Mary Napoli, associate professor of literacy education at Penn State Harrisburg, has been selected to serve a second term on the committee that chooses the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her second three-year term runs through 2015.

Sai Kakuturu, assistant professor of civil engineering, will discuss how internal soil erosion, or erosion within infrastructure, causes costly failures, from levee breaks to highway damage, at noon on Wednesday, Jan. 30, in the Auditorium, C-213 Olmsted Building, at Penn State Harrisburg.

In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave a "D" grade to America's aging infrastructure. Kakuturu will explore erosion within structures such as levees and dams; erosion below infrastructure, including buildings, highways, and bridges; and research challenges on the topic.

While driving to work, the Chinese verse "It is on festival occasions that one misses home the most" came to Anna Wei Marshall's mind. As a Chinese native residing in Harrisburg, the quotation by Wang Wei, a Tang Dynasty poet, holds a special meaning to the Penn State Harrisburg Chinese language instructor - a meaning now reflected in her students' most current project - setting up a Chinese New Year celebration on campus. Open to the public, the event will take place at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1, in the Capital Union Building Student Center (Room 210) at Penn State Harrisburg.

Richard Foxx, professor of psychology Penn State Harrisburg and adjunct professor of pediatrics at the Penn State College of Medicine, has been named the recipient of the 2013 American Psychological Association's (APA) Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Applied Research.

Yuefeng Xie, Penn State Harrisburg professor of environmental engineering, has been elected a fellow of the International Water Association (IWA), a global network of water professionals headquartered in the United Kingdom. Xie, of Middletown, was nominated for his research in disinfection byproducts and for his training of water professionals.

The IWA Fellows program recognizes water professionals who have made significant contributions to the field of water science, technology and management. Approximately 130 members have been elected as fellows since the program began in 2010.

A photography exhibit, "31 recent photographs, and one oldie (Some sharp, and some totally out-of-focus)" by Samuel Winch, associate professor of communications and humanities, will be featured through Dec. 8 in the Penn State Harrisburg Library's Morrison Gallery. Open each day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., the exhibit is free and open to the public. "Through my photographs I often try to convey not only the beauty of light and scenery, and the character and goodness of people, but also the delicacy and fragility of nature," Winch said.

Penn State Harrisburg School of Humanities faculty members Eric Bliman and Jen Hirt have won national awards for their short publications. Bliman, instructor in English composition, received one of two 2012 National Chapbook Fellowships from the Poetry Society of America, which will publish his chapbook, "Travel and Leisure," in the spring. Bliman, of Middletown, Pa., will read from his entry at the society's headquarters in New York, also in the spring. Hirt, assistant professor of creative writing, won the 2012 Gabehart Prize for Nonfiction from the Kentucky Women Writers Conference for her essay, "Glow in the Dark." Hirt, of Harrisburg, Pa., read her winning entry, about a night she spent with bat researchers in rural Kentucky, at the conference, held Sept. 21 and 22 at the University of Kentucky.

A panel discussion examining the presidential candidates' campaign strategies is next up in Penn State Harrisburg's fall 2012 series Academic Perspectives on the Election Season, which looks at important election-year topics. Scheduled for noon Wednesday (Oct. 3) in the Gallery Lounge, W-107 Olmsted Building, the panel will explore the electoral system, party and candidate strategies from party perspectives, and communication strategies and the use of media.