Lehigh Valley

For Chancellor Tina Q. Richardson, education has the power to transform lives, families and communities. Drawing on her own experiences and her passion for work-based learning, Richardson reflects on Penn State Lehigh Valley's role in connecting students with opportunity through strong partnerships with employers, entrepreneurs and community leaders. Her message is clear: When academics and industry work together, students, businesses and communities all benefit.

WATCH: Penn State Lehigh Valley, a commitment to eastern Pennsylvania | Penn State University

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For Chancellor Tina Q. Richardson, education has the power to transform lives, families and communities. Drawing on her own experiences and her passion for work-based learning, Richardson reflects on Penn State Lehigh Valley's role in connecting students with opportunity through strong partnerships with employers, entrepreneurs and community leaders. Her message is clear: When academics and industry work together, students, businesses and communities all benefit.

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WATCH: Penn State Lehigh Valley, a commitment to eastern Pennsylvania

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Erie

A Penn State Behrend research team has partnered with the National Park Service to create a digital replica of the Liberty Bell. “The more detail you see, the more real the object becomes,” said Chris Shelton, the faculty member leading the project.

Penn State Behrend team works with National Park Service to preserve Liberty Bell | Penn State University

A Penn State Behrend research team has partnered with the National Park Service to create a digital replica of the Liberty Bell. “The more detail you see, the more real the object becomes,” said Chris Shelton, the faculty member leading the project.

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Research

Penn State Behrend team works with National Park Service to preserve Liberty Bell

The 60th annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts comes to the streets of downtown State College and Penn State’s University Park campus from Wednesday, July 8, through Sunday, July 12.&nbsp;

2026 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts to be held July 8-12 | Penn State University

The 60th annual Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts comes to the streets of downtown State College and Penn State’s University Park campus from Wednesday, July 8, through Sunday, July 12. 

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Arts and Entertainment

2026 Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts to be held July 8-12

ai_sciencejournalhero

Adopting, advancing and adapting to AI

Penn State Master Gardeners to share gardening expertise at Ag Progress Days

Kids received mental health treatment in record numbers after pandemic

Creating pathways: How Penn State Berks is supporting Latino student success in Reading

Pooles commit $5M gift to West Shore Home Field at Beaver Stadium revitalization project

The Medical Minute: Let the experts handle the Independence Day fireworks

Seven-figure gift endows directorship of real estate innovation institute

New entrepreneurship, commercialization structure to grow research impact

How Penn State Beaver is helping farmers respond sooner to animal health challenges

WATCH: Penn State Altoona, a commitment to central Pennsylvania 

Penn State ranks No. 20 in space science in US News 2026-27 'Global Universities' 

Don Toliver brings 'NITROUS – OCTANE WORLD TOUR' to the BJC on Sept. 2

Student Farm and Food Systems to host eighth annual Summer Solstice Celebration

Anonymous $1.5 million gift to enhance finance education at Penn State Smeal

Penn State ranks 23rd in US, 92nd globally in 2027 QS World University Rankings

The Medical Minute: Sweltering summer? Avoid heat-related illness

Palmer Museum opens juried show of contemporary art for the USA's 250th 

Three Penn Staters receive 2026 Honorary Alumni Award

WATCH: Penn State Abington, a commitment to Greater Philadelphia 

Penn State students partner with Associated Press to cover FIFA World Cup

Six Penn Staters earn Fulbright U.S. Student Awards 

The Medical Minute: How can I help my aging parent with depression? 

Four-minute daily workout improves strength, balance in older adults

Penn State Centre Stage summer productions focus on human connection

IRONMAN triathlon June 14 to impact campus and community roads, campus parking

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Around Campus

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Eberly College of Science

New research, led by Penn State physicists, demonstrated that when two orbiting black holes merge, the size of resulting larger black hole can be predicted using simple thermodynamics.

Simplifying black hole mergers — the universe’s most violent phenomena | Penn State University

New research, led by Penn State physicists, demonstrated that when two orbiting black holes merge, the size of resulting larger black hole can be predicted using simple thermodynamics.

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Simplifying black hole mergers — the universe’s most violent phenomena

A new study led by Penn State researchers found a significant rise in pediatric mental health treatment following the COVID-19 pandemic, driven mainly by new patients, especially girls, and antidepressant prescriptions.

Kids received mental health treatment in record numbers after pandemic | Penn State University

A new study led by Penn State researchers found a significant rise in pediatric mental health treatment following the COVID-19 pandemic, driven mainly by new patients, especially girls, and antidepressant prescriptions.

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Penn State has entered a 10-year renewable partnership with the U.S. Army to provide environmental and architecture and engineering support services via a public-public partnership. The Regional Intergovernmental Support Agreement aims to strengthen collaboration, enhance capability sharing and deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.

Penn State signs new intergovernmental support agreement with US Army | Penn State University

Penn State has entered a 10-year renewable partnership with the U.S. Army to provide environmental and architecture and engineering support services via a public-public partnership. The Regional Intergovernmental Support Agreement aims to strengthen collaboration, enhance capability sharing and deliver mutually beneficial outcomes.

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Penn State signs new intergovernmental support agreement with US Army

Featured Research

A new study, led by a team from Penn State College of Medicine, found that when teenagers go to sleep and when they wake up may be the driving force behind what teenagers eat and how much they move. Teens who went to sleep later and woke up later were more likely to consume more calories, snack more and be less physically active — especially when in school compared to on break from school.

Study: Teens' sleep patterns affect their diet, exercise

A thick layer of haze around the ultra-low-density planet Kepler-51d likely obscures not only the strange planet’s composition, but also its origin, according to a new study. A team led by Penn State researchers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to take a deeper look at the “super-puff” planet that defies planetary formation models.

'Cotton candy’ planet hides its secrets beneath a massive layer of haze

Lightning formation and the conditions triggering it have long been shrouded in a cloud of mystery, but new research led by Penn State scientists is lifting the fog. Using mathematical calculations, the researchers discovered that lightning-like discharge doesn’t require a storm cloud — it could be made inside everyday material on a lab bench.

Researchers make mini-lightning in a block of plastic

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.