ROCK FILE NASA recruits geology Professor Patrick Burkhart
The Scordo Family (from left): Lucas, Ken, Bridget and Leo
Kenneth Scordo, ’85, management Home: Laguna Niguel, Calif. Profession: Founder, chief executive officer and president of OC Securities, Inc., a fully registered, online securities broker dealer. Hobbies: Tennis, skiing, travel, the outdoors and exploring the west. Greatest accomplishment: Graduating from Slippery Rock University, starting my career on Wall Street after graduation, and moving to California in 1992. Why I give: I give to challenge other alumni to give and make our alma mater the greatest college in the country.
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SRU embraces social media as informational tool SRU recognizes the value of social media and has become an active participant on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Social media gives students, alumni and friends of the University the opportunity to receive information about campus activities, chat, share memories and view numerous photographs. If you haven’t already done so, like us today at: http://www.facebook.com/ slipperyrockuniversity and join the conversation.
NASA, impressed by Patrick Burkhart, professor of geography, geology and the environment, has recruited him to co-lead the space agency’s Lunar and Planetary Science Academy summer internship program. Burkhart will teach 20 of the nation’s finest college science majors about the surface of the earth and supervise a student-faculty research expedition to the Grand Canyon. It is the second consecutive year NASA has tapped Burkhart for the internship program, which inspires the next generation of scientists to pursue careers in space technology. “I feel very fortunate that my interest in planet Earth and my ability to inspire other people to revere planet Earth have been recognized as an asset by the team of NASA scientists who asked me to make a contribution,” he said.
Program provides ‘home away from home’ welcome More than 65 minority high school seniors received a first-hand look at SRU academics and social life by participating in the annual Opportunity Knocks program. Opportunity Knocks gives prospective SRU students the chance to meet professors and current students, spend the night in a residence hall, eat in the dining hall and participate in a scavenger hunt throughout campus to learn more about what the University offers. Students met professors from biology, business, communication, criminology, education, exercise and rehabilitative sciences, music, psychology, and social work.
Baghouse passes ‘sniff’ test Thanks to the addition of a baghouse system, SRU’s coalburning boiler plant particulate emissions are nearly 100 times lower than the federal legal limit. Third-party test results show the plant, located next to Morrow Field House, emits no smoke and a minute amount of particulates. Scott Albert, SRU director of facilities and planning, said the certified testing demonstrates that plant operations exceed U.S. Clean Air Act standards. “We feel a sense of relief that the baghouse performed as it was designed,” he said.