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4/22/2026
A new study published by researchers at Penn State offers a fresh view of how microplastics traverse and influence watersheds, such as rivers and streams, across Pennsylvania and the world at large.
4/16/2026
The engineering graduate programs at Penn State rose to No. 28 in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2026 Best Graduate Schools rankings, climbing three spots from the 2025 edition. Penn State’s College of Engineering ranks No. 14 among public universities and remains the No. 1 public university in the state of Pennsylvania.
4/15/2026
The Penn State Fox Graduate School Alumni Society has announced the recipients of its 2026 alumni awards, recognizing three graduates whose achievements exemplify the values of leadership, service and professional excellence. This year’s honorees include David W. Mazyck, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award; Ashley Kuzmik, recipient of the Early Career Award; and Maya E. Nehme, recipient of the Outstanding Service Award.
4/9/2026
The Penn State College of Engineering has named its student marshals for the spring 2026 commencement, recognizing top students from each major and ROTC for academic excellence and leadership. The honor highlights their achievements and contributions to the engineering community as they prepare to graduate.
4/9/2026
Three Penn State graduate students from the College of Engineering were among the 31 graduate students to earn awards at the 2026 Graduate Exhibition, hosted by the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School on Friday, March 27, on the University Park campus.
4/6/2026
The Penn State College of Engineering will recognize 21 alumni with the 2026 Outstanding Engineering Alumni Award and Early Career Award in a ceremony on April 9 in the State Theatre. The event marks the second year in which the two awards will be presented during a combined ceremony.
3/19/2026
Aleksandra Radlinska, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Penn State, contributed to a report published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) on the potential for innovative materials to strengthen the national water resources infrastructure.
3/5/2026
The inaugural Penn State-Ghana Research Partnerships Seed Grant Program has awarded nine projects that aim to fuel global impact, including crop disease surveillance, removing heavy metals from mining wastewater and understanding multimodal traffic streams. Ilgin Guler, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering, is the Penn State investigator on the project “Investigating interactions among multimodal traffic streams.”
2/24/2026
David Mazyck, a three-time alumnus of the Penn State College of Engineering who served as head of the School of Engineering, Design and Innovation (SEDI) until this month, has been named the inaugural president of a new university focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
2/17/2026
The Penn State College of Engineering has welcomed nine new faculty members across multiple departments, including several former postdoctoral scholars who have transitioned into faculty roles. These appointments strengthen the college’s research and teaching mission while reinforcing its commitment to investing in emerging talent.
2/9/2026
The Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE) has recognized eight Penn State researchers, including six from the College of Engineering, for outstanding contributions to energy and environmental research, scholarship and mentorship. Selected through nominations from across the Penn State community, the awardees are honored for their collaborative, interdisciplinary work and their commitment to mentoring students and colleagues.
2/5/2026
For this Q&A, Bill Burgos, Penn State professor of environmental engineering in the College of Engineering, spoke about why road salt — one of the most common tools for de-icing roads and walkways in Pennsylvania — is used, what its impacts are and what some alternatives might be.
2/2/2026
Penn State researchers have found that tidal freshwater marshes along the Delaware River may act as major traps for microplastics, capturing large amounts of plastic particles before they reach the ocean. The findings challenge the traditional understanding of where plastic pollution accumulates and were recently discussed on the Institute of Energy and the Environment’s (IEE) “Growing Impact” podcast.
1/27/2026
Fifteen faculty members, including six from the College of Engineering, have joined the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE), reflecting the institute’s growing interdisciplinary reach. Together, they bring expertise that connects energy systems, environmental processes and human dimensions, opening new pathways for collaboration and shared research efforts.
1/14/2026
Diana Deleon, a fourth-year majoring in civil engineering at Penn State, has been awarded the 2025 Deep Foundations Institute Educational Trust Penn State University Scholarship. The $4,000 scholarship recognizes her strong academic performance and promise in the civil engineering field.
1/7/2026
The Penn State College of Engineering community mourns the loss of civil engineering alumnus Rick Merluzzi, class of 1979, who died on Oct. 27, 2025. Throughout his life, Merluzzi gave back to the Penn State engineering community through time, treasure and talent. In particular, he and his wife, Kathryn, established the Rick and Kathryn Merluzzi Fund to support first-generation undergraduate engineering students and also provided support to students in the Engineering Leadership Development (ELD) program.
12/18/2025
The benefits of environmental protection, measured in terms of advancing public health and the economy, outweigh the costs associated with implementing and enforcing environmental regulations, according to researchers at Penn State who published a new perspective piece in the journal Nature Water.
12/12/2025
The Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences’ (ICDS) Mid-Scale Seed Grant Program has awarded over $540,000 in total to 24 Penn State faculty members across eight teams representing six colleges and three campuses — University Park, Behrend and Hershey — that will contribute to one or more of the institute’s research hubs or affiliated centers. Thirteen College of Engineering faculty members are involved in a total of six of the eight projects.
12/5/2025
The Penn State Learning Factory will host its biannual end-of-semester showcase for engineering students to present their cornerstone and capstone design projects. The in-person showcase will take place from 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, at the Bryce Jordan Center, while a virtual showcase will take place on Friday, Dec. 12 through Friday, Dec. 19. Both versions of the event are free and open to the public.
12/3/2025
Two Penn State civil engineering graduate students, Xueyang Wang and Mahdi Mirabrishami, were selected by the ASCE Central Pennsylvania Section to receive two of the four $2,000 Student Awards for 2025.
12/1/2025
Since the Nittany Lion was first conceptualized in 1904, just 54 individuals have had the privilege of serving as Penn State’s official mascot. Unlike most Division I schools that divide mascot responsibilities among multiple students, Penn State’s official mascot is portrayed by one student at a time. Here, the outgoing mascot and several of his predecessors give a behind-the-scenes glimpse of their shared experience of upholding the Nittany Lion as a continuous spirit that brings joy, comfort and connection to thousands of Penn Staters, community members and fans around the world.
11/20/2025
The Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences (ICDS) has awarded 20 fellowships to University faculty, including seven to College of Engineering faculty, through its Faculty Upskilling Fellowships in artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum sciences program. The program seeks to provide faculty members with the opportunity to learn new skills and to focus on professional development.
11/12/2025
Penn State will celebrate its eleventh GivingTuesday on Dec. 2 — and the College of Engineering invites alumni and friends to be a part of the event by making a gift to support engineering student success.
10/27/2025
A team of researchers at Penn State have developed a hydrological model that can forecast flooding impacts and manage water resources on a global scale. The approach combines artificial intelligence (AI) with physics-based modeling to provide communities with reliable, detailed data for managing water, reducing flood risk, planning crops and protecting ecosystems.
10/21/2025
Chaopeng Shen, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Penn State, is recognized as a leading innovator in blending artificial intelligence (AI) with water and Earth systems research. For these transformative contributions, the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE) has named him Person of the Year for 2025.
10/17/2025
Five years ago, the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation established the A. James Clark Scholars Program, a comprehensive scholarship and curricular support program for exceptional Penn State engineering undergraduates who demonstrate financial need. Now, with an additional $11 million investment, the Clark Foundation renewed its support for the program, ensuring that 10 new undergraduate engineering majors at Penn State will receive full tuition, fees, room and board, and curricular enrichment support each year in perpetuity.
10/17/2025
Four Penn State researchers, including two from the College of Engineering, have been selected as 2025 fellows of the Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE). The IEE Fellowship Program recognizes researchers whose work has significantly advanced energy and environmental research and provides support to further their efforts.
10/13/2025
Kenneth Mensah, a civil and environmental engineering graduate student at Penn State University, received the prestigious Canham Graduate Studies Scholarship at this year’s Water Environment Federation’s Technical Exhibition and Conference for his innovative research on sustainable water and wastewater treatment solutions. His work, advised by Onur Apul, focuses on advancing technologies to address emerging environmental challenges.
10/7/2025
Dennis Steigerwalt, president of the Housing Innovation Alliance, will deliver the 2025 Hankin Distinguished Lecture, which is free and open to the public. His talk, “The Future of Housing Is Now,” will be held at 4 p.m. on Nov. 19 in Robb Hall at the Hintz Family Alumni Center at University Park.
10/7/2025
The Institute of Energy and the Environment (IEE) has welcomed five new faculty members, including two from the College of Engineering, to its community. Their expertise spans artificial intelligence, water treatment, marine ecosystems, sustainable buildings and solar cell efficiency, strengthening IEE’s interdisciplinary approach to addressing complex challenges.
10/3/2025
Onur Apul, who joined Penn State as an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in August, spoke about his research into "forever chemicals."
10/1/2025
A team of Penn State researchers created a scalable framework to develop, analyze and evaluate using streetlights as a low-cost, equitable EV charging option.
9/22/2025
Between February and August 2025, the Penn State College of Engineering welcomed 12 new faculty members across various departments, including tenure-line, professional track, and administrative roles. This expansion supports the college’s strategic commitment to academic and research excellence.
9/22/2025
As the frequency and intensity of heatwaves increase across the U.S., a similar but more striking phenomenon is occurring in American rivers. Analysis of data from nearly 1,500 sites in the contiguous United States between 1980 and 2022 revealed that heatwaves in rivers are accelerating faster than and lasting nearly twice as long air heatwaves, according to a new study by researchers at Penn State.
9/12/2025
Freshwater tidal marshes, critical for wildlife and coastal protection, are now serving as microplastic catch basins, according to a team of researchers at Penn State. They recently found that these marshes trap large amounts of diverse plastics, with concentrations and ecological risks increasing downstream.
9/8/2025
Penn State faculty are addressing flooding from every angle, including developing tools to help families understand their risks, partnering with municipalities on levee management, modeling nature-based solutions, rethinking infrastructure and training the next generation of engineers. Their work will be highlighted on Sept. 9 and 10 at the Goddard Forum 2025 — Flood Risk in the Mid-Atlantic
8/27/2025
Pennsylvania’s aging levee systems are a risk to communities and their citizens. Penn State researchers have a new method to certify flood protection and save money.
8/11/2025
The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded a two-year, $957,013 grant to Ming Xiao, professor of civil and environmental engineering, to investigate the effect on permafrost and how its melting could expose contaminants to the environment.
8/7/2025
Eric Donnell, senior associate dean of the Penn State College of Engineering and professor of civil and environmental engineering, and his collaborators at Penn State used a large data set of Pennsylvania crash statistics and roadway features taken from all state-owned, rural roads to compare the safety performance of roadway segments with passing zones to stretches without marked passing zones. Their analysis revealed 11% fewer total crashes, and 12% fewer crashes leading to significant injury or fatalities on sections of rural highway marked as passing zones compared to sections of road marked as no passing.
8/6/2025
Aleksandra Radlinska, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Penn State, alongside a team of researchers from Penn State and the University of Georgia, co-authored a recent study published in the July issue of Cement and Concrete Research. Their work explored the impacts of two iron sulfide minerals that naturally occur in the environment, pyrrhotite and pyrite, on the structural integrity of concrete.
8/4/2025
On the latest episode of “Growing Impact,” a team of Penn State researchers discusses how their seed grant project aims to identify environmental impacts from the oil extraction process.
7/22/2025
Vikash Gayah, professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Penn State College of Engineering, has been named director of the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, effective July 1. He has served as interim director of the institute since 2023 and his involvement with the institute extends to when he was first hired as assistant professor of CEE in 2012.
7/16/2025
Valerie Smykalov, a Penn State doctoral student, received a prestigious NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to support her research on carbon movement through freshwater systems using deep learning and process-based modeling. Her work aims to uncover overlooked aspects of the carbon cycle and better constrain global carbon budgets.
7/2/2025
The Penn State Engineering Alumni Society (PSEAS) held its annual awards ceremony on June 20 at the State Theatre, building on its 53-year tradition of honoring excellence among engineering faculty, staff and alumni through the PSEAS awards. The award recipients were recognized in the categories of teaching, research, advising and service.
7/2/2025
A research group, including several Penn State researchers, developed a computational model to streamline flood prediction in the continental United States. Their model, which they call a differentiable routing model, incorporates physical readings — like temperature and river height — into a system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate and predict water movement.
6/23/2025
The Big Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA) Department Executive Officers (DEO) program has gained five additional fellows from the Penn State ranks. One of the fellows is the College of Engineering’s Farshad Rajabipour, head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, John A. and Harriette K. Shaw Professor and director of CIAMTIS University Transportation Center.
6/23/2025
Farshad Rajabipour, the John and Harriette Shaw Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been named head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), effective July 1. The promotion follows his service as interim department head since July 2023 and as a Penn State CEE faculty member since 2009.
