News For October 2004
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Friday October 29, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- After a decade of experimentation into creating fuel nuggets out of unrecycled waste plastics and burning them without creating toxic emissions, a team of researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences recently received an $87,395 grant from the state Department of Agriculture to ramp-up their research. "Our mission is to alleviate the burgeoning problem of waste plastics in our environment, especially on the farm," says James Garthe, instructor in agricultural engineering, cooperative extension specialist and spokesman for the team. "We want to get energy from waste products, and plastics have energy we can recover. Properly done, plastic can supplement coal in coal-fired boilers. Why should we continue to throw energy into landfills?" What makes this team's approach to making nuggets from waste plastic novel is the low-energy process they have developed that results in what Garthe has dubbed "Plastofuel" -- a sort of rigid, waste plastic "sausage" about an inch-and-a-half in diameter. Only the outside skin is melted and fused to hold the unmelted, tightly compressed, sometimes dirty waste plastics inside.
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Thursday October 28, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Counties that gained a Wal-Mart store experienced smaller reductions in family poverty rates during the economically strong 1990s than did counties not gaining a Wal-Mart store, according to a new study by a rural economist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
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Thursday October 28, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Bryant Roush, son of James and Cindy Roush of Millerstown, was named the first recipient of the Larry and Lisa Campbell Scholarship by Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences. A 2004 graduate of Greenwood High School, he is a freshman majoring in turfgrass science.
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Tuesday October 26, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Oct. 29 groundbreaking for the new, $27.5 million Forest Resources Building is a big step towards ensuring that Penn State's School of Forest Resources can continue to recruit and retain the highest-caliber faculty and students, offer a top-quality, contemporary education and provide dynamic research and specialized technology transfer for forest-based and allied resource interests throughout Pennsylvania and adjoining regions, say Penn State officials. The 2 p.m. ceremony will be presided over by Robert Steele, dean of the College of Agricultural Sciences. Penn State President Graham Spanier, Michael Lester, assistant state forester in the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, and Charles Strauss, director of the School of Forest Resources, will offer remarks.
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Thursday October 21, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences will hold an open house, private treaty bull sale Oct. 25-29, and the Block and Bridle Club will hold its premier prospect steer show and sale Oct. 30, both at the University Park Campus. The private treaty bull sale is an "off-year sale" for the college, according to John Comerford, associate professor of dairy and animal science and coordinator of the beef program. "This is an opportunity for beef producers to select bulls for their herds," he says. "We decided to have a private treaty sale because we don't have sufficient numbers of animals for a regular production sale. We had a production sale, which was part of the beef marketing class, last year."
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Tuesday October 19, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- It may sound funny, but a jack-o-lantern pumpkin without a stem is not much good at Halloween, and a fungus caused by the wettest of all summers has resulted in thousands of stemless pumpkins on the market in Pennsylvania this month, according to an expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
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Monday October 18, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Just when you thought you had mastered the details of handling your checking account, you may have to alter your check-writing habits. New federal legislation about to go into effect will change the ways that banks and credit unions handle personal checks, and a consumer-affairs specialist in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences says consumers should be aware of the key details.
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Friday October 15, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's College Of Agricultural Sciences Will Host The 28th Annual National Youth Horse Leaders Symposium, Feb. 18-20, 2005.
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Friday October 15, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State's 2004 Pasteurizer Operators Workshop, offered by the College of Agricultural Sciences' department of food science in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, will be held Nov. 8-10 at the Atherton Hotel in State College.
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Wednesday October 13, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The fifth-wettest summer in more than 100 years followed by the remnants of four hurricanes dumping historic amounts of rain on Pennsylvania this fall likely will result in the state's autumn foliage display being less spectacular than usual, according to forest experts in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.
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Wednesday October 13, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Pennsylvania State Conservation Commission (SCC) has proposed major revisions to Pennsylvania Nutrient Management Act regulations that will affect concentrated animal operations, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and agricultural operations voluntarily participating in the state's nutrient management program.
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Tuesday October 05, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- After about three decades of joint ruffed grouse research on a Centre County game land, wildlife scientists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences and the Pennsylvania Game Commission agree on one thing: They have learned a lot about Pennsylvania's state bird, but there is still much they don't know. Such as what, exactly, causes the dramatic and well-documented population cycles of the popular game bird -- when they go from plentiful to rare in the span of a decade or so, and then their numbers bounce back.
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Monday October 04, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Shirley Bixby, former Penn State Cooperative Extension regional director, has been appointed as the organization's coordinator for special program initiatives, effective immediately.
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Monday October 04, 2004More »
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Ann Dodd, senior consultant with Penn State's Office of Planning and Institutional Assessment, has been named assistant dean for strategic initiatives in the College of Agricultural Sciences, effective Oct. 1.