Our graduate students are integral to the research we conduct, and they also are dedicated to making a difference in communities. Read news of interest to or featuring our graduate students below.
Internship Spotlight: Osaro Egharevba
Osaro Egharevba, a graduate student in petroleum and natural gas engineering, interned at DTE Energy this summer to develop a CO₂ injection nodal analysis software tool for carbon capture and storage (CCS). His project could support safer, more efficient storage by improving estimates of injection capacity, operating pressures, and well design requirements
Student gaining technical skills for managing the environmental side of mining
Kaleah Moran, who earned an undergraduate degree in environmental systems engineering, has been spending the summer working at Rio Tinto’s Kennecott Copper Mine in Utah, learning how industries mitigate the byproduct selenium, which poses risks to aquatic ecosystems.
Fox Graduate School awards 36 graduate students Fox scholarships
Thirty-six Penn State graduate students have received scholarships of up to $10,000 from the J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Endowment, established by Jeff and Ann Marie Fox’s $20 million naming gift to Penn State’s J. Jeffrey and Ann Marie Fox Graduate School.
Plastic bottles could find new life in batteries as graphite
Penn State researchers have successfully converted waste polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, into highly ordered synthetic graphite, a crystalline form of carbon, which has the potential to one day help power an electric vehicle, smartphone, or renewable energy storage system with recycled water bottles.
Energy and mineral engineering doctoral student named international fellow
Qian Zhang, a doctoral student in Penn State’s John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, has been awarded the Nico van Wingen Memorial Graduate Fellowship in petroleum engineering by the Society of Petroleum Engineers Foundation.
Internship Spotlight: Levent Taylan Ozgur Yildirim
Levent Taylan Ozgur Yildirim, Ph.D. candidate in energy and mineral engineering, spent his summer in New Mexico at the Los Alamos National Lab researching pipeline optimization for carbon transportation.
Energy and mineral engineering graduate student awarded SME fellowship grant
Chandima Sudantha Subasinghe, a doctoral degree candidate in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, received the SME Ph.D. Fellowship grant from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration. With his win, Penn State students have won the annual fellowship award four times in the past six years, and Subasinghe said he was happy to continue the winning tradition.
Forty-two graduate students recognized with University awards
Chandima Hevapathiranage and Younes Shekarian are among forty-two graduate students recognized with university awards.
Online energy and sustainability policy degree programs changed this grad’s life
In 2012, Kelli Volkomer was a stay-at-home mom who had been raising her two children for nearly a decade. Today, Volkomer is a two-time Penn State graduate working in the energy industry and she said she’s still just as passionate about creating a better place for her children.
Penn State student awarded Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scholarship
Joy Adul, a graduate student in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State, was one of 20 students selected to receive a scholarship from the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Scholarship Programme. The IPCC is the leading international body for assessing climate change.