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Penn State alumni among nation's top collegiate Peace Corps volunteers

2/7/13

Penn State has once again been recognized among the nation's top producers of Peace Corps volunteers. With 55 undergraduate alumni serving overseas and working in fields such as agriculture, education, environment, health, community economic development and youth development, the University is No. 21 on the Peace Corps' 2013 rankings of colleges and universities in the large school category.

"Every year, graduates of colleges and universities across the United States are making a difference in communities overseas through Peace Corps service," said Peace Corps Acting Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet.

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THON influences doctor's career and cancer research

2/6/13

For Sinisa Dovat, THON and the Four Diamonds Fund are not only sources of funding for his novel research into leukemia, but also were inspirations to come to Penn State Hershey.

"I was happy at my former institution," Dovat, associate professor of pediatrics and pediatric cancer researcher, said. "Then I saw a video of THON and saw the energy of these kids. I never saw anything like it and was stunned. It really got me. I knew I wanted to be a part of this place, where there's an upward trend."

Dovat's lab has discovered the protein that inactivates Ikaros, a gene hown to prevent leukemia. With this knowledge, he is exploring potential treatments that keep the protein from shutting down the protective qualities of the Ikaros gene, and funding from THON and Four Diamonds Fund is important to supplement National Institutes of Health funding he receives.

Bob Phillips leaves Hershey Medical Center with his family

Palmyra man first in Pa. to go home with total artificial heart

2/5/13

When Bob Phillips left the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center for his Palmyra home this month, he did so without a human heart. The 74-year-old became the first person in Pennsylvania to go home with a total artificial heart and a portable driver to power it.

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Researchers link visibility and safety from roadway lighting

2/5/13

Driving at night is no picnic and can be fraught with danger, given the sometimes severe visibility limits and scarce reaction time. While roadway lighting can improve visibility at night and give drivers more response time to potential hazards, relating visibility from roadway lighting to nighttime driving safety has been limited by a shortage of data and lack of consideration of vehicle headlights.

To address this issue, Eric Donnell, associate professor at Penn State and faculty researcher at the University's Thomas D. Larson Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, in collaboration with researchers at the Lighting Research Center, developed a unique parallel approach to lighting safety analysis.

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Penn State Harrisburg commemorates building's LEED certification

2/4/13

Penn State Harrisburg is leading the way for sustainable student housing statewide with its new residence hall named Building 10,000. On Feb. 6, a dedication ceremony will be held for Penn State Harrisburg's Building 10,000's LEED silver level certification, an industry benchmark for energy efficiency and high performance green design.

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Chris Powell from 'Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss' to present on Feb. 5

2/4/13

Chris Powell, host of the ABC television show "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition, " will give a presentation about his experiences helping to motivate people to overcome obstacles in their lives at 7 p.m. on Feb. 5, in Eisenhower Auditorium on the Penn State University Park campus. Tickets for the event, which is hosted by the Penn State Kinesiology Club, are free and available at the HUB-Robesen Center, the Bryce Jordan Center or the State Theater. Tickets also are available at the Eisenhower Auditorium box office and will be available at that location prior to the show until all tickets have been distributed.

Powell is the trainer and transformation specialist on ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition," which debuted as the number one television show in May 2011. Throughout the show's first season, he traveled the country producing a documentary-style series in which he used his innovative techniques, education and expertise to guide extremely overweight individuals as they shed hundreds of pounds over the course of a year. "Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition" will return to ABC for a second season starting June 3.

Scholarship program aims for $120 million goal, increases match

2/4/13

A program that has raised $100 million in scholarship endowments will now offer Penn State supporters an even greater incentive to help students in need. Starting March 1, the Trustee Matching Scholarship Program will offer a 10 percent annual match for new endowed gifts, doubling the additional funds available for students.

$1 million gift to create endowed scholarship at College of Medicine

1/31/13

Penn State College of Medicine has received a $1 million gift from The Donald B. and Dorothy L. Stabler Foundation in Harrisburg -- the largest single contribution the college has ever received for an endowed scholarship.

By supporting deserving students, the Stabler Foundation hopes the impact of its gift will multiply as recipients are encouraged to give back to support future generations of medical trainees at the College of Medicine. With this recent gift, the Stabler Foundation has contributed more than $6.5 million to advance Penn State Hershey's core missions of education, research, patient care, and community outreach. The foundation's last major commitment supported the construction of the new Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.

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Heard on Campus: Kathy Mattea

1/31/13

"I started saying 'What is my primary purpose here? I want to be of service.'"

-- Kathy Mattea, two-time Grammy winner and two-time Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, discussing moving beyond a typical celebrity spokeswoman role to become an active part of movements to fight climate change and promote Nonviolent Communication on Jan. 31 at The Penn State Conference Center Hotel. She spoke on how her roots in West Virginia coal country laid the foundation for her activism as part of the University's Forum Speaker Series. Mattea, who takes the stage at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at Eisenhower Auditorium, also performed four Appalachian folk songs centered on the hardships of coal miners and those living in the midst of mining activity.

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Family creates scholarship to honor wife, mother

1/30/13

A father, his two sons who are Penn State graduates and his daughter have established a scholarship fund in their wife and mother's memory.

The Vijaya L. Balaji Memorial Scholarship in the College of Communications is open to all students at the University Park campus who have a demonstrated financial need and whose cultural, ethnic and/or national background would contribute to the diversity of the student body. First preference will be given to students who are the first generation in their families to attend a college or university.

The fund was created by Kodumudi Balaji, Murali Balaji (2009 doctorate in mass communications), Arvind Balaji (2010 bachelor's in journalism) and Lakshmi Balaji in honor of Vijaya, who strongly believed in making the most of educational opportunities. She was married just before her 21st birthday and came to the United States from India, where such opportunities were not as readily available.

Penn State recognizes 10 new distinguished professors

1/24/13

Ten faculty members have been recognized as distinguished professors for 2013 by Penn State for their outstanding academic contributions to the University. The new distinguished professors are: Dmitri Burago, professor of mathematics; John M. Carroll, Edward M. Frymoyer Chair and professor of information sciences and technology; Long-Qing Chen, professor of materials science and engineering; Keith C. Cheng, professor of pathology; Donna Fick, professor of nursing; Teh-hui Kao, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology; Runze Li, professor of statistics; Michael E. Mann, professor of meteorology and director of the Earth System Science Center; Mark Strikman, professor of physics; and Steven H. Zarit, professor of human development and family studies and head of the Department of Human Development and Family Studies.

Distinguished professors were selected upon the recommendation of their peers and the administration. The special academic title is intended to recognize a limited number of outstanding professors for whom endowed chairs or professorships are otherwise unavailable.

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Alumnus receives $5M to develop groundbreaking HIV/heroin vaccine

1/17/13

A Penn State alumnus who attended both Penn State Hazleton and University Park, has won an award that will pay him $5 million to research his proposal to develop a vaccine against HIV that also prevents heroin addiction.

Gary R. Matyas, a 1978 Penn State graduate in biophysics, captured the 2012 Avant-Garde Award for Medications Development from the National Institute on Drug Abuse with his plan to attack twin scourges.

"There is a strong correlation between heroin abuse and HIV infection, especially in developing countries," Matyas said of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus that causes AIDS. "The possibility of creating a combination heroin/HIV vaccine provides an important opportunity to address both a unique treatment for heroin abuse as well as continuing the quest to develop an effective preventive HIV vaccine."

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Thompson to speak at tonight's MLK Memorial Banquet

1/15/13

Samuel C. Thompson Jr., professor of law and director of the Center for the Study of Mergers and Acquisitions at Penn State Law, will speak at tonight's sold-out Forum on Black Affairs Martin Luther King Memorial Banquet.

Due to an illness, Thompson will be substituting for Randall Robinson, who was originally slated to speak.

In addition to directing the center, Thompson teaches courses in mergers and acquisitions and tax law, including corporate taxation and international taxation. Previously he was the dean of the University of Miami School of Law; professor of law at the UCLA School of Law and the University of Virginia School of Law; visiting professor of law at the Yale Law School; and associate professor of law at the Northwestern University School of Law.

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Students hope to create more reliable emergency communications network

1/14/13

A collaboration between Penn State engineers and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology (DHS S&T) Directorate, is working to give emergency personnel unhindered communications when responding to an incident or disaster.

Over the past few months, undergraduate engineering students have been testing an ultra-high frequency (UHF) system on Penn State's University Park campus and other locations. The work, still in its initial phases, includes a radio designed, built and tested entirely by undergraduates, which formed the heart of the system tested this last summer and fall. A mobile repeater with a drone or other aircraft acting as the UHF signal relay also was the focus of an award-winning senior engineering capstone design project last spring.

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Students develop low-cost water filtering system for African nation

1/10/13

In an effort to bring fresh water to rural Kenyans, Penn State's School of International Affairs students Kory Hansen and Jin Ju Kim participated in Penn State's Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship program to develop a ceramic water filtration system for parts of the sub Saharan African nation.

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