Alumni Newsletter
Office of Development and Alumni Relations
Save the Date: September 27
Alumni and Friends Homecoming Tailgate
Don't miss out on an ideal spot to watch the Homecoming Parade and network with Eberly College of Science faculty and staff!
Please join us for the college's Alumni and Friends Homecoming Tailgate on Friday, September 27, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., the evening before Penn State takes on the University of Illinois for Homecoming.
The tailgate will be held rain or shine under a tent in front of the Millennium Science Complex, on the corner of Bigler and Pollock Roads. Heavy appetizers and an open bar featuring beer, wine, and nonalcoholic beverages will be provided. IDs will be required to consume alcoholic beverages.
Registration is required.
RSVP no later than Wednesday, September 25.
"Stay for SCIENCE" T-Shirt Sales Support Student Scholarship
You may have seen or heard about the incredibly enthusiastic response to our unveiling of the new "Stay for SCIENCE" T-shirts—sales of which will support a student scholarship in the college—at the September 6 Alumni and Friends Tailgate.
If you’d like to join in the fun, for a worthy cause, you can purchase one of these long-sleeved T-shirts at the Alumni and Friends Homecoming Tailgate on Friday, September 27.
Read more about the inspiration for the "Stay for SCIENCE" tagline.
Homecoming Ice Cream Social
Penn Staters can register for the Homecoming ice cream social, which the Penn State Alumni Association will host from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Friday, September 27, at the Hintz Family Alumni Center. The popular event is free to attend and will feature performances from the Alumni Blue Band, Penn State Cheerleaders, and Nittany Lion. Free Berkey Creamery ice cream will be available, and we anticipate the event will feature several special guests. Additionally, Penn Staters can pick up their class buttons.
Uniting alumni and friends at the ice cream social is one way the Alumni Association will play a key role for alumni who wish to celebrate Homecoming. More information is available on the Alumni Association’s website.
Penn Staters are also encouraged to visit Penn State Homecoming’s website for complete details about all activities happening throughout Homecoming Week.
Alumni Impact
Alumnus Richard Gottscho Honored with Alumni Fellow Award, Will Present Erwin W. Müller Memorial Lecture in Physics
Penn State Eberly College of Science alumnus Richard A. Gottscho, executive vice president and strategic advisor to the CEO of innovation ecosystem at Lam Research, has been honored by the Penn State Alumni Association with the 2024 Alumni Fellow Award, the most prestigious award given by the Alumni Association. A ceremony to honor this year’s awardees will be held on September 18 at the State Theatre in downtown State College. Those interested in tuning in virtually may register via Cvent.
A special thanks to Rick, who during his visit will also be presenting the 2024 Erwin W. Müller Memorial Lecture in Physics!
Donor Impact
New Graduate Scholarship Honors Former Student Lovisa Arnesson-Cronhamre
The life of Lovisa Arnesson-Cronhamre, a graduate student at Penn State in architectural engineering, who planned to transfer to physics to pursue her passion, was much too short. She was struck by a speeding car on September 12, 2023, while running on the sidewalk along East Park Avenue, dying in the early hours of September 13, but her legacy will live on through the generosity of her family and loved ones.
Lovisa’s parents, Maja Cronhamre and Peter Arnesson Gyld, along with her fiancé, Matthew Hollingham, a graduate student in architectural engineering, have established the Be More Lovisa Graduate Student Scholarship in Physics in the Eberly College of Science, which will provide funding for a graduate student in physics, with a preference for students studying particle astrophysics.
The inaugural scholarship was awarded last week, on September 12, to Penn State Eberly College of Science graduate students Šárka Blahnik and Emma Steinebronn.
College Highlights
Teaching Innovation Awards for Fall 2024 Announced
The Penn State Eberly College of Science’s Grove Center for Excellence in Science Education has announced its fall 2024 Teaching Innovation Awards. These awards provide an opportunity for instructors in the college to request support to create new or improve their existing science and math courses, programs, and teaching-related activities.
Selected for these awards are Denise Okafor, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and Huck Early Career Chair in Biophysics, and a team of faculty that includes Amine Benkiran, associate teaching professor of mathematics; Nicholas Stepanik, lecturer in mathematics; Michael Steward, associate teaching professor of mathematics; Matthew Endres, associate teaching professor of biology; Joe Houck, associate teaching professor of chemistry; and Jackie Bortiatynski, director of the Grove Center.
International Experiment Sees New Results in Search for Dark Matter
The nature of dark matter, the invisible substance thought to make up most of the mass in our universe, is one of the greatest mysteries in physics. Using new results from the world’s most sensitive dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN, an international collaboration that includes Penn State researchers in the Eberly College of Science, has narrowed down the possible properties of one of the leading candidates for the particles that compose dark matter.
In the News
New Hope for Alzheimer’s Patients? Cancer Drug Shows ‘High Potential’
You may have read in the New York Post about new drug-development research from Melanie McReynolds in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.
Read more about the research in our press release, "Cancer drug could treat early-stage Alzheimer’s disease, study shows."
In addition to her research program, McReynolds has also led the establishment of one of the first chapters of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) in the country for graduate students and postdocs. Read more in ASBMB Today.
Making the Atomic Universe Visible: Penn State’s Nitin Samarth Advances Quantum Materials Research at Q-NEXT
Eberly researcher Nitin Samarth, Verne M. Willaman Professor of Physics, was featured recently by Argonne National Laboratory for his work with the Q-NEXT collaboration, helping to grow the capabilities of the Argonne Quantum Foundry. He's also building a library of atom-scale materials for quantum technologies—and he’s sharing it with everyone.
University Highlights
Faculty and students from the Eberly College of Science are recognized for excellence in research and teaching.
Six Eberly College of Science Students Win NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant 2024 Fellowships and Scholarships
Four graduate students and two undergraduate students from the Penn State Eberly College of Science have been awarded research fellowships and scholarships, respectively, for 2024 from the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, part of a NASA-run initiative to support educational initiatives in the STEM fields.
Graduate students Laura Duffy (astronomy and astrophysics), Bryan Hendricks (physics), Niana Mohammed (astronomy and astrophysics), and Francesco Pecere (chemistry, astrobiology) will reach eceive a one-year fellowship of $5,000.
Undergraduate students Nathaniel Carey (biotechnology) and Angelina Estadt (physics, astronomy and astrophysics) will each receive a one-year scholarship of $4,000.
Charles Anderson and Beth Johnson Welcomed into New Cohort of Emerging Academic Leaders for Fall 2024
Eberly College of Science faculty members Charles Anderson and Beth Johnson have been selected among 23 faculty members for the Penn State Emerging Academic Leaders (PSEAL) program for fall 2024. This initiative highlights individuals who have demonstrated exceptional potential for academic leadership and innovation within their fields.
Jean-Paul Armache Receives Huck Innovative and Transformational Seed Fund Grant
A project led by Jean-Paul Armache, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, with support from collaborator Sung Hyun Cho, assistant research professor and director of the Cryo-Electron Microscopy Core Facility, is one of three potentially high-impact, high-risk research projects selected to receive seed funding for the latest round of the Huck Innovative and Transformational Seed Fund initiative.
Armache’s project, “Development of standardized additives for predictable, reliable, and reproducible electron cryo- microscopy purposes," aims to improve the difficult and time consuming process of freezing samples for electron cryo-microscopy characterization.
Remembering the Alumni and Friends Tailgate
We were so thrilled to see everyone who came back to campus on September 6 for our Alumni and Friends Tailgate!
We had a wonderful time with all of you, capped off by the Nittany Lions' win over the Bowling Green Falcons!
You help put the “We” in “We Are Penn State!”
Join our community of alumni and friends today.
For more than 150 years, we have been keeping alumni connected to the University and to each other.
