Good morning, State College.

Arts Fest 2026 wrapped today in downtown State College after five days of art displays, celebrating its 60th anniversary (which drew thousands of visitors).

The festival featured live music and community engagement, reconnecting locals with the university tradition.

Penn State is set to receive over $4 million in added state education support from Pennsylvania’s 2026-27 budget passed last Sunday, which boosts its total funding to over $246.1 million by tying part of its allocation to student outcomes (based on enrollment and graduation rates).

Soundar Kumara, the Allen E. and Allen M.

Pearce professor of Industrial Engineering at Penn State, has been named to the Society of Manufacturing Engineering College of Fellows for his decades of leadership in AI, machine learning and manufacturing; he is one of eight professionals inducted in 2026.

A Penn State fraternity started an online fundraiser after a fire on July 9 damaged its Alpha Zeta house (360 N.

Burrowes Rd.) on campus. The campaign raised $5,130 of a $9,000 goal to help members secure new living and study spaces for the school year.

Engineers at Penn State found that arranging metal atoms differently can create corrosion highways in molten salt reactors; computer models on ROAR (supercomputer) showed that long-range atomic ordering speeds metal deterioration.

The team plans to use these insights to build better predictive models for reactor safety.

Penn State’s research town hall will address evolving research security and federal requirements on July 23 at 1:00 p.m. in the 603 Eric J.

Barron Innovation Hub — researchers can join in person or via a Microsoft Teams livestream.

The Centre County Library and Historical Museum received a $750,000 grant from The Hamer Foundation to expand its Centre Hall branch.

The project will double the facility’s size to over 5,000 sqft and add a meeting space, study areas, and upgraded amenities for community events.

Longtime Penn State volunteer Charlene Friedman has donated a landmark gift to expand the renamed Friedman PEACE Program in State College today; her contribution will boost local research and outreach efforts through mindfulness+compassion practices.

Pennsylvania’s 2026-27 budget passed Sunday gives a historic $12 million boost to rape crisis centers, nearly doubling funding to $24.2 million.

Centre Safe in State College will use the funds to expand crisis hotline access and support services for survivors.

PennDOT began a $13.4 million road preservation project on I-80 today between mile marker 164 and 171.

Rolling lane closures plus concrete repair, paving and sign installations will continue through Nov. with more work planned in 2027.

A six-month study led by Penn State researchers shows that eating one avocado daily may lower LDL particle levels by about 4% in adults with obesity — a modest change that could help reduce heart disease risk.

The study did not note any changes in weight.

Engineers at Penn State developed paint-on tattoos that serve as wearable sensors using a conductive ink to record heart, muscle, and brain signals with improved accuracy.

Their work was detailed in a paper published July 13 and may lead to advanced healthcare applications (including smart plant research).

Two incoming Penn State baseball recruits—high school outfielder Alex Weingartner selected 166th by the Chicago White Sox and JUCO catcher Dalton Harper picked 472nd by the Atlanta Braves—now face a choice between college and pro baseball.

For the 2026 season, Penn State is strengthening its wide receiver room by hiring new coach Noah Pauley and adding transfers from Iowa State, with transfers Brett Eskildsen (a speedy route-runner) and Chase Sowell joining sophomore Koby Howard to boost production on campus.

This week on The 107k Podcast, co-hosts Lexie Linderman, Andrew Deal and Noah Aberegg answer questions about Penn State football as kickoff is just over 50 days away.

They discussed topics like Aiden Gibson’s flip to Rutgers — insights that inform local fans.