Engineering News - 2019

ENGINEERINGNEWS P E N N S TAT E B E H R E N D S C H O O L O F E N G I N E E R I N G | 2 0 1 9

NEXT-LEVEL ENGINEERING 10 Meet the New Director 2 Students Rack Up Awards 6 Studying Groupthink 8 Testing VR Simulations 9 Rocky Mountain Reunion 12 1

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Choices. We all have them to make, but you’re not always faced with a big one like starting a new job and moving your family. If you are, you weigh out all the aspects, and you make a decision. This past summer, I made that choice—to join Penn State Behrend as director of the School of Engineering.

Why would I trade cheesesteaks in Philadelphia for ox roast (is that really a thing?) in Erie? The decision was actually quite simple. I looked at the School of Engineering, and I saw clear strengths in educating students and working with industry. Our school is a leader in experiential education, where students are putting theory into VITAL STATISTICS practice through lab work, research, AGE: 47 and internships.

HOMETOWN: Pittsburgh

Dr. Tim Kurzweg

Goals: to maintain excellence, grow research, and leverage our unique strengths to provide more opportunities for our students and faculty members.

However, what really made me decide FAMILY: Wife, Jennifer; three children ages 11, 9, and 5 to move across Pennsylvania was the MUSICAL TALENTS: Guitar and potential and opportunities that I see piano for the future. I envision a school where SPORTS: “I loved to downhill ski we continue to educate at the highest and was a competitive soccer player until I injured my knees. I’ve had level but also grow new academic three ACL surgeries.” programs and research initiatives. To ON LEADERSHIP: “It’s important to help us define these new programs, we listen to dissenting opinions. Likeminded people are great, but if you need to build on our unique strengths. want to build a strong team, you For example, having a world-renowned have to hear the other side, too.” plastics program, as well as Lake Erie in our backyard, we’re perfectly positioned to research and educate in the area of micro- and nano-plastics in water systems and advance the design of cradle-to-grave solutions for polymers. We’re likewise well-equipped to leverage our expertise in manufacturing processes and our interactions with local business and industry to research sensing, data analysis, and predictive engineering for Industry 4.0, the next Industrial Revolution.

True, Erie is a little different from Center City Philadelphia, but my excitement, pride, and vision for the School of Engineering and Penn State Behrend is overflowing. I conclude with an invitation: Please stop by the college, visit our school, and allow me to say hello. You will find a vibrant, growing School of Engineering, with amazing students primed to be our next engineering leaders.

ONE ADDITIONAL NOTE: This June, our School of Engineering will host the world’s foremost international manufacturing research conference—NAMRC 47 I MSEC2019—right here in Erie.

To learn more, including sponsorship opportunities and registering to attend, visit behrend.psu.edu/namr47-msec2019.

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Questions for the new school director Last summer, Dr. Tim Kurzweg was appointed director of the School of Engineering. Previously, he was the vice provost for undergraduate education at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

An expert in optical microsystems and alternative materials for electronics and antennas, he holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as a bachelor’s degree from Penn State.

Engineering News talked with Kurzweg to learn more about his vision and goals for the school.

What do you see as the school’s greatest asset? There are many, but one that stands out is industry partnerships. Behrend has really figured out how to work with companies on collaborative research projects, which makes us unique. It’s a remarkable foundation that we can continue to build on. I also have to say that the people—faculty and staff members— at Behrend are among our greatest assets as well. It’s clear that they truly care about our students and want to help them be successful.

Why is faculty research important? Research brings in funding for equipment and student researchers. It provides experiential learning opportunities for students, as well as personal and professional fulfillment for our faculty members. Furthermore, research helps improve the school’s visibility and reputation.

What are your top three initiatives? First, to advance Industry 4.0, which is a term used to describe a new industrial revolution that marries advanced manufacturing techniques with the Internet of Things to create manufacturing systems that are not only interconnected, but that communicate, analyze, and use information to drive further intelligent action. Industry 4.0 covers many of our disciplines and plays to our unique strengths here at Behrend. Second, I want to explore polymer engineering science because we need to start thinking about the end of life for products before we even create them. We have all the ingredients to be a world leader in this field, including access to Lake Erie and researchers to collaborate with in our School of Science. Finally, I’d like to see us explore biomedical engineering because Erie has several major medical facilities to partner with.

What are your goals for the school? To maintain excellence, grow research, and leverage our unique strengths to provide more opportunities for our students and faculty members.

What would people be surprised to know about you? This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever had to commute to work by car. I always walked, biked, or relied on mass transportation in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

FACULTY NEWS NEW FACULTY The school welcomed several new faculty members: Dr. Mohammed Alabasi, assistant teaching professor of mechanical engineering; Dr. Samaneh Fooladi, assistant teaching professor of mechanical engineering; Dr. Jiawei Gong, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; Dr. Ziyun Huang, assistant professor of computer science and software engineering; Peter Ingram, lecturer in mechanical engineering; Dr. Samy Madbouly, assistant teaching professor of engineering; Dr. Rasoul Milasi, assistant teaching professor of engineering; Dr. Ahmed Sammoud, assistant teaching professor of computer science and software engineering; Dr. Baiou Shi, assistant professor of mechanical engineering; and Dr. Vishwanath Somashekar, assistant teaching professor of mechanical engineering.

AWARD RECIPIENTS Five faculty members were recognized with School of Engineering awards in 2018: Dr. Faisal Aqlan, assistant professor of industrial engineering, Excellence in Research Award; Dr. Alicyn Rhoades, associate professor of engineering, Excellence in Outreach Award; Dr. Charlotte deVries, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, Excellence in Service Award; Dr. Ihab Ragai, assistant professor of engineering, Excellence in Teaching Award; Dr. Paul Lynch, assistant professor of industrial engineering, Excellence in Advising Award.

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In Brief

GIRLS EXPLORE ENGINEERING AT OUTREACH PROGRAM Nearly 150 high school students attended Penn State Behrend’s annual Women in Engineering Day in November. The youth outreach program uses hands-on workshops to encourage girls to explore engineering fields and careers.

A study space of their own Residents of the Engineering House special living option in Niagara Hall suggested turning unused space in the basement of the residence hall into a study-lounge. Several units of the college, including the School of Engineering, Residence Life, Housing and Food Services, and Information Technology Services, pooled resources to adapt the space. Students in the Engineering House helped design the space using Computer-Aided Drafting and are currently developing usage guidelines for the space.

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Behrend engineering programs ranked in top 40 by U.S. News Rankings by U.S. News & World Report released this past fall place the School of Engineering at Penn State Behrend among the top forty undergraduate engineering programs in the nation in the category of schools whose highest engineering degree offered is a bachelor’s or master’s. The school is at No. 35 on the list. The Best Engineering Schools rankings are based on surveys of engineering deans and senior faculty of engineering programs accredited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology).

Master of Manufacturing Management now delivered online and on weekends

Behrend’s Ragai named ASME fellow

The Master of Manufacturing Management (MMM) program, jointly offered by the School of Engineering and the Black School of Business, can now be pursued primarily online.

Coursework for the MMM, one of only a handful of manufacturing-focused graduate management programs in the country, is being delivered online and in two, ten-hour weekend campus visits per semester, plus a three-day summer residency for plant visits. The 32-credit program can be completed in one year of full-time study or twenty-two months of part-time study.

“It can be a challenge for any working adult to pursue a master’s degree, and manufacturing professionals have the additional concerns of scheduling around shift work and inflexible production schedules,” said Dr. Diane Parente, the Samuel A. and Elizabeth B. Breene Professor of Management and co-director of the program. “Converting the program to a combination of online and weekend study makes the benefits of advanced education accessible to a larger number of students.”

Visit behrend.psu.edu/mmm or email mmmBD@psu.edu for more information.

Dr. Ihab Ragai, assistant professor of engineering, has been named a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Just 2 percent of the society’s 140,000 professional members earn the distinction.

Ragai, a member of ASME since 1998, was recognized for his contributions to the field of advanced manufacturing.

Throughout his career, in both industry and academic settings, he has studied the influence of materials and manufacturing processes on product design for automotive and aerospace applications.

DR. IHAB RAGAI

At Behrend, Ragai teaches courses related to machine design, new product development, and design for manufacturing. His research has focused on advanced manufacturing processes, smart manufacturing, machine condition monitoring, and machine structural optimization. In addition, he has served as a visiting professor of mechanical design at Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

As an ASME fellow, Ragai is at the highest elected level of membership in the society, which promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and applied sciences in more than 150 countries. His formal induction as an ASME fellow will be at the 2019 Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference, which will be hosted by Penn State Behrend at Erie’s Bayfront Convention Center in June.

INNOVATIVE ALUMNUS HONORED Joel Carr ’07 was recently honored

by Pittsburgh Business Times with a 2018 Innovator Award for his work as a polypropylene plastics product technology leader at Braskem America’s research and development facility in Pittsburgh.

JOEL CARR ’07 Carr and his team of eight researchers were challenged to develop new plastic compositions that would allow automakers to design cars that are lighter and more fuel-efficient without sacrificing aesthetics, strength of materials, and ease and cost of manufacturing.

The team ended up finding the “holy grail” of automotive thermoplastic components by combining the desired attributes of different polymers to form new polypropylene compositions that met the auto industry’s specifications.

The researchers have applied for several patents for improved polypropylenes.

Carr, 33, lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Sheila, and daughter, Ruth.

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PENN STATE BEHREND’S ENGINEERING STUDENTS SUCCEED IN AND OUT OF THE CLASSROOM. HERE ARE A JUST A FEW OF THE RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS BY STANDOUT STUDENTS.

Students rack up awards

Plastics Engineering Technology students swept the awards in the Blow Molded Parts Competition at the 34th Annual Blow Molding Conference in Pittsburgh in the fall. Ryan Bauer and Logan Luzier took first place with their calf hutch. Zachary Ishman and Michael Sterner won second place with their riot shield. Jacob Tingley and Michael Rossi took third place with their plastic blankfiring cartridge project.

Plastics Engineering Technology senior Olivia Dubin won the poster competition at Materials Day at Penn State University Park this past fall.

The competition included more than 100 posters, many of which were prepared by graduate students. Dubin presented work she had done with Dr. Alicyn Rhoades, associate professor of engineering; Anne Gohn, engineering researcher; and Dr. Ralph Colby, professor of materials science and engineering and chemical engineering at Penn State University Park. Dubin’s winning poster title was: The Effect of Various Molecular Weight Poly on Crystallization Peak Half Times Using Fast Scanning Chip Calorimetry.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Club not only won the International Supermileage Challenge this past June, but they also set a new U.S. record! The competition challenges teams to create vehicles that squeeze the most mileage out of a single tank of high-octane gasoline. The Behrend vehicle traveled 3,013 miles on one gallon of gas! The team also placed second in the Design Report Sub-Competition.

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Five students placed at PSU Hackathon, a 24-hour computer hacking competition held at Penn State University Park this past fall. Morgan Atterholt and Shrey Arora won first place in the JP Morgan Chase Challenge and third place in the Google Cloud Services Challenge.

Zihao Zhang, Yilu Dong, Xinpeng Zhao, and Sheng Su won first place in the KCF Technologies Challenge.

FACULTY MEMBER COMPLETES 10-WEEK

NASA FELLOWSHIP

The first manned flight to Mars will require an extensive layover: To shorten the trip, NASA would launch its spacecraft as Earth and Mars are nearing their closest orbits. As soon as the crew landed, however, the distance between the planets would be growing—at a rate of 67,000 miles per hour. It would take a yearlong wait for the orbits to align again.

The mission simulations at NASA’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center mostly focus on the Mars crew, which require considerable resources to survive a stay of that duration. But the transport ship—especially if it’s idled for a year—also requires some care.

“On the International Space Station, there are always astronauts on board, and much of their daily work involves maintaining the station,” said Dr. Charlotte Marr de Vries, assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

“With a Mars trip, you wouldn’t have that,” said de Vries, who spent ten weeks in a NASA faculty fellowship, working with Marshall Space Flight engineers and other experts on Mars-flight design projects. “The crew would have to shut almost everything off as they exited. In an environment like that, dormancy can be a danger.”

One concern is that a microbial biofilm—a grouping of microorganisms that forms on surfaces—could degrade or even clog the air and water processors on the transport. The reduced-gravity conditions of space flight increase both the growth and virulence of biofilms, NASA has found.

De Vries and her team proposed a novel approach: What if NASA introduced a predatory bacteria that would break apart any biofilm as it formed?

If that sounds like the setup for a sci-fi disaster movie, relax.

NASA isn’t going to try it. The agency is open to unorthodox solutions, however—at least on paper.

“They are in their hearts innovators,” de Vries said, “and they’re pretty far out at the edge of what’s being invented.

It is extremely difficult to come up with something that NASA hasn’t already thought of.”

The agency’s decisions nonetheless tend to be weighed

Dr. Charlotte Marr de Vries

against the legacy of the space shuttles Challenger, which exploded in 1986, killing seven crew members, and Columbia, which broke apart on reentry in 2003, killing seven more. That history limits the engineering-design process, de Vries said.

“Failure is important to a design engineer,” she said. “If you don’t try ideas that fail, you aren’t really pushing yourself. If you keep your guard up and you think, ‘I can’t suggest this, because it might be a terrible idea,’ then you never test the idea that might be truly revolutionary.

“After Challenger, however, and especially after Columbia, failure is not an option at NASA,” she said. “They are, after all, putting humans in space, and the safety of those astronauts is, at all times, the number-one priority. It has to be.”

“If you don’t try ideas that fail, you aren’t really pushing yourself.”

DR. CHARLOTTE MARR DE VRIES, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

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EXPLORING THE DYNAMICS OF

GROUP THIN “ You have to be able to communicate, collaborate, and find ways to move the team forward.”

National Science Foundation funds two-year study of Behrend engineering teams Engineering may seem to be a solitary endeavor, with professionals spending hours in the lab thinking, analyzing, and problem-solving. The reality is that it is a highly collaborative field; most engineers are part of larger teams, often interdisciplinary, working to accomplish common goals.

Recognizing the importance of teamwork in engineering, the National Science Foundation has funded a twoyear, $200,000 study of group dynamics and collaborative problem-solving in simulated manufacturing environments at Penn State Behrend. Faculty members from two schools of the college will oversee the research, which will assess innovation, creativity, and metacognitive awareness—a mindfulness in how one approaches work—among teams of engineers.

In the study, engineering students will work in teams to complete manufacturing simulations, using blocks to construct LEGO cars. Students will work individually in physical and virtual-reality (VR) simulations, each learning a different aspect of the assembly process. Then, in 8

groups, they will try to make the process faster and less expensive by reassessing the design, sourcing, manufacturing, and inspection of the toy-block cars.

“Team members may have different opinions about how best to do that,” said Faisal Aqlan, assistant professor of industrial engineering, who will oversee the manufacturing simulations, “and they might all be right. The goal of the project is not to build a cheaper toy car. Instead, we hope to identify any shortcomings in our students’ professional skills — the ability to communicate, to work in a team, and to resolve conflicts.”

The design of the study, which includes faculty members from both the School of Engineering and School of Humanities and Social Sciences, is itself an exercise in teamwork.

“Our engineering students tend to think in a linear process,” said Heather Lum, assistant professor of psychology and a co-researcher on the NSF study.

“That’s how we present content in their courses: ‘You need A, B, and C to get to the end goal.’

“That’s fine when we’re teaching a

black-and-white technical skill,” Lum added, “but there are gray areas, particularly when you work in a group setting, that sometimes require you to think in a deeper, more critical way.”

Lum’s role in the NSF project will be to test the students in VR environments. An eye-tracking system embedded in the VR headsets will allow researchers to note which LEGO blocks students look at, and for how long, as they select materials for the manufacturing process.

The VR simulations also can be used to anticipate conflicts when students advance to a team environment. If one student is tasked with building the lightest car possible, for example, and another is tasked with minimizing the cost of the car, their goals might align —but also could require compromise as materials and processes are selected.

Richard Zhao, assistant professor of computer science and software engineering, will lead the development of the VR environments, using the Unity game engine and the HTC Vive VR headset. An additional $37,000 from the National Science Foundation will support

INK that work, which also will involve a team of undergraduate student developers.

Lisa Jo Elliott, assistant teaching professor of psychology, will build analytical models to measure the students’ alertness in different environments.

For the physical simulations, Aqlan will adapt LEGO-kit assembly projects from a three-year Research Experiences for Teachers study of manufacturing systems. That study, which also was funded by the National Science Foundation, produced simulations for a variety of manufacturing approaches, including craft production, mass production, lean production, mass customization, and personalized production.

In the new study, researchers will develop VR simulations for each of those five manufacturing approaches. They will then assess the differences in student learning in both the physical and VR environments. By studying the dynamics of each group — particularly the challenges when students have to work collaboratively to solve a problem — Aqlan and the other researchers hope to develop a decision-support protocol for the teams.

That could be useful across engineering curriculums, and in disciplines beyond the School of Engineering.

“Our goal is to come up with an intervention that will remove the most common conflicts and errors,” Aqlan said. “If it’s the design that’s a problem, you change the design. If it’s the process, you change the process.

If the problem is related to the people in your team, however, your options may be more limited. You can’t always form a new team. That’s why those professional skills are so essential today.

You have to be able to communicate, collaborate, and find ways to move the team forward.”

NSF FUNDS THREE-YEAR STUDY OF VIRTUALREALITY ENGINEERING SIMULATIONS Researchers developing simulation to place students in interactive, immersive manufacturing environment Industrial engineering students often use simulation kits—boxes of LEGO blocks—to learn Toyota’s production system. They build LEGO cars, sometimes using robots and programmable logic controllers to speed the process.

Researchers at the Data-Driven Decisions (3D) lab at Penn State Behrend and the Design Analysis Technology Advancement (D.A.T.A.) lab at University Park will test a different technique soon. They are developing a virtual-reality simulation that will place students in an interactive manufacturing environment where they can model and manipulate production systems. The VR environment, which will feature concepts that are taught in a variety of courses, will move Penn State’s industrial engineering program toward an integrated curriculum, with a continuing theme, or story, that will reinforce key concepts as students progress through the program.

The National Science Foundation is supporting the project with a threeyear grant of nearly $300,000.

“Mechanical engineering students often have physical projects that they can take from one class to another. That allows them to see many engineering concepts in the same object as they advance through the curriculum,” said Omar Ashour, assistant professor of industrial engineering at Penn State Behrend. “We can’t do that in industrial engineering. We can’t bring an entire manufacturing system into a classroom.”

“There is a spatial component of observation in VR. The brain responds differently when you see a three-dimensional representation of an object,” said Dr. Conrad Tucker, associate professor of engineering design and industrial and manufacturing engineering. He is director of the D.A.T.A. lab at University Park.

Ashour and Tucker will oversee the development of the new VR module, which will be tested at Behrend as part of a broader study of how fundamental engineering concepts are reinforced across the curriculum. Multiple faculty members in the industrial engineering program will use it, Ashour said.

“We want students to see the same theme, or story, over and over again, and in different classes, but to see it each time from a new perspective,” Ashour said. “That will help students see the ‘big picture’ of how the concepts taught in the industrial engineering curriculum fit together.”

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TEACHING

From left, Kyle Burns, Jacob Scott, and Benjamin Williams.

STUDENT TEAM TAKES CAPSTONE PROJECT TO THE NEXT LEVEL Imagine if your home were damaged in a natural disaster, fire, or other tragedy. You would want a settlement from your insurance company as soon as possible so that you could start repairs. But unsafe conditions or barriers such as downed power lines could delay claims adjusters by days or weeks.

Enter drones, those buzzing, radio-controlled flying cameras that can give a birds-eye (and closer) view of an area while the operator stays safely out of the danger zone. It’s a technology well-suited to the needs of the insurance industry.

So when Erie Insurance, a multi-line insurance company headquartered in downtown Erie, wanted to explore using drones to create 3-dimensional models of damaged property, they sponsored a capstone project at Penn State Behrend, challenging a team of engineering seniors to see if—and how—it might work.

Computer Science seniors Kyle Burns and Jacob Scott and Software Engineering senior Benjamin Williams quickly discovered that the initial objective of the project—to develop

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a software suite that could capture images and store them to build 3-D models—was already available.

“We found this plug-and-play software that could easily be adapted,” Scott said, “so, we thought: ‘Well, let’s take this project to the next logical step and see if we can incorporate machine learning.’”

Machine learning is a hot topic in the engineering disciplines, defined as “a method of data analysis that automates analytical model building.” In short, it’s an application of artificial intelligence based on the idea that machines can learn from data, identify patterns, and make decisions without being explicitly programmed to do so.

In the case of a drone being used to survey property damage, it means programming the software to not only record and store images, but compare images in order to automatically identify and highlight damaged areas.

“So, as an example, an adjuster would be able to look at the map and immediately see which tiles or walls are damaged instead of sifting through all the images,” Burns said. “It would greatly speed up the process.”

Machines “ It has been great seeing their capstone progress from the idea stage to the fully realized solution that they’re creating.”

JAMES SHULTZ, SOFTWARE ENGINEER, ERIE INSURANCE

Drones may help insurance adjusters assess damage more safely and quickly.

The biggest challenge so far has been finding images and data to teach the machine.

“You have to train the machine with a very large set of data, and it’s just not easy to find images of damaged homes,” Burns said. “It’s easy to teach a machine to distinguish between cats and dogs because you can feed it all kinds of data about those animals, but it’s not that easy to find photos of damaged roofs.”

Williams has been focused on the software side of things, building the construction models, while Burns is handling data preparation tools, and Scott works on the machine learning aspect of the project.

The trio say it’s been a valuable learning experience.

“Engineers work on a lot of projects in classes, but it is often pretty structured and you know what the steps are and when they need to be completed,” Scott said. “But this project is much more freeform. We have had to think about what our goals are and then what steps we need to take to get there.”

They work closely with their faculty adviser, Dr. Wen-Li

Wang, associate professor of computer science and software engineering, and their industry sponsor, James Shultz, software engineer at Erie Insurance, who they meet with every two weeks to share progress reports and express any needs or concerns.

“It has been great seeing their capstone progress from the idea stage to the fully realized solution that they’re creating,” said Shultz. “The team has come up with an elegant way of handling a pretty complex problem.”

The drone capstone project is beneficial training for Williams, who has already accepted a software engineering position following his graduation in May; Scott, who plans to work in software development, and Burns, who wants to work on the cutting edge of engineering in the Internet of Things (IoT).

It’s a concept that is already being studied and taught at Behrend’s School of Engineering.

“I’m really interested in IoT, which involves creating networks of devices, such as home appliances or cars, that contain electronics and software that allow these things to connect, interact, and exchange data,” Burns said.

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Penn State Erie, The Behrend College School of Engineering 242 Burke Center 5101 Jordan Road Erie, PA 16563-1701

Non-Profit Org. U.S. POSTAGE PAID Erie, PA Permit No. 282

Penn State Behrend will host the largest international advanced manufacturing conference in the world, NAMRC 47 I MSEC2019, at Erie’s Bayfront Convention Center on June 10-14. More than 800 researchers and manufacturers from around the globe will gather to share the latest innovations and developments in manufacturing systems and processes, cyber-physical systems, and materials processing. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities or to register to attend, visit behrend.psu.edu/ namr47-msec2019.

ROCKY MOUNTAIN REUNION One of the most important factors in building a successful and profitable business is hiring the right people.

So when a company finds an employee who is welleducated, innovative, and enthusiastic who fits well into their environment, it makes sense that they would go back to the same well to find more.

That’s how four Penn State Behrend Plastics Engineering Technology (PLET) graduates ended up working for the same company—ARC Group Worldwide—in Longmont, Colorado.

ARC is a global metal and plastic injection molding, tooling and stamping provider with expertise in material development, prototyping and production of engineered products for aerospace, automotive, defense, and medical applications.

The first Behrend PLET graduate to work at ARC was Jason Osborne ’02. Though he has moved on, Osborne opened the door for several alumni who came after him.

“Jason wanted to recruit at Behrend to bring that mindset and focus on processes here to ARC,” said Chris Desmond ’13, business development manager. “He recruited Michael Wiseman, David Smith, and several other PLET grads.”

Currently, the company employs four PLET alumni: Desmond; Wiseman ’05, who serves as vice president of engineering; Smith ’11, who is an engineering manager; and Kevin Backoefer ’14, process engineering supervisor.

“The unique set of skills as well as the overall drive of these Behrend graduates have made them invaluable for us,” said Jed Rust, senior vice president of the company. “They have flourished not only in engineering positions, but in top management, sales, and operations, making them some of the

Plastics Engineering Technology graduates, from left, Kevin Backoefer ’14, Michael Wiseman ’05, Chris Desmond ’13, and David Smith ’11, work together at ARC Group in Colorado.

most technically diverse employees we have on the team. They also bring a ‘can do’ attitude to solving problems and garnering results in a systematic fashion.”

Smith and Wiseman routinely return to Penn State Behrend’s career fairs to recruit graduates. One of their selling points? There is plenty of Penn State “family” to connect with at ARC. “Knowing there were other Behrend grads working at ARC made the move appealing to me,” Desmond said.

While the four alumni work in different departments, they get together in their free time.

“Mike coordinates a monthly dinner, and we get together to watch Penn State football games or attend a hockey game when the Pittsburgh Penguins are in town,” Desmond said. “It’s great to hang out with people who have a shared background.”

Engineering News is published annually and provided free to alumni and friends of the Penn State Behrend School of Engineering by the Office of Strategic Communications, William V. Gonda, wvg2@psu.edu, senior director. Publications Manager: Heather Cass, hjc13@psu.edu. Designer: Martha Ansley Campbell, mac30@psu.edu. This publication is available in alternative media on request. Penn State is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, and is committed to providing employment opportunities to all qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status. U.Ed. EBO 19-224

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