Ever wonder why gathering the top intellects in a room does not automatically create the best outcomes? (Me too–and it’s because very specific group dynamics stall collaboration.) In this talk, I will highlight a few “aha” moments from my fieldwork that helped me “decode” group behavior under stress and led to the development of an intervention model for working more effectively with groups, especially those in conflict.
Laurie Mulvey | Sociology & Criminology
Agricultural and living systems are rapidly becoming testbeds for technologies that sense, predict, and automate interventions to manage complex biological systems. This talk will introduce Penn State’s Technologies for Agriculture and Living Systems (TALiS) initiative and its mission to connect expertise across multiple disciplines and accelerated discovery and technology developments around sensing and monitoring, robotics and automation, biotechnology, data processing, and predictive modeling. We will highlight how TALiS is building partnerships, supporting students and faculty, and creating new opportunities for collaboration around real-world challenges in food, health, the environment, and Pennsylvania’s growing AgTech innovation ecosystem.
Armen Kemanian | Plant Science
Undergraduate students have been central to my research journey. They have asked questions with fresh eyes, made mistakes that taught us something new, followed surprising results, and shaped the direction of our research. I’ll share stories from our work in functional and quantum materials, including how these students have influenced both the science and my career. I’ll also share what I’ve learned about recruiting and mentoring undergraduate researchers. Their curiosity, dedication, and willingness to try something new make them the heart of our group.
Saeed Almishal | Materials Science & Engineering
Scholars in the Arts seek to improve lives through the research and application of arts and design practices to health and wellbeing. Projects from the Arts & Design Research Incubator are typically collaborative and interdisciplinary in nature, push methodological boundaries, link research and teaching, make innovative use of technology, and engage with university-wide research initiatives and priorities. We encourage faculty to register as affiliates of the Research Incubator and to promote their own and others’ scholarly output through seminars, colloquial, installations, and symposia. Please visit our website to learn more about individual faculty interests.
Bryan Nichols | School of Music
Artificial intelligence is transforming science and society, but it is also driving unprecedented growth in the energy needed to power data centers. In this talk, I will show how physics-based digital twins help us understand and optimize these complex systems, and how they provide the foundation for the next generation of Physical AI.
Wangda Zuo | Architectural Engineering
In this talk, I will explain how we are using machine learning to improve materials synthesis using concrete examples and by making an analogy to chocolate chip cookie baking. In addition to describing our scientific efforts, I will also give a brief overview of our DOE Genesis project and how the Genesis program is operating.
Stephanie Law | Materials Science & Engineering