NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS

[23•iv•2009] Steve Walton to Speak to the Centre Co. Historical Society

Prof. Walton will be speaking to the CCHS's monthly meeting on "Technology Transfer in the U.S. Antebellum Iron Industry," looking at his work on the connections between iron industries in NY, MD, and PA in the early 19th century. The kernel of the story is the personal connections around one Irish ironmaster, William Young, who set up three separate foundries and rolling mills, each of which became a national leader in its specialties. But far from a purely dry technical story, this one also includes embezzlement, government machinations, and military politics.

The lecture will take place at 6:30pm at the Center Furnace Mansion, 1001 East College Avenue, State College, PA 16801, see <http://www.centrecountyhistory.org/eventsexhibits/techtalk.html> or call 814.234.4779 for more information.

[19•iii•2009] Greg Eghigian's work featured in story on major German Daily

Greg Eghigian's research on the social science of East-West relations in Germany was the focus of a recent front page article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. To read the article in German, clicken HIER; oder auf E

nglish (via Google Translate), click here.

[18•iii•2009] STS and Philosophy welcome Prof. Christian Becker to our departments

The Science, Technology, and Society Program and the Department of Philosophy are happy to announce that Dr. Christian Becker (Ph.D. Philosophy, University of Kaiserslautern and Ph.D. Economics, University of Heidelberg) will be joining their faculty as Assistant Professor starting in fall 2009. Dr. Becker is a specialist in environmental ethics.

[25-28•vi•2009] Penn State STS hosts the 41st Annual Meeting of Cheiron: The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences

STS is pleased to anounce the full program for the 41st annual Cheiron confernce to be held at Penn State in June. Greg Eghigian is the Local Host and arrangements chair. Cheiron promotes international cooperation and multidisciplinary studies in the history of the behavioral and social sciences.

[5•ii•2009] Walton offered a Leverhulme Fellowship at Leeds University

Professor Walton, a specialist in pre-modern technology and warfare has been offerd a 6 month visiting professorship at Leeds University through the Leverhulme Trust fellows program in the UK. While at Leeds form July-Dec. 2009, Dr. Walton will be working with the univeristy (both the Institute for Medieval Studies and the Division of History and Philosophy of Science), the Battlefields Trust, and the Royal Amouries on interprative plans for the AHRC-funded "Origins of Firepower" initiative. Dr. Walton returns to Penn State in the Spring of 2010.

[12•i•2009] Don Borwn's Climate Blog rated one of the best

The blog run by our own Don Brown, Climateethics, has just been notified it has been identified as one of the best blogs for Earth Sciences Scholars. See "100 Best Blogs for Earth Science Scholars".

[1•xii•2008] 3-year Fixed Term Position announcement:

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, University Park, PA. The Pennsylvania State University (University Park) Program in Science, Technology, and Society (STS) invites applications for a three-year renewable assistant professor position. The position is open to any scholar working on the humanistic or social study of science, technolog

y, and/or medicine. Preference is for candidates specializing in public policy, including non-western societies. A focus on gender or race will also be favorably considered.

Review of applications begins on February 15, 2009

Cheiron: The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences will hold its 41st Annual Meeting, June 25-28, 2009 at Penn State University, University Park, PA. Call for papers is available here.

[13•ix•2008] Tenure Track Position announcement:

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY, University Park, PA. The Penn State College of Liberal Arts invites applications for a Tenure Track Assistant Professor in the area of environmental ethics with an emphasis on the ethical dimensions of energy production, consumption, and policy.

Review of applications begins on November 24, 2008

[10•v•2008] Prof. Walton Discusses Enginereing Education Innovations at PSU

In March 2008, Dr. Walton Attended the Integrating Engineering and Humanities in Higher Education conferece in Darmstadt, Germany. There he spoke about "Aiding and ABETing", a look at how STS and the Leonhard Center for the Enhancement for Engineering Education at Penn State have been developing courses to meet accrediation and pedagogical pressures in the College of Engineering. Watch his presentation by clicking on the image at the right (VOB file), or view a PDF of his presentation slides here:

[30•v•2007] Prof. Don Brown adresses the United Nations on the Ethical Dimensions of Climate Change [10:54] [and featured at the time on the main Liberal Arts webpage! - click at right to enlarge]

• [21•xii•2007] WPSU produced video on Climate Change featuring PSU faculty [10:34]
  

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  [08•xii•2006] Janet Vertesi (Cornell STS),
  "Making Mars: Digital Image Processing and the Mars Rover Mission"

  • watch the presentation: 32min [MPEG movie - 17.6MB]
  • watch the Q&A: 32 min [MPEG movie - 19.4MB]

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• [13•xii•2007] Penn State team a gold medal winner at iGEM competition
  A Penn State student team won a gold medal at the 2007 International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition hosted by MIT. The competition provides students the opportunity to design and build genetic machines using a library of standard DNA parts. The competition challenges students to develop biological systems through standard, interchangeable parts referred to as ''BioBricks,'' which are provided by the Registry of Standard Biological Parts. The genetically engineered systems must be run in living cells. For further information, please seet he press release.

• [xi•2006] STS is proud to annouce that Jesse Ballenger was interviews for the national broadcast of NPR's This Morning on his Alzheimer's work. See their story here [archived here] or go directly to the broadcast as WMA or RealAudio file (also available from their page)

• [iii•2007] STS is proud to host a major interdisciplinary conference on Alzheimer's Disease organized by our own Jesse Ballenger, to take place at the Penn Stater Hotel. For more information, see their website.

• [vii•2006] Wenda Bauchspies, while working in Benin on her own research, has made connections with the African Rice Center (formerly the West African Rice Development Authority [WARDA]) and will be working on projects with them in the next academic year.
• An article on her recent work in West Africa while a Fullbright fellow from 2004-05 appeared recently in the Penn State International Mosaic magazine (vol. 10.2 [Spring 2006]: 6-7): "Fullbrighting in the Mono River Region" [3.5MB]

• [vii•2006] STS welcomes its new faculty members to the newly intercollege program: Jonathan Marks, Chloe Silverman, Jennifer Mensch (1/2), and Bettina Mathes (1/4). We also welcome Eric Schienke, a postdoctoral fellow.

• [Fall 2005-Spring 2006] Big changes are afoot for the broader community of Studies in Science and Technology at Penn State. The program is growing and becoming a jointly administered program between the College of Engineering (as it has been) and the college of Liberal Arts. The SMTC (Science, Medicine, Technology, & Culture) Program in Liberal Arts will now be merged into the old STS program, along with minors in Disability Studies and Environmental Studies. Details are being worked out at this time.

• [Fall 2005] The STS website is proud to host the website for the NEH sponsored Medieval Studies grant: Building Community: Medieval Technology and American History.

• [spring 2004] Farewell and Best Wishes: STS would like to wish Dr. Barbara Anderson the best in her retirement. Barbara leaves us after many years of important service to the department. She shall be missed.

• [spring 2004] Congratulations: STS would like to congratulate Dr. Joshua Pearce on completing his dissertation and for being immediately hired by Clarion University. We will miss him.

• [spring 2004] Position Announcement: STS has an opening for an assistant professor, 3 yr. fixed term appointment. [DETAILS]

• [winter2003/4]In conjunction with the 2004 PSU Medieval Studies Conference, Steven Walton is helping coordinate the design and potential construction of a medieval windmill on campus. Follow that progress here.

• Congratulation to Dr. Wenda Bauchspies who has just been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Guinea from Nov. 2003-June 2004. Her project on women in science in Africa was chosen from stiff competition. We wish her well and will miss her for the next academic year.

• Congratulations to Darryl Farber who won 1st place for his poster at the 2003 PSU Hydrogen Day

• STS faculty are involved with a number of cross-campus initiatives:
  • Tania Slawecki and Steven Walton are supervising projects for students in the Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Course.
  • Dorothy Blair and Tania Slawecki are involved with the Local Foods Day for PPAHEE (PA Partners in Ag. Health, Environment and Education).

• [fall2002] The STS Program would like to welcome its newest faculty members:
  • Andrea Tapia, who arrives from the University of Arizona. Her position is shared jointly by STS, ISLR and IST.
  • Steven A. Walton who arrives from Michigan Tech.
  • Chuck Eisenstein, a local author and generalist.

• [fall2002] STS is pleased to announce upcoming renovations of the Old Botany Building.
• Much of the first floor will be redesigned, removing poor mid-century renovations and restoring some areas to their original grandeur.
• An ADA accessible washroom will be installed along with a wheelchair ramp to the formerly disused west door.
• A new conference room will be installed in the SE corner of the first floor, taking advantage of two original grand arched windows.
• The former conference room will become the support area, with photocopying, mail, and kitchen facilities.
• Work is expected to begin in the spring of 2003.