The expertise offered by Pennsylvania College of Technology and its acclaimed Plastics Innovation & Resource Center attracted an array of plastics professionals to campus for the recent Extrusion Seminar and Hands-On Workshop.
Individuals representing 22 companies from 10 states, Canada and Italy attended the 21st annual event that featured extrusion experts Chris Rauwendaal, president of Rauwendaal Extrusion Engineering Inc., and Kirk M. Cantor, professor of plastics and polymer technology.
Penn College students lent a practiced hand to the preservation of the “Tin Goose,” a 1947 precursor to the historically significant Tucker automobile, which was named “Best Post-War Vehicle” at this past weekend’s Concours d’Elegance in Hershey. The car is owned by the William E. Swigart Jr. Automobile Museum in Huntingdon and was entrusted to automotive restoration technology students by Pat Swigart – a gracious and grateful supporter of their work since soon after the major debuted in 2012. “Penn College is so happy to be able to work with her collection and thank her for her dedication to us,” the Classic Cruisers club said in a social media post. “The students who restored her car worked very hard … with this amazing historical vehicle. Thank you again to Ms. Swigart for her dedication and support of us.” Joined by faculty members Roy H. Klinger and Robert K. Vlacich, the group also assisted in vehicle repairs for several drivers in the Grand Ascent hill climb for vintage automobiles.
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Nearly two dozen registrants from eight companies in Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania attended the recent Plastics Materials, Processing and Testing workshop hosted by Pennsylvania College of Technology’s world-renowned Plastics Innovation & Resource Center.
The May 20-22 workshop, one of many that attract industry professionals to campus each summer, provided participants with a fundamental knowledge of polymers and how they are processed, tested and characterized.
Anne Reiner of the On the Pulse local news site visited campus recently to interview Ryan M. Witmer, a mechatronics technology student from Lancaster County. Reiner watched Witmer employ various diagnostic tools to monitor the performance of Penn College’s roll-fed thermoformer and discussed with him the unique major, which combines electrical, mechanical and computer engineering into one field. Reiner also explored mechatronics with one of Witmer’s teachers: Howard W. Troup, instructor of automated manufacturing and machining. “Everything that I learned in high school was, ‘I needed to fix it,'” says Witmer, who graduated with high honors on May 17. “Here, I can build it … I can fix it … I can, you know, prevent it from being broken in the first place.” The new alumnus is employed as an assembly technician for Astro Machine Works in Ephrata.
Pennsylvania College of Technology students received two of the three Women in Energy Mentorship Awards presented this month at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center.
Celeste G. Moquin, of Port Matilda, enrolled in on-site power generation, and Autumn N. Schreiber, of St. Marys, majoring in heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology, were honored at a May 19 dinner.
The student’s future revealed a stark reality: life without a college degree. His aborted attempts at college would close the door to a fulfilling information technology career. Potential wouldn’t be realized. Dreams wouldn’t be lived.
But Steven P. Fantaske flipped the reality he seemed destined to experience. Ten years after being placed on academic probation, he earned his second degree at Pennsylvania College of Technology. The result? Fantaske has a rewarding job that tasks him with altering reality. Only this time, the reality is virtual, and the beneficiaries are public safety personnel.
The former State College resident is an Unreal Engine 4 virtual reality developer for the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado. The NIST is a nonregulatory agency of the Department of Commerce that promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness.
A cacophony of sounds reverberates throughout the expansive lab. Sparks emanating from rows of booths color the facility. Motion is constant as students and teachers navigate to the next project while a parade of visitors watches the action unfold.
Bustling activity, bright lights and loud noises usually are disconcerting for Destiny R. Barto. But on this morning, like many of her days at Pennsylvania College of Technology, she has shelter from all distractions. The pink hood enveloping her head provides a sanctuary, as she grasps a welding rod and strikes an arc on a long piece of metal.
The resulting path of weld beads is much smoother than the one she followed to arrive at this moment. Obstacles littered that path from the day she was born in Elmira, New York.
“I really have to stop and think about what I have done in order to feel accomplished,” she said. “Most of the time, I’m focused on the things I have to do. There’s a lot to do.”
The industrial design major at Pennsylvania College of Technology is intended to elicit students’ creative potential. For three students on the cusp of graduation, that goal has been met, as evidenced by their senior projects.
Nicole Bamonte, of Williamsport; Nina M. Hadden, of Murrysville; and Abigail M. Meredick, of Danville, have spent countless hours during the past several months drawing on their education and practical experiences to develop prototypes of marketable products. The results are three inspired creations: a collapsible dresser, dog training system and surgical instrument.
Nursing students participated in a simulation in April that made them think about the choices they would make – and that many of their future patients will face – given the constraints of poverty.
During a “poverty simulation,” created by Missouri Community Action Network, students in a Community Health Nursing course were assigned to families with specified incomes and adhered to several rules: spending seven minutes of each 15-minute week at work (if they were employed); making sure children were cared for; paying for transportation to get to any destination; keeping their home secure and their utilities on; making loan payments; and providing adequate food, clothing and health care for their dependents.
Students from Penn College’s School of Nursing & Health Sciences and School of Sciences, Humanities & Visual Communications joined area law enforcement, emergency management and health care professionals in a recent simulation at UPMC Susquehanna Williamsport Regional Medical Center and a variety of other locations.
The college’s paramedic program has participated in the drill since its inception, and this year, the School of Nursing & Health Sciences decided to participate schoolwide to provide an interdisciplinary learning opportunity. The school had conducted its own Interdisciplinary Professional Experience on campus for several years.
Chef Manuel Uribe, sous chef of Chicago’s Terzo Piano and a faculty member in the Jerome J. Drosos School of Culinary Arts at Triton College, headlined Penn College’s 2019 Visiting Chef Series, lending his knowledge and skill as he guided students in preparing a Mediterranean-themed dinner. He was joined by Rachel Erceg, lead pastry chef for Terzo Piano. In addition to providing valuable hands-on experience for students, the dinner that culminated the chefs’ multiday stay on campus provides scholarship funds for hospitality students.
Through support from Makdad Supply Co. Inc., two Penn College students and an instructor recently attended an Emerson Compressor Operation and Service Seminar at the Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology. While heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration contractors from across the region attended the event – an in-depth, three-day program packed with everything an HVACR service technician needs to know to install, service and maintain Copeland compressors – Makdad sponsored seats for HVACR majors from CPI and the two students from Penn College. Among attendees were Ronald J. Ostrowski III, of Shavertown, and Zeph L. Woelfel, of Kersey, graduating next month with associate degrees in heating, ventilation and air conditioning technology, and Stephen D. Manbeck, an assistant professor of HVAC technology. Company owner Jack Makdad met with Manbeck and CPI’s Ken Hassinger to discuss how to provide similar training, as well as access to a variety of vendors and industry resources. The institutions already share a strong connection through the Penn College NOW dual-enrollment program. That initiative allows high school seniors to earn up to five college credits while enrolled at CPI, credits that help them get a head start on an associate degree at Penn College.
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Two Pennsylvania College of Technology information technology students detailed at a recent conference their efforts as part of a National Science Foundation grant to address the critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals.
Allison F. Chapman, of Montoursville, and Margot S. Rinehart, of Downingtown, presented “Capture the Flag as a Testing Platform” at the recent Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges Northeast Region Conference at the University of New Haven in West Haven, Connecticut.
Months of painstaking work resulted in an impressive showing on the international stage for Pennsylvania College of Technology at the recent Society of Automotive Engineers’ event in Cookeville, Tennessee.
Featuring a new, student-designed continuously variable transmission, the college’s single-seat, off-road vehicle finished eighth out of 96 cars in the endurance race at Baja SAE Tennessee Tech. It’s the college’s eighth top 10 finish in the race – considered Baja SAE’s marquee event – since 2011.
“I couldn’t be happier with the way our car performed with the new CVT,” said John G. Upcraft, instructor of manufacturing and machining and adviser to the college’s Baja SAE club. “We were one of the fastest 10 cars. Nobody pulled away from us. We most likely would have finished higher if the race wasn’t shortened. We usually do our best in the last hour of the event.”
About 35 area high school girls met their potential destiny during Penn College’s annual “Framing Your Future” event Friday, gaining hands-on exposure to the vast career opportunities represented by the School of Construction & Design Technologies. The college’s Women in Construction club inspired the ninth through 12th graders and coordinated the activities, which included a networking lunch and group sessions in the architecture/sustainable design, building construction and HVAC/plumbing labs.