Page 8 - Engineering Penn State Magazine: Fall/Winter 2020
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START Lab awarded $6 million to develop national experimental turbine
With industry support, the Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Lab has awarded the Penn State Steady Thermal Aero Research Turbine (START) Lab $6 million to spearhead the development of a National Experimental Turbine (NExT) rig, an initiative to help modernize the nation’s energy infrastructure.
Under the START Lab’s leadership, NExT will be a turbine testing platform focused on U.S. technology advancement, designed in collaboration
with four turbine manufacturers—Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney, Solar, and Siemens—in partnership with Agilis, a turbine design firm.
In this collaboration, the NExT rig will become a common design that can be used quickly and relatively inexpensively by these collaborating companies to advance their turbines.
Through the development of the NExT rig, according to Karen Thole, director of the START Lab and principal investigator of the project, new and innovative pathways for future gas turbine research will be possible in the START Lab and around the nation.
News & Notes
        Newly established director of student transitions and pre-college programs named
Tracy Peterson was named the director of student transitions and pre-college programs in Penn State College of Engineering’s Center for Engineering Outreach and Inclusion.
Peterson will develop College of
Engineering support structures for compliance with the University’s youth policies. He will establish regional and
national outreach and engagement through pre-college programs, developing programs to enhance college readiness and increase the participation and support of underrepresented, low-income, and first-generation students.
Industrial engineering professor addresses U.S. Congressional Caucus
On July 11, Soundar Kumara, Allen E. Pearce and Allen M. Pearce Professor of Industrial Engineering, spoke at a briefing in Washington, D.C., hosted by the House Manufacturing Caucus, co-chaired by U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Tom Reed (R-N.Y.).
The briefing, “Artificial Intelligence and Manufacturing: The Power to Make Anything Anywhere Quickly,” focused on applying artificial intelligence and manufacturing to revolutionize, strengthen, and expand the manufacturing capacity of the United States.
New director named for Facilities Engineering Institute
Mark Bodenschatz has been selected to head the Penn State Facilities Engineering Institute (PSFEI), effective Oct. 1. Interim director since Nov. 2018, Bodenschatz was selected as
the new director for the institute following a national search.
Bodenschatz is tasked with building sustainable growth in the pillar areas of energy, education, engineering services, and facility condition assessments. His vision for PSFEI includes assisting clients in all ways that improve planning and meeting client demands for services with measured, responsive, and sustainable growth.
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