6 BEHREND BEACON
February 5, 2010
www.thebehrendbeacon.com
World and National
Engineering
News in Brief
GE Transportation reports first
quarterly loss in 20 years
LAWRENCE PARK -- According to
a quarterly statement released by Gen
eral Electric, the Lawrence Park-based
Transportation segment of its business
posted a $157 million loss in the fourth
quarter of 2009.
The loss was expected, and even
predicted in early 2009 by CEO
Lorenzo Simonelli, who estimated that
locomotive production could fall by 44
percent for the year.
Despite the quarterly loss, the
Transportation segment reported a
yearly profit of $473 million, around
half of 2008's yearly total.
Sponge created for spill cleanups
Researchers at Case Western Re
serve University have developed a
lightweight sponge designed to absorb
oil out of contaminated water while
leaving the water behind. The oil can
then be squeezed and reused.
It is hoped that the material can be
used to clean up factory floors, high
ways, and large bodies of water. Ac
cording to EPA estimates, H) to 25
million gallons of oil are spilled every
year in the U.S. alone.
New standard set for world's most
accurate clock
There is now a new "world's most
accurate clock." The National Institute
of Standards and Technology has cre
ated an atomic clock based on a single
atom of aluminum, setting a new stan
dard for accuracy. The clock is twice
as precise as the mercury-based
atomic clock that previously held the
title.
According to Physical Review Let
ters, the new clock would neither gain
nor lose a second in the next 3.7 bil-
lion years
A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.
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Warley settling in as M.E. program chair
CONNOR SATTELY
After half a year in his position as
the Department Chair of the Mechan
ical Engineering program, Russel War
ley is starting to feel like he should
really be there.
He has become, in his words, a
"leader among peers."
Warley took over the position last
July, when it was vacated by William
Lasher's resignation. He has used the
friendships and relationships with fac
ulty and colleagues to create a type of
"consensus" leadership of the depart
ment. This has presented what Warley
thinks is the best way to lead, but has
also given several distinct challenges.
"You don't just hit the gavel and
have it done," he says, drawing from
his 20 years of experience managing
in industry, rather than a university.
"There's no such thing as tenure in
business, so you didn't have to worry
about that."
Fortunately, he says, those relation
ships with faculty make the job easier.
"We have very competent, very col
legial, cooperative faculty," he said.
"We haven't had any issues with fac
ulty even for a second, so that makes
it very easy."
Lasher, who held the chair position
for a decade, still remains as a "fall
back" for Warley, giving advice and as
sistance when he can.
"I help with developing schedules
for teaching - what classes are held
when, who teaches what, and so on -
as well as problems with students," he
says. "Graduation requests, transfer
credits, graduation requests, that type
of thing."
Despite the fact that Lasher advises
the faculty member who is now the
chair for his own department, he
thinks Warley is off to a good start.
A lot of that good start is due to the
transition which actually began fairly
editor-in-chief
Penn State Behrend Marketing
Russel Warley, left, had some help transferring into the position heading up the Me
chanical Engineering program by his predecessor, William Lasher, right.
WHAT'S NEXT?
DR. RUSSEL WARLEY'S LONG-TERM GOALS FOR THE M.E. DEPARTMENT
1. E-Learning 2. Wider reputation 3. Make educational
Does it make sense for The M. E. program is research known
the School of Engineering solid with a good reputation Employers are satisfied
to participate? If so, how? in the local area, particu- with the graduates that
The faculty would have to larly with local businesses. the M.E. program pro
be intimately involved. The next step is to vide. Wharley says,
Since a lot of schools expand that reputation out though, that many do not
are moving towards this, to a further-reaching area, recognize the innovation
this is something to both in Pennsylvania and in educational processes
explore in the future. elsewhere. going on at Behrend.
well before Warley took the post.
"Really, I ramped into the position,"
Warley said. " He became the Dean's
Representative to University Park, and
dealt with a lot of students who
needed to transfer after two years.
That helped him prepare for many of
the issues which come to his desk on
a daily basis today.
"Bill [Lasher] and I knew a little
early that it was likely me that would
be taking the role," he said, "so I
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Even at low doses, alcohol significantly impairs the judgment and coordination required to drive a car or operate machinery
safely. Low to moderate doses of alcohol can also increase the incidence of a variety of aggressive acts.
Copyright orWrong?
In order to protect the security and integrity of Computer and Network Resources against unauthorized or
improper use, and to protect authorized users from the effects of such abuse or negligence, the University
reserves the rights, at its sole discretion, to limit, restrict, or terminate any account or use of Computer and
Network Resources, and to inspect, copy, remove or otherwise alter any data, file, or system resources which
may undermine authorized use. (AD 20 Policy)
Since the beginning of the 2009-2010 academic year over 30 Behrend students have been found in violation
of the AD 20 Policy because of illegally downloaded copyrighted materials. Mott of these downloads have
been facilitated through Bit Torrent. While the use of Bit Torrent is not illegal, this "technology enables us to
access many different media in a timely, convenient fashion. However, the ease of access provided by modern
digital technology may result in the use of works without full understanding of rights and responsibilities."
Using unauthorized copies of music, movies, pictures, and videos in either digital or non-digital form is a
violation of copyright laws and a violation of the University Code of Conduct.
Make sure you have the legal right to download an item before you proceed. The University receives regular
reports on illegally downloaded items and your access code identifies you, the time and date of the download,
and the item downloaded.
ode
FIND OUT MORE AT: http://guru.psu.edu/policies/ad2o.html and
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A
cohol Fact
sre money is spent promoting alcohol each year than any other
product? In all of this advert izing you never see this one fact : alcohol is a drug.
It is the most widely used and commonly abused psychoactive drug in the world.
Engineering
started to work with him in advance
on some things, start training early."
Amongst those early training oppor
tunities was the Fall 2009 Semester
schedule, which the two created to
gether last spring.
"There's a lot of potential repercus
sions there for even a minor error,"
Warley said. "If a certain class over
laps and you don't notice until after
the semester starts, then you've got to
deal with contacting every student in
Engineering Internship available:
Position: Spring Co-op
Employer: General Electric
Job Function: Engineering I Accounting / Banking / Administration / Sales
Location: Erie, Pa.
Minimum cumulative GPA: 3.0
Deadline: February 19, 2010
Details:
GE offers co-op positions for a variety of majors, from computer science to me
chanical engineering to business administration.
Apply online at www.gecareers.com/campusinterview. Select "Business Specific
Internship," then click the drop-down menu and select "GE Transportation," then
"GE Transportation Co-op."
a certain section of a certain class, and
for many it can severely impact their
semester schedule."
As for Lasher, life is a little easier
without having to deal with possible
catastrophes around every turn.
"I'm under a lot less stress," he said.
"I have a lot more time to do teaching
research, talk to students, everything
else. The toughest challenge with the
program chair was the continual flow
of problems; you get done with one
and there's another to deal with."
Warley's long-term goals are still in
tact, but that continual flow of prob
lems has presented its challenges as
well.
"It feels like, as an employee, there's
a lot more coming at you at a faster
rate than previously," he said. "It feels
like I'm a bit less in control, because
you can't necessarily foresee the work
load coming at you. It makes it hard to
plan for and accomplish longer- or in
termediate-term goals."
How does he deal with transferring
from an assistant professor position to
handling the problems of a depart
ment?
"It's tough," he said. "The way I do
my teaching, my workload was very
high. The way I teach, there was a lot
of out-of-class stuff, constant student
contact, and lots of grading. Now, it's
all continued, plus there's a little
more."
And its taken its toll, he says
"Psychologically, I feel like with the
flood of things that are coming in, that
I'm somehow going to drop the ball or
let something fall off the bottom of the
to-do list. There's a little bit of appre
hension, I think, but just mainly be
cause I'm new.
"But I knew what I was getting into
when I agreed to take the position," he
said. "It'll probably take a full year
cycle including the summer to see how
I'm really doing in the position, assess
how the last year went."