Betul Akkopru-Akgun, assistant research professor in Penn State's Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Materials Research Institute, has received an Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program award to investigate how electricity and heat move through materials used in extreme environments.
Twelve research projects have been selected for the 2026 Penn State Commercialization GAP Fund. Awarded projects receive $75,000 in funding and other support to develop promising proof-of-concept research into commercial ready technology.
Chao-Yang Wang, William E. Diefenderfer Chair in Mechanical Engineering and professor of mechanical engineering, of chemical engineering and of materials science and engineering at Penn State, has received a three-year award from the Toyota Research Institute (TRI) through the institute’s University Research Program (URP). The award will support Wang’s research on redesigning liquid electrolytes to prevent lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries from catching fire.
Yinming Shao, assistant professor of physics at Penn State, has been honored with the Downsbrough Early Career Professorship in Physics in recognition of his research contributions, teaching and service to the Department of Physics and the Eberly College of Science. This professorship was established in 2004 by George A. Downsbrough, a physicist whose extensive volunteer work at Penn State included the Armsby Committee, the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee and the Eberly College of Science's Grand Destiny Campaign Committee. Downsbrough was named an honorary alumnus of Penn State in 2003.
The Materials Characterization Lab (MCL), part of the Materials Research Institute (MRI) at Penn State, is partnering with two Pennsylvania companies to leverage the University’s shared research infrastructure for industrial innovation with practical applications and workforce training. The new projects are in collaboration with AGC Chemicals Americas and Avery Dennison, and they are funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s Manufacturing PA Innovation Program.
Two Penn State professors were named to the 2025 class of fellows by the National Academy of Inventors (NAI): Swaroop Ghosh, professor of electrical engineering and computer science (EECS), and Dipanjan Pan, the Dorothy Foehr Huck & J. Lloyd Chair Professor in Nanomedicine. Only a relatively small group of academic inventors receive this honor, which is considered the highest professional distinction, each year. They will be officially inducted at the 15th Annual NAI Conference on June 4 in Los Angeles.
Yang Yang, assistant professor of engineering science and mechanics in the Penn State College of Engineering, has been selected as a recipient of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career Research Program Award for 2025.
Burcu Ozden, assistant professor of engineering and physics at Penn State Abington, received a three-year, $800,000 research grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop advanced two-dimensional materials for use in quantum technologies. The project, set to begin in 2026, will be conducted in collaboration with faculty, undergraduates and graduate students at Abington and University Park.
Penn State has launched a new center dedicated to quantum science and germinating cross-disciplinary collaboration. The Center for Theory of Emergent Quantum Matter (C-TEQ) aims to unite researchers across colleges, institutes and departments, catalyze transformative discoveries and enhance the University’s global visibility in quantum science, according to Jainendra K. Jain, Evan Pugh University Professor, Erwin W. Müller Professor of Physics and Eberly Chair in Physics.
Six materials researchers at Penn State have received the 2025 Rustum and Della Roy Innovation in Materials Research Award, recognizing a wide range of research with societal impact. The award is presented by the Materials Research Institute (MRI) for recent interdisciplinary materials research at Penn State that yields innovative and unexpected results.