Penn State hosts International Geobiology Course
Penn State hosted the International Geobiology Course (IGC) this summer, which ran from July 16 to July 21.
Now in its twentieth year, IGC is an immersive, multidisciplinary summer course that explores the co-evolution of the Earth and it’s biosphere, with an emphasis on how microbial processes affect the environment and leave imprints in the rock record.
Penn State received an award from the Agouron and Simons Foundations to fund IGC for the next five years. The course had previously been run by University of Southern California and more recently by Caltech.
The Penn State course featured immersive training in geobiology based on field experiences in central Italy and at Green Lake, New York. Students were instructed by leading scholars, and gained hands-on experience using world-class geochemistry, biology, and materials research facilities on the Penn State University Park campus.
Students explored cave-forming microbial ecosystems, biosignatures in modern and ancient thermal springs, anaerobic phototrophy, how biology shapes carbonate sedimentation and marine platforms, and biogeochemical responses to catastrophic impacts and climate upheavals. Student gained experience with state-of-the-art metagenomic methods, isotopic analyses, lipid and pigment biomarkers, imaging spectroscopy, microscopy, field methods, and computational and data analytical methods.
The course also included a mini symposium, Life on the Edge, that featured six speakers from U.S. universities and NASA.
The Penn State IGC is directed by Kate Freeman, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, and Jennifer Macalady, professor of geosciences. Applications for the 2024 IGC are due by February 10, 2024. See: https://sites.google.com/psu.edu/igc-psu
CYGAN FAMILY UNDERGRADUATE GEOCHEMISTRY TEACHING LABORATORY
The newly renovated lab was made possible by a generous gift from Randall T. Cygan (M.S. ‘80 and Ph.D. ‘83 in geochemistry and mineralogy) and Donna Cygan. Faculty and staff who will be using the lab: (front row (L to R) Laura Liermann, Kim Lau and Isabel Fendley; back row (L to R) Matt Fantle and Steve Swavely.
NEW MUSEUM DIRECTOR PULLS FROM THE PAST, READIES COLLECTIONS FOR FUTURE
by David Kubarek