The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation recently made a $1.75 million gift to support students and programs at Kent State University’s College of Public Health. This gift will provide funding for the college’s community health and outreach programs, such as the Mobile Flashes program that launched in 2024 to deliver health services, screenings and education to underserved and rural communities in Northeast Ohio in collaboration with various community partners.“The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Foundation trustees are pleased to support the Mobile Flashes public health purposes, wh...

For years, Lauren Kinsman-Costello, Ph.D., has studied wetlands and the complex ways they filter water, store carbon and support ecosystems across Ohio. Along the way, she found herself asking a different kind of question: how do you tell the story of science in a way that helps people feel connected to it?This summer, she will have a dedicated week to explore that question alongside several other researchers, including Christabel Devadoss, Ph.D., a two-time Kent State alumna whose work focuses on environmental decision-making and community narratives in rural Rust Belt communities.Lauren Kins...

 The Environmental Science and Design Research Institute (ESDRI) supports students through the Undergraduate Fellowship Program. In this program students across any major with interest in environmental science, environmental design, or the like come together to form a like-minded, yet diverse, community of scholars. Fellows receive mentorship from ESDRI staff, including workshops and other career development opportunities, as well placement with a research or creative activity faculty mentor if desired. If fellows have a faculty mentor they may apply for funding for their research or...

On a warm summer afternoon, wading into Breakneck Creek near the Kent Campus, you might not notice anything unusual about the water running clear over smooth rocks. But David Costello, Ph.D., sees something that most scientists have spent decades overlooking: a stream that is quietly iron-deficient.Costello, a professor of biological sciences at Kent State University, has spent years studying how human activities affect stream ecosystems. His latest research, published March 8 in the journal Ecology Letters, challenges a foundational assumption in stream ecology — that algae and other primary ...

Columbus, Ohio, May 2026 – The Kent State University Museum and the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board announce “Ohioans in Space: The Carl E. Walz Spacesuit from the Kent State University Museum,” a special installation opening on May 19 at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus, celebrating Ohio’s legacy of excellence in aviation and space exploration. The installation will be on view through Nov. 3.The Kent State University Museum, which holds one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of fashion, textiles and decorative arts, is bringing a spacesuit from its collection into the heart...

On Friday, April 24, Kent State University community members and staff planted trees across campus to celebrate Arbor Day, continuing efforts that have earned the University national recognition as a Tree Campus USA Higher Education institution for 18 consecutive years.  The Tree Campus Higher Education program helps universities plant, nurture and celebrate trees on campus. Kent State has received recognition consecutively since the program began.As a part of the efforts, Kent State marked Arbor Day with tree plantings at multiple locations across campus, bringing together students, staf...

Kent State University celebrated Earth Day - part of its Earth Month programming - with a campus-wide series of events that blended hands-on education, student research and community partnerships. From the Earth Fest on Risman Plaza—featuring more than 50 organizations—to the scientific posters at the Environmental Science and Design Research Institute (ESDRI) Research Showcase and the Electric Vehicle Showcase, the day’s activities highlighted how sustainability is woven into academic life. Together, these events underscored the university’s year-round commitment to environmental care and enc...

It’s not what it seems; no one is reaching for puns when they say that Rebekkah “Bekkah” Berryhill, the grounds manager in University Facilities Management for Kent State University’s Kent Campus, is down-to-earth and a well-grounded, happy, fulfilled person.She shared her story of how she arrived at Kent State as a student-athlete, became a student worker in the grounds crew, became a university employee and then, nearly 30 years later, became the grounds manager in charge of the entire Kent Campus.How a Buckeye Legacy Arrived at Kent StateBoth of Berryhill’s parents had graduated from Ohio S...

A team of Kent State University researchers is studying whether naturally occurring bacteria in polluted streams can help remove toxic metals from the environment—work that could improve understanding of ecosystem recovery, contaminated water remediation, and even the search for life on Mars.The project is supported by a Seed Grant from Kent State University’s Environmental Science and Design Research Institute (ESDRI), which funds innovative interdisciplinary research addressing environmental challenges.Led by Courtney Wagner, PhD, of Kent State’s Department of Earth Sciences, together with a...

 Students, faculty, staff and community partners gathered at Kent State University’s Herrick Aquatic Ecology Research Facility (HAERF) on April 24 for the university’s Arbor Day BioBlitz, a hands-on event focused on documenting biodiversity across one of campus’s most unique research environments.Organized by Kent State’s new student chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration, the BioBlitz invited participants of all experience levels to explore the wetland’s network of experimental ponds and Allerton Creek while collecting ecological observations alongside researchers and environm...