"Penn State Today"
Advances in engineering and business will be topic of free daylong program
The 2006-07 School of Engineering Speaker Series at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, begins with a day of business and engineering seminars on Friday, Oct. 20.
Called Penn State Today, the program is hosted jointly by the college’s Sam and Irene Black School of Business and School of Engineering.
Penn State Today will be held in Penn State Behrend's new Research and Economic Development Center (REDC). The REDC houses the first co-location of an accredited business school and an engineering school whose programs are all accredited. This natural synergy between business and engineering provides unique opportunities for educational and outreach efforts that create economic development.
The Penn State Today program is open to the public and all seminars are presented free of charge. Reservations are appreciated and can be made at 814-898-6153. For more information or directions, visit the Penn State Behrend Web site, www.pserie.psu.edu.
The Penn State Today program will be:
Overview of the Business and Engineering Partnership and the REDC
10 a.m., 001 REDC
Ralph Ford and John Magenau, directors of the engineering and business schools, respectively, will discuss the importance of the newly opened REDC after nearly 20 years of planning, and how its design supports initiatives for engineering-business partnerships.
Tour of the REDC
10:30 a.m., beginning in the REDC Café
See the capabilities of this 160,000-sqaure-foot building, including the behavioral science, electrical sciences, mechanical, manufacturing, radio frequency identification (RFID), and plastics labs, and the simulated stock market trading floor.
Technical Entrepreneurship
1 p.m., 001 REDC
Jim Fairbank, associate professor of management, hosts a panel discussion with entrepreneurs who have successfully developed technology-based companies. Panel members will be:
Thomas Briselden, lecturer in engineering and CEO, Spinworks, LLC
Robert Mehalso, college alumnus and president, Microtec Associates
Tom Peterson, CEO, NuvoSurgical
Stan Shumway, CEO, Erie Management Group
From the Classroom to the Boardroom
1 p.m., Erie Insurance Technology Enhanced Lecture Hall, 002 REDC
Kurt Cavano ’78, CEO of Manhattan-based TradeCard, Inc., and the college's 2006 Alumni Fellow, will discuss strategies entrepreneurs have used to successfully transition from classroom to employee to corporate leadership.
A Primer on RFID Technology
2 p.m., 102 REDC
Chris Wassel, project associate at the Center for eBusiness and Advanced Information Technology (eBizITPA), will discuss and demonstrate the paradigm-shifting technology of radio frequency identification (RFID) as it is used in the supply chain.
Business Intelligence
2 p.m., 001 REDC
Ido Millet, professor of management information systems, demonstrates the power of business tools such as report generators, schedulers, data mining, and pivot tables.
Directions in Energy Research
2 p.m., Erie Insurance Technology Enhanced Lecture Hall, 002 REDC
The high cost of fossil fuels and decline in new investments in coal and nuclear power makes the need for renewable energy vital to our economy. Robert Weissbach, associate professor of engineering, and James Sonnenmeier, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, will discuss their efforts to create a protocol to evaluate the feasibility of using wind energy in rural areas.