State University

Penn State Eberly College of Science alumna Vivian Valenty graduated in 1971 with a doctoral degree in chemistry. Now, 55 years later, she is celebrating almost 20 years of her award-winning nail polish brand — Dazzle Dry — and a new partnership with her alma mater.

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Chemistry alumna finds her passion in nail polish with Dazzle Dry

Health and Human Development

College of Health and Human Development

The newly developed Pennsylvania Addiction Action Network,&nbsp;funded&nbsp;by $750,000 from&nbsp;the&nbsp;fiscal year 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act&nbsp;and led by the Social Science Research Institute’s Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction&nbsp;at Penn State,&nbsp;will&nbsp;convene&nbsp;stakeholders from across&nbsp;Pennsylvania&nbsp;to help counties make decisions on&nbsp;the best&nbsp;use of&nbsp;their&nbsp;opioid settlement in all 67 Pennsylvania counties.

Penn State network helps communities turn opioid funds into lifesaving action | Penn State University

The newly developed Pennsylvania Addiction Action Network, funded by $750,000 from the fiscal year 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act and led by the Social Science Research Institute’s Consortium on Substance Use and Addiction at Penn State, will convene stakeholders from across Pennsylvania to help counties make decisions on the best use of their opioid settlement in all 67 Pennsylvania counties.

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Social Science Research Institute

Penn State network helps communities turn opioid funds into lifesaving action

2026 Osaze Osagie Memorial Lecture to feature Chamique Holdsclaw

Penn State Altoona earns Level I Arboretum accreditation from ArbNet

2026 Happy Valley Animation Festival to showcase award-winning international works

Engineering Dean Peeples to serve as special adviser to provost on student success

Penn State community invited to attend 2026 Graduate Exhibition on March 27

Emily Metzgar named dean of the Penn State Bellisario College of Communications

The Medical Minute: Is 'Dr. ChatGPT' doing more harm than good?

Lil Wayne to bring 2026 tour to Bryce Jordan Center for Sept. 18 football weekend

Capital Day returns April 14 encouraging Penn Staters to support state funding

Things to Do at Penn State: March 19-26

Penn State Berkey Creamery serves up heated competition during 'Flavor Madness'

Targeting two flu proteins sharply reduces airborne spread

Family-friendly classic ‘The Music Man’ coming to Eisenhower Auditorium on April 7

Strengthening western Pennsylvania’s innovation and workforce ecosystem

Teens and young adults with ADHD and substance use disorder face treatment gap

President Bendapudi appears before House Appropriations Committee

College of Ag Sciences, Penn State Extension, at forefront of avian flu response

Things to Do at Penn State: March 12-19

Q&A: Gassing up bioengineered materials for wound healing

Strange cosmic burst from colliding galaxies shines light on heavy elements

How AI is integrated into clinical workflow lowers medical liability perception

Atom-thin material could help solve chip manufacturing problem   

Wrestling team cruises to another crown at 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships

Four-peat: Women's ice hockey wins fourth straight AHA tournament championship

Making mini-lightning in a block of plastic

Penn State showcases broad global sustainability impact through SDG Progress page

Save the Date: Human Resources hosting free ‘Well-Being Week’ webinars April 6-10

Student-led team advances in global Emergency Response Flyer competition 

Penn State Traditional American Indian Powwow returns March 28-29

Penn State suspends University-affiliated travel to the Middle East indefinitely

Colin Jost of 'Saturday Night Live' to perform stand-up at Bryce Jordan Center

Campus parking and transit changes during spring break

Bohrer named chancellor of Penn State Schuylkill

Landmark estate commitment will strengthen STEM programming at Penn State Berks

University Park activities and work delayed until 10 a.m. Tuesday

Routine helps children adjust to school, but harsh parenting may undo benefits

Penn State alumni trustee election ballot positions announced

Karen Thole named inaugural director of Penn State National Security Institute

Board approves proposed acquisition of State College Regional Airport by the Centre County Airport Authority 

Center announces cancellation of Peppa Pig ‘My First Concert’ on March 26

Commonwealth Campus investments strengthen faculty, student research excellence

Things to Do at Penn State: Feb. 26-March 12

COVID-19 infection predicts higher risk of kidney disease, study finds

Borrowing from biology to power next-gen data storage

Finance OST: New financial shared services model begins operations 

Two Penn State professors elected to National Academy of Engineering

Penn State THON 2026 raises record-breaking $18.8 million 

February trustees recap: The impact of THON; capital projects approved

Run, Hide, Fight: Community reminded of steps to take if faced with a threat

Penn State to recognize Read Across America 2026 with ‘Roar Where You Are’

Women's ice hockey's Tessa Janecke nets gold with Team USA

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Around Campus

More research news

A long-running debate in vaccine design revolves around whether a vaccine should be optimized to prevent the virus from replicating inside an infected host or prevent the virus from transmitting to others. New research led by Penn State scientists suggests there may not have to be a tradeoff.

Targeting two flu proteins sharply reduces airborne spread | Penn State University

A long-running debate in vaccine design revolves around whether a vaccine should be optimized to prevent the virus from replicating inside an infected host or prevent the virus from transmitting to others. New research led by Penn State scientists suggests there may not have to be a tradeoff.

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Stress&nbsp;gets&nbsp;a bad reputation,&nbsp;but&nbsp;the good news is that&nbsp;our relationship with stress becomes better as we age, according to David Almeida, newly named distinguished professor of human development and family studies.&nbsp;In this Q&amp;A,&nbsp;Almeida&nbsp;explains how experiences of daily stress change with age and how to learn to better handle stress.

Q&A: Is stress always bad for our health? | Penn State University

Stress gets a bad reputation, but the good news is that our relationship with stress becomes better as we age, according to David Almeida, newly named distinguished professor of human development and family studies. In this Q&A, Almeida explains how experiences of daily stress change with age and how to learn to better handle stress.

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Q&A: Is stress always bad for our health?

When farmers apply poultry litter — chicken manure — to fields as fertilizer, it adds nutrients like phosphorus to the soil that plants need. However, phosphorus can dissolve in water and runoff into streams instead of going into crops, causing water pollution and economic loss for farmers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A team led by Penn State researchers recently demonstrated that the use of a novel soil additive might effectively reduce phosphorus runoff.

Soil additive devised by Penn State researchers may cut farm phosphorus runoff | Penn State University

When farmers apply poultry litter — chicken manure — to fields as fertilizer, it adds nutrients like phosphorus to the soil that plants need. However, phosphorus can dissolve in water and runoff into streams instead of going into crops, causing water pollution and economic loss for farmers, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A team led by Penn State researchers recently demonstrated that the use of a novel soil additive might effectively reduce phosphorus runoff.

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Soil additive devised by Penn State researchers may cut farm phosphorus runoff

Featured Research

Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi shared her thoughts in a new blog in Forbes highlighting the importance of valuing people in the age of AI — and how universities like Penn State are preparing students for the workplaces of the future.

Why People Are The Smartest AI Investment—And What It Means For Universities

Tardigrades, commonly known as water bears, may be better suited by a new name: Tardiguardians of the Galaxy. Unlike the fictional ragtag team of unenthusiastic heroes, the microscopic animals are providing real insight into how humans could adapt extraterrestrial resources to support space exploration, as well as whether such resources could help protect against the Earthly contaminants that humans might shed. This is according to an international study co-led by Penn State Altoona Professor of Microbiology Corien Bakermans.

‘Water bears’ reveal potential for adapting, protecting Martian resources

Thunderstorms often illuminate the night sky with flashes of lightning. They also seem to make treetops glow and sparkle — although the phenomenon is pretty much invisible to the naked eye. In a study led by Penn State published Feb. 12 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists provide the first direct observations of the weak electrical discharges around trees in nature.

Scientists capture first-ever ultraviolet 'sparkles' from treetops

Penn State researchers have developed a new high-temperature polymer capacitor that can store four times more energy than conventional designs while operating at temperatures up to 482 degrees Fahrenheit. The advance could improve power systems in electric vehicles, data centers, aerospace systems and other high-heat environments where today’s capacitors quickly fail.

New plastic material could solve energy storage challenge, researchers report

A new study offers a look at how the building blocks of life might have originated in the cosmos. Penn State scientists suggest that the amino acids found on the asteroid Bennu did not require warm, liquid water to form, as previously assumed. The team analyzed tiny samples, consisting of roughly 4.6-billion-year-old rocks, delivered by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission to Earth in 2023.

Radioactive space can host building blocks of life, asteroid samples reveal

Researchers at Penn State say they’ve developed a new hydrogel material inspired by octopus skin that can encode images directly into its structure. The imprinted images then disappear and reappear when the skin is exposed to subtle changes in temperature or a surrounding solvent. The result is a “4D” synthetic smart skin capable of revealing hidden images and shifting surface patterns.

Study: Octopus-inspired material could lead to better camouflage tech

How a new father behaves toward his baby can change family dynamics in a way that affects the child’s heart and metabolic health years later, according to a new study by researchers in the Penn State College of Health and Human Development.

Early dad's involvement linked to lasting child health, study finds

About half of older men suffer from sleep problems, back pain or both, according to Soomi Lee, associate professor of human development and family studies at Penn State. Lee recently led a study to investigate whether one precedes the other and found that back problems can predict sleep problems years later in men over 65 years old.

Study: Back pain might predict future sleep problems among men

Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi was featured in a CEO Magazine interview highlighting her belief in the transformative power of higher education and her efforts to expand access, advance ethical innovation, and strengthen the university’s educational, research, and economic impact.

President of PSU is redefining the power of education to transform lives

A new study led by researchers at Penn State found melanoma case rates tracking higher in counties with higher areas of cultivated land, where the use of chemical herbicides and pesticides can be higher.

Penn State study finds higher incidence of skin cancers in Pa.’s Farm Belt

In a significant advancement for materials science, scientists have successfully created niobium sulfide metallic nanotubes with stable, predictable properties for the first time. An international team, including Penn State researchers, achieved the long-sought feat using an unexpected ingredient—common table salt. According to researchers, the discovery could pave the way for faster electronics, efficient superconducting wires, and future quantum technologies.

Study: Common salt helps create nanomaterial for high-speed electronics

Researchers at Penn State have proposed a novel design for a lithium-ion (Li) battery. It could address the long-standing performance and stability issues of standard Li batteries in extreme temperatures. The design, dubbed the All-Climate Battery (ACB), was developed to fix a core flaw in standard Li batteries.

‘All-Climate Battery’ developed at Penn State could keep EVs running in extreme heat, cold

The discovery of a possible “super-Earth” less than 20 light-years from our own planet is offering scientists new hope in the hunt for other worlds that could harbor life, according to an international team including researchers from Penn State. They dubbed the exoplanet, named GJ 251 c, a “super-Earth” as data suggest it is almost four times as massive as the Earth and likely to be rocky planet.

Newly discovered ‘super-Earth’ offers prime target in search for alien life

A "super-Earth" exoplanet in the habitable zone of its star has been detected by an international team, including Penn State researchers, less than 20 light-years away, putting it near the top of the list for best places to look for life beyond our solar system.

'Super-Earth' less than 20 light-years away is an exciting lead in the search for life

Organic beekeeping can support healthy and productive honey bee colonies, and a new study led by researchers at Penn State found that adopting organic honey bee colony management is not only profitable, but in some cases, it can be even more profitable than conventional management. The research couldn't come at a more opportune time, as a separate study found that 2025 marked the largest-ever honey bee colony losses in the United States, citing viruses spread by parasitic mites as the culprit.

Researchers discover solution to major issue in beekeeping

Electric vehicles (EVs) can have lower fuel costs and reduce emissions relative to cars that use gasoline, but they are only a practical option if drivers have convenient ways to charge them. For people who live in multi-unit dwellings or in urban areas, access to charging infrastructure may be particularly limited, which in turn limits EV adoption. To address this issue, a team of researchers at Penn State created a scalable framework to develop, analyze and evaluate using streetlights as a low-cost, equitable EV charging option.