In the News

Suburban Philly nurse among those enrolling in 'R.N. to B.S.N.' courses

The New York Times Thursday, June 28, 2012

Abington Memorial Hospital nurse Jennifer Matton is profiled as part of The New York Times' look at surging enrollment in nursing courses at four-year colleges.

Ms. Matton, 37, first went to college for an associate degree in radio and television broadcasting. By the time she returned to school for an associate’s in nursing, she was a wife and mother — she gave birth to her youngest a few days before taking an exam. Now she is weeks away from her third degree, a bachelor’s in nursing from Drexel University in Philadelphia, with most of the work done online.

Original source: The New York Times

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Penn State-led Energy Innovation Hub has many actors in efficiency play

CNN Thursday, June 28, 2012

CNN pays a visit to Philadelphia's Energy Innovation Hub.

The research consortium, led by Pennsylvania State University and 21 other partners, is a sort of multidisciplinary think tank whose overall mission is to reduce energy consumption in regional commercial buildings by 20 percent at the end of the next eight years.

Original source: CNN

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Allentown substitute teacher's artwork to dominate Times Square

The New York Times Thursday, June 21, 2012

Allentown substitute teacher Vicki DaSilva won an online contest to have an original work of art, 23 stories high, light up a Times Square billboard, reports The New York Times.

The site, ArtistsWanted.org, is not a charity but a business, one that hopes to make a profit identifying artistic talent and connecting it to an audience. Investors are pouring millions into it and similar start-ups and social networks like Behance.net and EveryArt.com, which cater to the growing cadre of people who consider themselves creative and think there’s a market for their work outside the network of galleries and dealers who dominate the commerce in art and design. Users and founders of these sites talk not only about making money but also about democratizing culture.

Original source: The New York Times

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Social benefit spreads south with help of Berwyn-based B Lab

Entrepreneur Thursday, June 21, 2012

Louisiana became the first southern state to pass benefit corporation legislation as Entrepreneur sits down for a Q&A with Berwyn-based B Lab founder Jay Coen Gilbert.

In states where it has been legalized, entrepreneurs can amend their legal framework to declare they're both a for-profit and for-good company. As a result, a business protects itself from lawsuits by stakeholders that find the company is spending time and/or resources for anything other than solely maximizing profit. Also, in any state, regardless of whether it is legal to become a B Corp yet, a company can apply for certification, a status granted by B Lab.

Original source: Entrepreneur

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Philly, Pittsburgh, New Hope make top arts destinations list

American Style Thursday, June 21, 2012

American Style's annual list of Top 25 Arts Destinations for large-, mid- and small-size cities inclues Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New Hope, respectively.

New York City came in first (again) with 43.2 percent of the vote, with Washington, D.C. (No. 2, with 23.6 percent) and Chicago (No. 3, with 22.3 percent) trading places from last year’s standing to fill the remaining top two positions for the fifth year in a row. Out-of-the-blue write-in candidate Dayton, Ohio, vaulted to the No. 2 spot in the Mid-Size Cities list, and eight cities across all three categories were located in Florida.

Original source: American Style

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PA's perfect stargazing spot: Cherry Springs Sate Park in Potter County

Washington Post Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Washington Post basks in the darkness of light pollution-less Cherry Springs State Park in Potter County.

At night, Cherry Springs is one of the darkest spots on the East Coast. Free of the light pollution that affects so much of the Eastern Seaboard, the park is an ideal site for stargazing.

Cherry Springs is popular with hard-core amateur astronomers, but it’s also open to starry-eyed know-nothings like Rob and me, who, when we look up at night, can identify airplanes and the moon.

Original source: Washington Post
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Allentown's Air Products earns DOE funding for project with Penn State

Gigaom Thursday, June 14, 2012

Allentown-based Air Products and Chemicals is among 13 recipients of a combined $54 million in Department of Energy funding announced on Tuesday to develop technologies that will increase manufacturers' energy and cost efficiency, reports Gigaom.

Air Products and Chemicals: The company is getting $1.2 million to use the microbial reverse electrodialysis technology to recover waste heat and convert effluents into electricity and chemical products such as hydrogen gas. The company has teamed up with Pennsylvania State University for this work.

Original source: Gigaom

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Why did Gamesa scrap planned Shaffer Mountain Wind Farm?

Revmodo Thursday, June 14, 2012

International wind power giant Gamesa announced it is doing away with plans for the 60 megawatt Shaffer Mountain Wind Farm project in Somerset County, reports Revmodo.

As America becomes desperate for alternatives to rapidly dwindling oil and coal, it’s likely that disputes like this will become more common. They raise an interesting question about where our priorities should lie when working to develop the clean energy technology sector. Is the ability to power 18,000 Pennsylvania homes with wind energy a valid reason to risk the potential disruption of an endangered species’ habitat? Animals have adapted to environmental changes for millions of years, and bats have incredible natural sonar that allows them to detect tiny bugs in total darkness. Would something as massive as a wind turbine really give them that much trouble?

Original source: Revmodo

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Comcast renews investment in DreamIt Ventures minority-focused entrepreneur program

TechCrunch Thursday, June 14, 2012

Comcast Ventures renewed its investment in startup accelerator DreamIt Ventures' minority-focused entrepreneur program in Philadelphia and New York, DreamIt Access, reports TechCrunch.

DreamIt and Comcast Ventures, the venture capital arm of Comcast Corporation, first partnered on DreamIt Access in May 2011, announcing at the time a $350,000 fund to give five startups in the Philly 2011 program an extra infusion of capital (These included ElectNext, Kwelia, MetaLayer, ThaTrunk and Qwite, whose founders are African-American, Asian, Hispanic and Indian.) Later, the investment was formalized into a year-long minority accelerator program called DreamIt Access.

Original source: Tech Crunch

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Philly opens "a new treasure" in Barnes Museum

Los Angeles Times Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Los Angeles Times likes what it sees in the Barnes Museum's recently opened new location along the Ben Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia.

Standing at the threshold of the new museum, I couldn't help but smirk when I thought about how angry its relocation would have made old man Barnes -- unfair because it fails to credit the founder's genius for finding and championing art that Philadelphia philistines once scoffed at. Soon mean-spiritedness gave way to excitement.

Original source: Los Angeles Times

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Remember when Pittsburgh looked like this?

The Atlantic Cities Thursday, June 07, 2012

The Atlantic Cities runs a series of 1940s photos from the University of Pittsburgh's Smoke Central Lantern Slide Collection that show a smoky, sooty city devoted to coal.

In 1941, influenced by a similar policy introduced in St. Louis four years earlier, the city of Pittsburgh passed a law designed to reduce coal production in pursuit of cleaner air. Not willing to cripple such an important part of the local economy, it promised to clean the air by using treated local coal. The new policy ended up not being fully enacted until after World War II.

Original source: The Atlantic Cities

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UPenn leading "open source" model of medical device design

The Economist Thursday, June 07, 2012

The Economist writes about the University of Pennsylvania and the "open source" model of designing medical devices to drive innovation and improve safety.

The Generic Infusion Pump project, a joint effort between the University of Pennsylvania and the FDA, is taking these troublesome devices back to basics. The researchers began not by building a device or writing code but by imagining everything that could possibly go wrong with a drug-infusion pump. Manufacturers were asked to help, and several did so, including vTitan, a start-up based in America and India. “For a new manufacturer, it’s a great head start,” says Peri Kasthuri, vTitan’s co-founder. By working together on an open-source platform, manufacturers can build safer products for everyone, while still retaining the ability to add extra features to differentiate themselves from their rivals.

Original source: The Economist

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Erie urban magnet school among three to win national sustainability award

Earth Techling Thursday, June 07, 2012

Earth Techling reports on Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy in Erie and the National Environmental Education Foundation's Sustainable Energy Award it recently won.

At Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, the process got underway after an environmental science class decided to carry out an energy audit for the whole school. The students consulted Energy Star, a program run jointly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, which gives practical advice on how to lower your energy use.

Original source: Earth Techling

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Pennsylvania likely to remain center of natural gas attention

Associated Press Thursday, June 07, 2012

Citing existing investment and a plunge in wholesale prices, the Associated Press reports Pennsylvania can dominate Marcellus Shale natural gas production, possibly for decades.

Fadel Gheit, an oil and gas analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York City, says he expects Pennsylvania to be the center of activity for the next few years, if not longer.

"The industry will always stay with what they've got," said Gheit, adding that for many companies, there's less risk sticking with a state -- and with regulations -- they know. New York, he added, is generally seen as a more liberal state than Pennsylvania, and thus more prone to imposing stricter rules on drilling.

Original source: Associated Press

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A closer look at the world's highest-scoring LEED building, with a Pittsburgh twist

Earth Techling Thursday, May 31, 2012

Bayer MaterialScience, with regional HQ in Pittsburgh, has built the world's highest-scoring LEED building in India, reports Earth Techling.

he building achieved this distinction with high green marks in the areas of water efficiency, indoor environmental quality and innovation and design. It was built according to the principles of Bayer’s EcoCommercial Building Program, using green technologies and products from its global network of green building product developers, including a solar photovoltaic system that kicks out more energy than the building consumes on an annual basis, carbon free.

Original source: Earth Techling

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