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Moving from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources like wind and solar will require better ways to store energy for use when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing. A new study by researchers at Penn State found that taking advantage of natural geothermal heat in depleted oil and gas wells can improve the efficiency of one proposed energy storage solution: compressed-air energy storage (CAES).

Penn State ranked in 46 out of 52 subjects in the 2025 World University Rankings by Subject, released March 12 by London-based QS, one of the major three international organizations that annually rank academic institutions. The two of the 15 subject areas in which Penn State ranked in the top 50 worldwide are within the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering.

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.

Franklin M. Orr, Jr., Keleen and Carlton Beal Professor Emeritus in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University, will give the 2025 G. Albert Shoemaker Lecture in Energy and Mineral Engineering at Penn State. His talk, “Transforming Global Energy Systems to Mitigate Climate Change,” will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Friday, April 11, in 22 Deike Building at Penn State University Park and online via Zoom. A reception will precede the lecture at 3:00 p.m. in the Earth and Mineral Sciences Museum & Art Gallery. The event is free and open to the public.

Elham Rahimi, a graduate student in the John and Willie Leone Family Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering, will receive the Raja V. and Geetha V. Ramani Graduate Students Award from the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) at the society’s gala dinner during their annual conference, MINEXCHANGE, in Denver, Colorado on Sunday. February 23. 

Russell Johns is one of three faculty from Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Three Penn State energy and mineral engineering doctoral students traveled 8,176 miles from University Park to South Africa to attend the Mintek@90 Conference last fall. Hosted by Mintek, one of South Africa's leading mineral research organizations, the group presented research and introduced Penn State as a strategic research partner to South African academic and industrial leaders.

With an electric current and hydrogen peroxide, researchers at Penn State have developed a more efficient way to extract lithium, a key component in the batteries used in electric vehicles and portable electric devices, directly from ore found in the common mineral spodumene. The process could facilitate a 35.6% reduction in cost and a 75.3% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to traditional, less sustainable extraction methods, according to the team, led by Feifei Shi, assistant professor of energy engineering at Penn State. 

Penn State’s College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and Shandong University of Science and Technology in China have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to pursue collaborative research, teaching and educational opportunities. The goal of the MOU is to strengthen and disseminate research outcomes in environmental and safety sciences and mining engineering.

Maruf Morshed, assistant teaching professor in energy business and finance at Penn State, will give the talk, "Are Biofuels More Environmentally Friendly? The GHG Emissions Impacts of Increased Biofuel Production,” at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 29, in 157 Hosler Building on the University Park campus. His talk is part of the spring Initiative for Energy and Environmental Economics and Policy (EEEPI) seminar series.