Millennium Café

Gold can be assembled into ultra‑small clusters with precisely defined atomic structures, creating what are known as “superatoms”—nanoscale building blocks that behave like individual atoms but with tunable properties. These gold nanoclusters exhibit unusual electronic behavior and strong interactions between electrons and their spins due to gold’s intrinsic properties. As a result, they show exceptionally high levels of spin polarization while remaining stable in liquid solutions, a rare combination. This talk will highlight recent progress in designing and understanding these spin‑active nanomaterials and discuss the key challenges that must be addressed to use them in future quantum information technologies.

Ken Knappenberger | Chemistry

Monitoring wound healing today often relies on delayed lab tests or visual inspection, making it difficult to track changes in real time. This talk introduces a compact sensing chip that measures multiple complementary chemical signals from wounds using a flexible, low-cost material and a scalable manufacturing approach. I will share how this work can evolve into wearable and minimally invasive systems, and welcome cross-disciplinary ideas.

Amir Asgharian | Electrical Engineering | Ebrahimi Lab

Nanoplastics in soils are continuously exposed to chemically and biologically complex soil solutions that can modify their surface properties and influence their environmental fate. My work examines how interactions with dissolved organic matter, microbial metabolites, minerals, and natural colloids drive eco‑corona formation, aggregation, and changes in colloidal stability. Together, these processes play a central role in controlling the environmental behavior and fate of nanoplastics in terrestrial systems.

Yingxue Yu | Ecosystem Science & Management

When people hear “ceramics,” most probably think of coffee mugs, plates, or something fragile. But what if ceramics could help produce clean fuels and power the energy systems of the future?
In this talk, I’ll introduce a new generation of functional ceramics, Protonic Ceramic Cells. By operating at a lower temperature, these materials enable efficient energy conversion and storage, opening the door to solutions that are more practical, scalable, and well‑suited for real‑world deployment.

Fan Liu | Energy and Mineral Engineering

Materials made from fungal mycelium, or the root-like structure of fungi, have become popular across industries for their affordability. However, mycelium material properties are not yet controllable. In this talk, I will discuss broad applications of fungal mycelium materials and our research efforts to understand why different fungal species exhibit different material properties. Outcomes of our work will advance rational design of mycelium materials to support economic growth in biomanufacturing.

Josie Krepps  | Food Science | Wee Lab

The Spirit of Chocolate Project is a collaboration that blends art, history, and science to tell the 5,000-year story of cacao, its origins with Indigenous communities of the Amazon, its cultural meaning, and its connection to today’s farmers. Drawing on Penn State’s long legacy in cacao and chocolate research, the multimedia project uses visual art, a replica of an ancient cacao vessel, interviews, and even a living cacao tree to invite viewers into the world behind chocolate. We will share how this creative work intersects with our cacao research at Penn State and highlight opportunities for new interdisciplinary collaborations across campus. Chocolate from cacao origins will be available to taste. 

Mark Guiltinan | Plant Science
Siela Maximova | Plant Science