Alumni News

Thirteen graduate students received the Penn State Alumni Association Dissertation Award, Distinguished Doctoral Scholar Medal, in recognition of their outstanding professional accomplishment and achievement in scholarly research in any of the disciplinary areas of fine arts and humanities; social sciences — applied and basic; physical and computational sciences — applied and basic; life and health sciences; and engineering. The graduate students were honored during the Graduate Student Awards Luncheon held on April 18 at the Nittany Lion Inn.

David Titley, professor of international affairs and of practice in the Department of Meteorology and Atmospheric Science at Penn State, will discuss the role the military could play in combating climate change during the TED 2017 conference. Titley will join seven other speakers from 11 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. April 26 for Session 6: Planet, Protection, hosted by Chris Anderson, the owner of TED, a nonprofit organization that provides idea-based talks.

Alton D. Romig Jr., executive officer of the National Academy of Engineering, will deliver the address for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS) baccalaureate degree commencement ceremony, to be held at 8 p.m. May 5 in Pegula Ice Arena on Penn State’s University Park campus.

Spring 2017 produced a record-breaking number of applications for Global Programs Travel Grants.

Amina Grant has spent much of her time as a Penn State undergraduate studying sustainability in the U.S., Jamaica and Peru, and using that research to make a positive impact on communities. And, other times, she has made a difference just by dressing as a superhero.

In response to increased industry demand for experts in the growing field of additive manufacturing, Penn State will offer residential and online master’s degrees in additive manufacturing and design beginning in fall 2017.

Penn State alumnus Delbert Day has been named a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI). Election to NAI Fellow status is “the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors who have demonstrated a prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.”

Penn State alumni Brian and Terri Green said three reasons sparked their decision to establish the Robert and Florence Green Memorial Scholarship in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences.

 Policelli, a propulsion development engineer for SpaceX, a private aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company, uses his background in engineering to work on SpaceX’s Merlin engine.

Katherine Faber, a 1978 Penn State alumna, and her husband, Thomas Rosenbaum, have established the Guy Rindone Graduate Research Fund to further graduate education in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences’ Department of Materials Science and Engineering. The fund was established in honor of Guy E. Rindone, professor emeritus of ceramic science and engineering, who died in 2015 at age 93.