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Christelle Wauthier - promoted to professor
Miquela Ingalls - promoted to associate professor
Kimberly Lau - promoted to associate professor

Doctoral student Caleb Norville of Penn State and Meredith Parish of George Mason University return from collecting a core sample in a lake in Uganda's Rwenzori Mountains.

Faculty Mentoring Award - Elizabeth Hajek, professor of geosciences
Gladys Snyder Junior Faculty Grants - Benjamin Cardenas, assistant professor of geosciences
George H. Deike, Jr. Research Grant - Tieyuan Zhu, associate professor of geosciences
Dean Edward Steidle Memorial Scholar Award - Lizzie Johnson, undergraduate student in geosciences
Earth and Mineral Sciences Academy for Global Experience - Lizzie Johnson, Anna Penird, Ryan Zaff - undergraduate students in geosciences

Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences mourn the loss of John A. Dutton, who died on Feb. 13, at the age of 89.

Lee Kump, the John Leone Dean of the Penn State College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, has announced that he will step down from his role as dean at the end of June 2026. Kump has served as dean for nine years and is celebrating 40 years of service to the college and Penn State in 2026. Kump will remain on the faculty of the College of EMS as professor of geosciences.

When Eva SinhaRoy arrived at University Park a couple years ago, she was a little overwhelmed at the possibilities. The science-minded student knew she wanted to focus on research, but she also wanted to build skills in other areas such as leadership.

Penn State’s Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) has announced the winners of its 2026 Teach-a-thon. Liz Hajek, professor of geosciences, and Anastasia Piliouras, assistant professor of geosciences, received honorable mention.

EMS recognized exceptional staff at its annual Dean’s Staff Appreciation Luncheon held in December 2025 at the Nittany Lion Inn. The awards program consists of three annual awards, the Future Star Award, Circle of Excellence, and the EMS Ambassador. The Charles Hosler Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Staff Award was also recognized.

Allison Baczynski, assistant research professor of geosciences at Penn State, (left) led the study alongside Ophélie McIntosh, postdoctoral researcher in Penn State’s Department of Geosciences. They used specialized equipment to study the sample and detect glycine, the simplest amino acid, a tiny two‑carbon molecule that serves as one of life’s basic building blocks 

New research has implications for understanding ongoing extinctions, revealing that new species emerged within several thousand years of the mass extinction.