Penn State 2004 Annual Report of Research Activity by Sara Brennen

Annual Report of Research Activity FY 2004 Office of the Vice President for research

C o n t e n t s

Overview ........................... 3

Statistical Snapshot ........ 4 Sponsored Research Highlights

Making a Difference ......... 6

s one of the nation’s leading research universities, Penn State

both enjoys and confers many benefits.

Research That impacts Lives

Our top-ranked research programs attract some of the best faculty in the Technology Transfer ...... 10

world, and those faculty in turn teach and inspire our students to be society’s

Seven Units, One Mission

future leaders. Impacting Pennsylvania ... 12

Our strengths across complementary areas allow us to continue to explore

Making Life Better

new ways to fulfill our land-grant mission: creating new knowledge that Innovation Park ............... 14

directly benefits people’s lives. That knowledge runs the gamut, from the

A Place To Grow

creation of a microbial fuel cell that can generate electricity while treating Contacts .......................... 15

ordinary wastewater to an innovative program for educating South African youth against the spread of AIDS to the promise of a new treatment for a particularly lethal form of cancer.

On the cover: Detail of a molecular beam epitaxy system in the laboratory of Darrel Schlom, professor of materials science and engineering. Schlom uses this system to produce epitaxial oxide thin films for electronic applications. Photo by Paul Hazi.

A third contribution, perhaps less well-recognized, is that of a major research institution to economic development at both the state and national level. An independent report released last fall identified Penn State as the single largest generator of economic impact in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, with an annual net impact valued at $6.14 billion. As detailed in the facing Overview, a significant percentage of that impact arises from the University’s research activity. The pages that follow provide a breakdown and summary of Penn State’s research activity during FY 2004, as well as a sampling of some of the exciting projects that are benefiting our state, our nation,

James Collins

and our world.

Eva J. Pell, Vice President for Research and Dean of The Graduate School

James Collins

O v e r v i e w

View of the pedestrian mall from the new Life Sciences building at University Park.

enn State enjoyed record growth in R&D expenditures in FY 2004, with total expenditures reaching $606.5 million, an increase of 11 percent over FY 2003. Included in this total was $349 million in funding from federal agencies, up from $307 million a year ago. There were significant increases in funding from the National Science Foundation, up 18.8 percent to $49.9 million; the Department of Health and Human Services, up 8 percent to $92.9 million; and the Department of Defense, up 20 percent to $138.7 million. A report released in November by the Pittsburgh accounting firm Tripp Umbach provides several measures of just how important Penn State’s research activity is to the health and growth of Pennsylvania’s economy. According to the report, “Penn State annually attracts more than $545 million to Pennsylvania from sources outside of the Commonwealth to support research activities.” Of that amount, more than $425 million remains in the state’s economy, generating an additional $1.7 billion in economic impact and supporting 16,000 jobs. Every dollar spent on research, the report found, generates 3.22 dollars for the state’s economy. In addition to research, Penn State

actively supports economic development in the state and beyond through its offices of technology transfer, whose activities are detailed in the pages that follow. Last year the University engaged in research projects with some 400 companies in Pennsylvania, and over 1,400 nationwide. One example of regional economic impact is the Electro-Optics Center (EOC) in Armstrong County. Established five years ago by Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory under contract to the Office of Naval Research, the EOC began operation with four employees and two technical projects. It now has 70 employees, over 65 technical projects, and over $56 million in external support, and is an important economic engine for southwestern Pennsylvania. The Electro-Optics Alliance, formed to assist with transfer of EOC technology to industry, now has 288 members, including 237 from industry, 42 from academia, and 9 representing government agencies. An important component in Penn State’s success is the wide-ranging quality of the University’s research program. According to National Science Foundation data for 2002, the latest year available, Penn State ranked 12th among all U.S. universities in

R&D expenditures, and had more top-ten rankings for individual fields of study than any school that finished above it. Only MIT, in 15th place, had as many programs rated in the top twenty. With expertise across so many areas, it isn’t surprising that Penn State is a leader in interdisciplinary research. Taken together, the University’s five strategic research initiatives, in life sciences, materials, the environment, social sciences, and defense, accounted for $384 million in research expenditures, over 60 percent of the University’s total. One current example of collaboration across disciplines (and institutions) is a $7.9 million project funded by the National Institutes of Health to study the causes and possible treatments of restless legs syndrome (RLS), a neurological disorder that afflicts as many as 12 million Americans. Faculty from Penn State Hershey Medical Center and the University Park campus are collaborating with researchers from Johns Hopkins on the multi-site study. Continued strong growth in both traditional areas of expertise and new reseach initiatives makes Penn State a true national leader in research.

Statistical Snapshot Total Research Expenditures, 1985-2004

607 545 507

Millions of dollars

472 440 374

393

344 348 353 317 263

275

288 293

226 194 173 151

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

114

Fiscal year

Federal Research Expenditures, 1985-2004 350

250

200

150 100

Fiscal year 4

1999

1998

1997

1996

1995

1994

1993

1992

1991

1990

1989

1988

1987

1986

1985

Millions of dollars

300

Sources of Research Funding

Expenditures from Federal Agencies

FY2004 Total - $606,521,000

FY2004 Total - $349,877,000 USDA $15,330,000 DOE $14,379,000 Department of Health and Human Services $92,898,000

Federal $349,877,000

NASA $14.165.000

NSF $49,858,000 Department of Defense $138,695,000 Industry and Other $85,973,000

University $99,213,000

Other $24,552,000

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania $71,458,000

Commerce = $1,361,000 Education = $2,730,000 EPA = $3,979,000 Interior = $896,000 Transportation = $6,255,000 Other Federal = $9,331,000

Research Expenditures by Performing Unit FY2004 Total - $606,521,000 Health & Human Development $41,845,000 Liberal Arts $17,777,000

Medicine $64,258,000

Eberly College of Science $83,555,000

Applied Research Laboratory $131,785,000

Engineering $92,417,000 Agricultural Sciences $89,355,000 Earth & Mineral Sciences $55,122,000 Other

Other $10,809,000

Altoona College = $234,000 behrend College = $3,347,000 Berks-Lehigh Valley College = $346,000 Capital College = $3,390,000 Commonwealth College = $1,541,000 Great Valley = $539,000 Penn College = $1,358,000 International programs = $54,000

Other Colleges $19,598,000 Other Colleges Arts & Architecture = $1,088,000 Communications = $98,000 Education = $6,782,000 Information Sci & Tech = $5,291,000 Law = $276,000 Smeal College of Business = $6,063,000

Making a Difference

Over 250 faculty, staff, and students, along with industry representatives from 40 companies, attended the second annual Hydrogen Energy Day on the University Park campus. Held in October, the event showcases advances in hydrogen and fuel cell research and demonstrates the depth of Penn State’s —and Pennsylvania’s — involvement in research into this important technology. Visitors toured a prototype hydrogen fueling station co-sponsored by Penn State and Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. They also rode in a Toyota fuel cell hybrid vehicle, browsed through more than 30 poster presentations featuring some of the latest research into fuel cell technologies and hydrogen storage and generation, and participated in two afternoon panel discussions. In the first session, a panel of Penn State researchers provided an overview of current research and obstacles. Peter Eklund, professor of chemistry, pinpointed the problem of hydrogen storage, perhaps the greatest technological challenge. “We need a material that can store hydrogen at liquid density, at a practical temperature and pressure — and it has to bind hydrogen in a reversible way.” In the second session, representatives from Air Products & Chemicals, Inc., ConocoPhillips, the Ford Motor Company, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory discussed needs for a hydrogen infrastructure. 6

“The crux of the issue in infrastructure is the time frame,” said George Parks, senior principal scientist at ConocoPhillips. “The payoff is down the road. Industry R&D operates on a three-year time cycle.” Kathleen McGinty, Secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection, gave the lunchtime keynote address, stressing the state’s commitment to developing clean energy sources, and highlighting the growing collaboration of academic and industry partners through the Pennsylvania Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Consortium coordinated by her office. “Pennsylvania’s efforts to promote clean energy are being noticed nationally,” she said. U.S. Rep. John E. Peterson (R-PA), told a dinner audience that “the most important issue facing our country is energy. The need for hydrogen energy has never been greater.” The day was organized by the Hydrogen Energy Center, founded five years ago by current director Bruce Logan, Kappe professor of environmental engineering, as a mechanism for drawing together the wide range of Penn State research into hydrogen energy and related technologies. The Center has received strong support from the Penn State Institutes for the Environment. To learn more, see http://www.engr.psu.edu/h2e/.

Educating Against AIDS Of the 42 million people worldwide who currently have HIV, 30 million live in subSaharan Africa. Nearly half of that number are children, adolescents, and young adults. In response to this crisis, researchers from Penn State have collaborated with South African colleagues to create HealthWise, a program designed to steer young people toward healthy decision-making and to reduce drug abuse and sexually risky behavior in the AIDS-impacted Mitchell’s Plain region of South Africa. Edward Smith, director of evaluation research for the Penn State Prevention Research Center, and Linda Caldwell, professor of recreation and park management, launched the pilot version of HealthWise in 2002, in cooperation with colleagues from Penn State and two South African universities. The curriculum was implemented in four schools within the Western Cape school district in Mitchell’s Plain, an impoverished region

formerly under apartheid rule where 1 in 5 people is HIV-positive. After a positive initial reaction from teachers and students, the program is being revised and expanded under a five-year, $2.25 million grant from the National Institute of Drug Awareness (NIDA). Delivered to eighth and ninth graders, the HealthWise curriculum centers on a positive use of leisure time. Its lessons, such as “Managing Anxiety” and “Exploring Free Time,” stress student interaction through small group work, an innovative approach to education in a region still dominated by the traditional lecture model. Some 2,300 students are currently enrolled, and the program is projected to have reached 8,000 kids by 2008. One key change instituted as a result of the pilot program is the employment of youth development specialists. “These officers serve as a liaison between the school environment and the community,” Smith says, advertising alternative recreational activities for kids as well as accompanying them to health clinics. Anticipating the program’s continued growth, researchers have incorporated its lessons into the Western Cape district’s established Life Orientation curriculum so that it can be easily adopted by other districts and eventually across the entire province. Although HealthWise continues to undergo revisions, Smith and Caldwell are hopeful about its eventual impact. Says Smith, “We’re trying to be a positive influence on school districts in helping kids become more cognizant of their environment and do things that are better for them.” To learn more, see http://www.ssri.psu.edu/

Linda Caldwell

Emily Rowlands

Hydrogen Day

ARL

Charting the Seahorse What’s 30 feet long, powered by over 9,000 standard D size alkaline batteries, and capable of providing real-time oceanographic data from the deep sea? The latest version of Seahorse, an unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) developed by Penn State’s Applied Research Lab (ARL) for the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO). NAVOCEANO is the Navy’s primary source for undersea environmental data to support undersea systems. The Office asked ARL to develop the first Seahorse in the late 1990s to replace a system that used an instrumented tethered platform towed by a surface ship for undersea exploration. Towed systems were difficult to control and had to be kept under constant surveillance by personnel on the towing ship. ARL designed and constructed the first Seahorse in May 2000. Unlike earlier systems, Seahorse is capable of pre-programmed independent autonomous operations that allow it to maintain a constant depth, course, and speed. It navigates between selected waypoints and conducts bottom search and survey operations. In 2002, ARL’s Charles Zentner, principal investigator for Seahorse, along with a team of nine researchers, successfully tested Seahorse in Lake Erie. In January 2003, the Navy deployed the vehicle during the Giant Shadow experiment — an exercise conducted in the Berry Islands in the Bahamas to explore the possibilities of using UUVs to support Navy SEAL operations. Seahorse was launched vertically from a Trident submarine missile tube — a first for a UUV — and collected oceanographic data and searched for simulated mines in the exercise area. In a second exercise, performed by the Navy off the coast of San Diego in October 2004, ARL tested the latest version of Seahorse, which had been modified to operate on the sea surface as well as submerged while collecting data.

“The Seahorse UUV can operate for more than 125 hours at four knots for a nominal range of 500 nautical miles,” says Zentner. “It can gather data from ocean depths up to 300 meters. In the future, such capability will prove useful to both the military and commercial communities.” To learn more, see http://www.arl.psu.edu/ capabilities/us_sea_syseng.html.

Reinventing Shakespeare How can high school English and social studies teachers effectively incorporate Shakespeare into the 21st-century classroom? The Institute for the Arts and Humanities (IAH) at Penn State created a summer study program to address this question. “Reinventing Shakespeare: The Plays and Their Artistic Legacy” invited Pennsylvania high school teachers to University Park campus June 28 – July 2, 2004 to participate in a series of innovative and interdisciplinary seminars. The program explored how five classic Shakespearean plays — Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Tempest — have been adapted over the centuries through music, the visual arts, and film. With support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), IAH invited Greg Colón Semenza, a recent graduate of the Penn State English

department, now assistant professor of English at the University of Connecticut, and Garrett Sullivan, associate professor of English at Penn State and an expert in Renaissance drama, to conduct the seminars. “This program gave us a chance to learn about how Shakespeare is taught in secondary schools,” said Sullivan. “We were able to connect with an audience different from the ones either of us usually make contact with.” Both Sullivan and Semenza strove to introduce the teachers to various multimedia depictions of the Shakespearean era, including film clips, popular music, and Web archives of visual images. According to Sullivan, these examples provided a valuable springboard for discussion. “Questions grow naturally out of multimedia,” he said. “In fact, it’s hard to imagine a better way of posing them.” The 17 participants left the five-day program with a new range of teaching approaches and extensive curricular material to try out in their fall classes. Said one, “I liked the new outlook the seminar provided on old writing.” Another called the program “a vacation for lovers of Shakespeare.” Marica Tacconi, acting director of IAH, said the Institute hopes to continue to offer similar summer programs as an outreach component of the College of the Liberal Arts and the College of Arts and Architecture. To learn more, see www. research.psu.edu/iah/.

Making a Difference Swift in Space The nearly real-time piping of data to the ground also sets Swift apart. “When a burst is detected, lots of people’s beepers will go off,” says Nousek. Astronomers around the world will know to train their telescopes on the area where the burst is taking place. A significant portion ($33 million) of development for the $250 million Swift project took place over a five-year period at Penn State, where two of the three telescopes were built. Now that Swift is in orbit, a Penn

State team, led by Nousek and astronomer Margaret Chester, will control its daily activity and monitor the flow of data from a Mission Operations Center just three miles from the University Park campus. During its two-year mission, Swift is expected to observe more than 200 gamma-ray bursts — the most comprehensive study to date. To learn more, see http://www.rps.psu.edu/ swift/.

Every day, deep in space, a black hole is born. How do we know? Its birth is heralded by a high-energy explosion called a gamma-ray burst. Defense satellites discovered evidence of these short-lived bursts in the 1960s. Since then, catching them from beginning to end has been an almost serendipitous process: telescopes must be pointed at the right corner of the universe at the right second. Until now, that is. A new space observatory called Swift, launched into Earth’s orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida in late November 2004, will help researchers gather more information about the origin and intensity of gamma-ray bursts and their relationship to black holes. Once it detects a burst — even in its “peripheral vision”— the observatory will quickly swivel to allow its on-board telescopes to image the full show, explosion through afterglow. “Swift is not an acronym,” says John Nousek, the Penn State astronomer who is leading the project in conjunction with a NASA team. Instead, the name of the satellite describes the feature that distinguishes it from its gamma-ray-seeking predecessors: its ability to move quickly, more like a bird than a bus-sized hunk of metal. Swift can turn on a dime, gather the different wave-lengths of radiation — gamma, ultraviolet, and x rays — emerging from the burst, and relay that information almost immediately to researchers on the ground. 8

Penn State College of Medicine researchers report that a booster dose of a substance already found in the body appears to be safe and non-toxic and holds promise as a treatment for pancreatic cancer, the fourthleading cause of cancer death. In laboratory studies, a Penn State team led by Ian S. Zagon, professor of neural and behavioral sciences in the College of Medicine, discovered that opioid growth factor, or OGF, which is involved in suppression of pain in the nervous system, also controls the production of some cells, both healthy and abnormal. Pancreatic cancer cells have OGF receptors that, when bound with OGF, inhibit additional cancer cell growth. However, because cancer cells reproduce so quickly, the body can’t produce enough OGF to bind all of the receptors, so cancer cell growth continues unimpeded. Zagon’s laboratory work suggested that providing enough OGF in the body could effectively bind the OGF receptors, inhibit cancer cell proliferation, and give the body’s own defenses time to battle the disease. In a subsequent Phase I clinical study, sponsored by the National Institutes of

Health, Zagon’s collaborator Jill Smith, professor of medicine, administered OGF intravenously to 21 patients with advanced, inoperable, pancreatic cancer. Unlike the chemotherapeutic agents often used to treat pancreatic cancer, OGF did not cause white blood cell, platelet, or iron counts to drop, and did not cause gastrointestinal problems. Nor were there side effects such as hair loss, nausea, or loss of appetite. The only reported side effect was temporary hypotension, or low blood pressure, at the highest dosage tested. This problem was resolved by slowing the drug delivery. Although this study was not intended to examine tumor response or survival, Zagon noted, preliminary results suggest that treatment with OGF may slow the spread of the cancer. He said preclinical studies of OGF indicate that it might be useful in the treatment of other cancers that rely on OGF for growth such as colon, head and neck, kidney, and developing nervous system. The investigators are currently enrolling patients in a larger, phase II study. To learn more, see http://live.psu.edu/story 6654.

Getty Images

NASA

Hope for pancreatic cancer

Photolithography, the current method for making silicon microprocessors, is a photography-like technique that focuses light through lenses to etch circuit patterns onto silicon wafers. Key to the process is the size of the light’s wavelength: the shorter it is, the more transistors can be carved onto a silicon wafer. But at the smallest length scales — below, say, 20 nanometers — photolithography becomes too cumbersome to use. How small is 20 nanometers? About 100 atoms. Put another way, 20 nanometers is roughly one-five-thousandth the diameter of the period at the end of this sentence. To create features at that scale, Joan Redwing says, you need a bottom-up approach. With a four-year $1.45 million grant from the National Science Foundation, Redwing, associate professor of materials science and engineering, and Penn State colleagues Theresa Mayer (electrical engineering), Suzanne Mohney (materials science and engineering), and Ari Mizel (physics) are working on perfecting such an approach. “Instead of starting with a big wafer,” Redwing explains, “we are growing nanoscale wires out of semiconductor materials,” then assembling these wires into larger structures — like building with blocks.

Joan Redwing

Building with Nanowires

A team of experts is required. Redwing’s lab focuses on fabricating the wires, as small as 10 nanometers in diameter, using a technique called vapor liquid solid growth. “We study how growing conditions control the

properties of the wires, such as crystallinity and purity,” she says. Mayer’s lab works on assembly. Using electrical fields, “she has developed techniques to align and position the wires in controlled locations,” Redwing says. Mohney’s job is to figure out how to move electrical currents through the assembled nanoscale circuits. As Redwing points out, “making contacts for wires that small is very challenging.” Finally, Mizel, a theoretical physicist, studies the quantum effects that crop up in materials manipulated at such small scale, and how they might change a semiconductor’s properties. All of it is new territory, Redwing says. “We have to first develop the methods just to handle these nanowires. We can’t refer to anything that’s been done before. “If there are improved electronic properties” in these tiny wires, she adds, that could translate into speedier movement of electrons through tinier circuits. The potential applications would be many, from quantum transistors to nanoscale sensors with sensitivity enough to detect single molecules. To learn more, see http://www.mri.psu.edu/ spotlight/redwing_j.asp.

Understanding Cancer interacts with the genetic material in epithelial cells. In work published in the journal Nature Medicine in May 2004, Peters and his team showed that specially engineered mice that don’t have these receptors developed more tumors in the colon than normal mice with the receptors. Also, when the special mice and normal mice were exposed to cancercausing chemicals, both of them got tumors, but the mice without the receptors got more. The action of the receptors is clearly part of a mechanism that protects the mice from tumors, says Peters. “But we’re not quite sure what the receptor is doing.” Peters explains that the PPAR works much like the receptor for the hormone estrogen. When estrogen is present in a cell, it binds with estrogen receptors. The activated estrogen receptors then interact with the genetic material in the cell and turn on certain genes. With PPAR, says Peters, “the receptor needs to be activated to cause changes in gene expression that prevent the formation of tumors.” The team has yet to identify the genes

that the PPARs influence, and the role those genes play in controlling cancer in epithelial cells. A drug that activates the receptors might “enhance these pathways” and protect against cancer, says Peters.

James Collins

Jeffrey Peters is quick to point out that there’s no cure for skin or colon cancer. “Not even close,” he says. But Peters, associate professor of environmental toxicology, and his research team are working with that goal in mind. Right now, they’re trying to understand why some organisms are more susceptible to getting tumors in the epithelium, a type of tissue that makes up the skin and lines the colon. “There are naturally occurring mechanisms in organisms that prevent tumor cells from growing,” Peters explains. Understanding these mechanisms and targeting the genes that control them could lead to the development of a drug to treat and prevent certain cancers, Peters says. Specifically, Peters is looking at the role a little-understood chemical receptor plays in the formation of tumors in mice. The receptor, called the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor, or PPAR, is a protein molecule that binds specific chemicals — a class that includes environmental chemicals and certain drugs for cardiovascular disease — and

Technology Transfer

or faculty and students at Penn

Intellectual Property Office

State, the opportunity to do relevant

The Intellectual Property Office manages all intellectual property developed at Penn

and commercially useful research is an important component of the educational experience, and fulfills a central mission of the University to serve the people of the Commonwealth. Through the integrated efforts of the seven Technology Transfer units, federal, state and industry funds are transformed into benefits for all. These seven units cover every aspect of the commercialization process, from linking industrial research sponsors with faculty; to patenting and licensing; to assisting start-ups with incubation and advice; to providing financing, counseling, and technical assistance for small companies, and convenient physical facilities for companies of all sizes at the expanding Innovation Park. New technologies researched and licensed

FY 2004 Invention Disclosures .................... 171 U. S. Patent Applications .............. 130 Issued Patents ................................ 51 Revenues .......................... $2.1 million Cumulative Equity Held .................. 24 NOTE: Not included in revenue is the equity Penn State holds in start-up and established companies. State, assessing the commercial potential of approximately 200 University inventions per year, formulating and implementing patent and marketing strategies, and negotiating license agreements. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ranked Penn State eleventh among all U. S. universities in the number of patents issued in 2003. Penn State continues to accept equity positions in start-up companies through license agreements. Since 1999, Penn State has executed a total of 28 equity-based licenses.

in FY 2004 included educational tools, piezo-

Industrial Research Office

ceramic motor, the use of ultrasound to de-

Penn State ranks third nationally in industrially-sponsored research funding. With $606.5 million in total research expenditures and over 2,500 science and technology based researchers, the University is a vast repository of expertise, technology, and facilities. The Industrial Research Office facilitates the connection of businesses to Penn State researchers to pursue collaborations and external funding opportunities. Our team of industry-experienced liaisons works to understand the varied needs and interests of our clients, from small startup companies to large multi-national organizations, and to transfer that knowledge to our researchers and develop linkages that lead to mutually beneficial long-term relationships. During FY 2004, IRO facilitated industry-sponsored research generated by 40 companies, totaling $7.2 million.

contaminate surfaces, and the use of nanomaterials for energy storage and release. One new technology received exceptional recognition in 2004. With support from Ben and Jerry’s, a team of Penn State’s acoustic engineers built a prototype thermo-acoustic refrigerator, which was the focus of a press conference in New York in April. Coverage of the event was featured in The Wall Street Journal. The rights to the technology were licensed to ThermoAcoustics Corporation, a start-up company, in July. The thermoacoustic technology was further recognized in the November 29th issue of TIME magazine as one of TIME’s most amazing inventions

Research Commercialization Office

of 2004.

The RCO helps Penn State faculty and staff create new companies based on University research and technologies. It works closely

To learn more, see http://www.techtransfer.psu.edu/. 10

with Penn State’s Intellectual Property Office. The RCO can identify and secure sources of early stage capital such as seed funding programs, angel investors, venture capital funds, etc., as well as mentors and potential management-team members. Space for start-up companies is available in the Innovation Park at Penn State and in the Penn State Zetachron Center for Science and Technology Business Development, a gift of Dr. and Mrs. Wally Snipes and family. The Penn State-related companies currently in the incubation process are ChiralQuest, Inc., Accelerated Product Development, Inc., IQS Research & Development, Thermolose, NanoHorizons, Sentech, Sentechbiomed, DIApedia, QuantumBio, Chromotography Associates, Verifi, American Analytical, Sinoceramics, Micromechatronics, RLW, Endographics Imaging, Inc., and DecisionPro. Recent graduates are Mitotyping Technologies, EIEICO, Centre Ingredient Technologies, Keystone Food Science, Salimetrics, and Advanced Interfaces, Inc.

Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program PENNTAP helps Pennsylvania companies improve their competitiveness by providing a limited amount of technology assistance FY 2003

FY 2004

Cases of Technical Assistance 810 720 Clients Reported: Jobs Created or Saved 670 990 Economic Benefits $24.0 million $66.0 million Satisfaction 100%

99%

and information to help resolve specific technical questions or needs. The program focuses on helping smaller firms that normally do not have in-house expertise or resources. A network of PENNTAP technical specialists located throughout the state assists these small companies by providing advice, information, and connections to other expertise, resources or programs. Formed in 1965, PENNTAP is a federalstate-university partnership for economic

Ben Franklin Technology Center of Central and Northern Pennsylvania The BFTC of Central and Northern Pennsylvania provides financial support, technology and management experience, and ways to link public, private, and educational resources to strengthen the high technology components of the state’s economy. It is one of four regional centers of the Commonwealth’s Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority. For FY 2004, 33 research projects were funded with over $4.96 million in Ben Franklin funds and $18.59 million in privatesector cash and in-kind funds. In addition, the BFTC of Central and Northern Pennsylvania, working with Zero Stage Capital Co. of Cambridge, MA, has established central Pennsylvania’s first federally sponsored venture capital fund dedicated to growing new businesses. Called Penn Venture Partners L.P., the fund will invest $25 million with an additional $6 million in operational assistance to help companies located in the 34-county region of central and northern Pennsylvania served by BFTC/CNP.

Small Business Development Center The Penn State SBDC is part of a national network of more than 950 centers, 16 of which are based at colleges and universities in the Commonwealth, whose mission is to provide business training and consulting to existing and prospective business owners. The Penn State SBDC provides consulting assistance to small business owners in Centre and Mifflin counties. In addition, the Center’s two Environmental Management Assistance Program specialists, one at University Park and one at the Wilkes-Barre campus, provide environmental-management assistance to small business owners in 19 counties in central Pennsylvania and 13 counties in the northeastern region of the state. During the past year, Penn State SBDC staff provided 4,200 hours of consulting assistance, which resulted in 20 business start-ups and two purchases of existing businesses and created 89 new jobs.

Green Refrigerator An environmentally-friendly chilling system developed by acoustics researchers at Penn State has started down the road to market. The ThermoAcoustics Corporation, a start-up company formed specifically to commercialize the technology, has licensed the exclusive rights to the patents and patent applications and is actively engaged in developing a marketable prototype chiller, according to Steven Garrett, United Technologies Corporation professor of acoustics. Garrett is also one of the three lead researchers for ThermoAcoustics Corporation, along with Robert W. M. Smith and Matthew E. Poese, who are coinventors. In addition, “the company is supporting further research through the Applied Research Lab to improve efficiency and reduce component costs,” he says. The thermoacoustic chiller, introduced to the public last April on Earth Day at a Ben and Jerry’s ice cream shop in New York City, and at the Refrigerants Naturally symposium in Brussels, Belgium in June, uses helium gas instead of chemical refrigerants like hydrofluorocarbons, which are pound-for-pound more than three thousand times more potent than carbon dioxide as global warming greenhouse gases. Helium is an inert gas that conducts heat well. Sound waves moving through the helium cause a rapid sucession of compressions and expansions. “When the gas is compressed, it heats up. When it expands, it cools down,” Garrett explains. “In thermoacoustics, we arrange the compressions and expansions so that all of the heat of the compression is deposited at one end of the system, where it can be exhausted into a room. We arrange for all

of the expansions to occur at a different location where the cooling can be used to refrigerate ice cream, for example. Our compact unit also makes this happen with no mechanical valves or cams or linkages.” Garrett expects thermoacoustic chillers to be used in commercial applications like beverage vending machines, deli cases and ice-cream cabinets, and perhaps some day in home refrigerators and air conditioners. Prototypes for these products are still several years in the making, he says. Still, he sees the licensing of the technology as “a crucial step towards commercial success. “This is a coup for acoustic technology and for the environment, but we still have a long way to go.” To learn more, see http://www.acs.psu.edu/ thermoacoustics/refrigeration/laserdemo.htm.

James Collins

development, and one of the nation’s first technical assistance programs. It remains a valuable resource for helping Pennsylvania companies compete and grow.

Impacting Pennsylvania

Leveraging Tobacco Funds

Protecting Pennsylvania’s food supply is not a post-9/11 activity for Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “In many ways, we’re doing what we have always done,” says Bruce McPheron, the College’s associate dean for research. “Diseases and pests are a constant threat to agricultural production. The

w ar d Nu er nb er ge r

Protecting the Harvest

The commonwealth of Pennsylvania receives about $425 million annually as its share of the settlement paid by tobacco companies to 46 states for healthcare costs connected to smoking. Under a state-mandated formula, Penn State receives 17 percent of these funds to conduct health-related research. So far, the University has received $25.95 million since the settlement distribution began four years ago with an additional $8.2 million to be awarded this year. Seventy percent of the formula funds go to the College of Medicine and the remaining 30 percent to University Park to support infrastructure, basic research, and specific disease-category driven research. Speaking to the Board of Trustees last September, Eva J. Pell, vice president for research and dean of the graduate school, said, “In all cases, our primary goals are to use these resources to leverage our ability to be competitive for major grants and contracts, and, ultimately, to improve health and prevent disease for the people of Pennsylvania.” Infrastructure development has included funding for the Institute for Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics (IGPB) at University Park, which focuses on the role of genes in disease. One IGPB unit, the Center for Comparative Genomics, has been able to leverage tobacco settlement funds to attract $7.3 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). At the College of Medicine, tobacco settlement funds were used to match equivalent NIH funding to remodel the General Clinical Research Center. The Center is now more than double its previous size and includes six procedure rooms, equipment for exercise physiology studies, a bone density scanner, and special facilities for pediatric patients. The funds have also been used for feasibility grants, multidisciplinary grants and physician investigator studies. Since 2002, 15 feasibility grants have been made to study diabetes, aging, cancer, cardiovascular illnesses, and neuroscience. A $280,000 grant to a team studying opioid growth factor as a biotherapy for cancer was leveraged to attract three grants from external sources totaling $1.9 million. Another $280,000 grant to the College of Medicine

has been leveraged to attract three grants from NIH and the National Science Foundation, totaling $4.7 million, for projects that have led to a greater understanding of iron disorders and neuro-degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Lou Gehrig’s diseases. In addition, over the last academic year, seven grants totaling $471,524, were made for studies on aging, cancer, and diabetes. Penn State faculty members have also played a significant role in sparking economic development from the $100 million in settlement funds Pennsylvania legislators used for a one-time investment in three regional Life Science Greenhouses (LSG) formed for economic development. To date, the LSG of Central PA has funded 33 projects, 13 of them Penn State facultydriven. The LSG also has supported 17 businesses, seven of which are Penn State spin-out companies.

agents we fear in a terrorist act may well be the agents that we face due to natural or accidental introduction. The science is the same.” Still, focus on homeland security has stimulated new research in areas like chemical ecology, the study of how plants and animals use chemical signals to communicate. Entomologists Tom Baker and Jack Schultz, for example, are conducting research to determine how insects and plants might be used — or their intricate natural systems mimicked — as environmental sensors. Several agriculture faculty are associated with the interdisciplinary Center for Infectious Disease Diagnostics, whose work is aimed at better understanding how disease spreads across populations, both human and animal. “Another strength is geospatial analysis,” says McPheron. Soil scientist Rick Day has been a leader in using GIS technology to map farm locations across Pennsylvania — the first step toward joining a national livestock identification and tracking system proposed by the USDA. Starting in 1999, Penn State plant pathologists have been key players in coordinated University, state, and federal efforts to eradicate plum pox virus, a serious threat to the state’s fruit industry. That model of cooperation, McPheron suggests, could be invaluable in the case of a deliberate bio-attack. In addition, Seogchan Kang is spear-heading efforts to build a comprehensive molecular database of plant pathogens to help officials quickly identify and contain crop invaders. On the post-harvest front, Joseph Irudayaraj and colleagues in agricultural and biological engineering are developing advanced sensors for detecting pathogens in fruits and vegetables before they get to market. As McPheron testified to state legislators in September 2003, Pennsylvania’s unique importance in the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural commodities for the nation underlines the need for vigilance. “We need to examine the potential threats . . . and make strategic investments that will boost our readiness to detect and respond.”

Righting the Ship look beyond my limitations and toward what I might be able to accomplish with some welldirected help,” he says. “Now I know that

my wife will have a comfortable life after I am gone.”

Michael Lanagan

With help from Penn State’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC), George Elder has turned his childhood hobby of collecting model ships into an internationally successful home-based Internet business. After developing a progressive neurological disorder in the 1980s, Elder was forced to leave his job as weight-lifting coach at the University of New Hampshire. While coaching was his passion, increasing difficulties with balance and fine coordination made it dangerous to be around heavy weights. Returning to school, Elder earned a master’s degree, and was accepted into Penn State’s doctoral program in speech communications. His medical condition worsened, however, and after six years of studies, he was unable to find employment. In 2002, depending solely upon his Social Security disability checks for their income, Elder and his wife chose to use a small inheritance left by his brother to found Morning Sunshine Models. To jumpstart the new business, Elder attended an e-commerce seminar sponsored by the SBDC. Following the seminar, SBDC staff helped Elder develop a business plan to submit to the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR) to secure start-up funding for his company. In addition to funds awarded through OVR, he received financial aid from the state governmental agency SEDA-COG (the Susquehanna Economic Development Association Council of Governments), and a micro loan from the Small Business Administration. With this support, Elder was able to increase Morning Sunshine’s inventory and upgrade the company’s Web site. In just one year, Morning Sunshine grew into the second largest business of its kind in the nation. The Penn State SBDC provides consulting assistance to small-business owners like Elder across Centre and Mifflin counties. According to director Donna Holmes, the Center offered over 4,200 hours of assistance over the past year, which resulted in 20 business start-ups and two purchases of existing businesses and created 89 new jobs. “George’s case was especially rewarding because he overcame such adversity to get where he is today,” Holmes says. Elder continues to seek business advice from the SBDC. He says he has the Center to thank for helping him reach his goal of economic independence. “Nearly everyone had written me off, but the SBDC dared to

Shrinking materials In the wireless world, smaller is better. “Everyone wants to get more things into and out of their cell phones. They want to store more information and have a million different functions. To do all that, you have to miniaturize,” explains materials scientist Mike Lanagan. But the researchers at Penn State’s Center for Dielectric Studies (CDS), which Lanagan co-directs, don’t directly make devices for cell phones. “As far as product development goes, we’re at the bottom of the food chain,” he says. “We develop the materials that go into the components that go into your cell phone.” Dielectric materials, which include everything from ceramics to plastics, can guide microwaves like an antenna and store a charge like a battery, properties that make them useful in myriad products. The Center was recently awarded a state Ben Franklin Center of Excellence grant to conduct basic materials research that will primarily benefit Pennsylvania companies. Specifically, CDS is working with DuPont, in Towanda, PA, and Heraeus, Inc., in Conshohocken, PA on low-temperature, cofired ceramics: in this case, tiny clay and plastic squares into which disks of metal have been embedded. This metamaterial, as Lanagan calls it, can steer microwaves — which cell phones use to send and receive

information — in a unique way. The ultimate goal is smaller wireless components, such as antennas and filters. Another project, with Cabot Supermetals in Boyertown, involves the development of tiny electrolytic capacitors. The research, led by Elizabeth Dickey, professor of materials science, involves coating niobium metal particles with an oxide that stores a charge. “The capacitor works like a little battery, but it’s much faster,” says Lanagan. This technology could be used to develop better, smaller defibrillators — devices that jump start the heart. While the CDS receives support from the National Science Foundation, most of its funding for graduate students comes from companies like DuPont, Heraeus, and Cabot, eager to explore new technologies. “We have over 20 companies working with us that are competitors,” Lanagan explains. “But they meet with us and decide on fundamental research that’s useful for all of them. “I think that’s a really good model for working with industry,” he adds. “The companies are getting a lot of basic knowledge about their materials and the students are supported to do their thesis and publish papers about their work.” To learn more, see http://www.mri.psu.edu/ centers/cds/. 13

Innovation park ew construction and a growing list of corporate tenants are signs that Penn State’s Innovation Park is continuing its mission to facilitate collaborations between business and University research that will result in new technologies and boost the region’s economy. In a report to the Board of Trustees in November, Eva J. Pell, vice president for research and dean of the graduate school, and Karen L. Dickinson, director of Innovation Park at Penn State, outlined the recent progress and future expectations of the research park. The board also approved continuing the agreement with Research Park Management Corporation (RPMCo) for the management, supervision and coordination of development at Innovation Park, extending a relationship that began in 1990. RPMCo is a for-profit corporation owned by The Corporation for Penn State. Construction at the park has continued throughout the past year, with two new buildings nearing completion and two expansion projects completed. The Outreach Innovation Building, which will be completed in the first quarter of 2005 and mark the end of the second phase of development at Innovation Park, will be the new home to

both Penn State Public Broadcasting and the World Campus. The second structure near completion is the multi-tenant building at 328 Innovation Boulevard, which is being developed by private development company Innovation Capital Group. A number of tenants have already committed to leasing more than 80 percent of the 75,000 square foot facility. These tenants bring a wide range of specialties, including satellite communications applications, architecture and engineering, accounting, law, weather forecasting and procurement consulting. Also taking space in the building is HigherEdJobs.com, a Web-based job posting and information site for colleges and universities started by Penn State graduates John Ikenberry and Eric Blessner. Earlier this year, The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel doubled its total number of guest rooms with the addition of 150 new rooms, as well as adding 3,000 square feet of executive meeting space. The Technology Center, which houses the Penn State Research and Technology Transfer Organization, the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County and the business incubator facility, saw the completion of a 20,000 square foot addition providing more office and wet lab space for start-up com-

panies in Centre County, many of which spin out of Penn State. Penn State has entered into a partnership with Centre, Blair, and Bedford counties to establish a Keystone Innovation Zone (KIZ) along the I-99 corridor. The KIZ is designed to create entrepreneurial opportunities by aligning the combined resources of the university, private business, business support organizations, commercial lenders and others in hopes of driving the region’s economy with the creation of long-lasting jobs. It is also designed to provide opportunities for the talent emerging from Penn State’s undergraduate and graduate programs. In FY 2004, half of Innovation Park’s 42 tenants used Penn State student interns while a quarter of the businesses employed a total of 17 Penn State graduates. Innovation Park, on which construction first began in 1993, consists of 118 acres of land designated for business development. Buildings completed and currently under construction total 750,000 square feet, and at its capacity, the park can accommodate about 1.4 million square feet of development. To learn more, see http:// www.innovationpark.psu.edu/.

Courtesy of Innovation park at Penn State

ADMINISTRATION Eva J. Pell Vice President for Research Dean of the Graduate School 304 Old Main, University Park, PA 168021504 814-863-9580 ejp@psu.edu Henry C. Foley Associate Vice President for Research Director, Strategic and Interdisciplinary Initiatives Director, Marine Corps Research University 814-863-9580 hcf2@psu.edu Jay Moskowitz Vice Dean for Research, College of Medicine Associate Vice President for Health Sciences Research 717-531-7199 jmoskowitz@psu.edu Robert A. Killoren Associate Vice President for Research Director, Office of Sponsored Programs 814-865-3396 rak9@psu.edu Ronald J. Huss Assistant Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer Director, Intellectual Property Office 814-865 6277 rjh22@psu.edu

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Karen Linn Bierman Director, Social Science Research Institute 814-865-3876 kb2@psu.edu

Karen L. Dickinson Director, Innovation Park at Penn State 814-865-2880 kld12@psu.edu

William E. Easterling Director, Penn State Institutes of the Environment 814-863-0291 wee2@psu.edu

Jack A. Gido Director, Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program (PENNTAP) 814-865-0427 jgido@psu.edu

Laura L. Knoppers Director, Institute for the Arts and Humanities 814-865-0495 llk6@psu.edu

Donna A. Holmes Director, Small Business Development Center 814-863-4293 dah17@psu.edu

Edward G. Liszka Director, Applied Research Laboratory 814-865-6343 egl4 @psu.edu

Ronald J. Huss Director, Intellectual Property Office 814-865 6277 rjh22@psu.edu

Carlo G. Pantano Director, Materials Research Institute 814-863-8407 cgp1@psu.edu

Daniel R. Leri Director, Research Commercialization Office 814-863-6301 DanLeri@psu.edu

C. Channa Reddy Director, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences 814-863-4576 ccr1@psu.edu

Tanna M. Pugh Director, Industrial Research Office 814-865-2878 tannapugh@psu.edu Vic F. Russo President/CEO, Ben Franklin Technology Center of Central and Northern Pennsylvania, Inc. 814-863-4558 vfrusso@psu.edu

PUBLICATIONS David Pacchioli Director, Research Publications 814-865-3477 dap1@psu.edu Sanford G. Thatcher Director, The Penn State Press 814-865-1327 sgt3@psu.edu For more information, visit our Website at http:// www.research.psu.edu/. 15

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