Up, Up and Away On a Saturday morning in April, a dozen engineering students launched their senior design project: a high-altitude, helium-gas-powered weather balloon equipped with instrumentation to collect data like temperature and air pressure. It was targeted to rise about 92,000 feet and remain airborne for around two hours. While the launch was successful, radio communication with the balloon was lost at an altitude of 72,000 feet during its ascent. The project will be analyzed and refined by students in next year’s capstone class. In addition, a student-filmed video of the weather balloon project won the Gold Award in the MTT Alive! 2010 International Video Competition, sponsored by the Microwave Theory and Techniques (MTT) Society of IEEE, a professional engineering society. The competition was open to short, student-generated videos of projects that required both a high level of systems thinking and a wireless aspect. View the winning video at www.gannon.edu/balloon.
“The launch was a culmination of all the hard work we did over the past year, and we’re excited to pass on what we learned to the next generation of engineering students.” Josh Florentine, command pod leader
The weather balloon weighed 1,200 grams and rose more than seven feet tall when fully inflated. It was made of latex that could deteriorate after contacting natural skin oils, requiring the use of gloves.
Student Achievements & Accomplishments Deborah Adams ’09, a graduate student in Gannon’s master of business administration program, attended the 2010 conference for the Risk Insurance Management Society (RIMS), held April 25-29 in Boston. Adams participated in the conference through the Anita Benedetti Student Involvement Program, sponsored by RIMS. Christina Ballish was honored at the ninth annual Gannon University Social Work Conference and National Association of
Social Workers Awards Luncheon, held in March. Ballish was the recipient of the Rick Ferko Spirit of Social Work Award, presented to a junior-year social work student at a college or university in Erie County. As the honoree, Ballish received a $1,000 scholarship to continue her social work studies at Gannon. Sophomore Donald Breakey and junior Cassandra Wasson participated in the Primary Care Scholars Program, held May 17-28 at Pennsylvania State University’s College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa. The competitive program gives undergraduate students exposure to medical school and helps them become more familiar with issues in primary care through both classroom sessions and clinical rotations. Junior Anthony Firetto participated in the True Pike Challenge, a program designed for members of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Fewer than 20 students nationally were selected for the challenge, held at the Boulder (Utah) Outdoor Survival School in June. The challenge helped participants learn how to survive in the desert and wilderness without modern conveniences and strengthened their leadership and teamwork skills.
Gannon University’s student newspaper, The Gannon Knight, was chosen for a First Place with Special Merit award by the American Scholastic Press Association. The award, representing work completed during the 2009-2010 Academic Year, indicates a score of at least 900 out of 1,000 possible points as well as outstanding scholastic publication in format, content and presentation. Senior Sara Toth served as editor-in-chief; English instructor Frank Garland is the paper’s faculty adviser.
newsnotes
Senior chemistry major Zachary Michael was chosen for the prestigious Chair’s Scholar Fellowship from the University of Pittsburgh’s chemistry department. The fellowship is awarded to qualified, incoming graduate students at Pitt. Michael spent the summer conducting research at the University of Pittsburgh in carbon nanosensors and carbon nanotube cups, with plans to pursue a doctoral degree in physical chemistry at Pitt this fall.
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