Rens Verburg, geochemist and senior vice president at WSP USA, spoke in the EarthTalks series on Nov. 3. The series is hosted by the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute. Verburg, a Penn State geosciences alum and member of the alumni advisory board, shared insights from his work in engineering and professional services.
The Penn State team, named Nittany Explorers, was composed of six graduate students from the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences: Kawthar Babatunde, Khalil Buckmire, Ianna Gomez, Mingxi Hu, Joseph Miller and Jackson Saftner.
Speaker series featured Jesse Reimink, associate professor in the Department of Geosciences, November 10th.
Some of the key samples in the study came from the La Brea Tar Pits in Southern California, where researchers analyzed ancient juniper wood preserved in tar. The team found clear signs of elevated photorespiration in the samples, meaning that the trees were releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere nearly as fast they removed it. This archival photo from the original excavations at La Brea Tar Pits shows a tree used in the study.
Researchers surveyed 18 abandoned wells, like this one, and found that they not only leak natural gases that contaminate the atmosphere but also release methane into the adjoining water table. Some of the sites also exhibited high concentrations of dissolved metals in nearby groundwater.
Sarah Ivory in Dhofar’s Nejd Desert, a vast stony plateau in southern Oman, looking for caves that house hyrax middens to use for fossil pollen analysis to understand how pastoral groups managed desert landscapes in the past.
Penn State will soon celebrate its eleventh GivingTuesday, and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences will be raising money to support the Millennium Scholars Program.
A team of academic and enterprise researchers has developed a synthesis process to produce a “rust-resistant” coating with additional properties ideal for creating faster, more durable electronics.
“Our findings suggest the use of shallow injection as a disposal mechanism for treated wastewater should be reevaluated at facilities with large discharge capacities,” said Miquela Ingalls, assistant professor of geosciences at Penn State
Olivia DiPrinzio, a fifth-year student majoring in energy engineering and earth science and policy, spoke to the Board of Trustees about the impact honors programming has had in shaping their Penn State education.
