August 2020
Our monthly email newsletter highlights just a few of the many ways that the Penn State College of Engineering works to inspire change and impact tomorrow.
Over $10 million awarded to Penn State for energy center
Penn State will receive more than $10 million from the U.S. Department of Energy as an Energy Frontier Research Center Award. This large center grant will focus on 3D ferroelectric microelectronics. The new center is led by Susan Trolier-McKinstry, director, and Vijay Narayanan, associate director, who are both faculty in the Penn State School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
The College of Engineering has seen a more than 48% increase in research funding since 2016-17, with a total of $117 million awarded to our faculty in 2019-20.
Single-patient stethoscopes show heartbeat of Penn State's COVID-19 response
In close collaboration with Penn State Health and the Center for Medical Innovation at the Penn State College of Medicine, Penn State College of Engineering faculty and students organized to design and deliver disposable stethoscopes to help equip front-line health care workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic.
Enhanced water repellent surfaces discovered in nature
Through the investigation of insect surfaces, Penn State researchers have detailed a previously unidentified nanostructure that can be used to engineer stronger, more resilient water repellent coatings. With an enhanced ability to repel droplets, this design could be applied to personal protective equipment to better resist virus-laden particles, such as COVID-19, among other applications.

"People can become resistant to antibiotics from even just trace amounts in water. If we can develop methods to remove antibiotics efficiently and in an environmentally friendly manner, it can help retain the efficacy of antibiotics so they can continue to be prescribed to fight off infections."

David Kennedy, a Penn State Schreyer Honors College Scholar and rising senior in chemical engineering and chemistry, has been awarded an Erickson Discovery Grant to develop a method to remove antibiotics from the water supply.



'Building' a healthier future

For more than two decades, Esther Obonyo, associate professor of engineering design and architectural engineering and director of the Global Building Network, has served as a global expert on buildings, and is featured by the Big Ten Network as part of its LiveB1G series.
NIH grant recipients to study why some blood clots cannot be cleared
A team of Penn State and U.S. Food and Drug Administration researchers have received a four-year, $2.49 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to understand why certain blood clots that cause strokes cannot be removed.

"Build clarity on what you want to achieve, relentlessly pursue your goals, and keep pushing your boundaries."

That’s exactly what Penn State Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME) alumnus Athul Krishna has done and continues to do as senior product manager at Amazon.


Simple device monitors health using sweat
A device that monitors health conditions in the body using a person’s sweat has been developed by Penn State and Xiangtan University researchers, according to Huanyu “Larry” Cheng, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics, Penn State.


"ELIM brought out the best in me, and I could not be more thankful for the opportunity."

Anthony Aloisi credits the master of engineering in engineering leadership and innovation management (ELIM), offered by the Penn State School of Engineering Design, Technology, and Professional Programs’ engineering leadership development program, with helping him secure his position as a system engineer at Siemens Mobility.

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