News

Katriona Shea, alumni professor of biology in the Eberly College of Science at Penn State.  IMAGE: PENN STATE

Shea recognized with 2019 Palmer Faculty Mentoring Award

Katriona Shea, alumni professor of biology in the Eberly College of Science, is the recipient of Penn State's 2019 Howard B. Palmer Faculty Mentoring Award. The award honors and recognizes outstanding achievement by a faculty member with at least five years of service who effectively guides junior faculty.

A male orca breaching off the west side of San Juan Island in Washington state. On his left side is a suction cup-attached "Dtag" which records depth, sound, acceleration and 3-dimensional orientation. CREDIT: M. Brad Hanson; Taken under federal permits NMFS #'s 781-1824 and 16163

Ecology Alum Jennifer Tennessen Brings Acoustics to Killer Whale Conservation

Dr. Jennifer Tennessen applies the lessons of her interdisciplinary research at the Huck to her professional work with killer whales in the Pacific Northwest.

A banded hare-wallaby IMAGE: MAMMALS OF AUSTRALIA JOHN GOULD / PUBLIC DOMAIN

Indigenous hunters have positive impacts on food webs in desert Australia

Australia has the highest rate of mammal extinction in the world. Resettlement of indigenous communities resulted in the spread of invasive species, the absence of human-set fires, and a general cascade in the interconnected food web that led to the largest mammalian extinction event ever recorded. In this case, the absence of direct human activity on the landscape may be the cause of the extinctions, according to a Penn State anthropologist.

A new study by Penn State researchers reveals that lizard with ancestors who were frequently exposed to stressful encounters with invasive fire ants have an improved immune response to stress. Photo credit: Gail McCormick, Penn State

Having stressed out ancestors improves immune response to stress

Having ancestors who were frequently exposed to stressors can improve one's own immune response to stressors, according to Penn State researchers who studied fence lizards and their stress response. The results suggest that family history should be considered to predict or understand the health implications of stress.

Gang Ning, director of Penn State’s Microscopy & Cytrometry Facility (left), Todd LaJeunesse, associate professor of biology at Penn State (middle), and Drew Wham, a former graduate student in LaJeunesse’s lab, have been selected to receive the 2017 Tyge Christiansen Prize by the International Phycological Society

Huck Researchers Awarded Tyge Christensen Prize

Gang Ning, director of Penn State’s Microscopy & Cytrometry Facility, Todd LaJeunesse, associate professor of biology at Penn State, and Drew Wham, a former graduate student in LaJeunesse’s lab, have been selected to receive the 2017 Tyge Christensen Prize by the International Phycological Society

Lizards increasingly rely on camouflage to avoid predators as you move southward across their range, but the presence of invasive fire ants reverses this pattern. IMAGE: LANGKILDE LAB, PENN STATE

Lizards quickly adapt to threat from invasive fire ants

Some lizards in the eastern U.S. have adapted to invasive fire ants — which can bite, sting and kill lizards — reversing geographical trends in behavioral and physical traits used to avoid predators.

Katriona Shea Named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Katriona Shea Named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Katriona Shea, professor of biology and Alumni Professor in the Biological Sciences has been named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Plant biology symposium slated for June at University Park

Penn State will host world-renowned scientists as part of the 21st Penn State Plant Biology Symposium: Wild and Tamed Phytobiomes, set for June 19-22 in the Huck Life Sciences Building on the University Park campus.

Six Huck Institutes IGDP students receive awards in spring 2017

Graduate student excellence celebrated at annual awards luncheon

Penn State Executive Vice President and Provost Nicholas P. Jones presented 10 awards to more than 30 graduate students — including Huck Institutes IGDP students Yurika Matsui (MCIBS), Weile Chen (Ecology), Bastian Minkenberg (Plant Biology), and William Turbitt (Integrative and Biomedical Physiology) — in recognition of outstanding achievement during the annual Graduate Student Awards Luncheon held on April 18 at the Nittany Lion Inn.