Penn State Gets $2.5 Million Grant for Marcellus Research and Education

Susan Phillips

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Susan Phillips tells stories about the consequences of political decisions on people's every day lives. She has worked as a reporter for WHYY since 2004. Susan's coverage of the 2008 Presidential election resulted in a story on the front page of the New York Times. In 2010 she traveled to Haiti to cover the earthquake. That same year she produced an award-winning series on Pennsylvania's natural gas rush called "The Shale Game." She received a 2013 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Journalism Award for her work covering natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania. She has also won several Edward R. Murrow awards for her work with StateImpact. In 2013/14 she spent a year at MIT as a Knight Science Journalism Fellow. She has also been a Metcalf Fellow, an MBL Logan Science Journalism Fellow and reported from Marrakech on the 2016 climate talks as an International Reporting Project Fellow. A graduate of Columbia School of Journalism, she earned her Bachelor's degree in International Relations from George Washington University.

September 27, 2011 | 5:19 PM

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency, awarded Penn State University $2.5 million dollars for multi-disciplinary research and a program aimed at engaging the public in understanding issues surrounding natural gas drilling.
PSU’s “Marcellus Matters” is a program designed to educate adults through community-based programs aimed at individuals who will be making decisions about leasing land, and regulating the industry. The program will be run by Michael Arthur, co-director of the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research. In a press release, Arthur said drilling comes with social, economic and environmental challenges to Pennsylvania’s rural communities.
“The NSF project will address those challenges,” said Arthur. As it will provide opportunities for the residents of the Marcellus region to gain skills in scientific inquiry and build an understanding of science and energy that can be used in managing change.”
The release says the grant will help develop a scientific knowledge base necessary to evaluate the rapidly growing gas drilling industry in Pennsylvania.