AE Newsletter - Fall/Winter 2002

We’re having a “real winter” here in Pennsylvania this year.  The kind I remember as a kid growing up in New York City back in the Dark Ages.  Cold.  Biting cold.  And lots of it -- including the white stuff, with frosting or icing -- your choice.  Probably my biggest gripe with Old Man Winter is the fact that his season tends to be a sickly one, in large part because we spend so much time together indoors.  If you really want to put yourself at risk health wise, visit a hospital.  Quite a paradox, isn’t it?  The quality and security of our indoor environments are highly important issues facing modern society and our AE profession.

For the past three years, the AE Department has been planning and working toward the initiation of an Indoor Environment Center that will be a national leader in improving the quality and security of indoor environments.  We have recruited two new faculty members (Drs. Jelena Srebric and Jim Freihaut) whose research and teaching are focused heavily on indoor environmental matters.  In November 2002, we received formal approval from Penn State to form the Indoor Environment Center, with Dr. Bill Bahnfleth serving as the initial IEC Director.  We have already received a number of substantial IEC-related research grants and contracts from the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and various industry sponsors.  We have begun strategic planning exercises for the IEC that will guide the activities of the Center for the next few years.  The IEC will enable the Penn State Architectural Engineering Department to orchestrate significant, inter-disciplinary contributions to some major research, development, teaching and outreach challenges/opportunities related to the indoor environment.  I am confident you will be hearing much more about our Indoor Environment Center in the coming years.

Best wishes to you and your families.

Yours truly,

Richard A. Behr, Ph.D., P.E.
Department Head