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
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U WORDS
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;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 <mjoys toaptyg* . '
Quick facts
If he could
give students
one bit of advice:
Why should com
panies hire you
over someone
Plastic
else? Employers
look for leader
ship, influence,
and initiative.
Try new things;
it’s okay to fail
sometimes!
one warning:
Control your ca
reer. Always have
a view of where
you want to go,
and make a plan
to get there.
What skillsets
are you going to
need, what
choices do you
need to make to
achieve your
goals?
Mr. Ralph Sprang
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
Quick facts:
Mr. Ralph Sprang
Education:
Masters in E.Eng., Johns Hopkins
Teaching:
Processors; electrical systems program
Industry experience:
20years as an electrical engineer
Researching:
Working on Ph. D. at Pitt
Ralph Sprang, who has spent
more than 20 years as a journeyman
in the electrical engineering indus
try, has joined Behrend’s School of
Engineering for the 2009-2010
school year and beyond.
Sprang will teach towards his spe
cialty in a microprocessor class that
will teach both the hardware and
software side of the subject. He will
also instruct a visual basic program
ming class.
After receiving an undergraduate
degree in Electrical Engineering
from Ohio State and his Master’s
from Johns Hopkins, Sprang spent
time working on consumer and de
fense electronics. His last job before
coming to Behrend, which he held
for nine> .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,