News about Heating, Ventilation & Air Conditioning

“Girl Power,” aimed at helping ninth graders explore potential careers and boost their confidence through encouraging mentorship by professionals, continued over the weekend at Penn College.

The Feb. 27 agenda included hands-on activities in the college’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning lab and its architecture studio; as well as a Q&A with representatives of JEM Group, a woman-owned construction services firm based in Camp Hill.

The program – a mix of virtual meet-ups on Monday evenings and on-campus sessions on Sunday afternoons – runs through April 24.

Representatives of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, which established its first student chapter at Pennsylvania College of Technology in 2003, recently visited to enhance that campus connection.

ACCA is a national trade association furthering the interests of the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration industry – providing educational programs, training and information for a network of member contractors, and developing a variety of industry standards.

Read more

Just as a future HVAC professional learns to find just the right thermostat setting for comfort, a Penn College student-athlete relies on his fellow wrestlers to help him calibrate classes and competition. “Balancing your schoolwork and being an athlete is sometimes tricky,” says Charles J. “CJ” Trimber II, in a Wildcat Spotlight video. “But with other people on your team, they help you in pushing you to get your schoolwork done and go to your study halls and get everything that you need to get done to compete.” Spend a few minutes with CJ – a heating, ventilation and air conditioning design technology major from Allegheny County’s Moon Township – who wrestles in the 125-pound class. We can all but guarantee his passion is contagious!

The business agent for Boilermakers Local 154, who earned a Williamsport Area Community College welding degree in 1987, came back Thursday for a visit arranged by state Sen. Gene Yaw. Shawn M. Steffee, greatly impressed by the changes at his alma mater during the intervening years, was greeted by a variety of college administrators before touring instructional labs in the School of Engineering Technologies. The Indiana County resident also met members of the Baja SAE team, delivered a boxful of giveaways to be distributed to students and was met by President Davie Jane Gilmour during lunch at Le Jeune Chef Restaurant.

The president of the National Association of Women in Construction visited Penn College this past week, engaging faculty/staff and students with the organization’s promise of “Leading builders. Building leaders.” Doreen Bartoldus, water/wastewater construction management leader at Jacobs Engineering, provided an overview of the educational and networking opportunities available to NAWIC chapters. The visit was facilitated by Ellyn A. Lester, assistant dean of construction and architectural technologies, a longtime friend and colleague of the presenter. Bartoldus has more than 45 years of professional experience as a civil/environmental engineer and construction manager, participating in billion-dollar construction projects including water distribution and treatment facilities, tunnels, community park and recreation facilities, and highways. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Civil and Environmental engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (now Tandem School Of Engineering) and a Master of Business Administration in Sustainable Business from Green Mountain College. Bartoldus is a registered professional engineer in New York, a certified construction manager, a LEED Green Associate and an Envision Sustainability Professional. In addition to Friday’s luncheon in the Thompson Professional Development Center, she presented “Build It/They Will Come” to a College Avenue Labs audience the night before.

U.S. Rep. Fred Keller (R-12) returned to Penn College’s main campus on Wednesday, touring a number of instructional areas and moderating a roundtable discussion of workforce development. The congressman was accompanied by state Rep. Clinton D. Owlett (R-68), among others, for a tour of the impressively equipped Carl Building Technologies, Electrical Technologies, Lycoming Engines Metal Trades and Larry A. Ward Machining Technologies centers – all facilities that help prepare today’s college students for tomorrow’s careers.

Worth & Company Inc. has established a scholarship to assist Pennsylvania College of Technology students pursuing careers in the building equipment contractors industry.

First preference for the Worth & Company Excellence Scholarship will be given to a student who is an intern, employee or dependent of an employee of Worth & Company Inc.

Second preference will be given to a student who is enrolled full time in one of the following majors: heating, ventilation & air conditioning design technology; heating, ventilation & air conditioning technology; welding & fabrication engineering technology; welding technology; or construction management; has been a recipient of a scholarship from the fund in prior years; and has a residence in Berks, Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton or Philadelphia counties.

Read more

For two years, Lauryn A. Stauffer has seen only male faces in her electronics classes at Pennsylvania College of Technology. This fall, she’ll at least see multiple women leaders within the School of Engineering Technologies.

The school devoted to careers rooted in science, technology, engineering and math boasts three female assistant deans.

Kathleen D. Chesmel and Ellyn A. Lester were hired in late spring to head the Materials Science and Engineering Technologies Division and the Construction and Architectural Technologies Division, respectively. They join longtime college employee Stacey C. Hampton, who is assistant dean of industrial and computer technologies.

Read more

Lockheed Martin Corp. has awarded vocational scholarships of $6,600 each to nine Pennsylvania College of Technology students.

The students are among 150 to receive financial assistance toward their pursuit of associate degrees, credit-bearing certificates or industry-recognized credentials in cutting-edge technology and advanced manufacturing fields. Penn College had the second-highest number of awardees in the Lockheed Martin Vocational Training Scholarship program, a first of its kind within the aerospace and defense industries.

“I was pleased to see Lockheed Martin’s awarding of scholarships to so many Penn College students,” said Bradley M. Webb, dean of engineering technologies. “This recognizes the critical role the college plays in bolstering America’s skilled technical workforce, and the focus our students have on building the future.”

Read more

Two of five $5,000 scholarships recently awarded by the National Association of Oil and Energy Service Professionals and its co-sponsors have benefited the same pair of Pennsylvania College of Technology students as last year.

Scholarships have again gone to Peter W. Bennett, of Sea Cliff, New York, and Ian H. West, of Hummelstown. Bennett is enrolled in the two-year heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology major; West is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in heating, ventilation and air conditioning design technology.

Read more

Ten students embarking on their first semester at Pennsylvania College of Technology have been chosen as Built Environment Scholars in a program that rewards academic talent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related career fields.

Each was awarded a scholarship ranging from $4,250 to $7,000, funded through a $1 million National Science Foundation grant to increase retention, graduation and workforce preparedness for students in many of Penn College’s STEM-focused construction and engineering majors.

Read more

The mikeroweWORKS Foundation recognized the potential of nine Pennsylvania College of Technology students to shrink the skills gap by awarding them Work Ethic Scholarships for the 2020-21 academic year.

The foundation, created by skilled-labor advocate Mike Rowe, distributes the scholarships annually to students who “embrace personal responsibility, delayed gratification, a positive attitude and a strong work ethic” in preparing for a career in the skilled trades. Over $1 million was distributed to 223 recipients nationwide. Nearly 1,000 students applied for the scholarships.

Read more

It wasn’t remotely on his mind while taking a Mechanical Systems I class in Fall 2011, but a Pennsylvania College of Technology alumnus/employee’s plumbing and pipe-fitting skills resulted in fabrication of framework for five EMS airway hoods to be used at Geisinger Medical Center.

Read more

Meet Jeffrey C. Comitz, an applications engineering manager for Thermal Product Solutions in New Columbia (and a 2016 graduate in heating, ventilation and air conditioning design technology). After earning his bachelor’s degree from Penn College, Comitz accepted an offer at TPS’ Tenney Environmental, where he partners with global organizations to develop industrial ovens and furnaces for testing and manufacturing processes. Take a look inside his career, see how he applies his education every day and imagine yourself pursuing a future made by hand. And when finished, check out other recent YouTube videos that showcase academic opportunities for tomorrow makers: concrete science, collision repair, construction management, plastics and graphic design.

Read more