Millennium Café

Over the past seven years, part of my research has focused on the use of nanoscale and microscale fillers as a strategy to transform the performance of polymers by providing new mechanisms to engineer dielectric, magnetic and coupled functionality, with important implications in actuation, energy harvesting and energy storage. The goal of the talk, which seeks to assess my interdisciplinary experiences with colleagues and students at Penn State and other institutions, is to provide an example of critical self-refection that might prove useful to colleagues interested in making sense of their own collaborative research and teaching practice.

Maryam Tilton | Manogharan Group

With an expanding global population the demand for bone and joint reconstruction surgeries has increased. Unfortunately, in the case of significant bone trauma such as bone cancer and major fractures, modern implants are not always optimized and often result in postoperative complications which require additional surgery. This talk will highlight additive manufacturing (AM) as a possible strategy to develop personalized orthopedic implants with improved fixation, reduced bone-implant interface instability and, improved bone resorption.

Sarah Eichler | White Lab

Project Drawdown has used peer-reviewed research to assess the costs and impact of over 80 solutions to reverse global warming. The portfolio of solutions is broad and sometimes surprising, including not just energy, buildings and transportation but also chemicals and materials, food systems and land use, and gender equity. Adoption of drawdown solutions will require highly interdisciplinary teams and multiple levels of agency to identify and implement at the local scale. In this talk I will highlight four farmer-powered solutions that can store many gigatons of carbon. These agricultural land management solutions contribute to better food security and can increase farm profitability while empowering farmers to become agents of positive change.

Helene Hopfer | Food Science

Sensory & Consumer Science is an interdisciplinary field of research that connects chemistry, and materials science, with psychology, human physiology, and neurobiology. At Penn State’s Sensory Evaluation Center (SEC) in the Food Science department, we utilize humans as instruments to evaluate food, but also use food to understand human perception. I will share examples of our research that demonstrate how materials science and chemistry can be used to develop more healthy and longer-lasting food products.

Gary Chinn | Digital Learning

Recent curricular efforts by the College of Arts & Architecture have seen productive collaborations with a diversity of disciplines, including science, healthcare, and humanities. This talk explores the interesting spaces that exist at the intersections of seemingly divergent academic areas, and offers ideas about the benefits and challenges of cross-disciplinary partnerships. 

Neil Sharkey | Vice President for Research

Ruminations on Penn State’s successes and challenges over the last quarter century interwoven with a few thoughts about the future.