Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology Student Symposium announced

The Student Association of Environmental Science and Engineering (SAESE) has set a date for the 19th Annual Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology Student Symposium (ECMSS). The symposium will be held on Friday, April 8 and Saturday, April 9. Abstracts for ECMSS are due on Monday, March 18, submitted through the SAESE website. Chemical engineering graduate students have won cash prizes at ECMSS the past two years.

There will also be three keynote speakers during ECMSS: Dr. Marc Edwards (Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech), Dr. Paula Mouser (Environmental Biotechnology, Ohio State) and Dr. John Kelmelis (Environmental Policy, Penn State).

The complete symposium schedule can be found on the SAESE website. More information can also be found on Facebook.

Bangladesh Night to be held on March 26

The Bangladesh Student Association (BSA) will host “Bangladesh Night 2016” on Saturday, March 26 at the State College Friends School to celebrate the 45th Independence Day of Bangladesh. Gates open at 5:30 pm and the show starts at 6 pm.

The night includes dancing, music, games, authentic Bangladeshi cuisine, henna, and much more. Wearing traditional attire (saree, kameez, punjabi, etc.) is highly encouraged.

Tickets can be bought from Taslima Zaman (taz131@psu.edu; advisor: Robert Rioux) in Fenske, in the HUB at these times, or online at the BSA website.

Additional information can be found on Faceoook and Youtube.

Ying Li wins Air Products fellowship

Ying Li (advisor: Andrew Zydney) won the 2016 Air Products Fellowship. Ying receives financial support for two semesters and a summer internship at Air Products. Penn State is on a small list of schools that partners with Air Products to award this fellowship.

Congratulations Ying!

Welcome to the 2016 prospective ChE graduate students

The ChE GSA welcomes 33 prospective students to Penn State this weekend for graduate recruiting weekend. The open house schedule highlights the exceptional research being done by the ChE department’s faculty members and graduate students, the state-of-the-art facilities available for research, and the professional and social organizations (like the ChE GSA) available both in the ChE department and in State College.

GPSA to host third “Meet the Delegates” outreach event

The Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) is hosting its third “Meet the Delegates” outreach event on Wednesday, January 27, 5:00 pm – 5:50 pm in the Kunkle Lounge of the Hammond Building. Free pizza will be served. Delegates to the GPSA serve as representatives for the whole graduate student body. Come and meet our representatives and what the GPSA has planned for the spring semester.

You can find more information about the Meet the Delegates event on Facebook.

Graduate Exhibition Poster Information Session

The Graduate School is holding a Graduate Exhibition Poster Information Session on Tuesday, January 12 at 5:00 p.m. in 112 Kern Graduate Building. The Graduate School will be sponsoring pizza and soda at the end of the session.

Please register for the Information Session by Monday, January 11th.

The 2016 Graduate Exhibition for research presentations will be held on Sunday, March 20, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm in Alumni and Heritage Halls at the HUB-Robeson Center.

ChE department supporting Lion’s Pantry/CCWRC this holiday season

The ChE department will be collecting money and items to support both Penn State’s Lion’s Pantry and the Centre County Women’s Resource Center (CCWRC) this holiday season. There are boxes in Fenske (rooms 133 and 158) to drop off your items. Monetary donations can be brought to Lisa Haines in Room 133. Bring in all monetary donations and items by December 18.

Please consider making a donation to one of these great organizations. See the list of suggested items for each organization below.

Penn State’s Lion’s Pantry – Suggested Items List
Centre County Women’s Resource Center – Suggested Items List

ChE GSA general body meeting recap

The ChE GSA held a general body meeting on Tuesday, December 1 to discuss upcoming potlucks and happy hours, our graduate student selected seminar speaker, and graduate recruiting weekend.

Our meeting led off with an information session and discussion about The Center for Performing Arts (CPA), presented by Jesse Scott, a graduate student in computer engineering who serves on the community relations committee for CPA. Jesse informed us about the many different shows coming to Penn State during the academic year. Some of these shows are free, while many others have discounted tickets for students. Jesse also raffled off two tickets to an upcoming show! For more information about upcoming shows, please see the CPA website.

Following the discussion with Jesse, we discussed the timing of our next potluck and happy hour with the ChE faculty and staff. More information will be provided once dates are finalized, but look for both a potluck and a happy hour to be scheduled for January.

Next, an update was given on the status of our graduate student selected seminar speaker. Invitations have been sent out to our nominees and we are eagerly awaiting responses.

Finally, we discussed the events for graduate recruiting. We reviewed past itineraries and considered events that best highlight our department, our university, and the community. We will be looking for people to host prospective graduate students for graduate recruiting weekend in February.