We’re having a beautiful summer here in State College.  The Arts Festival ended last weekend (thankfully, without any national news coverage this time!) and we are rapidly approaching the beginning of the Fall 2001 semester.  As you can see from the announcements in this newsletter, we said some reluctant “farewells” to some AE faculty and staff members as we concurrently welcomed new colleagues to the Department.  The articles in this newsletter also attest to the fact that our faculty, staff and students are pursuing some interesting and successful initiatives.

Currently, we are preparing for the 01/02 maiden voyage of a common fifth year thesis that will be taken by students in all four AE options areas.  We are preparing diligently for our ABET accreditation visit in Fall 2002.  We are conducting a national search to fill a newly allocated AE faculty position in the Mechanical Systems area to help lead the startup of a Center for Indoor Environment in the AE Department.  This new center promises to bring together the initiatives of researchers from AE and across the University under the common theme of improving indoor building environments, which includes indoor air quality, thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, lighting quality, and the promotion of energy efficient, sustainable building designs.  Our students, faculty, the AE profession, and society as a whole should benefit directly from the forthcoming activities of the Center for Indoor Environment.

I look forward to keeping you abreast of the many exciting and worthy activities of the Penn State Architectural Engineering Department.

Best wishes to you and your families.

Yours truly,

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