En • ineerin •
School of Engineering to host historic conference
ADAM FRACASS I
managing editor
400 business CEOs, rep
resentatives from the
biggest companies around
the world, and Penn State
Behrend. Normally some
thing that isn't gathered to
gether, but will be soon.
The 2010 American Soci
ety of Mechanical Engi
neers' Manufacturing
Science and Engineering
Conference (ASME /
MSEC), will take place on
, ober 12 - 15 at the
`ront Convention Cen
in downtown Erie.
The event is being hosted
Behrend's School of En
leering, leaving a mark
history.
Behrend has always
, n a research-oriented
tool, which made the
cool a prime candidate
hosting the conference.
"Members of our engi
ring faculty are actively
- wed in research in the
tufacturing field," said
Ralph Ford, Director of
School of Engineering.
`The faculty explores
ics such as energy re
:tion in manufacturing
ocess, new techniques
laser and stiff-friction,
'ding, and electrically
isted manufacturing,
!di is an area of re
•ch that Penn State
Upcoming Engineering program receives accreditation
Events
OCTOBER 6TH:
12:00pm - 4:OOPm
Event: Behrend's Annual
Career & Internship Fair
Location: Junker Center
glic;ree c:rc
ehe
"Scientists investi
gate that which al
ready is; Engineers
create that which has
never been."
-Albert Einstein
Behrend pioneered."
The event will be spread
out over the three days
with a variety of activities.
One event will have
panel discussions on the
importance of manufactur
ing and the industry.
"Industry panels will
focus on energy reduction
in transportation, next
generation composites, the
commercialization of inno
vation, and advances in the
electrification of vehicles,"
says Ford.
In addition to the panels,
there will be several other
events, including symposia
topics on nano-materials,
material forming, green en
ergy, and bio-manufactur
ing.
The conference also fea
tures three keynote speak
ers, all of whom have
played a deep importance
to the manufacturing in
dustry.
Jack McDougle is one of
the speakers. He will
speak about the Council on
Competitiveness' new flag
ship initiative to strengthen
US Manufacturing in the
21st century.
McDougle will specifi
cally touch upon the First
Global Manufacturing
Competitiveness Index.
This index is a report
from over 400 CEOs and
senior manufacturing ex-
LOUIS ROBINSON
engineering writer •chemical
engineering
A department within the
School of Engineering re
cently received national ac
creditation from the
Accreditation Board for
Engineering and Technol
ogy.
The Electrical and Com
puter Engineering Technol
ogy program was launched
at Behrend in 2006 with an
expanded curriculum.
The updated program
now offers a bachelors de
gree in Electrical Engineer
ing Technology or
Computer Engineering
Technology, it's a one of a
kind program in the Penn
State system.
"We are very pleased that
the updated ECET pro
gram is now ABET accred
ited," said Dr. Ralph Ford,
the Director the School of
Engineering in a press re
lease.
This recognition is assur
ance that a college or uni
versity program meets
the quality standards es
tablished by the profes
sion for which it prepares
its students.
The accreditation is
only given to a select
group of schools that
coi roV
lialecitrdtaLl
lb write for the Engineering page, e-mail Engineering Editor Ryan Frankowski at rsifsos4@psu.edu.
ecutives worldwide. It fo
cuses on the areas of the
work environment: assess
ment of competitiveness,
countries that are most
dominant across the world,
and the role of government
and policy in relation to
further development.
"It is a unique opportu
nity for attendees of the
conference and regional
business leaders to find out
about the state of manufac
turing," said Dr. Ford.
McDougle himself is a
Senior Vice President at
the Council on Competi
tiveness working with the
U.S. Manufacturing Com
petitiveness Initiative.
He is a former deputy
undersecretary for eco
nomic affairs, and led the
analysis of U.S. manufac
turing in the global market
place. McDougle was also
the first deputy Assistant
Secretary for Manufactur
ing and Services.
The second keynote
speaker is Representative
Kathy Dahlkemper.
The congressional repre
sentative for the Erie area,
Dahlkemper is a perfect
compliment to McDougle's
address. Dahlkemper will
be discussing the most
current resolutions
being considered in
House of
Represen-
have demonstrated a com
mitment to education in
the field of Engineering
Technology.
It has helped assure peo
ple that Behrend is one of
the top engineering schools
in the country by having
every one of
their degree
programs ac
credited by
ABET
The process
to receive this
accreditation
is not an easy
one. It's a vol-
untary,
process of
peer review.
The school
must first
complete a self study that
documents whether stu
dents, curriculum, faculty,
administration, facilities
and institutional support
meet the established crite-
While the school is per
forming the study, the
Cover news that you care about!
tatives by the Committee
on Science and Technol
ogy, a committee in which
she serves
Since 1997, Dahlkemper
has worked with Dahlkem
per Landscape Architects
and Contractors, a major
landscaping firm in the
area that she part-owns.
She has also served as
Human resources manager
and Special Projects Direc
tor at the firm.
Dahlkemper is also the
co-founder and director of
Lake Erie Arboretum at
Frontier Park, along the
bayfront. It is an area ded
icated to over 225 varieties
of trees.
The final speaker is Dave
Grzelak, chairman and
CEO of Komatsu America
Corp. Grzelak will give the
keynote address at the con
ference.
Grzelak manages re
sponsibility for Ko-
U.S
operations deal
ing mainly
with
struc
matsu's
ABET commission forms
an evaluation team to visit
the campus.
The team consists of a
team chair and a few eval
uation members. The team
then comes to the school in
question and assess course
"These rankings reflect the growing
recognition of the quality of our engi
neering programs, faculty, students,
and graduates."
Dr. Ralph Ford
Driector of the School of Engineering
materials, projects done by
students, and assignments.
The investigation team
also talks to students and
faculty about the program.
After talking to as many
in the program that they
possibly can, the investiga
tion team assess the crite-
US pa
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BEHREND BEACON
October 1, 2010
www.thebehrendbeacon.com
tion, utility and mining
truck products marketed
worldwide.
Grzelak is an Erie native
and Penn State Behrend
alumnus. Before joining
Komatsu, Grzelak worked
with GE Transportation
Systems holding market
ing, manufacturing, sales,
and management positions
with the company.
Grezelak is also being
honored as the 2010
Behrend Alumni Fellow,
the highest honor the
Alumni Association can
give.
The event will provide
tours of manufactur
ing firms like
Eriez and
HERO BX in
Erie and
ria, and make sure that it
has been met.
After all that, the pro
gram gets their ABET ac
creditation.
This approval is very im
portant for Penn State en
gineering in making the
program
more
tionally rec
ognized.
With this
accredita
tion, Penn
State
Behrend,
continues
to show
why they
are one of
the best en
gineering
schools in the country.
The Electrical and Com
puter Engineering Technol
ogy program joins the
other programs in the
School of Engineering with
additional accreditations.
In total the School of En
gineering offers three asso-
. 9 4:000tw .
Cummins in Jamestown,
NY.
The conference is open
to anyone interested in
learning more about the
state of manufacturing.
Students can register on
line. Full registrations are
$675 for members and one
day registrations are $425.
For more information,
contact Dr. John Roth, the
conference organizer and
assistant director for re
search and technology
transfer for the School of
E finer
ciate and seven bachelor's
degree programs.
Each program is accred
ited by either the Engineer
ing Accreditation
Commission (EAC) or the
Technology Accreditation
Commission (TAC), both of
ABET
These accreditations are
part of the reason why the
School of Engineering was
recently ranked in the Top
50 for "Best Undergraduate
Engineering Programs" by
U.S. News, which requires
the ABET accreditation to
even make the list.
"These rankings reflect
the growing recognition of
the quality of our engineer
ing programs, faculty, stu
dents, and graduates," said
Dr. Ford on the Engineer
ing website.
The School of Engineer
ing continues to make
headway not only in the
Penn State system, but also
in schools around the na
tion as well as within the
engineering community.
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