The Dean Files
News, announcements, and ideas from Dean Eric Barron and his staff

October 11, 2004:
1. Yaw D. Yeboah Appointed Head of the Department of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering
2. EMS Researchers Receive $6.7 Million from NSF for Environmental Kinetics Center
3. Gladys Snyder Education Grant Awards
4. EMS People Featured in Spanier's State of the University Address, September 17, 2004
5. EMS Faculty Named Director of the Women's Studies Program in the College of Liberal Arts
6. Archives

Yaw D. Yeboah

Yaw D. Yeboah Appointed Head of the Department of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Yaw D. Yeboah on his appointment as Head of the Department of Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering. Dr. Yeboah comes to Penn State from Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia where he served as Professor of Chemical Engineering and Associate Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. His research areas of expertise includes combustion and emission control; catalysis; hydrogen from biomass; nanotechnology, oilfield scale formation; flow visualization; fuel cells and fossil fuels.

"EGEE has a rich and long history that must be enhanced and preserved. My goal is to further strengthen EGEE into a unique, growth oriented, student-centered and quality driven academic department. We will do this through teamwork that relies on four Cs: commitment, collaboration, cohesiveness and community. As the saying goes, 'if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.' My preference is to see the department go far!" states Dr. Yeboah.

EMS Researchers Receive $6.7 Million from National Science Foundation for Environmental Kinetics Center

The National Science Foundation has awarded a team of Penn State researchers $6.7 million to establish a new center for the study of environmental kinetics. The award, to establish the Penn State Center for Environmental Kinetics Analysis (CEKA), will be administered by the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, in its role as one of the Penn State Institutes of the Environment. The Center for Environmental Kinetics Analysis will bring together chemists, geochemists, biochemists, soil scientists and engineers to measure and synthesize kinetic data for environmental systems and to promote modeling of the temporal evolution of such systems. The group will try to answer jointly the question, "How fast do pollutants and natural salts react with minerals in soils and aquifers?" The center will emphasize the problem of how to answer this question using laboratory or computer experiments and then how to scale the answer to natural systems. Dr. Susan Brantley, a geochemist who specializes in measurement of kinetics data in the laboratory and field will serve as the director of this new center; and Dr. James Kubicki, a geochemist who specalizes in spectroscopic measurement and molecular modeling of kinetic systems, will serve as the assistant director. The CEKA team also includes the following members of the EMS faculty: Peter Heaney, Geosciences; Mercedes Maroto-Valer, Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering; Kwadwo A. Osseo-Asare, Materials Science and Engineering. Other university faculty and representatives from the U. S. Department of Energy will also serve as collaborators in the development of this new center.

Kevin Furlong

Earle Ryba and the MATSE Student Team

John Hellmann

        
Paul Knight                   Bill Syrett

Deryck Holdsworth

Gladys Snyder Education Grant Awards

"Active Learning in Large Enrollment Classes: Learning Modules that Work"
Kevin Furlong, Professor, Geosciences and Director of EMS Environmental Institute Natural Hazards Center
Experiential learning is effective. In the Earth Sciences our core training is built upon experiences in the laboratory and field. However transferring that learning approach to large-enrollment classes is fraught with problems. In our large GenEd classes we have a continuous challenge to help students for whom science is not their be-all and end-all to develop the tools of scientific thinking – in a less than ideal environment: the lecture hall. In this project we will develop and implement a series of learning modules built on real-world case studies that help overcome this barrier to effective science learning.
As part of the continuing development of Earth 101, we will develop these activities that allow in-class learning and the application of scientific reasoning to important problems facing society. Specifically funds will provide partial support for a graduate student involved in this educational resource development. Through collaboration with colleagues in PSU’s College of Education's Instructional Systems Program, we have added expertise in both recent pedagogical research and assessment. From this project, a suite of tested and effective active-learning modules will be produced and made available.

"Collaborative Learning Using Industrial Problems in Materials Science and Engineering"
Earle Ryba, Associate Professor, Metallurgy, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
John Hellmann, Professor, Ceramic Science and Engineering, Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Beginning in SP2005, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering will require junior undergraduate students in all options to take a research/design/writing/speaking course.  This course is based upon an innovative, high-profile course (MatSE 310W), previously required only of students in the Metals Science option.  Student teams will attempt to solve current industrial problems in materials and material processing proposed by personnel from a variety of materials industries.  The teams will visit industrial sites to learn about their problems, tour facilities, and present the results of their library research and discussions.  Students will gain experience in collaborative learning and problem solving, the nature of industrial problems, and the engineering approach to their solution.  Students will also begin to understand the economic, environmental, ethical, social, political and other constraints commonly encountered in the solution of industrial problems.

"The Development of a Weather Business Incubator (Expanded Opportunities in Meteorology 483)
Paul Knight, Instructor, Meteorology
William Syrett, Research Assistant, Meteorology
Accelerating changes in the type and availability of meteorological data is opening a broad frontier into the business world for today's meteorology students. The Weather Communications Series (Meteorology 481 and 482) introduces the undergraduate student to the breadth of applications of weather information. The advanced mentoring course, Meteorology 483, avails the mature student with practical opportunities in weather communications. It is proposed that a new paradigm be introduced that would help students prepare for a creative work environment. Three new business applications have arisen that would expand the student's horizons and increase their experience in the commercial sector. This would be an important step forward in the long term goal of the department to combine meteorological studies with business applications.

The three endeavors include: Production Teams for the new Weather World on PCN, which will begin November 1 and be broadcast daily at 5:45 p.m. statewide. PCN is carried into more than 3 million households across PA Development of a web friendly quasi-animated weather segments which will mimic Weather World on the web using Flash technology and 'broadcast' on the EMS server. Production of daily weather outlooks for AWS's Weather Bug which is on more than 40 million subscribers' computers.

"A Digital Catalog of Data Layers for Historical Inquiry"
Deryck Holdsworth, Professor, Department of Geography
The focus of this project is to assemble relevant digital boundary files and datasets for various aspects of agricultural, industrial and resource use at the PA county level for a range of nineteenth and twentieth century census decades. Students in Geog 401W will then be able to enter one set of data, compare it to data assembled already, and thus both contribute to and have access to a growing data and map library. The project will seek to build elements of a digital historical atlas of Pennsylvania.

EMS People Featured in Spanier's State of the University Address, September 17, 2004

Spanier Reflects on 150 years of People, Progress, and Future Challenges

Graham Spanier, in his 10th year as president of Penn State, took the opportunity in his annual State of the University Address to reflect on Penn State's past, present and future. "This year marks a very special occasion in the life of our University as we celebrate the 150th anniversary of our founding," said Spanier. "This is an ideal opportunity not only to remember the past, but to examine it and build on it."

After highlighting some of the traditions, groundbreaking research and people who moved the University from The Farmers' High School in 1855 into the ranks of the top research universities in the United States, Spanier said, "If asked what it takes to make a great university, I would say about 150 years and thousands of dedicated people."

Of all the goals Spanier has set for Penn State during his tenure as president, the one that he values the most is humanizing the University. "Humanizing the University means building a culture that invests in our most valuable asset--our people. It is a key component of Penn State's success and a vital factor in our future."

"Penn State's heritage as a 'people's university' has set us apart from other institutions. Our University has always been about educating people; about discoveries that advance knowledge; about service that is shared for the benefit of people and their communities. It's inspiring to think that we are all part of a larger entity that can touch every corner of the world and enhance the lives of so many."

Each day, our lives are shaped by our connections to others--how we treat people and how we are treated by them. Two members of the EMS family were recognized for their contributions in creating an environment where people feel valued and respected. Over the past 34 years, Dennis Thomson, professor of meteorology and his wife, Joan, have invited more than 350 students to their home for the holidays. Also, Kathy Sherman, originally with the Department of Geography, dedicated two-and-a-half years to help a retired faculty member and his wife deal with their health problems and subsequently handled details related to their deaths and burials.

"For 150 years, Penn State has build upon our tradition of putting people at the core of all we do to create an outstanding legacy of success," said Spanier. "To chart our future, we cannot abandon these traditions, but instead must use them as the cornerstone for continued achievements. I hope that 150 years from now, historians will recognize your place in the remarkable success story that is Penn State."

Lorraine Dowler, Associate Professor of Geography and Women's Studies since 1997 has been named the new Director of the Women's Studies Program in the College of Liberal Arts. Lorraine earned her Ph.D. from Syracuse University. Her interests focus on the intersection of gender with violent nationalism. Her previous research has focused on issues of identify and politics in Northern Ireland. Lorraine recently started an investigation of the role of women in firefighting and civic nationalism in the United States. Dr. Dowler was instrumental in coordinating the visit of Theresa Heinz Kerry to Penn State last month. The Women's Studies Program was recently awarded a large conference from the United Nations, scheduled for August 2005, on the advances on gender and development ten years after Beijing, in which Dr. Dower will be playing a major role.

Please join me in congratulating Lorraine Dowler on her accomplishments.