1 Offi ce of the Senior Vice President for Research Annual Report of Research Activity FISCAL YEAR 2009 2 Welcome ENN STATE ENTERS THE SECOND DECADE of the twenty-first century standing on a platform of re- markable growth and accomplishment. Since 2000, the University’s research expenditures have grown P74 percent, with the total for this past year reaching $765 mil- lion. In aggregate, these numbers are reflective of a faculty that is competitive at the highest levels, and of an elite cadre of students and postdocs who join these talented professors in conducting exceptional research and scholarship. The Penn State intellectual climate embraces interdisci- plinarity, an approach that has fostered the development of many creative initiatives. In this report you will read about a new imaging facility designed to explore cognition and be- havior, a result of collaboration among life and social scien- tists and engineers. You will also learn of a partnership be- tween the College of Medicine and faculty in the Department of Physics who are using network science to tackle the molec- EDITOR’S NOTE: In January ular biology of cancer. 2010, Eva J. Pell left Penn State Among the University’s major research trajectories is a after thirty-seven years of service multipronged effort in energy-related science. Articles follow to take the position of Undersec- that describe a major Department of Energy–funded Energy retary of Science at the Smithso- nian Institution. Her successor as Frontier Research Center in cellulosic biofuels and the trans- Vice President for Research and lation of a long-term initiative to develop microbial fuel cells Dean of the Graduate School is into practice in a pilot plant in the Napa Valley. Henry C. Foley. Penn State is a top-tier research university as measured by our research expenditures, but what truly distinguishes the University is the heterogeneity of its strengths. It is the breadth of quality research and scholarship—in sciences, so- cial sciences, and the arts—and the way we bring these di- vergent fields together that create the character of this great institution. Eva J. Pell, Senior Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School CONTENTS Cover: Root system of a maize plant forty days after germination, showing the metabolic cost of root main- Statistical Snapshot 3 tenance (in units of g carbon per day, with warmer col- Research Highlights 6 ors representing greater cost) as visualized by the com- puter simulation model SimRoot. Research of Johannes Contacts back cover Postma, Department of Horticulture, Penn State. For more on root biology, see page 11. CREDIT: JONATHAN LYNCH/JOHANNES POSTMA 3 Statistical Snapshot Total Research Expenditures, Industry-Sponsored Research, 1990–2009 2000–2009 Federal Non-federal millions of dollars millions of dollars ’00 ’ 90 137 126 263 70.6 ’01 ’ 91 147 128 275 73.3 ’0 ’ 9 2 72.6 2 154 134 288 ’ 0 03 ’ 93 75.9 163 130 293 ’0 ’ 4 9 82.3 4 174 143 317 ’0 5 ’ 95 83.7 190 154 344 ’0 6 ’ 9 91.8 6 192 156 348 ’07 ’ 98.2 9 7 186 167 353 ’08 ’ 104.8 9 8 188 186 374 ’09 ’ 103.6 99 201 192 393 ’ 00 228 212 440 ’ 01 248 224 472 ’ 0 2 284 223 507 ’ 03 307 238 545 ’ 0 4 350 257 607 ’0 0 5 365 273 638 ’ 0 6 372 285 657 ’ 07 375 290 665 ’ 0 8 411 306 717 ’ 09 446 319 765 Penn State’s research expendi- Funding from federal agencies Despite a small reduction in tures in fi scal 2009 reached accounts for $445 million, and industry-sponsored research a record $765 million, a 6.7 per- has grown 95 percent since fi s- over the last year attributable cent increase over the previous cal 2000. Federal dollars came to the economic downturn, year and a 74 percent increase from a wide variety of agencies, Penn State continues to rank since fi scal 2000. including the Department of third nationally in this impor- Defense, Department of Health tant category. and Human Services, and Na- tional Science Foundation. 4 Expenditures from Federal Agencies Department of Defense . $178,939,000 Department of Health and Human Services . 105,508,000 National Science Foundation . 52,604,000 USDA . 19,419,000 NASA . 18,220,000 DOE . 16,586,000 Education . 10,562,000 Other . 43,423,000 Transportation . 7,140,000 Interior . 1,706,000 Commerce . .1,254,000 EPA . 796,000 Other Federal . $32,527,000 Total . $445,261,000 Expenditures by Performing Unit Defense Related Research Units . $186,594,000 Applied Research Lab . 154,931,000 Electro-Optics Center . 31,663,000 Engineering . 104,929,000 Agricultural Sciences . 96,828,000 Eberly College of Science . 91,660,000 Medicine . 91,552,000 Earth and Mineral Sciences . 73,409,000 Health and Human Development . 40,273,000 Liberal Arts . 25,250,000 Education . 22,431,000 Information Sciences and Technology . 10,323,000 Other . 14,457,000 Altoona College . 801,000 Behrend College . 4,362,000 Berks College . 202,000 Capital College . 4,056,000 Great Valley . .187,000 Penn College . 1,622,000 Other Commonwealth Campuses . 3,227,000 Other Schools and Colleges . 7,331,000 Arts and Architecture . 900,000 Communications . 155,000 Dickinson School of Law . 470,000 School of Nursing . 674,000 Smeal College of Business . 5,132,000 Total . $765,037,000 5 Sources of Research Funding Federal . $445,261,000 University . 130,710,000 Industry and other . 105,301,000 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania . 83,765,000 Total . $765,037,000 The Graduate School Applications, ten-year history, 2000–2009 Total Enrollment, 2009 Resident Instruction (Fall only) ’00 13,101 World Campus (Calendar year) ’01 13,439 ’02 15,202 ’06 9,793 1,967 11,760 ’03 16,482 ’07 9,707 2,,429 12,136 ’04 13,296 ’08 9,206 3,035 12,241 ’05 13,609 ’09 9,088 3,426 12,514 ’06 15,246 ’07 15,915 ’08 15,960 ’09 17, 071 Degrees Conferred, ten-year history, 2000–2009 International Students, ten-year history, 2000–2009 Masters degrees Doctoral degrees Returning Students New Students ’99–’00 2,013 542 2,555 ’00 1,609 630 2,239 ’00–’01 1,962 541 2,503 ’01 1,679 698 2,377 ’01–’02 2,123 541 2,664 ’02 1,884 599 2,483 ’02–’03 2,101 550 2,651 ’03 1,984 555 2,539 ’03–’04 2,293 580 2,873 ’04 1,981 513 2,494 ’04–’05 2,145 606 2,751 ’05 1,889 498 2,387 ’05–’06 2,089 674 2,763 ’06 1,,856 577 2,433 ’06–’07 2,093 685 2,778 ’07 1,862 543 2,405 ’07–’08 2,197 658 2,855 ’08 1,797 611 2,408 ’08–’09 2,278 679 2,957 ’09 1,883 520 2,403 6 Secrets of Cellulose Stimulus funding from the American Recovery The main limitation in existing biomass-to-biofuel and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) is meant production is the high cost of dissolving the tough to advance scientifi c research that will make a fi brous plant material, such as corn stover, switch- meaningful difference in the nation’s future, grass, and fast-growing trees. Currently, the best particularly in the area of renewable energy. treatment is to soak the fi bers in enzymes, adding 30 A perfect example is the Department of Energy’s to 50 cents per gallon to the cost of the ethanol fuel award of $21 million over fi ve years to Penn State to produced. fund the new Center for Lignocellulose Structure “Even after decades of research, cellulose synthe- and Formation. sis is not very well understood,” Catchmark notes. One of forty-six Energy Frontier Research Centers “We don’t know how the cells assemble this chemical (EFRC) established nationwide, Penn State’s center barrier to weather, insects, and other organisms. The (which will collaborate with North Carolina State cell wall is very diffi cult to degrade.” University and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and A decade ago, the Cosgrove lab discovered a new State University) is part of a major effort to acceler- group of proteins, dubbed “expansins” for their role ate the scientifi c breakthroughs required to create a in allowing plant cell walls to expand as the plant new twenty-fi rst-century energy economy. grows. These “wall-loosening” proteins show prom- Says Daniel J. Cosgrove, professor of biology ise in speeding the breakdown of cellulose material and the center’s director, the Penn State center will into sugars. The expansins strip off surface polymers use cutting-edge approaches and an interdisciplinary so the cellulose layers can be pulled apart to allow team—including physicists, material scientists, the enzymes to act on all of the layers of material at computational modelers, and engineers—to study once, explains Cosgrove. The hope? That expansins the molecular biology of cellulose. will help transform the industrial process for making Cellulose, says Cosgrove, is vital to future fuels. cellulosic biofuels into a cost-competitive, cleaner, re- “The biggest solar collectors on Earth are plants that newable energy source. use sunlight to convert atmospheric carbon dioxide “This is the most abundant biomass on the plan- into complex structural materials like cellulose and et,” says Cosgrove. “This is the material in which lignin,” he explains. “These make up wood, paper, most of the organic carbon on Earth is found and cotton, and many other everyday materials; globally, that the DOE wants to convert back into simple sug- they represent a huge untapped reserve of biorenew- ars and then into ethanol.” able energy.