While the word “sustainability” is often associated with recycling, clean water initiatives, and the protection of natural resources, the word refers to more than just climate action. At Penn State Wilkes-Barre, students, staff, and faculty are furthering sustain-ability efforts for the campus, the community, and the world.
At Penn State Wilkes-Barre, each individual’s interests and abilities are nurtured to help the student achieve their full potential. For some students, that means adding more challenges to their academics by joining the honors program at the campus. The program focuses on sustainability and what that means to the campus and the broader world.
Penn State Wilkes-Barre recently hosted a regional sustainability meeting for Penn State’s Commonwealth Campuses, which brought participants from throughout northeastern Pennsylvania together to share sustainability goals, best practices, ideas and successes.
Penn State Wilkes-Barre students studying food writing and culture had the opportunity to visit The Lands at Hillside Farms as part of a class this semester, learning more about its operations and how it practices sustainability through its Sustainability and Animal Welfare Certification Tour.
Penn State Wilkes-Barre faculty member Luciana Caporaletti traveled to Peru in May to study plants used for medicinal purposes by indigenous people. Her research team visited a remote area of the Amazon rainforest in the northeastern part of the country, living with members of the Urarina tribe as they learned about the plants and tribal culture.
Sustainability is a top goal in Penn State Wilkes-Barre’s strategic plan, and the campus Sustainability Council is helping share knowledge and plan activities to meet that goal.
Penn State Wilkes-Barre is taking steps toward a more sustainable future by introducing a Sustainability Council. The Penn State Wilkes-Barre Sustainability Council’s mission is to create a campus community that prioritizes sustainability.
It might be summer, but campus is still “abuzz” with activity – this time of the flying kind. After a swarm of bees was discovered at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, the cluster was safely relocated a few miles away.
Junior and senior electrical engineering technology students at Penn State Wilkes-Barre recently spent time in their EET 497: Special Topics course studying the principles of renewable energy conversion and its sustainability. Their studies include turbo-machinery, hydro power, wind power, solar power, fuel cells, biomass, nuclear power, and geothermal energy resources.
Taking a hands-on approach to learning about solar energy, students examined solar panels, how they work, and how they can adjust a panel's position for optimum energy production.
