The Ecology Institute has awarded 11 proposals from across the University as part of its Flower Grant program, including five projects submitted by faculty at Commonwealth Campuses. The funds provided by the Flower Grant aim to support ecology research focused across the institute’s five core themes.
Two virtual town hall events expanded the discussion of race, diversity and equality at Penn State Behrend. “These aren’t easy conversations,” Chancellor Ralph Ford said, “but they are essential. We must come together as a campus community and fight racism, bias and injustice in all its forms.”
The Center for Security Research and Education (CSRE) has selected 13 interdisciplinary projects through its spring 2020 seed grant program. CSRE is providing a total of $300,000 in funding for the projects, with an additional $300,000 in matching and supplemental funding from other colleges, departments, and institutes.
A manufacturing and product-design team assembled by Penn State Behrend will donate more than $50,000 to non-profit organizations that are supporting medical personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic. The money is from a contingency budget for the White Label Face Shields project, which produced 125,000 plastic face shields for health-care workers in six states.
The multi-campus research team of Ashkan Negahban, Omar Ashour and Sabahattin Gokhan Ozden received a three-year, $831,276 grant for research on immersive simulation-based learning models.
Penn State was awarded 10 grants through the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development Manufacturing PA initiative. The initiative awarded $2.8 million, across 43 grants in total, and will bring together government, industry, and higher education in holistic collaboration to spur new technologies and processes in the manufacturing sector.
Penn State Behrend graduate Roni Stefanick recently completed a semester-long internship at Mazza Vineyards, where she tested and tasted wines for pH, sulfur content and sugar levels.
History is far more fluid than most of us realize, according to Glenn Kumhera, associate professor of history at Penn State Behrend. He compares it to building a puzzle with only 30% of the pieces.
University students and educators alike are grappling with turbulent times, and Penn State’s course on the “Art and Science of Human Flourishing” is well-positioned to help undergraduates to develop strategies for caring for themselves and others. Robert Roeser, Bennett Pierce Professor of Caring and Compassion, explored ways to adapt the course to current events, along with 23 colleagues from 10 Penn State campuses, University of Virginia and University of Wisconsin-Madison, during the morning of the 2nd Annual Human Flourishing Summer Teaching Institute, held on June 16 and 17 via Zoom.
Following a three-month comprehensive planning process, Penn State officials have determined that the University can meet or exceed the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s guidelines for colleges and universities, and look forward to welcoming back faculty, staff and students to resume on-campus, in-person classes and other activities this fall in a limited fashion.
