diff --git a/src/serac/infrastructure/initialize.cpp b/src/serac/infrastructure/initialize.cpp
index 207fd7af1..4613cfea5 100644
--- a/src/serac/infrastructure/initialize.cpp
+++ b/src/serac/infrastructure/initialize.cpp
@@ -21,6 +21,10 @@
 
 #include "mfem.hpp"
 
+#ifdef SERAC_USE_PETSC
+#include "petsc.h"
+#endif
+
 namespace serac {
 
 std::pair<int, int> getMPIInfo(MPI_Comm comm)
@@ -63,14 +67,14 @@ std::pair<int, int> initialize(int argc, char* argv[], MPI_Comm comm)
 #endif
 
 #ifdef SERAC_USE_PETSC
-
 #ifdef SERAC_USE_SLEPC
   mfem::MFEMInitializeSlepc(&argc, &argv);
 #else
   mfem::MFEMInitializePetsc(&argc, &argv);
 #endif
-
+  PetscPopSignalHandler();
 #endif
+
   // Initialize GPU (no-op if not enabled/available)
   // TODO for some reason this causes errors on Lassen. We need to look into this ASAP.
   // accelerator::initializeDevice();