4 A I Behrend Beacon 111 September 18, 2009 B I www.thebehrendbeacon.com Top Engineering News: GE Cuts 1,480 jobs General Electric Transportation has laid off 1,480 of some of Erie's best-paying jobs, the Erie Times- News reports. The layoff is due largely to the fact that the company has not re ceived any new North American locomotive orders this year. The outlook for locomotive pro duction in 2010 is grim, leading the company to lay off employees due to a simple lack of work. The cuts that GE is making, including pay freezes, a cut on executive This week’s A webcomic of romance , sarcasm, math , and language. DEAR VARIOUS BARENTS, GRANDPARENTS, CO-WORkERS, AND OTHER "NOT CCfr-fvrFR PEORE" WE DON’T MAGICALLY KNOW HOU TO DO EVERYTHING IN EVERY PROGRAM. WHEN WE HELP YOU WE'RE OJUAU-Y JUST DOING THIS: Please print this flowchart out and tope it near your screen. CONGRATULATIONS; YOU'RE NOW THE LOCAL COMPUTER EXPERT! Lasher promoted to full professor Mech. Engineering professor a stalwart of Behrend faculty since 1984 CONNOR SATTELY vdiloi-in-i IlK'l Dr. William Lasher, who has been involved in almost every as pect of development for Penn State Behrend’s Mechanical Engi neering program over the last quarter decade, has been pro moted to a full professor position. Lasher first joined the Behrend faculty in 1984, initially starting out as part of the school’s initial degrees, which were interdiscipli nary degrees combining energy and environmental science with engineering. After receiving his undergradu ate and bachelor degree from Michigan in naval architecture, Lasher worked at AMSCO (now Steris) as a computer application engineer. He managed a CAD sys tem, and worked to increase the use of computer tools in engineer ing. He came to Behrend after see ing a notice in a newspaper that Behrend was starting an engi neering program. He was part of an effort to shift the fledgling program towards one that would include traditional engineering degrees such as Me chanical Engineering. Two of the biggest changes he had a part in was the hiring of the engineering staff - for which he served on search committees - and the expansion of computer technology at the school. “When the program was start ing out, finding faculty was pretty tough,” he said. “People would come look at the campus, which was really small back then, and not take it seriously. It’s a lot eas ier to get faculty now, because they take a look at what we have and are immediately impressed.” pay, trimmed travel expenses, and layoffs will save about $l5O mil lion, according to Shaun Francis, GE’s general manager of human resources. T can t stress enough the fact that we are still committed to Erie," he said. "This is a difficult day for all of us. It s a difficult day for the leadership and the com munity, but we are very proud of our 100-plus-year relationship, and we look forward to the next 100 years." xkcd: courtesy www.xfecd.com Dr. William Lasher. Also greeting new professors in the 80s was an undeveloped com puter situation. When he started, he says, there was one teletype, card reader, display graphics tube, and two key punches in a room in Turnbull. He recalls com ing in on Thanksgiving day to in stall a new operating system. “We did what we had to do to get it all running,” he says. In 2003, he took a sabbatical to New Zealand and restarted his re search on sailing aerodynamics. Lasher was the program chair for Mechanical Engineering for ten years, and retired in July 2009. His continuation of his research enabled the promotion to full pro fessor, which he calls “a weight off his shoulders.” It’ll be hard to judge the differ ence in workload after the promo tion. A lot of his time the past few years, he says, went into being the Mechanical Engineering pro gram chair. This year will be a “recenter ing” year, he says, when he hopes to continue committees and stay involved. He also will continue his per sonal passion in sailing, sailboat racing, and playing the organ. Engineering School welcomes new faculty Dr. Gary Smith PLASTICS ENGINEERING Dr. Gary Smith Education: Ph. D. in Chemistry, SUNYAlbany Teaching: Intro to plastics; plastic materials Industry experience: 30years; plastics at General Electric Researching: Composites, polymers Dr. Gary is joining the School of Engineering at Penn State Behrend after almost 30 years’ experiences in the plastics industry. Smith, who is currently teaching two plastics courses at Behrend, has been added to the faculty as a Lec turer in Engineering. Smith received an undergraduate degree in mathematics at S.U.N.Y. Albany, and a Ph. D in Chemistry. His three decades within the field of plastics involved working with new materials and processes in various capacities. He worked for General Electric for many years, and accord ing to the THE MADE tOGKW U WORDS VMAT'iBU >. foticu ;uoiow. Penn State Behrend website was awarded 13 awards in- cluding the Worldwide Technologist of the Year in 1988. In 1989, he says, he at- tempted to enter early retire ment, but found him self “too young, and too poor,” so he re-entered the industry doing ther moplastic composites. Having taught only evening chem istry courses at the University of Evansville in Indiana, the prospect of teaching full-time intrigued him, but he “never got around to it* until the Behrend job opened last spring. Since moving to the College in mid-August, Smith is already im pressed with the School of Engineer ing. “It’s a great hands-on program,” he says. “The courses are designed to let students go into the workforce right away. They are able to do spe cialized jobs right away; it’s very practical education.” 1 In the future, Smith hopes to teach a special topics course; this week, he says he will submit the basics of the course so that the college might offer it in die future. This course would be materials-baseti, and could involve medical, automotive, and even electrical components. In his free time - of which he hv sists he has none - Smith coaches his three children’s sports plays golf, and .months in PittsbuHMjh, in£ volved semiconductor crystals for x ray and radiation detectors. He had always been drawn to teaching, he says, often teaching younger engineers new techniques and leading seminars and training at companies he worked for. The transi tion to being a full If he could process, gj ve students. however, ° brought him one bit of advice: a new chal- Keep learning. lenee- being Technology lenge. Derng chan ges quickly; able to relate keep current on and connect what is changing to students. by reading jour- His inspira- nals - Sta y curious tion, though, and explore. Push yourself to learn can come ' ourcraft . from know ing just what ° ne warning: . j . Don t leave your students will firstjobtoc / face after quickly. It takes a they receive year or two to a diploma. switch from being “The in- a stU( lent to an dustiy wants engineer. Learn . “ . the business and students what’s going on who know before you move how both the on. hardware and software side of elec trical engi neering,” he says. “It’s whaf attracted me to teach at Behrend; these students are learning both sides.” Sprang expects to stay as a profes sor, given the opportunity, and is working on his Ph. D in electrical engineering at Pitt. Sprang also has a passion for woodworking, and spends a lot of time fixing up his home. He enjoys artistic drawing, having developed the skill over the past few years. all photos contributed. Engineering “I wanted to teach,” she says, “and that’s why I got [my doctorate].” Zhong also insisted upon gaining industry experience. “I didn’t want my students to think that I’d spent my entire life in school. I wanted to teach with some experience in industry behind me.” That experience came from work ing on refridgeration and air condi tioning systems, testing and modeling for air conditioning, and working on emissions standards and product development for radiators, coolers, and engines. Zhong plans to continue her re search in energy efficiency and en vironmental issues such as emissions standards. She hopes to research methods to improve energy use, once her schedule calms down. The move to Penn State Behrend has also taken her out of her de ment; Zhejiang University has 37,000 students while the University of Illinois has just under 30,000. “Thefocus here is a loj better,” she says. “Bigger schools splietimes focus a lot on research and getting donations; Behrend concentrates on the education, and the students.” In her free thne. Zhong eryoysath letie activities sum as jet tun ning, and swimming; she also enjoys music and movies. Dr. Yongfang Zhong MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Quick facts: Dr. Yongfang Zhong Education Ph. D. in M. E., University of Illinois Teaching: Fluid Power (M E 432) Industry experience: Refridgeration; coolant systems Researching: Energy efficiency Even before she left her haipe country of China, Dr. Yongfahg Zhong knew she had a passion for teaching. One of the School of Engineering’s newly hired professors this year, Zhong will teach fluid power and other me chanical en gineering classes one bit of advice: Learn whatever you can. Don’t just limit yourself to homework; in a university, a Zhong re ceived both her under graduate and you’re on your own; take advan tage of college. one warning: Being self-moti vated is very im portant. Learning is a lifelong Zhejiang University in " China. Fol lowing her graduation, she was of fered a scholarship for a Ph. D at the Univer sity of Illi nois Urbana-Champaign, and decided to move to America to con tinue her education. process, take that with you to your job. Also, be a team player, and be prepared to work with differ ent people. If she could give students. professor can help you learn. In the industry,