Eberly Alumni

Newsletter

OFFICE OF DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS

On Connectedness: A Letter From the Dean and the Director of Development and Alumni Relations

“Medical researchers, practitioners, and data scientists are today’s heroes and pioneers. The Eberly College of Science has played an important role in launching the careers of those scientist-heroes and research pioneers. You are our proof.”

On Connectedness

Virtual commencement for the Class of 2020

In celebration of the completion of the academic experience of more than 14,000 Penn State students during this global pandemic, this virtual ceremony is the first step in recognizing the Class of 2020. Graduates are encouraged to share photos of their in-home celebrations on social media using the hashtag #PSUgrad. More information on the virtual commencement can be found here.

Penn State to continue remote learning, online courses into summer

Given the continuing challenge and uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic and to protect the health of students, faculty and staff, Penn State has made the decision to extend virtual delivery of courses into the summer. Further, the University will adjust tuition for the summer sessions in light of the ongoing pandemic and the persistent fiscal strain it is causing across Pennsylvania and the country. More information on summer learning can be found here.

Student Emergency Fund

The pandemic has forced us to adapt, and we are making real-time adjustments to support our students. As we create emergency funds, new and different scholarships, and additional strategies for successful remote learning to meet the needs of our students, we are encouraged by their enthusiasm and perseverance.

Give to the Science Future Fund here.

Research update

A growing number of Eberly researchers are being funded — as principal investigators and/or as collaborators on multidisciplinary teams — to shift their research programs to focus on COVID-19. Among them are Paul Cremer (chem), Katriona Shea (bio), Joyce Jose (BMB), Scott Lindner (BMB), Nita Bharti (bio), Jean-Paul Armache (BMB), Le Bao (stats), Ottar Bjornstad (bio), Susan Hafenstein (BMB), David Kennedy (bio), Steven Schiff (phys), Mauricio Terrones (chem, phys), Kurt Vandegrift (bio), Howie Weiss (bio/math), Miriam Freedman (chem), Pia Abel-zur Wiesch (bio), Yin-Ting Yeh (phys), and Moriah Szpara (BMB). Also, Eberly graduate student Sarthok Rahman (bio) is working with Penn State’s Howard Salis (bioeng, chem eng) on a project titled "A Massively Parallel COVID-19 Diagnostic Assay for Simultaneous Testing of 19,200 Patient Samples."

Despite Penn State’s research drawdown, there have been a number of positives on that front. Eberly experts have been highly visible in the media: Maciej Boni (bio) was featured by renowned science writer Carl Zimmer in The New York Times, and Ottar Bjornstad (bio) was part of an international study, published in Science, assessing China’s response to the initial outbreak.

Eberly researchers have also been busy creating new digital resources for the public: Nita Bharti was featured on WPSU’s Democracy Works podcast as well as in the ASK CIDD video series, and Nita and Matt Ferrari produced a series of three short videos with WPSU, explaining important aspects of COVID-19.

Eberly and the rest of the Penn State community have also been busy supporting PPE-related initiatives to get much-needed protective equipment to our health care professionals on the front lines and also to develop new tools and strategies as the situation evolves.

COVID-19 resources you can trust

·Penn State coronavirus info
·Eberly coronavirus contingency resources
·ASK CIDD - The Penn State Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics answers submitted questions on the topic of COVID-19.
·U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
·World Health Organization (WHO)

Social Media Snapshots

Moriah Szpara is an associate professor of biochemisty and molecular biology studying neovirology, genomics of pathogen variation, and neuron-virus relationships. Looks like instructors everywhere are learning from one another!

Moriah Szpara is an associate professor of biochemisty and molecular biology studying neovirology, genomics of pathogen variation, and neuron-virus relationships. All around lab appreciation featuring Liam Kaylor, a current graduate student that was previously part of Szpara’s lab for five weeks.

Beth Elacqua is an assistant professor of chemistry studying synthetic organic chemistry, polymer materials and supramolecular self-assembly. One up side to digital meetings? Green screens featuring pets and Tiger King.

Iliana Baums is an associate professor of biology studying molecular ecology and the evolution of reef invertebrates. Although the field trip had to take a change of plans, the students were able to take on the challenge.

Julia Stewart is a graduate student in Mónica Medina’s lab studying coral health. Seems like pets have been taking advantage of having their humans around more.