Alumni Newsletter
Office of Development and Alumni Relations
Ashtekar Frontiers of Science Lectures: Recordings and Live Stream
The 2025 Ashtekar Frontiers of Science lecture series—celebrating 100 years of quantum mechanics and the UNESCO International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, and exploring the depth and breadth of quantum research at Penn State and beyond—is underway!
A recording of the first lecture—“Public Interest Technologists and the Battle for Privacy in the Quantum Age,” presented by Sascha Meinrath, Palmer Chair in Telecommunications in the Penn State Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications and director of X-Lab—is now available for viewing on the Eberly College website, and recordings of subsequent lectures will be posted as they are available.
Those unable to attend the lectures in person are invited to view them via live stream, at bit.ly/Ashtekar2025.
College Highlights
Eberly College Undergraduates Win Prestigious Scholarships
Penn State Eberly College of Science students Nate Carey and Kueyoung Kim have been awarded a Marshall Scholarship and a Churchill Scholarship, respectively.
Nate Carey
The Marshall Scholarship is among the most competitive U.K. scholarships for U.S. students and recognizes academic excellence and leadership and ambassadorial potential.
Carey, of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, is enrolled in the Integrated Undergraduate-Graduate Master of Biotechnology program as well as the Entrepreneurship and Innovation and Military Studies minors, is a leader in his Army ROTC corps, and is a Schreyer Scholar. He was a recipient of the 2024–25 Goldwater Scholarship, 2025 Astronaut Scholarship and a finalist for the 2025 Rhodes Scholarship.
Kueyoung Kim
The Churchill Scholarship provides funding to American students for a year of master’s study in science, mathematics and engineering at the University of Cambridge, based at Churchill College.
Kim, of State College, is a chemistry major and Millennium and Schreyer Scholar with undergraduate research experience at Penn State and beyond. He was a 2023 recipient of the Goldwater Scholarship and a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. He will pursue a one-year master of philosophy in physics at the University of Cambridge where he’ll be researching new molecules that have interesting properties for light harvesting and quantum information science.
Read more about Carey's and Kim's accomplishments on the Eberly College website.
Hidden Gems: The Buckhout Greenhouses
Attached to the Buckhout Laboratory in Penn State’s Eberly College of Science, a haven of exotic plants serves as access to fresh air and green space, even through the winter months. The Buckhout Greenhouses provide a way to get up close to flora from around the world, for everyone from students seeking research opportunities to anyone wanting to catch a glimpse of color on an overcast day.
The greenhouses are named after William A. Buckhout, a botanist and professor who taught at the Pennsylvania Agricultural College, which later became Penn State. The facility covers more than 6,200 square feet of the University Park campus.
Portions of the facility, accessible through the Buckhout Lab, are open to the public to explore from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. each weekday, and guided tours are available with a request submitted in advance. Visitors can expect to see a wide variety of plants, no matter the season.
Learn more about these hidden gems on Penn State News.
For those of you on Instagram, check out this beautiful video!
In the News
WATCH: Astronomer Chris Palma Gives Wayfaring in ‘Moana’ Five Stars
Polynesian explorers reached the Hawaiian Islands nearly 1,000 years ago in part by following the stars across thousands of miles of open ocean. How accurately do Disney’s “Moana” movies depict this stellar wayfaring?
In this video, Christopher Palma, teaching professor of astronomy and astrophysics, explains how well Moana follows the Polynesian tradition of using the stars as guides to voyage from one Pacific island to another.
Read Palma’s article in The Conversation to learn more about wayfaring in the “Moana” films.
University Highlights
Santhosh Girirajan and Yingwei Mao on Team Awarded $17.9 Million Grant to Study Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Illuminating key biological pathways that underlie neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, is the goal of a new five-year, $17.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health to a national team of researchers that includes Santhosh Girirajan, T. Ming Chu Professor of Genomics and head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Yingwei Mao, professor of biology.
Chemistry Professor Lauren Zarzar Among Three Faculty to Receive US Presidential Award
Lauren Zarzar, professor of chemistry, is among three Penn State researchers who have been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the White House announced on January 14. The award is the highest honor the United States government bestows on early-career scientists and engineers. The awards are conferred annually following recommendations from federal funding agencies.
Zarzar develops innovative methods to integrate a variety of materials at nano and microscale levels for next generation technologies, such as dynamic materials that sense and adapt to their surroundings.
Upcoming Events
Alumni Receptions at the American Physical Society (March 19) and American Chemical Society (March 24) Meetings
Come join your fellow alumni in Anaheim and San Diego, California!
The Eberly College of Science will be hosting receptions for all Penn State alumni at the 2025 American Physical Society meeting in Anaheim on March 19 and at the 2025 American Chemical Society meeting in San Diego on March 24.
Please consider joining us for food, drinks, and networking!
You can register for the March 19 American Physical Society (APS) reception at bit.ly/APS25AlumniReception and the March 24 American Chemical Society (ACS) reception at bit.ly/ACS25AlumniReception.
March 19: Science Equity and Diversity (SeED) Conference
Please save the date for the college’s inaugural Science Equity and Diversity (SeED) Conference, which will take place on March 19.
Featuring Penn State alumna Shirley Malcom—a scientist and advocate whose pioneering work has helped open doors for women of color in the sciences—as the keynote speaker, the conference will provide engagement opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and postdocs to connect with each other, learn from each other, and recognize the college's efforts in promoting inclusive excellence.
Events will be held in person on the Penn State University Park campus, and the keynote address will also be live streamed.
View the conference agenda and register today at bit.ly/SeEDConference2025.
Show Your Eberly College Spirit with "Science Has My HEART"
You may have already grabbed of one of our popular "Stay for SCIENCE" shirts, and now we're thrilled to introduce a brand new design—one with another message of shared love for science and a Valentine's theme!
Show your spirit and pick one up today from our BrandShop, where $5 of the proceeds from the sale of each item will help contribute to a student scholarship fund.
Once you've got your shirt, send us a photo at sci-comm@psu.edu. We'd love to share in future newsletters, social media, and more!
Special thanks to alumni Steve Shope and Nancy Cooke (at left) and Bob Emery (at right) for showing their spirit and sharing their photos with us!
Thanks also to interim Associate Director of Alumni Relations Kelly Praskovich (center) for modeling our new design! Kelly joined us recently in this interim role, supporting events on and off campus and working on new initiatives to engage and energize alumni and donors. She will be celebrating her 24th anniversary with Penn State on March 1.
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.
