IEEE Morton Contest at PSU-WB

On Thursday April 21, 2011, Penn State Wilkes-Barre hosted the 53rd Annual Walter B. Morton Contest that is sponsored by the Lehigh Valley Section of IEEE. Don Talhem, shown in the picture below acted as Chairperson for the event, ensuring that the presenters did not exceed their alloted time.



Six student groups from the Universities served by this local Section participated in the event, including a group of 3 students from Penn State Wilkes-Barre. Joseph Homza, Frederick Hall and Steven Lutz presented their senior project: Force sensing and autonomous alert technology. In the picture below, Steven and Frederick are wating for their turn to present their project.

This next picture shows Frederick presenting the hardware of the project. This project was awarded a PACTI grant from the Northeastern Pennsylvania Technology Institute and a first place award at the Enterpreneurship Institute.

Alternative Energy in BSEET program

Students enrolled in the BSEET program at Penn State Wilkes-Barre have the opportunity to learn about alternative and renewable energies in a senior-level course.

Click on the link here to read more about this course.

Balloon flight pictures and videos

Some pictures and videos of the first Penn State Wilkes-Barre High Altitude Balloon flight are now avilable at the project website.

Pictures can be found here: Click for pictures

And a 5-minute video summarizing the flight is on You tube: Click for video

We will try to have a second flight this spring semester.

High Altitude Balloon Flight

On Novemember 13, 2010 we had our first High Altitude Balloon Flight at Penn State Wilkes-Barre. Despite some problems during the flight, it was a success.

The University wrote a nice paragraph about the flight here.

Pictures, details and videos will follow.

The book is out!

The book I have been working on for some time has finally been published!

The book is a description the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), that is an technique for the automated identification of products, goods and similar, using wireless energy. It is always very rewarding to see the finished product, after having invested so much time and energy.

I am not sure if I will be doing this again, but overall the experience has been very interesting and rewarding.

More information about the book can be found in the publisher's website or through Amazon.

Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral

Few days ago I was invited by NASA together with several engineering faculty members through the country, to a workshop on teaching systems engineering to our students. This meeting took place at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the birthplace of space exploration.

The following are some pictures from the Kennedy Space Center taken during the workshop as well as the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station open to the public through NASA’s tours.

One of the three main Shuttle engines being transported and ready to be assembled into the Orbiter.

Launch Complex 39A, from which the Shuttle is normally launched. As of right now, there are only two more Shuttle flights scheduled before the program ends.

Blockhouse for Launch Complex 26 from which the first US Satellite, Explorer, was launched.

Commemorative plaque outside Launch Complex 5/6 from which Alan Sheppard was launched, making the first US suborbital manned space flight.



The first US human in Earth’s Orbit was John Glenn who was launched from Launch Complex 14.


This statue is located just outside of Launch Complex 14 honoring the Mercury 7 astronauts.

There is only a single light in this part of The Cape; it was placed after Tom O’Malley, the launch conductor for the Mercury flights went to work before dawn and complained that he could not find his turn to Launch Complex 14 because of the darkness. NASA and the Air Force installed the light at the entrance of the Complex and left it on for him. The light remained on until his death in 2009.


Complex 34 was where the tragedy of Apollo I occurred, killing the three astronauts in the fire as they were on the ground testing the spacecraft.


A plaque at the bottom of the structure remembers them.


The Apollo Guidance Computer installed in both the Command Module and Lunar Module. All the interactions with the AGC were purely numerical with two types of codes: “Verb” to describe the type of action to be performed and “Noun” to specify the data affected by the Verb.

Graduation 2010

Commencement exercises at Penn State Wilkes-Barre took place on Saturday May 15, 2010

We offer our most sincere congratulations to all the graduates.

Associate in Electrical Engineering Technology:
David Buckley
Andrew Kempinksi
William Ford
Steven Smith

Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology:
Sean Bovier
Justin Konstelansky
Mark Krofchok
Joseph Sack
Matthew Smith
Joseph Stevens


In addition to the students that graduated, we bid farewell to engineering students who left the campus to complete their degrees at University Park.

Engineering disciplines were well represented and recognized during the graduation exercises:

To all of them, our most sincere congratulations for their achievements.

High Altitude Balloon Launch

Penn State Wilkes-Barre has scheduled its first High Altitude Balloon Launch for the morning of Saturday May 8.

The main goal for this first flight is for faculty and students to develop the knowledge and skills to conduct launches and retrieve the payloads. A second goal is to acquire video footage of the flight from the different cameras inside the payload.

Our aim is to reach a maximum altitude of 90,000 ft.

EDIT (5/8/10): The weather conditions today placed the landing site more than 100 miles away from the launch point as the Jet Stream moved on top of Pennsylvania. This fact, together with the rain and thunderstorms around the launch date forced us to cancel the scheduled launch for today.

Student Trip to Boeing

On April 16, 2010 members of the Engineering Student Club at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, accompanied by faculty members Dr. Jon Carson (club advisor) and Dr. Albert Lozano visited the Integrated Defense Systems facility from Boeing located in Ridley Park, PA. Boeing Integrated Defense Systems combines weapons and aircraft capabilities, intelligence, surveillance systems, communications architectures and extensive large-scale integration expertise.

After a brief introduction to Boeing and its rotorcraft division, as well as internship and employment opportunities, students were given a tour of the Wind Tunnel. This particular wind tunnel allows Boeing to test performance of aircraft up to 0.3 Mach. This is an important segment of the flight as it includes the critical phases of take off and landing. The wind tunnel is a closed-circuit tunnel, with a quarter of a mile air path containing 42 tons of air.

Afterwards, the students were taken to the Chinook assembly line. The Chinook CH-47D, first developed in 1967, is a multi-mission helicopter. It is tandem rotor, heavy-lift helicopter used by military forces around the globe. It can handle loads of up to 24,000 lbs. Its tandem rotor configuration provides exceptional handling qualities, allowing its operation in climatic, altitude and crosswind conditions that typically prevent other helicopters from flying. The students were able to see the different stations used in the manufacture of new Chinooks as well as the refurbishing of older units. This allowed students from mechanical and electrical engineering as well as other engineering disciplines, to see the different parts and processes used in a complete engineering process.

High Altitude Balloons

I have received support to start a High Altitude Balloon project at Penn State Wilkes-Barre (http://www.wb.psu.edu/Information/31426.htm#NEWS31426). If everything goes as planned, we may have our first launch at the end of the semester or shortly after finals.

High Altitude Balloons rutinely fly up to 90,000 t o 100,000 feet, becoming an excellent platform for experimentation in sciences and engineering. They are a way to engage students from different educational backgrounds, offer incredible views and are fun.

The pictures here are from a workshop that I attended last June at Taylor University, Hopefully we'll be able to post our own very soon.

Building the Payloads. Because the extremely low temperatures, electronic components must be kept as insulated as possible. Basic insulation sheets are used to house the different experiments and electronic components.

Inflating the balloon with helium. The inflation process is critical for a successful flight.

Launch. Two High Altitude Balloons were launched simultaneously. It is possible to see the different payloads linked together. The small balloon in the background was from an inflation test.

A camera inside one of the payloads provides spectacular views.

Another camera, pointing upwards captures the balloon and the payloads above it. Once again, the views are spectacular!

BSEET Students win Award

Three BSEET students, who are working together in their Senior Design Project have received an award from the Northeastern Pennsylvania Technology Institute. (NEPTI). This award, that was given under the Pennsylvania Assistance Technology Commercialization Initiative is for the students to develop their design. They are planning on creating a system that will assist in opening doors for elderly and disabled individuals.



Pictured above are Robert Watts, NEPTI, VP; Sean Bovier; Darryl Schwarz; Mark Krofchok and Dr. Albert Lozano. Additional information in the campus website: http://www.wb.psu.edu/Information/31433.htm#NEWS31433

Senior BSEET students present Project Proposal

During their Senior Year, students in the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology must complete a project that spans during two semesters. During the Fall Semester, students must develop a proposal for a project that they will implement during the Spring Semester. More information about this course can be found at http://www.personal.psu.edu/axl17/419.htm

The pictures below show one of the student groups describing their project, an automatic door opener for individuals with disabilities. Darryl Scharz (left) and Sean Bovier (center) describe the project scope, while in the other picture Mark Krofchok describes the Work Breakdown Structure for the project.

Joseph Sack, in the picture below is ready to start the presentation for his group that is designing a text-to-speech system to help individuals with hearing disabilities. Leah Klink (left) and Brian Smihosky (center) shown in the second picture are the other members of the group.

The last group of students is designing a microntroller-based system used to control, record and modify different parameters that are key in the germination and growth of plants. Leo Insalaco (right) and Justin Konstelansky (left) are presenting their project. The other component of their group, James Hannan is discussing the mechanical aspects of one of their components.

Solar Energy experiments

EET 105 is a course that students take in their first semester for their degree in Electrical Engineering Technology. The purpose of this course is to expose them to the different areas in this program while at the same time giving them the basic analytical tools for upcoming courses.

The Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology at Penn State Wilkes-Barre is focused on giving students a strong analytical base coupled with the hands-on skills that are required in industry. For this reason, the program puts a strong emphasis on experimenation with current and new technologies. One of these new technologies is solar energy. Studnets in the EET 105 course had the opportunity to evaluate several solar cells and different configurations in these experimental activities.


Students thinking about the connections and measurements they need to carry out.

The testing circuit with the testing instruments.

Working in groups and discussing the results obtained among the members of the group is an essential skill to prepare future industrial and technological leaders.

Experimental setup.

Magnetic Levitation Experiments

Senior students in the BSEET program carry out a Magnetic Levitation experiment for the EET 433: Control Systems Analysis and Design course. The pictures show several student groups working through the different steps for the experiment.

More information about these experiments is avaialble in the paper that I wrote and has been recently published in the Technology Interface journal: http://technologyinterface.nmsu.edu/Fall09/index.php?fdf=006

Dr. Enrique Berjano visits Penn State Wilkes-Barre

During the month of October the campus received the visit of my friend and colleague Dr. Enrique Berjano. He is an Associate Professor of Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Valencia in Valencia, Spain. Valencia is just few miles south of Barcelona, where I was born and grew up.Enrique and I share a research interest in biomedical engineering as well as in pedagogical methods in order to increase student learning in engineering. We have published a couple of papers together and continue our collaboration. One of the reasons for visiting the Wilkes-Barre campus was to have a first hand experience of the different methods we use to engage our engineering and engineering technology students in active, student-centered learning. He was also interested in learning about the general education requirements for all students and in particular the different writing and communication courses that these students have to take before graduation.

Dr. Berjano was able to deliver two lectures to our campus community. The first lecture was focused on explaining how the different engineering disciplines support biomedical research. The second lecture talked about the role that mathematical models play in this type of research. He discussed how his group uses mathematical models in their research activities. Both lectures were specifically aimed towards students, encouraging them to continue with their studies in engineering. The picture below, courtesy of Melissa Gunshannon, the Campus Public Information Coordinator, shows Dr. Berjano discussing how the results predicted by their models was validated in patients.



Additional information can be found at the PSU-WB website