Faculty Member Helps IT Students 'See the Light'

Dec. 6, 2011 - 2:55 p.m.

The Information Technology Living-Learning Community had the opportunity to learn about optical fiber terminations in a recent session hosted by Jeff B. Weaver, associate professor of electronics and computer engineering technology. Students donned safety glasses and, armed with strippers and cleavers, prepared a duplex multimode fiber optic cable for termination with an MT-RJ workstation jack, Weaver explained. A Visual Fault Locator, a tool that sends light down the fiber, was used to test the termination. The program provided students with an introduction to fiber optic transmission and the techniques used to install connectors on such lines. The Residence Life Office offers a number of living-learning communities on campus, bringing outside-the-classroom opportunities to students enrolled in the same academic majors.

Electronics Faculty Member Selected for ‘Who’s Who’

Oct. 5, 2011 - 12:57 p.m.

A faculty member in the electronics and computer engineering technology department at Penn College is included in the 2011-12 edition of Montclair Publishing’s “Who’s Who in Collegiate Faculty.” Scott D. Neuhard, assistant professor of electronics, will have a biography published in the book’s seventh edition. According to the publisher, Montclair Who’s Who recognizes and highlights men and women of leadership and distinction within various industries throughout the United States and Canada.

College Hosts Electronics Camp for High School Students

Aug. 19, 2011 - 4:45 p.m.

Ninth- and 10^th-grade students explored “Electronics and the Future!” during a recent four-day, three-night camp at Penn College. The campers – seven girls and 16 boys – took part in a variety of hands-on workshops in the college’s electronics and computer engineering technology labs, as well as in advanced manufacturing majors that play a role in electronics production.

Marcellus Measurement Scholarship Established

June 29, 2011 - 4:21 p.m.

The positive experience of working with faculty and students at Penn College has inspired a Williamsport man to start an endowed scholarship fund at the college. Ryan A. English has presented a check to Penn College to establish the Marcellus Measurement Scholarship Fund. The scholarship targets support to students in the college’s electronics and computer engineering technology majors. Any full- or part-time students in either the bachelor-degree or associate-degree majors in electronics and computer engineering technology may apply for an award from the Marcellus Measurement Scholarship Fund if they have completed at least two semesters of study with a minimum grade-point average of 2.5. The first award from the scholarship will be made this fall.

Penn College Hosts Regional Robotics Competition

Feb. 10, 2011 - 3:53 p.m.

Penn College hosted the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge North Central Pennsylvania Regional Qualifier, a robotics competition for students in grades 7-12, on its campus Feb. 5. The competition, dubbed “Get Over It!” featured task-oriented robotics competitions, during which teams were asked to perform a variety of maneuvers with their robots. Thirteen teams from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland attended the event, one of four qualifiers in Pennsylvania that lead to the FIRST Tech Challenge Pennsylvania State Robotics Championship in Weatherly on March 5.

Alumni Success Story Retold in Cisco Publication

Feb. 10, 2011 - 1:32 p.m.

Daniel J. Clarke, who graduated from Penn College with four information technology degrees in May and December 2007, is featured in an Impact in Pennsylvania newsletter from the Cisco Networking Academy. Clarke, a systems engineer, works with the Cisco Public Sector team in meeting the technology needs of education and government. "I love to give back, working with administrative and networking folks at schools to deliver the technology their students use today," he says. "The same thing applies to working with state and local governments to enable services for them and their constituents – in some cases, services they never expected to be able to afford – because we are able to design cost-effective services." The article, shared by Jeff B. Weaver, associate professor of electronics, and republished here with the permission of Cisco, is on Pages 6-7 of the following:

[View PDF file]

College Hosts Regional Qualifier in Robotics Competition

Feb. 7, 2011 - 5:01 p.m.

Groups of high schoolers from six states convened in Penn College’s College Avenue Labs on Feb. 5 for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Tech Challenge North Central Pennsylvania Regional Qualifier, which tested the students’ engineering know-how in a robot-against-robot competition stadium. The robots completed such obstacles as retrieving and depositing batons and balancing on teeter-totters. More than a dozen Penn College faculty, along with students and alumni, volunteered as judges, referees, and in other roles for the event.

State Grant to Fund Summer Electronics Camp at Penn College

Oct. 1, 2010 - 2:59 p.m.

A $10,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development’s Workforce Leadership Program will support a residential summer camp for 24 high school students enrolled in Penn College's dual-enrollment electronics program. Organized by Elizabeth A. Biddle, project manager for the college’s Outreach for K-12 Office, and Stacey C. Hampton, coordinator of matriculation and retention for the School of Industrial and Engineering Technologies, the overnight camp – tentatively scheduled for June – will provide 24 teenagers with four days of activities.

Electronics Students' Class Projects Showcased Online

Aug. 9, 2010 - 1:12 p.m.

A group of electronics and computer engineering technology students in a 300-level Control Theory class taught by Scott D. Neuhard, assistant professor of electronics, presented class projects at Penn College’s Spring Open House, showing off their skills and ingenuity for prospective students and their families. Neuhard captured the projects on video, which are available on the department’s Web page for a wider audience to view. An Open House tradition in the electronics and computer engineering technology department, another class will show off its high-tech projects during the October event.

Siemens Provides Free Hands-On Workshop for Educators

July 15, 2010 - 2:00 p.m.

Penn College was the site recently of a Technology Leadership Workshop, presented free to educators through Siemens Industry Inc.’s Siemens Cooperates With Education program. The event attracted 15 educators from such local institutions as Bucknell University and Williamsport Area School District, as well as from colleges and universities in North Dakota, Michigan and Ohio. Among participants was Randall L. Moser, instructor of electronics and computer engineering technology at Penn College. The three-day, hands-on workshop gave the educators an opportunity to explore the next generation of automation technologies from Siemens. Following the session, each participant received a complimentary S7-1200 trainer package. The course was taught by Dennis Maginas, senior technical instructor at Siemens Industry Inc. It is the second of five Technology Leadership Workshops scheduled around the United States this summer.