Paul Jovanis, professor of civil and environmental engineering, testified before a congressional subcommittee on Thursday in Washington, D.C.

Jovanis, who serves as director of the Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute’s Transportation Operations Program, discussed how proposed changes in truck driver hours of service safety rules will affect road safety before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce.

An expert on transportation system safety, Jovanis has developed statistical models of crash occurrence using data supplied by trucking companies. He has conducted research in this area for over 25 years for a series of government and private sector sponsors.

His other areas of research include collection and analysis of naturalistic driving study data and modeling the relationship between roadway and roadside geometric design and safety.

Girls from two area middle schools teamed with Penn State engineering students to program robotic dance routines as part of their field trip to campus. One project had a Blue Band theme with a robotic drum major. (Photo credit: Curtis Chan)

Two dozen girls from two area middle schools got some first-hand exposure to engineering at the “Engineer Your Future” field trip event today (Nov. 21) on campus.

The girls, from Philipsburg-Osceola Junior High School and Park Forest Middle School, spent the day at the College of Engineering.

The event, hosted by the Women in Engineering Program (WEP), provides the girls with hands-on engineering activities and the opportunity to work with current Penn State engineering students.

The field trip included collaborating with first-year students from ME 102 LEGO Robotics to program robots with a choreographed dance routine, a tour of the Department of Architectural Engineering’s Immersive Construction Laboratory, a pizza lunch with engineering students, a presentation by the Engineering Ambassadors and an amusement park design project.

Cheryl Knobloch, WEP director and coordinator of the program, said the field trips is meant to encourage 7th and 8th grade girls to consider pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

David Wormley, left, will retire as dean of the Penn State College of Engineering after a 21-year tenure. He will be succeeded by Amr Elnashai, right, currently head of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois. (Photo credit: Curtis Chan)

Though he doesn’t officially start as dean of the Penn State College of Engineering until Jan. 13, Amr Elnashai made a quick trip to campus today to attend a few meetings and chat with alumni leaders and college officials.

Elnashai met with the board of the Leonhard Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education and the College of Engineering Advancement Committee.

During a meeting break, incoming Dean Amr Elnashai, right, confers with retiring Dean David Wormley. (Photo credit: Curtis Chan)

Elnashai is currently head of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds the Bill and Elaine Hall Endowed Professorship and serves as director of hybrid simulation at the National Science Foundation’s Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulations laboratory, which investigates infrastructure design and construction to minimize damage from earthquakes.

Wormley leaves Penn State after a distinguished 21-year tenure as a researcher, professor and Harold and Inge Marcus Dean of the College of Engineering.

More on Elnashai’s appointment to Penn State can be found at: http://news.psu.edu/story/292383/2013/10/23/academics/elnashai-named-new-dean-college-engineering.

More on Wormley’s retirement can be found at: http://news.psu.edu/story/142471/2013/02/01/engineering-dean-wormley-retire.

by Frank T. Koe, Ph.D.

Global Entrepreneurship Week at Penn State will take place at University Park from November 17 to 22, 2013.

Successful and up-and-coming business owners will be on hand to provide support and encouragement to budding entrepreneurs via the broad variety of activities, competitions, and lectures. All events are free and open to students and the public.

Global Entrepreneurship Week is celebrated in 140 countries worldwide. Penn State’s event placed fourth in the country last year, based on attendance and number of events held. With more than 50 exciting events scheduled throughout the week, the Global Entrepreneurship Week at Penn State organizing team is optimistic that the results will be better than fourth place this year (right now we’re #1 in the USA!).

Follow Global Entrepreneurship Week at Penn State on Facebook or visit the website for updates on scheduled events and activities.

Frank T. Koe, Ph.D. is an instructor in entrepreneurship within the School of Engineering Design, Technology and Professional Programs (SEDTAPP) at Penn State. Accomplishments include founding his own sporting good accessory business that focuses on hunting and fishing. Products can be seen in Dick’s Sporting Goods, Walmart and other outlets nationwide. His entrepreneurial academic experiences include serving as associate director of the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Stern School of Business, New York University, and dean of the Baker School of Business and Technology at Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, NY.