News Release
College hosting ‘EnerG’ symposium Nov. 13
November 3, 2009
Dr. Marian Walters
A free, public symposium geared to a wide range of professionals will profile energy-related research and innovation at regional colleges on Friday, Nov. 13 at Penn State Harrisburg.
Hosted by the regional Innovation Transfer Network (ITN) the “ITN/PFI Research Symposium on EnerG” will take place in the Capital Union Building on campus beginning at 9:30 a.m. The symposium is free, but online registration is requested at www.hbg.psu.edu/rsvp. For information, phone 717-948-6303.
The Innovation Transfer Network brings together higher education institutions, economic development organizations, business, and government to provide companies with a gateway to reach faculty and accelerate commercialization. ITN is supported by a recent $600,000 National Science Foundation grant to Penn State Harrisburg.
“The two-year $600,000 Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) program grant reflects Penn State Harrisburg’s shared vision with the Commonwealth’s goal for developing faculty/industry partnerships as initially established through the Department of Community and Economic Development funding for the Innovation Transfer Network,” says Penn State Harrisburg Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies Marian Walters, who received the funding.
In addition to Penn State Harrisburg, the regional higher education partners in the ITN/PFI program are Dickinson College, Cheyney University, Elizabethtown College, Franklin & Marshall College, Harrisburg Area Community College, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology, Lebanon Valley College, Messiah College, Millersville University, Penn State College of Medicine, Shippensburg University, and the Lancaster General College of Nursing and Health Sciences.
The symposium “will examine cutting-edge, energy-related research activities at regional colleges and universities, providing opportunities to learn about faculty projects in this area, to become acquainted with those faculty, and to meet with representatives from firms with energy-related interests,” Walters says. “The event should be of interest to a wide range of professionals including college and university faculty members and students, business and industry leaders, economic development groups, and others with energy-related interests.”
A symposium highlight will be the 11:30 a.m. presentation by Stephen Brawley, president and CEO of Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Central and Northern Pennsylvania, on “Best Practices in University/Industry Partnerships.”
At 1:30 p.m., Stephen Fonash, director of the Penn State Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization, will discuss “Taking the Idea from the Research Laboratory to a Company.”
Other symposium sessions will cover education, biofuels, and solar energy advances and research. The education segment will feature work at Penn State Harrisburg on simulations and games for power system and energy education and a commercial UPS system for energy systems education.
A biofuels session will profile efforts at Penn State Harrisburg involving faculty and student research into development of alternative energy sources.
Faculty and students from Franklin & Marshall College and Dickinson College will explain their solar energy-related projects including work with metal sulfide nanoparticles, semiconductors, and solar electric systems and vehicles.
The symposium includes a networking luncheon and poster presentations on energy initiatives from faculty and students at Penn State Harrisburg, Dickinson, and F&M.