PSU, WORDSWORTH TEAM FOR SPECIAL NEEDS CHILDREN
The Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State College of Medicine have teamed up with Wordsworth to help children in three central Pennsylvania counties. Wordsworth, a not-for-profit institution that provides quality education, treatment and care to children and families with special needs, has received licensing to provide mental and behavioral health services for children with emotional needs at its Harrisburg campus, with Penn State providing the psychiatrists. This new approach to education will be the first school-based behavioral health care program for children in Harrisburg. “Quality care requires that different service sectors operate in an organized, collaborative way when dealing with children,” said Darrell Kirch, CEO of Penn State Hershey Medical Center and dean of the College of Medicine. “Doctors, teachers, case managers and families must provide a network of care and support. Coordinated care is the best way to help these children address their needs and give them the chance to succeed.” For more on this story, go to http://www.hmc.psu.edu/news/pr/2001/Oct/Wordsworth.10.9.01.htm.
PENN STATE-NORTHWESTERN GAME TO AIR ON ABC
Penn State’s Big Ten football game at No. 24 Northwestern on Saturday, Oct. 20, will be televised by ABC Sports to a regional audience. Kickoff will be at 2:30 p.m. CDT/3:30 p.m. EDT at Ryan Field in Evanston, Ill. The telecast of the Northwestern game is the fifth announced TV appearance of the season for the Nittany Lions, who have appeared on television 84 times in their last 85 games, including the last 50 contests. Penn State and Northwestern will be meeting for the first time since 1998 and the first time in Evanston in four years. The Nittany Lions lead the series, 5-1, with the initial meeting taking place in 1993. The Lions have won the last three contests with the Wildcats. Penn State is idle Saturday, Oct. 13, while Northwestern hosts Minnesota. For more information, visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com/.
WOLSZCZAN HONORED BY POLISH PHYSICAL SOCIETY
Alexander Wolszczan, Evan Pugh Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State, has been honored with the Marian Smoluchowski Medal--the highest prize awarded by the Polish Physical Society. Wolszczan became the first person to discover planets outside the Earth’s solar system in 1992, when he used the 1,000-foot Arecibo radio telescope to detect three planets orbiting a rapidly spinning neutron star. His discovery, which suggested that planets might be plentiful throughout the universe, opened the door to the current intense era of planet hunting. For the full story by Barbara Kennedy, visit http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Wolszczan10-2001.htm.
ALUMNI COOL CAREER – GOING WITH THE (WIND) FLOW
At work for the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md., senior meteorologist R. Wayne Higgins spends much of his time trying to identify the links between climate variability, extreme weather events and long-term trends. The native Midwesterner got his graduate training in the complexities of atmospheric dynamics at Penn State in the 1980s, and also owes the University for meeting his future wife, Sharon (Class of 1987), in the Beaver Stadium bleachers. As editor of NWS’s Climate Diagnostics Bulletin, he keeps track of the latest indicators of climate change; and he maintains a prolific research publication and presentation schedule. “The research is the fun part,” he says. “No one is allowed to have that much fun.” So, he also leads the production of seasonal forecasts, which involves loads of media interaction--a service that has earned him numerous awards. The full story, by Robert Aune, appeared in a recent issue of MAPS Meteogram, a newsletter for meteorology alumni. To download, visit http://www.met.psu.edu/dept/alumni/MAPS/vol1no2pdf.pdf.