SCHOLARS GET IMMERSED IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
High-achieving high schoolers with a taste for IT began five weeks of full immersion in the real world of virtual reality when the 2001 Pennsylvania Governor's School for Information Technology kicked off yesterday (June 24) at Penn State. Seventy-six young men and women from across the Commonwealth are advancing their abilities in Web development, mobile database management, and parallel computing, as well as other skills. This marks the third year the Penn State School of Information Sciences and Technology has coordinated the program at University Park. It is conducted concurrently for additional attendees at Drexel University. For the full story by Charles C. DuBois, visit http://ist.psu.edu.
SINGLE MOLECULES CAN FUNCTION AS SWITCHES
Future computers may have components that function based on the action of single molecules. A step in that direction has been taken through research showing that single molecules can switch between on and off states and then hold in a state for hours at a time. A paper on the work by researchers at Penn State and Rice University published in the June 22 edition of Science also describes how conformational changes which happen when molecules alter their arrangement by rotation of their atoms around a single bond, effectively changing shape by moving or turning determine how and when that conductance switching occurs in those molecules. For the full story by Steve Sampsell, visit http://www.science.psu.edu/alert/Weiss6-2001.htm.
EXPERTS STUDY LIQUIDITY IN AUTOMATED MARKETS
Advantages of speed, simplicity and low costs have driven the rapid adoption of automated auctions to trade equities, bonds, foreign exchange, and derivatives worldwide. However, automated auctions depend on public limit orders for buying and selling a security, and if the limit order book is thin, even small trades can induce large price movements, increasing trading costs and volatility. Ian Domowitz, professor of finance at Penn State's Smeal College of Business Administration recently co-authored a study of liquidity in automated markets that suggests that traders can add value by strategic order placement behavior. We show that the variation in liquidity over time is economically and statistically significant, he says. For the full story by Steve Infanti, visit http://www.smeal.psu.edu/news/depth/june01/trading.html.
CORPORATIONS FUND NEW PLASTICS LAB EQUIPMENT
Six corporate supporters have made donations or pledges to help Pennsylvania College of Technology upgrade the equipment used in its Plastics and Polymer Technology laboratories. The contributions, along with a matching state grant, will provide more than $16,000 worth of equipment that can provide data that's unattainable with existing components used for injection molding instruction. Those donating or pledging funds are: Amp Foundation-Tyco Electronics, Harrisburg; Quadrant Engineering Plastic Products (formerly DSM Polymer), Reading; PPL Corp., Montoursville; Susquehanna Communications, Williamsport; H.O. West Foundation/West Pharmaceutical Services, Williamsport and Lionsville; and McClarin Plastic, Hanover. For more information, visit http://www.pct.edu/news/pctoday.shtml.
PALMER EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHTS STATE TRANSPORTATION
The development of highways, byways, and railways in Pennsylvania is highlighted in an exhibit of prints from the permanent collection at the Palmer Museum of Art, From Main Street to Moscow by Way of Rails and Sails, which continues through September 2 at the University Park museum. Soon after William Penn and members of the Quaker religion acquired the territory of Pennsylvania in 1681, they settled in Philadelphia and were quickly followed by a multitude of other European immigrants. To accommodate this growth, Penn made plans to build up the seaport, to expand the inhabitable parameters of Philadelphia, and to create routes that permitted easy access in and out of the city's business district. Challenging topography inspired a number of transportation firsts, including the first steamboat and the first coal railroad. The prints were selected from more than 300 that were acquired from John O'Connor and Ralph Yeager, the former owners of the Tavern Restaurant in State College, where they were originally displayed. For more information on this and other Palmer exhibits, visit http://www.psu.edu/dept/palmermuseum/index.html.