In the News

A look inside Google's adaptive reuse of former Nabisco factory in Pittsburgh

Inhabitat Thursday, July 26, 2012

Google's 45,000 square foot office in Pittsburgh is a shining example of adaptive reuse, reports Inhabitat.

Give the employees a 4-day live-in session to amass likes, dislikes and determine their “ideal” workspace, and mixed them all together... That’s how Google does it, at least. Like all Google offices, the adaptive-reuse project, which is seeking LEED Gold certification, features several playful touches, and it also does a good job referencing Pittsburgh's industrial history.

Original source: Inhabitat

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Amtrak's $151B plan would create 220mph, 37-minute trips from Philly to NY

Reuters Thursday, July 26, 2012

Reuters reports on Amtrak's announcement of a $151 billion improvement plan that would slash travel time in the Northeast corridor, with trains traveling up to 220 mph.

Current travel times from New York to Philadelphia on Amtrak's sleek Acela trains are 1 hour, 15 minutes. Travel between New York and Washington currently takes 2 hours, 45 minutes and New York to Boston takes 3 hours, 41 minutes, according to Amtrak's website.

"The NEC (Northeast Corridor) region is America's economic powerhouse and is facing a severe crisis with an aging and congested multi-model transportation network that routinely operates at or near capacity in key segments," Amtrak's President Joe Boardman said in a statement.

Original source: Reuters

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How Penn bioengineers are helping build lab-grown human organs

DesignNews Thursday, July 19, 2012

DesignNews reports on a University of Pennsyvania-led effort in regenerative medicine to build lab-grown organs out of a patient's own cells.

One solution that has gained attention is to "print" cells for the vasculature, layer by layer, leaving openings for the blood vessels as required. Yet even this approach has had its share of setbacks. When blood is pumped through the vessels, the seams get pushed apart.

A team of bioengineers from the University of Pennsylvania and MIT took inspiration from a visit to a Body Worlds exhibit and decided to address the problem in a different way. They've applied the open-source RepRap 3D printer as a foundational technology solution and made templates of blood vessel networks out of sugar.

Original source: Design News

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Inside Philly's TechGirlz Entrepreneur Summer Camp

Wall Street Journal Thursday, July 19, 2012

Wall Street Journal reporter Rachel King gets to know the power of the TechGirlz Entrepreneur Summer Camp, a collaborative effort to address the dearth of women founding startups and holding technology leadership positions.

I spoke with two of the girls last week in a video conference. Olivia Moffat, 13, said she got the idea for an app to connect pet sitters and clients through her own work as a pet sitter. Angel Bird, 12, said her team was working on an app to help people locate specific food products in nearby grocery stores. Her teammate came up with the idea, she said, but she was enjoying collaborating with team members to help develop the idea. Overall, there were five teams developing companies.

Original source: Wall Street Journal

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Pittsburgh among best cities for millennials

Huffington Post Thursday, July 19, 2012

Huffington Post writes about Moving.com's best cities for millenials list, and Pittsburgh comes in at No. 7.

Approximately 53 percent of college graduates under the age of 25 are either jobless or primarily working jobs that don’t require a college degree, according to an April study by Drexel University.

Pittsburgh has one of the largest public transportation systems in the U.S., serving over 200,000 riders per day as of 2011. Millennial residents can enjoy professional sports teams -- Pittsburgh is the hometown of the Steelers, Pirates and Penguins -- as well as pursue higher education from one of dozens of schools in the area, including U. Pitt, Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne and others. Pittsburgh also has been regarded as one of the best arts and culture destinations in the U.S. for a decade. According to Moving.com, millennials might enjoy a night out at South Side or Station Square districts for the best bars and clubs.

Original source: Huffington Post

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Pittsburgh among best markets for tech jobs

VentureBeat Thursday, July 12, 2012

Pittsbugh ranked sixth overall as the best technology job market and Philadelphia had the fourth-highest increase in tech job openings among major metropolitan areas, reports VentureBeat.

Simply Hired just released its July 2012 employment outlook. And some of the results are more than a little surprising.

Nationally, job openings were up 9.2% from May. The ratio of job-seekers to jobs, however, stayed even at 3:1. Jobs were up in all major metro areas, and competition for jobs decreased in 12 of them, including New York, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Denver, and Las Vegas.

Origianl source: VentureBeat

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Penn State physics prof helps the world keep time

Phys.org Thursday, July 12, 2012

Penn State physics professor Kurt Kibble is a member of a super-elite team that builds and evaulates the accuracy of the world's best and most important clocks, reports Phys.org.

Gibble and Ruoxin Li, a former graduate student in Gibble’s lab, recently collaborated with the national time-keeping organizations of the United Kingdom, France and Germany to prove the accuracy of several of the best clocks in the world. Working with a team at the National Physical Laboratory near London, they established one of the U.K.’s clocks as the world’s most accurate. Gibble’s most recent work further improves the accuracy of a clock in Paris, which might allow it to reclaim this title.

Original source: Phys.org

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PA's eHealth Collaborative could draw 8,000 care providers for grant program

Information Week Thursday, July 12, 2012

Information Week writes about Pennsylvania's eHealth Collaborative and the grant program that promotes exchanging health information over the internet.

Healthcare providers have until Aug. 15 to apply for free direct messaging services through an approved health information service provider (HISP). The PA eHealth Collaborative will pay HISPs $250 for each healthcare provider they register to exchange data using direct messaging.

According to PA eHealth Collaborative officials, as many as 8,000 providers could potentially take advantage of the program. This includes hospitals and health systems, community clinics, doctors and other licensed providers, and pharmacies and independent laboratories.

Original source: Information Week

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Philly takes Toronto

Yonge Street Thursday, July 12, 2012

Keystone Edge sister publication Yonge Street previews the Greater Philadelphia Leadership Exchange's upcoming visit to Toronto with an interview with Steve Wray of the Greater Philadelphia Economy League.

One the focuses of the Economy League is what it means to be a world-class region and what it would take for Greater Philadelphia to attain status as a world-class region. As we select places to go, we look for regions that are world class or striving to be world class. Clearly Toronto has attained the status in the global community as a city and region on the rise, as a global financial capital and as an international city. We thought there were a lot of lessons we could bring back to Philadelphia from Toronto that would serve us well.

Original source: Yonge Street

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Pittsburgh's Mellon Square and Point State Park cited as triumphs of preservation and design

Huffington Post Thursday, June 28, 2012

Yes, the High Line in New York is deeply impressive and everyone wants something similar in their own cities, but this Huffington Post writer points out that it's the holistic and unique nature of the project that made it work, like Pittsburgh's own Point State Park and Mellon Square Park.

Over in Pittsburgh, the 36-acre Point State Park, was for much of the 20th century dotted with warehouses and railroad tracks, and home to the city's two oldest structures: Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne. Following 20 years of design development overseen by landscape architect Ralph Griswold, this iconic waterfront park opened to the public in 1974, with Griswold dubbing his design "ultra modern."

Over the past decade, additional work has been done: a $32 million project in 2008 reopened the walkway over the Allegheny River and filled in the Fort Pitt Music Bastion to provide more lawn space.

Original source: Huffington Post

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Pittsburgh hipsters and Philly artists creating 15 hottest American cities of the future

Business Insider Thursday, June 28, 2012

Pittsburgh, as a hipster haven, and Philadelphia, as a dynamic arts destination, are unscientifically included on Business Insider's list of 15 American cities of the future.

The low housing prices, affordable lifestyle, and cool arts scene are attracting young people to Philadelphia. These people are getting involved in the city through organizations like Young Involved Philadelphia and bringing a new sense of dynamism to the city, with new restaurants, shops, galleries, and a cool music and arts scene.

Original source: Business Insider

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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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