Weekly Wrap: Mike the Mailman; Sexual Assault Awareness Month; Barron's blog

      A look back at the top stories for the week of March 27

      After 48 years with the U.S. Postal Service, Mike Herr, known as "Mike the Mailman," will retire on April 1. For the bulk of his career, Herr has run the University Park post office on campus. Credit: Patrick Mansell / Penn State. Creative Commons

      A look at the week's top stories from across Penn State:

      MIKE THE MAILMAN: With Mike Herr, known to the Penn State community as "Mike the Mailman," retiring on April 1 after 48 years, Penn State Today sat down with the campus icon to talk about his experiences and his plans for the future.

      SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS MONTH: April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and Penn State is holding a range of educational events and initiatives across the campuses to focus attention on the issue and bring the community together to stop sexual misconduct.

      PRESIDENT'S BLOG: With the state's budget impasse finally over, President Eric Barron talks about the impact the stalemate has on Penn State in his "Digging Deeper" blog.

      PLANET FINDER: A Penn State-led research group has been selected by NASA's Astrophysics Division to build a $10 million, cutting-edge instrument to detect planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. When completed in 2019, the instrument will be the centerpiece of a partnership between NASA and the National Science Foundation.

      MOBILITY CHALLENGE: This semester, five Penn State engineering students are working to develop an innovative new mobility solution for 3-year-old Lucy Reed, who was born with spina bifida. The project is part of the senior capstone design series, which aims to provide students with real world hands-on experiences.

      RAIL PROGRAM: Just in time to meet the demands of a fast-growing rail network, Penn State Altoona's Rail Transportation Engineering program graduated its first class almost a year ago — a pool of nine railroad engineering specialists who have come from many directions but are only moving forward.

      SEA-LEVEL RISE: An ice sheet model that includes previously underappreciated processes indicates that sea level may rise almost 50 feet by the year 2500 due to Antarctic ice sheet melting if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, according to researchers from Penn State and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

      Last Updated March 31, 2016