Penn State Harrisburg will offer a new doctoral program in engineering systems beginning in fall 2022. The program aims to prepare students to pursue careers in research and development, industry, government, and academia by providing them with interdisciplinary engineering education, critical thinking skills, and research experience.
Fifteen Penn State faculty have received Fulbright Scholar Awards for the 2022-23 academic year, according to the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. The awards provide unique opportunities for scholars to teach and conduct research abroad; applications are now being accepted for 2023-24.
A Penn State team led by Hessam Taherian, assistant teaching professor in Penn State Harrisburg’s School of Science, Engineering, and Technology was one of 14 collegiate institution teams from across the globe awarded $50,000 in prize funding to build and exhibit a groundbreaking, zero-energy building next spring. The team will compete for contest and grand prizes in April 2023.
Fariborz Tavangarian’s research focuses on investigating the microstructure, micromechanical properties, and crack development patterns and mechanisms found in certain marine sponges. Although their structural components — known as marine spicules (pictured above) — are made of a brittle ceramic (silica), they show unusual toughness and flexibility due to unique factors within the structure.
Fariborz Tavangarian, left, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Olivia Lowe, mechanical engineering student, examine a Euplectella Aspergillum marine sponge to select the proper strand, or spicule, to be evaluated by scanning electron microscope. Tavangarian is researching the potential for the spicules to be used in human bone tissue engineering and other applications.
Fariborz Tavangarian, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Penn State Harrisburg, has been awarded a $616,000 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development award for his project “Achieving Resilience in Brittle Materials Through Bio-inspired Nested Cylindrical Structures,” which focuses on the possible use of marine sponges to design bone implants and other applications.
