Penn State 2005 research profiled: Deep space to daily life

Penn State 2005 research profiled: Deep space to daily life

University Park, Pa. -- From observing the birth of a black hole in deep space to turning a basic discovery into better odor-fighting socks to pondering African American lives in Pittsburgh through celebrated playwright August Wilson's eyes, Penn State research and scholarly activity in 2005 spanned deep space to daily life.

The broad sweep of the Penn State research enterprise is detailed in the Annual Report of Research Activity FY 2005 published by Penn State's Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) released at http://www.research.psu.edu/pu/annrep05.pdf online.

The report also details the investment in the University's research expenditures, which reached $638 million in FY 2005, up 5 percent over FY 2004. Included are charts detailing the sources of research funding and expenditures from federal agencies, by performing unit and by year from 1986 to 2005.

"As a land-grant institution, Penn State places great emphasis on 'translational' research: the work that turns basic discoveries into real-world applications," said Eva J. Pell, vice president for research and dean of The Graduate School.

For example, NanoHorizons Inc., a spin-off company located in Penn State's Innovation Park, will provide the crucial ingredient, nanoscale-sized silver particles, for a new line of anti-odor fabric produced by ARC Outdoors/ArticShield. However, the textile market is only the latest foray for NanoHorizons Inc., which was founded in 2002 by Stephen Fonash, Kunkle professor of engineering sciences.

A new technology in development by Mark Kester, professor of pharmacology, and James Adair, professor of ceramic science and engineering, recently won the International Nanotechnology Business Idea Competition and is the basis for Keystone Nano, another start-up at PennState's research park. The two researchers are working on ultra-tiny "molecular dots" to carry ceramide, a naturally-occurring cancer-cell killer, to tumors.

Other research activities profiled in the report include the Swift Gamma Ray Burst Explorer, a $31 million NASA satellite that carries three instruments that are operated from a base in State College directed by two Penn State astronomers. Since its launch, Swift has helped pinpoint the birth of a special kind of black hole, watched the collision of NASA's Deep impact probe with frozen comet Tempel 1 and detected the most distant explosion yet recorded, the OVPR report noted.

The daily life of African-Americans in Pittsburgh in the 20th century is the focus of August Wilson's "Decade Series" of plays which were produced, read and discussed at Penn State's August Wilson Festival last spring. Wilson, one of America's most celebrated playwrights and the country's most famous African-American dramatist, died in early October and the festival was the first and only time that all 10 plays in the Decade Series were seen, read and examined together.

Some other programs described in the OVPR report are Penn State's technology commercialization activities in the I-99 Corridor and Philadelphia Navy Yard Keystone Innovation Zones; the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics which is on its way to becoming a world leader in the study of infectious diseases; the Penn State Hotel Initiative being conducted by the Center for Work and Family Research to investigate the extent that a demanding career contributes to family life stress; and AfricaArray, a 20-year initiative to train and educate Africans in scientific fields vital to natural resource development.

The OVPR report also noted that, "according to the National Science Foundation data for 2003, the latest year available, Penn State ranked 11th among all U.S. universities in R&D expenditures and had more top-10 rankings for individual fields of study (15) than any school that finished above it."