News

Students use thermal imaging camera to assist with energy conservation
Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Two Penn State Greater Allegheny honor students-Erick Froede Jr., an engineering major from Budd Lake, N.J., and Anthony Palocaren Sr., engineering major from West Mifflin-are working with engineering instructor Eric Lipsky on a class project to determine the loss of energy through the existing windows of the Frable building.

The investigative analysis will be done using a thermal imaging camera provided by the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP). This program is an outreach extension service of Penn State providing technical assistance and performing energy efficiency assessments for Pennsylvania manufacturers. In addition, PennTAP is committed to helping Penn State faculty promote an energy conservation ethic among Penn State students through the use of energy efficiency assessment equipment in the classroom, special projects and other real world experiences. Roger Price, senior technical specialist for PennTAP based at Penn State Greater Allegheny, will show students how to use the thermal imaging camera as a tool to help perform the analysis.

The heat loss will be determined by taking temperature measurements using both a thermocouple and a thermal imaging camera. The camera takes both a digital image and a thermal image which can then be used to find the average surface temperature of an area. The insulation values of the windows are then calculated using the temperature information. This will then be compared with the insulation values of newer windows to calculate the energy savings that can be expected with new windows. Then the cost analysis will then be performed to estimate the payback time for replacing all of the windows of the Frable Building.

Wood-fueled heating system saves company $150,000 per year
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Energy assistance provided by Penn State Outreach unit results in success story
University Park, Pa.-Dillon Floral, located in Bloomsburg, was using fuel oil to heat its greenhouses during the winter months. With the cost of fossil fuels escalating at exorbitant rates, it was becoming very expensive to keep the greenhouses warm enough for year-round flower breeding. The company decided to explore the feasibility of utilizing woody residue being generated by local mills and tree service companies as a potential fuel source. It turned to Penn State's Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP), a unit of Penn State Outreach, for help.

PennTAP energy specialist John Pletcher provided technical information, feasibility studies, and contacts that helped move the company forward. In the end, the company spent $800,000 for a new wood residue-fueled heating system; the company estimates it will be saving $150,000 a year in fuel costs, yielding a four-year payback for the new system. Dillon Floral recently held an open house to show off the new system, made by Advanced Recycling Equipment located in St. Marys.

"Another benefit is that wood is considered carbon neutral, considering that trees absorb great quantities of carbon dioxide as they grow-whereas fossil fuels have been sequestered in the ground for millions of years," said Pletcher.

For more information about PennTAP visit http://www.penntap.psu.edu/ or call (814) 865-0427.

Virginia Tech director to head Office of Economic and Workforce Development

Friday, September 28, 2007

Timothy Franklin led efforts to reshape a Virginia regional economy impacted by declining farming and textile and furniture manufacturing

University Park, Pa. - Timothy V. Franklin, Virginia Tech's director of University Outreach Programs, Southside Virginia, has been appointed director of Penn State's Office of Economic and Workforce Development (OEWD), a unit of Penn State Outreach, effective Nov. 30.

"Tim Franklin's pioneering leadership of a Virginia Tech team and community partners to transform an economically distressed region of Virginia will be an asset to Penn State, as we expand the University's efforts to create and retain jobs and enhance the skills of the Pennsylvania workforce," said Penn State Outreach Vice President Craig D. Weidemann.

As director of the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Franklin will lead a unit that includes the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, Workforce Development Initiatives, Small Business Development Center, the Pennsylvania Plastics Initiative and the Health Care Initiative. He will develop relationships with state and federal government agencies, economic and workforce development organizations, other postsecondary education institutions, as well as businesses and industries, to match Penn State resources, expertise and intellectual assets with Pennsylvania economic development, workforce education and training needs. Franklin will report to the Penn State Vice President for Outreach.

"The assets are in place to position Penn State to continue to have a broad impact on Pennsylvania," Franklin said. "The value of what universities produce that can help communities has never been greater. I look forward to supporting additional ways for Penn State to have an even greater impact on the economy of the Commonwealth."

Since 2001, Franklin has directed Southside University Outreach Programs at Virginia Tech, providing leadership both to programs designed to help transform the economy of Southside Virginia and to educational partnerships with colleges and universities in the region. He also is the founding executive director of the Institute for Advanced Learning and Research (IALR), an independent state institution managed by Virginia Tech. Franklin collaborates with research faculty in the development and implementation of IALR research activities, including a distributed research model for technology-led economic development that is being adapted for use in other parts of Virginia and the Southeast.

The Southside Region in south central Virginia encompasses the cities of Danville, Martinsville and South Boston and the counties of Charlotte, Franklin, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Patrick and Pittsylvania. This region has experienced dramatic declines in tobacco farming and textile and furniture manufacturing. In response, Franklin organized and led a team that includes Virginia Tech faculty researchers and outreach staff and a wide range of community partners to foster a new economic base for Southside. The team secured more than $80 million in capital, program and operating commitments to support IALR's research and economic development projects.

Through the institute's Southside Initiative, Virginia Tech is redefining its land-grant mission and creating a national community-university engagement model, Franklin said. The initiative has been recognized with the South Region C. Peter Magrath/W. K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award, sponsored by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC), and is a finalist for the national Engagement Award, which will be presented at NASULGC's annual meeting in November.

At Virginia Tech, Franklin served on the Board of the Southside Business Technology Center and State Council for Higher Education in Virginia's Strategic Planning Advisory Committee. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine appointed him to the Southern Technology Council of the Southern Growth Policies Board, a regional think tank associated with the Southern Governors Association. He is also involved with the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges and the University Economic Development Association. Previously, Franklin was associate vice president for Government
Relations and Planning at Indiana State University.

Franklin is the author of journal articles on economic development and strategic planning and has made numerous invited presentations at national conferences. He earned his bachelor of science degree from Springfield College, his master's degree from the University of Southern California and his doctorate from Virginia Tech.

Penn State Outreach targets workforce training programs to state industry clusters

Thursday, February 22, 2007

University Park, Pa.-Penn State Outreach is helping Pennsylvania's workforce remain competitive in many ways. This is another in a series highlighting how faculty and staff are working with industry clusters across the Commonwealth to deliver customized worker training.

In Pennsylvania, the plastics industry employs more than 60,000. To keep the industry competitive, Pennsylvania's Workforce Investment Board (WIB) is partnering with Penn State on the Pennsylvania Plastics Initiative. Funded with $4.2 million over three years from the U.S. Department of Labor and Pennsylvania's government, the initiative is creating a statewide network of plastics companies, workforce and economic development organizations, and education institutions.

The plastics industry is part of the advanced materials and diversified manufacturing industry cluster-one of the state's nine targeted industry clusters, including agriculture and food production; building and construction; business and financial services; education; information and communication services; life sciences; logistics and transportation; and lumber, wood and paper. Gov. Ed Rendell has provided nearly $24 million for worker training and development programs in the Commonwealth aimed at advancing the skills of workers in these industry clusters, including $15 million for Industry Partnership Worker Training.

As part of the Pennsylvania Plastics Initiative, WIBs around the state are forming partnerships with local business and education organizations to help their region's plastics manufacturers.

In Northeastern Pennsylvania, three Penn State campuses-Wilkes-Barre, Hazleton and Worthington Scranton-as well as the Pennsylvania College of Technology, Penn State's Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, the Luzerne/Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board Inc., Northeastern Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center Inc. (NEPIRC), Manufacturers Association of Northeastern Pennsylvania and Northeast Pennsylvania Manufacturers and Employers Association, have formed the Northeastern Pennsylvania Plastics Cluster Workforce Development Team. The team is working with 53 plastics manufacturers in 11 counties.

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Plastics Cluster Workforce Development Team, along with NEPIRC, led the effort to secure an initial $400,000 Incumbent Worker Training grant from Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry. "The training was so popular within the northeastern region that the state awarded a second round of funding totaling $200,000," according to Patricia Lenahan, planner with the Luzerne/Schuylkill WIB Inc.

Sally McGuire, Penn State Hazleton director of Continuing Education, who helped organize the plastics team, said the plastics team used information in the Deloitte study of Pennsylvania's manufacturing sector as the basis for the partnership. Team Pennsylvania Foundation, Pennsylvania's Department of Community and Economic Development and the state's seven Industrial Resource Centers commissioned the study, released in 2004.

The Northeastern Pennsylvania Plastics Cluster Workforce Development Team's first step was to determine manufacturers' workforce training needs. Next, the team worked with manufacturers to provide a wide range of training programs for workers through several education providers, including Penn State's Management Development Programs and Services and Penn College's Plastics Manufacturing Center, which has state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and a mobile lab.

"This is truly a model for working as a team, partnering, collaborating and building trust with each other," McGuire said.

To date, more than 1,000 employees in northeastern Pennsylvania have participated in training. Topics have covered new product development, product prototyping, new market development, strategic planning, project management, advanced plastics and metals training, and advanced process automation.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Labor awarded the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania more funding for plastics worker training through the Pennsylvania Plastics Initiative. The Luzerne/Schuylkill WIB Inc.'s share of the funding totals $183,000 through June. This funding is being used for advanced-level training to prepare workers with new skills for career advancement within the plastics companies in these two counties, Lenahan explained. The Northeastern Pennsylvania Plastics Cluster Workforce Development Team helped prepare the application for new funding.

"The goal of this funding is to maintain and strengthen the competitive advantage of the plastics industry statewide," Lenahan said. "Plastics companies are seeing improvements in workers' skill levels as a result of the training."

About Penn State Outreach's commitment to workforce development:

The Office of Economic and Workforce Development, a Penn State Outreach unit, helps to advance the economic well-being of Pennsylvania by serving as a catalyst, facilitator and collaborator for using the resources, expertise and intellectual assets of Penn State to help create and retain jobs in the Commonwealth and enhance the skills of its workforce.

The Penn State Outreach organization is the largest unified outreach organization in American higher education. Penn State Outreach serves more than 5 million people each year, delivering more than 2,000 programs to people in all 67 Pennsylvania counties, all 50 states and 80 countries worldwide.

Penn State researcher testifies on economic development policy
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The U.S. government needs to move away from an economic development policy mainly focused on solely job creation to a policy that develops high-skill and high-wage jobs requiring more education and training for its citizens, says a Penn State economic geographer. National energy industries may be an area of growth and opportunity for such economic growth.

Amy Glasmeier, the E. Willard Miller professor of economic geography and planning at Penn State and the John D. Whisman Appalachian scholar, Appalachian Regional Commission, testified Tuesday (Jan. 23) before the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on "Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management." Her comments focused on the state of economic development emphasizing four issues: the experience of federal efforts to reduce economic distress; the impact of reductions in federal funds for economic development over the last two decades; the challenges facing economic development practice today; and finally, regional development opportunities associated with the search for national energy independence.

"The emphasis on jobs over the last 30 years has brought to rural areas and distressed counties some degree of development," Glasmeier says. "But, technological change, corporate restructuring and global competition are now changing the nature of work in rural America and causing serious problems of displacement in many communities that were the beneficiaries of post-war rural industrialization. Job losses are mounting in communities where low-skill employment has been dominant. From 1997 through 2003, more than a million and a half rural workers experienced unemployment due to fundamental changes in industries that were targets of recruitment over the last 40 years. The rate of this job loss is up sharply due to automation and supply acquisition from firms operating outside the U.S. In rural America, manufacturing is being hit hard with one in 10 displaced workers formerly employed in labor intensive industries. Looking ahead, the data show that workers with only a high school education, regardless of the industry in which they work, are especially vulnerable.

"Today's economic conditions require an integrative strategy that focuses on both people and place in response to a renewed era of industrial restructuring. Just creating jobs without planning for the skill needs of this new employment generates simply fosters new problems. After a long period of a mismatch between job growth and growing income inequality, the emphasis can and must shift away from a sole emphasis on jobs at any cost to one that recognizes not just the number of jobs but their quality, durability, longevity and developmental potential," she adds.

The full testimony is at http://www.live.psu.edu/story/21875 online.

Outreach targets workforce training programs to Pa. industry clusters
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

University Park, Pa.-Penn State Outreach is helping Pennsylvania's workforce remain competitive in many ways. This is another in a series highlighting how faculty and staff are working with industry clusters across the Commonwealth to deliver customized worker training.

Penn State Lehigh Valley is partnering with the Lehigh Valley Workforce Investment Board Inc. (WIB) and other area organizations to offer a wide range of youth-focused programming to help educate and prepare young people for the workforce, according to Ken McGeary, regional director of Continuing Education and Outreach at Penn State Lehigh Valley.

The Kids Connect Project, funded by a grant made possible by the Lehigh Valley WIB, benefits more than 90 inner-city children each year, connecting them with services and programs from the Penn State Lehigh Valley Writing Project, the Allentown School District, the Allentown Public Library, Head Start and the Lehigh Career and Technical Institute.

Another program funded through a grant secured by the Lehigh Valley WIB, the Keystone Program, is benefiting more than 100 inner-city middle-school students at South Mountain, Raub and Trexler Middle Schools by helping them build life and career skills.

Penn State Lehigh Valley's Capstone Program introduces high school students in the Health Science Academy at Allen High School to a wide spectrum of health-care careers through hands-on experiences in a hospital environment. And the Penn State Lehigh Valley/CareerLink Academic Enrichment and Employment Training Program provides the tools for high school students from diverse social and economic backgrounds to succeed in school and to get a head start on career goals.

Penn State Lehigh Valley also offers a broad array of professional training and education programs for adults, including the new Practical Nursing Program, at its Corporate Learning Center in Bethlehem. For information, visit http://www.lv.psu.edu/CE/ce.htm online.

The Commonwealth supports the formation of partnerships among WIBs and local businesses and educational institutions for education and training purposes. Gov. Ed Rendell has provided nearly $24 million for worker training and development programs, including $15 million for Industry Partnership Worker Training aimed at advancing the skills of workers in the state's nine targeted industry clusters: advanced materials and diversified manufacturing; agriculture and food production; building and construction; business and financial services; education; information and communication services; life sciences; logistics and transportation; and lumber, wood and paper.

About Penn State Outreach's commitment to workforce development:

The Office of Economic and Workforce Development, a Penn State Outreach unit, helps to advance the economic well-being of Pennsylvania by serving as a catalyst, facilitator and collaborator for using the resources, expertise and intellectual assets of Penn State to help create and retain jobs in the Commonwealth and enhance the skills of its workforce.

The Penn State Outreach organization is the largest unified outreach organization in American higher education. Penn State Outreach serves more than 5 million people each year, delivering more than 2,000 programs to people in all 67 Pennsylvania counties, all 50 states and 80 countries worldwide.

Director of Office of Economic and Workforce Development to retire
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Energy assessments for small businesses result in significant savings
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

University Park, Pa.-More than half of the recipients of the Environmental Protection Agency's annual Energy Star Small Business Award benefited from a technical support program offered by the Small Business Development Center at Penn State.

The award is presented to small businesses across the nation working to save energy and prevent pollution. This year five of the eight small businesses that received the award were clients of the Small Business Development Center's Environmental Management Assistance Program (EMAP), which performs free and confidential environmental compliance and energy efficiency on-site assessments for small to mid-sized businesses. The clients included:

- Recumbent BikeRiders Inc., based in State College, requested that EMAP conduct an energy assessment, which found that there was significant heat loss through the store's 20-year-old single-pane windows. After implementing EMAP's recommendations, the store's energy consumption was reduced by 33 percent, for savings estimated at $860 annually.

- Music Mart, based in State College, contacted EMAP for an energy assessment. The assessment found that the business's heavy use of incandescent lighting to showcase musical instruments generated a significant heat load that required the use of air conditioners, even during winter months. After performing the lighting upgrade, the store reduced its electricity consumption and is saving $1,840 per year.

- TJ Markets in Hughesville made several energy efficiency improvements based on EMAP's recommendations-including upgrading lighting and installing programmable thermostats. The business reduced its energy costs by $8,600 annually.

- Tripp's Grill & Six Pack in North Bend requested an energy assessment to decrease its energy costs and improve its bottom line. One EMAP recommendation was to replace four inefficient beverage coolers with one walk-in cooler. The change resulted in a $150 savings the first month alone.

- Susquehanna Fire Equipment Co. in Dewart sought out EMAP's help in determining how to cut energy costs. Improvements based on EMAP's assessment are saving the company more than $2,280 annually. Such improvements included adding door seals, installing new insulation and removing unnecessary lighting.

Businesses in Flemington, N.J.; Mechanicsburg; and Carlsbad, Calif., were the other recipients of the award.

Penn State's Small Business Development Center, which offers EMAP, is part of Penn State Outreach's Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers receive funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the private sector, and the host colleges and universities. This support enables consulting services to be provided at no charge. For additional information on the services, contact the Penn State SBDC at (814) 863-4293 or visit http://www.sbdc.psu.edu/ online.

Clients report $52 million in economic benefits as a result of PennTAP help
Thursday, June 15, 2006

University Park, Pa.-Sharon Custom Metal Forming, a metal fabricator based in the northwestern region of Pennsylvania, needed to improve its Web presence. The company's Web site had poor search-engine rankings and did not provide measurable benefits. For help, it called on Penn State's Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP). PennTAP helped the client launch a brand new Web site, created by a Pennsylvania IT provider. PennTAP also educated the client on search engine optimization--allowing the client to achieve a better ranking in searches. The company reported $930,000 in economic benefits.

This is just one example of PennTAP's many success stories last year. Pennsylvania businesses aided by PennTAP reported 450 jobs created or retained and $52 million in economic benefits as a result of help in 2005.

According to a year-end report, PennTAP provided an overall total of 630 cases of technical assistance to Pennsylvania businesses in all 67 counties. Economic benefits included cost savings, sales increases and investments as a result of PennTAP assistance. Jack Gido, director of Penn State's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the Penn State Outreach unit that includes PennTAP, noted that 225 of the jobs and $28 million in economic benefits were reported by companies in counties designated as distressed.

With its statewide network of technical specialists, PennTAP helps businesses improve their competitiveness by providing a limited amount of technology assistance and information to help resolve specific technical questions or needs. The program also connects business with University expertise and resources and with other economic development providers.

Below are some additional examples of how PennTAP aids businesses:

• Drennen Firewood, a firewood manufacturer, contacted PennTAP because it was interested in establishing a new fuel business venture producing charcoal and kiln-dried firewood. PennTAP researched what would be required to meet the stringent air-quality guidelines to produce charcoal; and, after determining the costs would be astronomically high, PennTAP assisted the client by focusing on kiln-dried firewood, providing information on such details as operation, maintenance and air-quality standards. The client was able to establish a new revenue stream in a market that has great potential due to the increased cost of fossil fuel.
• Unicast Inc., a castings manufacturer, has a diverse workforce. The company requires that the staff receive orientation training in policies and safety procedures -- a time-consuming task. It approached PennTAP for help to determine an efficient way to train new and incumbent employees in both English and Spanish on a daily basis, or whenever needed. PennTAP recommended and helped implement a computer-based training program in both languages. This not only saved the time and money of hiring a trainer, but it also provided consistent content and an "anytime, anywhere" training technique.

For more information about PennTAP, visit http://www.penntap.psu.edu/ online.

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 Environmental award recognizes partnership's success
Tuesday, June 13, 2006

University Park, Pa.-A coalition that helped businesses reduce waste and emissions, save energy, save or create more than 400 jobs, and achieve $40 million in economic benefits over five years has won the 2006 Western Pennsylvania Environmental Award in the higher education category.

The Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PennTAP), a unit in Penn State Outreach's Office of Economic Development, the Electrotechnology Application Center at Northampton Community College (ETAC) and Penn State McKeesport formed a partnership to provide one-on-one pollution prevention and environmental compliance outreach and technical assistance to help western Pennsylvania businesses go beyond regulatory compliance.

The award, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and Dominion, addressed the partnership as "an outstanding example of an innovative economic development program with successful practices for promoting economic growth that is focused on environmentally sustainable business practices and energy conservation."

PennTAP specialist Roger Price said, "The partnership promotes economic development and growth through environmentally sustainable business practices and energy conservation."

Among the documented environmental and economic benefits from the partnership's first five years are a reduction of 73 million gallons per year of water use and wastewater discharged; elimination of 20 million pounds per year of air emissions; and reduction of 1.8 million pounds per year of solid wastes.

The partnership clients also reported energy savings of 6 million kilowatts per year of electric power and 100,000 thousand cubic feet per year of natural gas.

In addition to the award, the partnership was able to designate the nonprofit environmental organization of its choice to receive a $1,000 contribution. The partnership donated the sum to the Plum Creek Watershed Association.

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State awards University $2.3 million PA CareerLink contract
Thursday, May 4, 2006

University Park, Pa.-PA CareerLink, the state's premier employment network, has chosen Penn State to develop a customized training and credentialing program for more than 1,700 employees across the commonwealth.

To support this initiative, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry awarded Penn State a $2.3 million contract to develop the PA CareerLink Training and Credentialing Program. Penn State Continuing Education facilities in Abington, Cranberry, DuBois, Harrisburg, Great Valley, Scranton, University Park and Gannon University in Erie, will be delivery sites for the training, which will run through February 2007.

"Citizens who need PA CareerLink services expect the best job search and placement assistance available," said Sandi Vito, Pennsylvania's deputy secretary for workforce development. "By providing staff with advanced training and improving our practices we can ensure that our customers' needs are met."

The curriculum provides targeted training and tools for staff working in all areas of the PA CareerLink system -- greeters, direct service employees, supervisors, managers and administrators. The training will help PA CareerLink staff build upon and improve their everyday tools and strengthen their ability to help customers.

"This grant has enabled us to focus a number of Penn State and partner resources to respond to the needs of the PA CareerLink program," said Jack Gido, director of Penn State's Office of Economic and Workforce Development. "PA CareerLink employees will now have access to a comprehensive training program designed to provide a foundation of information and skills that will help them to serve employers and job seekers effectively and consistently."

Craig Weidemann, vice president for outreach at Penn State added, "We are very pleased that the Department of Labor and Industry chose Penn State to help provide training to advance the important work of the PA CareerLink system. This training project provides an opportunity for the University to help PA CareerLink staff connect employers with citizens across the commonwealth to improve the strength of our workforce."

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Small Business Development Center promotes business education and opportunities
Friday, April 14, 2006

University Park, Pa.-Making high schoolers aware of the competitive world of business can be a challenge. That's why Penn State's Small Business Development Center has partnered with the Penns Valley Business Network to promote business education and opportunities such as internships to students in the Penns Valley area.

"We see opportunities for the students in the community and would like to get them involved," said Susan Romanini, owner of Wynwood House, an assisted living community in Penns Valley and member of the Penns Valley Business Network. "This can be a win-win situation for both business owners and students."

The first initiative to develop from the collaboration was a seminar on marketing, coordinated by the Penn State Small Business Development Center. Penns Valley area students and business owners attended the seminar, which also included opportunities to network.

"We would like to develop students' interest in entrepreneurship. A seminar such as this, where they can interact with business owners, is a great opportunity," said Jane Brooker, Penns Valley business education teacher. "In addition, business owners who never had any formal marketing training could walk away and implement ideas immediately."

Small Business Development Center Director Donna Holmes said that the event was well received and other, similar seminars and initiatives will be forthcoming.

Penn State's Small Business Development Center is in Penn State Outreach's Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Pennsylvania Small Business Development Centers are funded by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Small Business Administration, the private sector, and the host colleges and universities. This support enables consulting services to be provided at no charge. For additional information on the services, contact the Penn State SBDC at (814) 863-4293 or visit http://www.sbdc.psu.edu/ online.

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