NERCRD in the News

West Virginia town with people enjoying a bike path and creek.

WVU Extension leads efforts to enhance sustainability of tourism in rural communities

July 8, 2026

This article by Hannah Booth (West Virginia University Division for Land-Grant Engagement) highlights the Tourism, Resiliency and Indicators for Post-Pandemic Planning (TRIP) project and a recently published study by the TRIP project team. NERCRD Director Stephan Goetz, Associate Director Stephen Alessi, and Faculty Affiliate Luyi Han are members of the project team. The TRIP project is led by WVU’s Doug Arbogast, who is also a member of the NERCRD Technical Advisory Committee.

News and Events

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If you’re looking for past or future events in the NERCRD webinar series, visit: https://nercrd.psu.edu/tag/webinar/.

Aerial view of AI hub and Data center amid agricultural fields.

June 23rd summit to focus on data center development and digital infrastructure

June 1, 2026

NERCRD’s Stephen Alessi collaborated with colleagues at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Center for Rural Pennsylvania on an upcoming Rural Economic Development Summit focused on data center development and digital infrastructure. The June 23rd event will take place in Harrisburg, PA, but a remote option will be available.

aerial view of mixed forested and farmed landscape

Finding new ways to measure the local sustainability of rural tourism

May 27, 2026

Tourism affects local populations differently in counties across the U.S., but measuring these effects may now be easier thanks to a new tool developed as part of a study by researchers at Penn State/NERCRD and West Virginia University Extension. For the study, published in the journal Tourism Economics, the researchers developed a sustainability index to assess how tourism affects counties according to a number of factors that measure the areas’ economic, social and environmental well-being. They found that counties relying heavily on tourism varied widely in their ability to keep it from overwhelming local resources, with no destination performing well on every dimension.

Yuan (Timothy) Zhuang awarded NARSC Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science

May 11, 2026

Congratulations to Yuan (Timothy) Zhuang, Ph.D. student in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education at Penn State and NERCRD graduate researcher, who has been selected as the winner of the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) 26th Annual Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science!

Person grocery shopping but faced with several empty store shelves

Hunger affected mental health more than income, job loss amid COVID-19 pandemic

April 14, 2026

Not having enough food may have had a greater negative effect on mental health in the United States than unemployment or loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published in Plos ONE. The study was led by Linlin Fan, associate professor of agricultural economics at Penn State, and NERCRD Director Stephan Goetz. Yuxuan Pan, a former NERCRD postdoctoral scholar and now at the University of Kentucky, also contributed to the study.

An orderly flower and vegetable garden set against an urban backdrop

Planning for Community Food Access

March 30, 2026

In this Penn State Extension article, authors Claudia Schmidt, Harry Crissy, and John Turack explore food deserts, food swamps, data gaps, and innovative mapping solutions to strengthen food access across Pennsylvania’s urban and rural communities.

NERCRD 2025 Annual Report

February 24, 2026

We invite you to explore our recent work, which leverages and transforms our federal investment into impactful research, synergistic partnerships, and greater capacity in the region and beyond.

Aerial view of data center in a rural setting.

Webinar Recording: Data Centers — Assisting Communities in Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities

February 24, 2026

This webinar recording is geared toward Extension professionals in the region who are interested in assisting their communities in understanding the challenges and opportunities that data centers present.

Older person teaching a younger person how to play a guitar

Northeast Region Kinship Care Extension Meeting

February 5, 2026

NERCRD is convening Extension educators, specialists, and professionals for a regional online meeting focused on grandparents raising grandchildren. The meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 10, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET.

Four people gathered around an academic poster in a conference room.

2025 NETtra Tourism Conference Proceedings extends the reach of conference and tourism research

January 7, 2026

In a first-time collaboration between the National Extension Tourism (NET) Network and the Northeast Chapter of the Travel and Tourism Research Association (NETTRA), the NETtra Tourism Conference was hosted by the University of New Hampshire in October 2025. The two groups just released proceedings from the conference to extend the reach of the research and […]

aerial view of city next to a body of water

Penn State Spring 2026 Land-Use Webinar Series announced

January 7, 2026

The Penn State Extension Land Use Webinar Series, organized in partnership with the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association (PA-APA) and the NERCRD, offers five monthly webinars beginning January 21 on land use topics affecting the communities of Pennsylvania.

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