Why the Condition College, PA space is a sensor technologies warm location

Why the Condition College, PA space is a sensor technologies warm location

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You don’t notice them, but they’re always there — measuring, monitoring, helping you live a safer, more convenient life. Sensors have become widely used in manufacturing and are now commonplace in homes and personal items, from smartphones to cars to smart-home devices like robot vacuums, lights, thermostats, cameras and more. Sensors now track human health data, just like they track the health data of heavy equipment and machinery in factories.

In Happy Valley, sensors play a role in our research and business ecosystem, with extensive sensor research taking place at Penn State and several established sensor companies growing or starting up in the area.

Here’s why some local experts believe Happy Valley has an affinity for sensor technology and how they see them changing the world for the better.

Why Happy Valley is a sensor technology hot spot

For KCF Technologies, the “why” behind the company’s Happy Valley headquarters is clear. This is where the company got its start and there were never plans to grow anywhere else.

As Sean Buda, vice president of marketing, explained, KCF Technologies came out of Penn State research more than two decades ago. At that time, the company’s three founders, all Penn State researchers, including current CEO Jeremy Frank, were working on wireless vibration sensors for various government agencies.

As the sensors proved applicable in a broad range of applications, KCF’s reach expanded to more industries. As the company grew, it relied on adding more Penn State talent.

“When I started with KCF two-and-a-half years ago, I would say at least 70% of our company was from Penn State. Now, that continues to diversify, coming out of [the COVID-19 pandemic], as we become more of a global player,” Buda noted. “We’re operating on six different continents, with over 600 manufacturing locations, as we scale our business.”

Still, its global reach doesn’t tempt KCF to relocate. The company is deeply embedded in the Penn State community, through athletics sponsorships, internship programs and high quality of life for its employees. Buda has an optimistic outlook on continuing to grow as a global business from central Pennsylvania.

“Every June, we hold an industry-wide manufacturing event in Happy Valley and, last year, we had 250 people attend from around the world,” he said. “State College is becoming an easier place to do business, with some great venues… If we were to do this… 10 years ago, it wouldn’t have been quite as easy.”

Another sensor innovator with a strong Penn State connection is Larry Cheng, Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State. We’ve covered Dr. Cheng’s research many times in the past, including his work on wearable sensors that could change health care for good.

Cheng credits Penn State’s unique interdisciplinary approach to research in aiding him

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Elizabethtown College sends used computer technology overseas to Ukrainian students in need | Local News

Elizabethtown College sends used computer technology overseas to Ukrainian students in need | Local News

Elizabethtown College sent a mix of 93 used computers, screens and mice off to Ukraine to help students without necessary technology for their education.

All levels of education in Ukraine have been greatly disrupted by the war, said Andrew Kinsel, founder and owner of the Ukranian nonprofit organization, Ukraine Protection and Development Fund. His organization is facilitating the donation of Elizabethtown College’s computers to Ukrainian students.

The students need donations to replace technology that is often stolen or damaged by Russian soldiers.

Kinsel said in an interview with LNP | LancasterOnline Thursday that a computer that might not be the top of the line in the U.S. is like “gold” for Ukranians – and, it’s a good method of recycling, “Ecologically it’s good… it’s taking junk and giving it to somebody that really needs it.”

Approximately 17 million people have been displaced, roughly 62,000 have died and more than 140,000 buildings have been destroyed in the war Russia waged against Ukraine since February 2022, according to Reuters news agency.


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In fact, the war has hindered education for 5.3 million children in Ukraine, according to UNICEF, and those who could flee could take very little with them – especially not a laptop or computer.

Students in Ukraine are attending school amid air raids and artillery fire, which can make study impossible, Kinsel said.

“I have been in schools in areas liberated from Russian occupation where the roof was damaged, walls shot or all the computers stolen,” Kinsel wrote in a Facebook post. “Universities have suffered rocket attacks and Ukrainian language books burned.”

Multiple efforts, one fund

Kinsel started the Ukraine Protection and Development Fund in May 2022, shortly after the current fighting broke out. Adopt a School, the program Elizabethtown College participated in, is one of the organization’s efforts.


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Though he’s not sure how many students the organization has helped specifically, Kinsel noted that one computer can help five to 10 students in Ukraine. In some parts of the country no more than five students can gather in one spot to prevent themselves from becoming targets of artillery fire.

Adopt a School is just one program of the Ukraine Protection and Development Fund. Through its other efforts – Generators for Life and Computers for the Front – the organization also donated more than 1,000 pieces of electronic equipment to soldiers on the front line, raised over $500,000 to supply body armor to military units and has donated over 100 electric generators to villages damaged by the Russians.

Kinsel has been living near Kyiv, Ukraine, since 1992. A Houston, Texas, native, Kinsel originally came to Ukraine while interning in the U.S. Embassy there during his time studying at American University in Washington, D.C.

He was planning to return to America that summer but instead, he began working with a startup media

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Putting children initially: New group companions with Troy college district for programming

Putting children initially: New group companions with Troy college district for programming

Putting little ones initial is the mission for the non-income by the exact identify.

“At a time when the will need could not be increased, we will need to do more for our little ones,” said Kidz Initial President, John D’ Antonio.

The non-financial gain is built up of previous municipal staff bringing their regions of skills jointly ranging from parks and recreation, regulation enforcement, athletics, and more.

“I consider sports activities enjoy a big portion I genuinely do,” D’ Antonio included. “I believe by obtaining little ones concerned in activity applications we are going to get them off the road, get them concerned in structured functions.”

The thought for the group came about six months ago the Troy metropolis university district is their to start with partnership.

The plan provides after school sport choices for young learners, that consists of the universities initial girls flag soccer team and the only group in Segment 2.

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For the high faculty learners, there are pathways to the proficient trades with the support of the Laborers Area 190 Union.

Superintendent of schools John Carmello claimed, “We have graduates each calendar year that go to some of the prime colleges in the region, Ivy League- but it’s not everybody and there’s a great residing to be created in these labor unions.”

Gwennan Booth, a consultant from NYS Laborers-Companies Cooperation Education and learning Belief explained, “Our goal of working with Kidz Very first and the faculty district is to teach students about coming into the trades and coming into that job route. there is a spot in our union and a position site for all people.”

Gang avoidance and intervention is a major component of the organization’s mission.

“You can find a large amount of issues out there with our young ones they’re navigating the streets which is really hard so we are attempting to give them the instruments they require to conquer that peer force,” said Ron Barrett, gang prevention specialist with Kidz 1st.

Grassroots team UFD founder Dontie Mitchell claims there demands to be extra group involvement and satisfy the faculty districts halfway in get to hold modify coming.

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” I go off the basic principle that it will take a village to elevate a kid and if you are a instructor compared to a mentor or somebody in the group who has an fascination in supporting young children, you ought to normally be included. there ought to always be partnerships in between those people two fractions for the functions of making sure that these little ones are moving in the route we have to have them to in get to be thriving in everyday living.”

Mitchell, who’s been at his mentorship efforts for nearly two decades now says funding and community guidance is the largest hurdle to get

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Video game Jam can help college students share, nurture passion for gaming, building

Video game Jam can help college students share, nurture passion for gaming, building

MORRISVILLE — For more than a decade, SUNY Morrisville has assisted individuals occur together in the World wide Activity Jam to make a match in 48 hours, all around one central theme. This year’s central theme was “Roots.”

“We have college students participating who are in our freshly formed Recreation Programming diploma that commenced this fall,” Professor Richard Marcoux mentioned. The new diploma is distinctive between SUNY colleges, with Marcoux indicating that although other SUNY educational institutions have game layout or growth degrees or reports, SUNY Morrisville is the only 1 with a Match Programming diploma.

“And that is partially a final result of the Sport Jam,” the professor said. “Students demonstrated an fascination that not only started off the Activity Jams, but the activity programming classes right here.”

Grace Fowler was among the those people learners attending. Fowler reported it was her 2nd semester at Morrisville and was majoring in Video game Programming.

“My childhood was total of gaming since I was between a large amount of colleges,” Fowler reported. “Gaming was a constant in my everyday living. It’s a little something truly shut to my heart.”

Fowler stated they’d enjoy to function for a massive enterprise like Valve, well-known for its popular movie online games from the Portal series to Staff Fortress 2 and the very profitable digital fact recreation 50 % Existence: Alyx.

“If I come across an indie team, I’m not heading to say no,” Fowler extra. “But [working for Valve] is the ultimate target.”

Fowler’s responsibilities on the group involved video game art and style and design.

“It’s my to start with Game Jam, but I’ve recognised my crew for two semesters now, so I do not have nearly anything to stress about,” they explained.

Alex Woods, a sophomore at Morrisville, laid out the thought for the team’s recreation, making use of Roots as the game’s theme.

“We’re building a thing like a botany simulator that discounts with escalating and breeding plants,” Woods claimed. “You can breed crops alongside one another to get greater bouquets, unique colors, taller, and then offer them for funds to obtain goods like fertilizers and soils that can make them expand speedier.”

When asked what the biggest problem would be, Woods explained it would appear down to figuring out how to retailer all the facts for the vegetation the activity would use and interact the way they want.

“The factor is, we’re considering of creating the flowers scriptable objects,” Woods discussed. “But there is only a single scriptable item, so if we make adjustments to it, then it’s completely adjusted.”

On the crew as nicely was Chino Beach, a senior majoring in application software advancement with a minor in match programming.

Like other pupils pursuing video game programming, Seashore stated she would like to go on to perform for a sport studio in the foreseeable future.

“And the Video game Jam offers me great encounter for that,” she explained. “It provides like minded folks with each other for a enjoyable

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New College or university Ranking Of Technology Transfer Has A Shock Range Two

New College or university Ranking Of Technology Transfer Has A Shock Range Two

It would seem for each and every higher education, there’s a listing about faculties – a ranking. And that is good, truthfully. Know-how is power and being aware of what a variety of individuals feel about how well faculties stack up on a variety of metrics can only be practical.

There are exceptions of class. Some rankings and lists are actually shallow advertising ploys put out by university recruiters and click-bait engines. And the rankings that try out to measure and rating faculties on their monetary return – on their return on investment decision – all those are unhelpful. Faculties and universities must hardly ever be calculated by how numerous pounds they can set in your pocket.

Even so, higher education lists and rankings can be fascinating and intriguing and once in a while insightful, and a person these list caught my eye a short while ago. This one, from a non-partisan think tank known as Heartland Ahead, isn’t so a great deal a position as it is a study paper scoring how well and how often faculty get their significant study prowess and transfer it into markets. It’s a research rating.

The report authors say they regarded, “formal commercialization and tech transfer of mental house, we use creation disclosures, the variety of licenses and choices, licensing cash flow and startups shaped less formalized modes contain citations of university posts contained in patents granted to companies. This demonstrates the worth of educational analysis in the non-public sector.” They alter for the dimensions of investigate budgets so the evaluation was relatively even.

Like most lists, it’s not the way to rank schools – it is just one particular way. And a fairly appealing a single at that.

So, which universities does Heartland Ahead say are the best at turning expertise into current market electric power? The identify at the top of the list possibly won’t shock – Carnegie Mellon College in Pennsylvania.

Or at the very least that need to not shock. Carnegie Mellon is a marketplace powerhouse of computing, engineering and difficult main science. It’s each and every little bit the peer of sites this sort of as MIT and Cal Tech, maybe even a notch or two better. Or at the very least so thinks Heartland Ahead – MIT was variety 11, tied with Purdue University Cal Tech was a very respectable 19.

But it is the identify in the second spot on this checklist that may an eyebrow – The University of Florida. The university arrived at this lofty publish, the paper located, irrespective of obtaining a analysis spending plan rated just 29th. Nevertheless, if we’re searching at what a faculty did with their money, Carnegie Mellon’s analysis funds was ranked

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Western Illinois College gets $400,000 for small business programming | Politics and elections

Western Illinois College gets 0,000 for small business programming | Politics and elections

Smaller company programming at Western Illinois College-Quad-Metropolitan areas Campus received a improve this thirty day period with the announcement of $400,000 in federal funding, secured with assistance from U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline.

Bustos submitted the funding ask for to the government past June as component of the Economical Products and services and Normal Governing administration legislation through her position on the Property Appropriations Committee.

While presenting a mock examine to university officials on Thursday, Bustos mentioned the revenue is from the Local community Venture Funding program. 

“It was a very, very aggressive process,” she explained. “We experienced communities, we experienced jobs, we had counties, we experienced cities all around this 7,000-square-mile, 14-county Congressional district (use). We have 150 cities in this congressional district, so you can envision how numerous different corporations, cities and counties experienced put in genuinely significant task requests.” 

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Bustos aided secure a complete of $55 million by the Group Challenge Funding process for northwest and central Illinois.

“We know half of little-company employees arrive from the smallest of small enterprises and that 2.1 million of people jobs in the point out of Illinois are in smaller business,” she stated.

Chris Merrett, director of the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs at WIU, mentioned the funding would go towards a few applications: the advertising of new small business begin-ups through entrepreneurship training assistance for existing little corporations to check out new markets and help for late-phase organizations to make small business succession programs.

“This funds is going to assistance us travel innovation and organization achievements along the enterprise ownership existence cycle,” Merrett reported. “How do we nurture a sustainable Most important Street economic system? That is what we are attempting to do here.”

Merrett explained the campus now had an present small-business enterprise advancement middle that experienced “finished some great items”

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