Students at Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) learn business and technical skills in their classes that they will eventually take into their careers. However, in IST 331, a human-computer interaction class taught by Frank Ritter, the experience that students gain by analyzing organizations' technological services can be directly applied to the "real world." For Katrina Layman, an IST student who took the class in spring 2012, the benefit of the project was twofold -- her group helped re-design the website of DiscipleMakers, a Pennsylvania-based Christian mission organization in which she plays an active role. In an effort to expand its reach, the organization has since adopted many of the group's recommendations.

Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) is in the midst of a campaign to raise $50,000 for the IST Alumni Society Trustee Scholarship, which will support students who otherwise couldn't afford a college education or would be saddled with loan debt. The college hopes to reach this goal by Oct. 7.

Ryan Glynn, a 2012 graduate of Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), says he strongly believes that the entertainment industry doesn't do many favors for musicians, filmmakers and comedians who are trying to establish a unique brand. To counter that perceived indifference, he is in the process of launching a digital distribution company that he says will put creative control, as well as financial rewards, into the hands of independent artists.

To design successful products, technology companies must employ the right mix of creativity and logic. Jack Carroll, Edward M. Frymoyer Professor at Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology, delves into the ways that those characteristics interact in a new book that he edited, "Creativity and Rationale: Enhancing Human Experience Through Design."

The Center for Enterprise Architecture (EA) at Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) has received a donation valued at $300,000 from NetApp, a company that creates storage systems and software that help customers around the world store, manage, protect and retain their data. The donation includes a suite of storage systems and software that will support a new EA research laboratory that is being built at the College of IST.

Researchers at Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology are using cognitive architecture - a broad theory of human cognition based on a wide selection of human experimental data and implemented as a running computer simulation program - to understand how cognitive processes interact with biological systems and influence social behavior.

This work, being conducted by doctoral students Christopher Dancy and Changkun Zho, and Frank Ritter, professor of information sciences and technology, has broad implications in areas including educational software design, military operations, video games and the formation of social networks.

Ryan Roberts, who was born with Down syndrome and a congenital heart defect, only lived for 21 months before he died on July 8. Before he passed, however, he inspired thousands of people to treasure the little moments in life by participating in a worldwide ice cream party.

Two faculty members at Penn State's College of Information Sciences and Technology, along with a faculty member at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, recently lent their services to the Pennsylvania Army National Guard to celebrate Ryan's life. They were assisted by a few local business owners, who have been nominated to receive an award from the military in recognition of their efforts.