Centers and Institutes

Capital Area Institute for Mathematics and Science (CAIMS)
CAIMS is devoted to the promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, continuing its founding mission to improve the delivery of STEM content, while forging a new path that strengthens research, professional development, entrepreneurship, and information services through collaboration between and among faculty on all Penn State campuses, other universities, local school districts, community centers, businesses, and industries. 
 
CAIMS brings the strength of Penn State’s expert faculty and research resources to bear on the problems facing our region’s STEM educators, as well as coordinating STEM summer camps and other programs that give students, teachers, and community members engaging  experiences to which they might not otherwise have access. CAIMS has collaborated with various departments and campuses to provide unique outreach opportunities. In 2018-2019 alone, CAIMS professionally developed 98 teachers from 34 school districts, having a reported impact on 38,000 students annually. 

Continuing Education 
Penn State Harrisburg Continuing Education is your local connection to the extensive intellectual resources available through Penn State. Through organizational and individual partnerships and collaborations, we foster professional and personal economic development and growth. Whether your business is a small non-profit or a global corporate leader, Continuing Education wants to work with you to develop solutions for your training, education, and professional development needs. 

Areas of expertise include organizational development, strategic planning, leadership, communication, and technical knowledge in a wide range of disciplines. Programs are available in a variety of delivery times and formats (classroom, distance, hybrid) and we excel in customization for specific needs. Continuing Education is also proud to support socially responsive education for nontraditional students through programs that collaborate with the Pennsylvania Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Department of Human Services. We improve lives through relevant education and lifelong learning opportunities. For more information email [email protected] or call 717-948-6500. 

Center for Holocaust and Jewish Studies 
Besides being an inviting physical space providing research materials in print and other media in the Penn State Harrisburg Library, the Center is actively involved in outreach programming such as public performances of music, drama, and dance; screenings of films along with discussions by their makers; and lectures and book talks with nationally recognized writers and researchers on the Holocaust and Jewish Studies. The Center works to bring people from the Central Pennsylvania region and the university together in a common interest of remembering and teaching the Holocaust and Jewish Studies. In addition to its annual event series, the Center regularly presents art and history exhibitions in its Linda Schwab Gallery, manages a curriculum of course offerings for undergraduate students to learn about the Holocaust, as well as Jewish history and culture, and maintains an archive of materials from survivors in the Central PA region.

Harrisburg LaunchBox 
The Harrisburg LaunchBox at Penn State Harrisburg provides programming to support entrepreneurship and innovation commercialization in the Capital region.  Since 2016, the center has worked with over 200 student, faculty, staff, and community entrepreneurs, providing training and resources to help foster new business creation and support economic development throughout the region.

Pennsylvania Center for Folklore (formerly the Center for Pennsylvania Culture Studies)  
The Pennsylvania Center for Folklore (formerly the Center for Pennsylvania Culture Studies), founded in 1990, is committed to studying, documenting, and interpreting historical and contemporary cultural traditions and communities, especially in Pennsylvania, in order to promote greater knowledge of the diverse range of folklore and folklife across the commonwealth, region, and nation. 
 
Advised by a board of experts from several Penn State campuses, as well as institutions and organizations regionally and nationally, the Center develops and supports research, collections, courses, degrees, and events related to folklore and folk cultures. The Center is affiliated with the Penn State Harrisburg School of Humanities and its American Studies program. 

The vision of the Smart Home Research Initiative is to become the premier research and advancement hub for smart home design, technology, lifestyle, energy, and policy in South Central Pennsylvania. See our website for current projects and partners.  

Central Pennsylvania Research and Teaching Laboratory for Biofuels 
The Central Pennsylvania Research and Teaching Laboratory for Biofuels serves as a center to discover and disseminate knowledge addressing challenges in sustainable agriculture while providing interdisciplinary research training in plant tissue culture and molecular biology with the goal of cultivating diversified pools of talented students, under-represented minorities into careers in biotechnology, medicine and health sciences.

Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center (RMC)
The Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center (RMC) is an independent, Pennsylvania non-profit corporation with mission to reduce or eliminate barriers that lead to new expanded use of Pennsylvania’s recycled materials. The RMC team brings markets development assistance to a near endless list of stakeholders including entrepreneurs, manufacturers, recycled material processors, collection programs, haulers, and governmental agencies. In operation since 2005 and with funding from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the RMC has an affiliation with Penn State and is headquartered at Penn State Harrisburg with an office in Pittsburgh. Core areas of RMC outreach include feedstock conversion pairing, applied research and commercialization assistance; technology acceleration; and service as a concierge to technical and business growth information. Building and supporting Pennsylvania’s $22.6B recycling marketplace, the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center bridges relationships between economic development and recycled materials supply. Expediting time-to-market of recycled-content products and processes, RMC creates circular economy in Pennsylvania.  

Center for Signal Integrity 
The goal of the Center is to support signal integrity research and product development for local and national companies and advance the research collaboration between Penn State Harrisburg and industry.

Douglas W. Pollock Addictions Research and Outreach Center
Dedicated in August, 2019, The Douglas W. Pollock Center for Addiction Outreach and Research works to develop and implement effective programs, policies, and practices aimed at preventing and treating addiction and its spillover effects on children, families and communities. The Center is focused on connecting community-based organizations and veteran populations to information, strategic planning, evidenced-based education, tools, and resources needed to effectively and efficiently make measured, impactful change in combating the multiple types of addiction. 

The Douglas W. Pollock Center for Addiction Outreach and Research plays a key part in the Penn State Consortium to Combat Substance Abuse by connecting Pennsylvanians with the expertise of researchers, educators and practitioners from across the University. The goal of the Center is not solely to end deaths, but also facilitate the opportunity to recover to safe, healthy, and productive lives.