9 - Digitized Collections

CATA to
fiSe suit
against
corrapiex
The Centre Area Transportation
Authority last night approved
plans to file suit against Parkway
Plaza Apartments for an alleged
breach of contract by the complex.
CATA General manager Kevin
Abbey said the suit alleges Parkway
Plaza did not make full payment
for its 850 residents' bus
passes.
Abbey said Friday was the final
day Parkway Plaza had to honor
its contract with CATA. He said
CATA sent Parkway Plaza a letter
Feb. 19, notifying them of the 30-
day limit.
Parkway Plaza spokesmen
could not be reached for comment.
But Parkway Plaza Controller
Sara Zabriskie said on March 19,
CATA allegedly broke the contract.
Zabriskie said Parkway
Plaza had met all contract
agreements and did not believe it
must pay a 100 percent, $75 increase
for residents' bus passes
the third year of the contract.
CATA posted notices on buses
and shelters for Parkway Plaza
and Logan House residents
March 19, notifying them that the
authority planned to confiscate the
passes on March 22.
In response, Parkway Plaza notified
its tenants that it would
provide money for them to buy
three-month CATA passes for the
remainder of the term of the original
pass.
Abbey said CATA sent a letter
March 21, notifying Parkway Plaza
that the authority did not plan
to confiscate passes but wanted
the complex to make full payment.
Abbey said the authority received
two letters stating Parkway
Plaza would attend CATA's
board meetings. However, he said
no one representing Parkway Plaza
has attended their meetings
this year.
Someone dropped off a box of
about 540 bus passes at the authority's
dispatch office yesterday,
Abbey said. A Parkway^ Plaza
memo was attached and the words
"passes being turned in per individual"
were written on it, he
added.
Abbey said CATA did not request
the passes be returned, and
that CATA will continue actions to
recover payment.
—by K.J. Mapes
Bus stop plan hits yellow light
By DEBBIE SKLAR
Collegian Staff Writer
Plans for the relocation of the
College Avenue and South Allen
Street bus stop to the corner of
Fraser Street and College reached
a snag when the University's engineering
department questioned the
effects of the new stop on classroom
experiments taking place in
Hammond Building.
The move would relieve congestion
of the College/Allen intersection
making it safer for pedestrians
while clearing the view of Old
Main, said Ralph Zilly, University
vice president of business.
Zilly said the engineering department
may have problems with the
stop location in front of Hammond
because sound and vibrations that
accompany the bus stop may hinder
classroom experiments.
Kevin Abbey, the Centre Area
Transportation Authority general
manager, said the relocation,
which will affect both CATA and
Campus Loop buses, has been in
the preliminary stage for four
years and no problems had been
encountered until the engineering
department expressed its concerns.
A spokesman for the engineering
department refused to comment on
the situation.
He added that a temporary relocation
is now being planned so tests
can be completed by the University's
Department of Physical Plant
at the request of the engineering
department. The tests will show
the overall effects of the relocation
on classroom experiments.
Although no date for the move
has been set, Zilly said a test has
been conducted at the new stop site
on sound and vibrations and a
second testing will be conducted
after the temporary move to find
the actual effects on the class experiments.
If the tests cause negative effects
on the classroom experiments the
move will not become permanent,
he said.
Abbey said, "The move will provide
the town with a safer intersection,
shelter during the rain and
aesthetic benefits to Old Main. The
only negative affect will be the net
loss of six to eight parking spaces
(near Hammond Building)."
The parking meters now at the
proposed site of the new bus stop
will be relocated to the old bus stop,
he added.
CATA and the University would
be involved in the relocation with
Penn State contributing the land,
design work and the assisting in
finding an appropriate construction
bid, Abbey said.
"The design plans would have to
be approved by both the (University)
Board of Trustees and the University
administration because it
involves University land," he
added.
The project will be funded by
grants CATA received — 80 percent
federal funds, about 16 percent
state funds and about 3
percent local funds. No University
money will be spent.
PSU part of system
to study the Earth
By ADAM BOONE
Collegian Science Writer
A nationwide network of universities,
including Penn State, may help
fvirther the understanding of the
Earth's interior.
Shelton S. Alexander, University
professor of geophysics, said Incorporated
Research Institutions for Seismologys
hopes to link seismographic
research stations to create a network
covering the continent.
The seismograph network will link
earthquake watch stations, eventually
through satellite communications,
to facilitate extensive earthquake
observations, Alexander said.
Alexander, also vice president of
the IRIS board of directors, said the
group hopes to use the PASSCAL
system — a portable series of seismograph
detectors that can provide
more detailed images of the Earth's
crust than previously were possible.
The system uses 1,000 individual
sensors to detect tremors in the surface
and produces, through sophisticated
computer manipulation, a
detailed three-dimensional image of
the area immediately below the
Earth's surface.
"It's like a telescope to look into the
Earth and focus on specific objects,"
he said.
The images are made possible because
earthquake waves have different
properties when they travel
through different materials.
The system may detect natural
Earth tremors or artificially created
vibrations like those used in the oil
industry to detect oil reserves, Alexander
said. However, the new technology
used in the project makes it
possible to refine the resolution of the
deep-Earth images, providing more
detail than the systems used by the oil
industry.
The seismograph network and
PASSCAL will be supplemented by a
computer network that will link all
member institutions to a special
group of "super computers" like
those located in Princeton, N.J., he
said. The computer network will allow
seismology researchers anywhere
in the world to instantly access
the gathered data from the IRIS
project, he said.
Robert Masse, branch-chief of the
U.S. Geological Survey branch in
Denver, Colo., said the IRIS project
was begun by the individual research
institutions with backing from the
National Science Foundation. Although
the IRIS foundation has no
direct affilitation to the USGS, the
two groups will work as partners in
their attempt to learn more about the
nature of the Earth's interior, he
said.
Masse said the IRIS project has
had a very positive effect on seismographic
research.
Alexander said IRIS was organized
in 1984 and now includes more than 48
institutions nation-wide.
The international interest has
made a federation of world-wide seismograph
stations a definite possibility,
Masse said, adding that a global
network could enhance understanding
of the Earth's interior.
"(Because of IRIS,) global .coverage
will improve much faster than
the USGS alone will be able to do," he
said.
Treading lightly
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Christopher Lutz (freshman-liberal arts) puts his heart and 'sole' into
studying as he enjoys some early spring sunshine on the steps of Pattee.
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Collegian Photo/ Dan Olsekl
Many students have been hitting the books out in the open air as warming
temperatures hint of things to come.
General ed proposal up for vote
New general education legislation,
which would require students to take
a courses in four areas of academic
studies, will be voted on by the Faculty
Senate today at \ p.m. in 101
Kern.
Laurie Dieffenbach, student member
of the senate's General Education
Implementation Subcommittee, said
that if the legislation is passed, students
will have to take three credits
of the humanities, arts, natural sciences,
and social and behavorial sciences.
• Breadth courses introduce and integrate
major areas of knowledge,
according to the subcommittee's report
to the senate.
Jerry Covert, subcommittee chairman,
said exceptions will be made to
allow certain degree programs to
bypass breadth courses in their
areas.
He said this is "considerably different
from the past when students were
more or less forced into taking
courses whether or not they were
relevant to the student."
However, he noted that because the
actual course proposals for general
education have not been decided on,
no bypasses have been approved yet.
Covert said all students could appeal
to their deans if they want to
bypass a breadth course. .
If the legislation is approved by the
senate, it will be implemented as part
of the general education program,
scheduled to begin Summer Session
1988. — by Carolyn. Sorisio
Faculty becoming entrepreneurs to aid business
By PETER D. TENNY
Collegian Business Writer
Some University professors are taking
their expert knowledge outside the classroom
and becoming "faculty entrepreneurs" by
conducting research, advancing academics
and solving practical problems in the private
sector, said the Dean for Research in the
College of Business Administration.
, Paul Rigby said University faculty are
addressing real world problems by participating
in the Division of Research of the
College of Business Administration.
"The Division of Research is an incubator
designed to develop and facilitate faculty
research, but a predominate problem is that
research involving extensive empirical data
is expensive, and if the funds aren't there the
research can't be done," Rigby said.
The Division of Research eliminates this
obstacle by securing the external support of
foundations and grants from private industry.
This approach is similar to the way entrepreneurs
would undertake a project they
would like to do, but don't have the financial
resources, he said.
"Our objective is to encourage and develop
'faculty entrepreneurship' by securing external
funding for research," Rigby said. "We
are a vehicle, which enables important research
to be done, which otherwise might not
be possible because of cost considerations.
Last year external funding for research at
the University exceeded $1 million, and at
least 50 foundations and companies were and
still are involved including: the National
Science Foundation, E.I. duPont de Nemours
& Co., General Electric, Westinghouse, Rockwell
International, Control Data, Chrysler,
Price Waterhouse, General Dynamics, Polaroid,
Union Carbide, IBM, and state and local
governments.
While those companies often have their
own research and development programs,
they participate in University research programs
because they want to see research
done in a particular area. Companies also
support research projects because of strong
University support for doing research in a
certain area and the companies can participate
in the research agenda through an
advisory board.
Rigby stressed that "we are not engaged in
consulting contracts for these companies. We
do research for the discipline, not for the
company. But sometimes the company can
vicariously benefit from the increased level
of understanding."
Rigby, a professor of management science
and the overall director of the Division of
Research, said, "we have found it easier to
obtain funding for a program rather than an
individual person or project."
For this reason, the Division of Research is
'We enable important research to be done.'
—Paul Rigby, dean for research in the College of Business
Administration
broken down into seven different centers or
institutes that include: the Institute for the
Study of Business Markets, the Center for
Regional Business Analysis, the Center for
Issues Management Research, the Blankman
Strategic Decision Making Program, the
Institute for Real Estate Studies, the Pension
and Welfare Research Program, and the
Center for the Management of Technological
and Organizational Change.
All are different in their focuses, but similar
in their objectives, which are to identify
problem areas of mutual interest between the
business and academic communities, determine
what must be done and then develop
ways of dealing with the problems.
James Dean Jr., the assistant director of
the Center for the Management of Technological
and Organizational Change, said the
focus of their research is on the effects of
Advanced Manufacturing Technology, including
robotics and computer integrated
manufacturing. CMTOC has done research
projects in areas of organizational interfaces,
which studies how different components in an
organization are interdependent. In addition,
CMTOC studies the justification decision
process of investment in advanced manunfacturing
technology, Dean said.
"Mostly companies do purely technical
research, ours is applied organizational research,"
said Dean, also an assistant professor
of organizational behavior.
Arnold Shapiro, associate professor of actuarial
science and director of the Pension
and Welfare Research Program, said "we do
applied research in the area of actuarial cost
methods and assumptions, and employee
benefits such as employee stock ownership
and pension plans."
William Anderson, the assistant director of
the Center for Regional Business Analysis,
said, "the center's research concerns a continuous
analysis and monitoring of the Pennsylvania
economy.
"We provide a monthly overview of the
area's entire economic situation, which includes
research on industry trends, unemployment,
income levels, consumer price
indices, economic growth and decline, seasonal
adjustments, forecasting and economic
effects of enterprise development," Anderson
said.
These research projects are not privy to
faculty in the College of Business. The Center
for Regional Business Analysis, for example,
did a study that included not only business
professors, but encompassed faculty from
the colleges of Agriculture, The Liberal Arts,
Human Development, and Earth and Mineral
Sciences as well, Rigby said.
The research often erases departmental
lines and crosses college boundaries, Rigby
said.
"You can't study organizations in a vacuum,"
Dean added. The idea is to develop a
university without walls where everyone
within the university and outside of it can
learn.
"Developing faculty entrepreneurs has
also enhanced academic-industry relations,"
Rigby said. "Although academia and industry
have different objectives, we've been able
to work together and make this a joint venture."
The approach of developing "faculty
entrepreneurship" has worked well at a number
of other universities, including a Finance
Institute at the University of Washington, the
Center for Research in Technology and Strategy
at Drexel University, and projects on
human resources and strategic planning at
Columbia University.