PSFEI Growing Pains

PSFEI GROWING PAINS
AE Newsletter - Spring/Summer 2002
The AE Department officially bid goodbye to the Penn State Facilities Engineering Institute (PSFEI) on July 1, 2002. In April, PSFEI celebrated the grand opening of their new off-campus location in State College. The move was due in part to the phenomenal growth in FEI staff (now numbering 22) having expanded beyond the facilities available in the AE Department. Founded in 1947 at the request of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, PSFEI provides facility engineering services to ten agencies of the Commonwealth. Their original mission was to provide engineering services on issues related to central plant steam generation in Commonwealth-owned facilities. Today, PSFEI offers a broad array of services, including providing training facility operators and managers, assessing needs, and developing solutions and strategies for facility owners. Although PSFEI is now a separate entity from the AE Department, we hope to continue the ongoing research and teaching collaborations between AE faculty and the PSFEI staff, as well as the many friendships that have been established over the years.