June 2015

In the News
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers puts Tim Simpson in the spotlight   MORE>>

Penn State engineering students get an inside look at Jeff Gordon's car at Pocono Raceway MORE>>

Alstom site to study energy at Navy Yard MORE>>  

Susan Stewart receives Department of Energy's Outstanding Wind Leadership in Education Award MORE>>

Architectural engineering alumna named to Consulting-Specifying Engineer's 40 Under 40 MORE>>

Mobium Solutions takes second place at 2015 Intel-Cornell Cup MORE>>

First-year engineering student and quadruple amputee powers path toward Paralympic Games
MORE>>

CNN iReport includes Ling Rothrock's gamification class in  Fostering Future Leaders Through Academic Innovation MORE>>

Aerospace engineering alumnus Loth featured in Popular Science's Brilliant Minds Behind the New Energy Revolution MORE>>

Keefe Manning inducted into the Cypress Creek High School Wall of Honor MORE>>
Recognitions and Awards
Former Dean David Wormley receives Penn State Honorary Alumni Award MORE>>

Theresa Mayer named Committee on Institutional Cooperation Academic Leadership Program Fellow MORE>>

Milner named Radcliffe Institute Fellow MORE>>

Keenan and Paroda's ECHOdrive wins $10K Lemelson-MIT 'Use it!' student prize MORE>>

Simpson named Teaching and Learning with Technology Fellow MORE>>

Engineering and math students take first place at IST IdeaMaker Challenge MORE>>
 
Kralik receives Outstanding Office Professional Award MORE>>

Schultheisz and Reeder win second place in Freescale Cup MORE>>

College of Engineering selected as finalist in ASEE video contest MORE>>
Around the College
Researchers get National Institutes of Health grant to study craniosynostosis MORE>>

Dean Elnashai serves as keynote speaker at international earthquake conference MORE>>

Machine vision system could help the visually impaired shop for food MORE>>

Student entrepreneurs design water intake tracker MORE>>

Industry partnerships emerge at CIMP-3D MORE>>

Engineering students travel to Peru as part of Pathways Fellows program MORE>>

Stephen Lynch awarded Office of Naval Research Young Investigator's Grant  MORE>>

Students use 3D printing to create products for medical and household use MORE>>
Upcoming Events
July 11-12: Biomedical Engineering Alumni Reunion MORE>>

July 22-23: Facility Topics for Today's Professional Engineer MORE>>

August 15: Summer commencement

August 24: Fall semester begins

September 19: College of Engineering Alumni Tailgate MORE>>
CoverPhoto
About this month's cover photo:
Members of the Penn State Formula SAE team visit NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon's pit during the Axalta "We Paint Winners" 400 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, PA, on June 7. Axalta (formerly DuPont) is a Philadelphia-based manufacturer of liquid and powder coatings. The company hosted approximately 100 Penn State engineering and business students to promote awareness and support of STEM and business education.

For more photos from College of Engineering events,
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Story6Schiff Recognized for Neonatal Sepsis Research
His efforts aim to reduce the number of infant deaths from neonatal sepsis
Steven Schiff, professor of neurosurgery and Brush Chair Professor
of Engineering in the Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, has received a $4.1 million National Institutes of Health Director's Pioneer Award for research aimed at reducing the number
of infant deaths from neonatal sepsis in developing countries by identifying the roots of infection, from season of birth to home environment.

The Pioneer Award supports individual scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering -- and possibly transforming -- approaches to major challenges in biomedical and behavioral research. The proposed research must reflect ideas substantially different from those already being pursued in the investigator's laboratory or elsewhere. This is the first Pioneer Award that Penn State has received and the first received by a neurosurgeon.

 

LINK TO FULL STORY>>  

Story5New NSF-Funded Program Trains Graduate Students to Use Density-Functional Theory
Program will be a special track in the Computational Sciences graduate minor
A curriculum in density-functional theory (DFT) for graduate students in STEM fields is the goal of a National Science Foundation grant of nearly $3 million over five years awarded to a team of Penn State faculty.

 

"Density-functional theory is a major theoretical technique for doing quantum mechanical calculations of materials structure and properties," said principal investigator Kristen Fichthorn, Merrell Fenske professor of chemical engineering and professor of physics. "With the development of software packages that make DFT easy to use, there has been an explosion in the application of these methods across the sciences and engineering."  

 

Story6College of Engineering Strengthens Partnership with INSA Lyon
Five-year agreement includes several education and research intiatives
A new agreement between the College of Engineering and the Institut National des Sciences Appliqu ées de Lyon, France, ( INSA Lyon) aims to strengthen ties between the two universities as they work together to educate aspiring engineers.

 

At the end of May, Amr Elnashai, Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of Engineering, visited INSA Lyon and Ecole Centrale de Lyon, where he had an opportunity to tour various facilities and laboratories and meet with administration, including Eric Maurincomme, director of INSA Lyon; Marie-Pierre Favre, head of the Office of International Relations, INSA Lyon; Frank Debouck, director of Ecole Centrale de Lyon; and Magali Phaner-Goutorbe, dean of international affairs at Ecole Centrale de Lyon.

 

Maurincomme and Elnashai signed a five-year agreement outlining potential initiatives for the universities to explore.   

The signature ceremony also included renewal of the collaboration agreement between the City of Philadelphia, represented by Alan Greenberger, deputy mayor for economic development and director of commerce, and the Rhône-Alpes Region, represented by Jean-Jack Queyranne, president of the Rhône-Alpes Regional Council.  

 

LINK TO FULL STORY>>    

Story1Still Leading the Way
Engineering Leadership Development Minor celebrates 20 years of innovation and experiential learning
In fall 1995, the idea of offering a leadership program specifically for engineers was a radical notion. Considering that such a program was essentially unheard of across the higher education landscape, Penn State's new Engineering Leadership Development Minor (ELDM), which launched in that year, had been approved by the narrowest of margins. One fewer vote in a Faculty Senate meeting, and it would not have flown at all.

Looking back from 2015, Penn State can now point to more
than 600 student graduates of the minor, who contribute to
society across a wide variety of industries, practicing skills
honed through the pioneering program.

Story3Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship Program and Materials Research Institute Work Together to Make a Difference
Engineers design new technologies for developing countries





Khanjan Mehta is a man with a mission -- solving the problems that make it so difficult to provide energy, clean drinking water, food security, and health care to some of the poorest nations on Earth. As the founding director of HESE -- Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship -- in the College of Engineering, Mehta leads a group of engaged undergraduates who are designing new technologies and, equally important, figuring out how to get those technologies into the hands of the people who need them.

 

One example of HESE's market-based approach is the design of low-cost greenhouses for East Africa. The greenhouses allow farmers to grow crops year round, while improving yields and preserving scarce water resources. The technology was developed at Penn State, and then licensed to a company called Mavuuno Greenhouses in Kenya and The Greenhouse Center in Cameroon.

 

The greenhouse project was the impetus for a new collaboration between HESE and the Materials Research Institute.

 

LINK TO FULL STORY>>     


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