UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State and the University of Auckland in New Zealand recently announced the awarded grants of the second round of the Collaboration Program, a jointly financed seed program with the aim to collaborate on research and education projects. The first cycle of the program provided funding to eight projects. The two institutions committed these seed funds for a second round and funded two projects centered on the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: SDG3: Good Health and Well-being, SDG4: Quality Education, SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, and SDG13: Climate Action.   

“The two projects clearly align with the priorities of our universities and highlight the significance of the partnership between the University of Auckland and Penn State,” said Andrew Read, interim senior vice president for research. "We look forward to continued impact to develop within this partnership."

The two projects focus on “Assessing Climate Futures through Environmental Data Analytics” (Erica Smithwick, distinguished professor of geography, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences) and “Towards Linking Hydro-Climatic Change and Earthquake Hazard” (Kaleigh Yost, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, College of Engineering). 

Penn State and the University of Auckland are building on the strong institutional partnership that has linked the universities since 2018, and which has shown strong collaborative results despite the challenges of the pandemic (read about Penn State-Auckland round 1). 

As Alexandra Persiko, associate director for Europe and Oceania partnerships, Penn State Global, noted, “We have been very impressed with the achievements of joint faculty teams of this still relatively young collaboration between the two universities. We look forward to the next round of highly promising projects.” The two proposals foster collaborative, sustainable, self-supporting research programs and integrated educational activities.  

For additional information, please contact Alexandra Persiko, Penn State Global, at axp1225@psu.edu or 1-814-867-5941.