Penn State Berks recently received a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics program. The grant will be used to create the Penn State Berks Leveraging Innovation and Optimizing Nurturing STEM Scholars Program, which will provide support in the form of a four-year renewable $6,250 scholarship to talented engineering students with demonstrated financial need. Students who meet the requirements will receive $25,000 over four years.
Francian Cooke’s interest in nursing began when she was growing up in Jamaica and caring for her terminally ill father. On Friday, Dec. 17, her dream was realized when Cooke graduated from the practical nursing program at Penn State Berks.
On Dec. 8, nearly 50 people attended the Berks LaunchBox open house. This was the first event to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Berks LaunchBox and Invent Penn State, the commonwealth-wide initiative that established campus innovation hubs, which was launched by Penn State President Eric J. Barron in 2016.
It’s not unusual for graduates to experience a career change in their lifetimes, but it’s not so common to hear about a career “refocusing.” Britton Reider’s return to Penn State to pursue a bachelor’s degree in electro-mechanical engineering technology at the Berks campus helped to push his career to the next level.
Berks LaunchBox powered by Penn State recently announced the winners of its Idea TestLab accelerator final pitch competition. The competition concluded a six-week-long virtual business idea accelerator in which seven selected startups received coaching and training to identify viable business models through intensive customer discovery.
As part of Penn State’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, Penn State Berks will hold a variety of events for aspiring entrepreneurs from Nov. 8 to 12. The events are sponsored by the college’s Flemming Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (CEED) Center and the Berks LaunchBox, an incubation hub located in the city of Reading.
The annual Penn State Berks pop-up, fine-dining restaurant event is currently taking reservations for its annual dinner, 5–9 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 5, in the first floor lobby of the Gaige Technology and Business Innovation Building.
Students studying hospitality management and entrepreneurship will save money on textbooks, thanks to a grant from Pennsylvania Grants for Open and Affordable Learning.
James “Jimmy” Murray is living his dream: He is currently completing an internship at the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’: Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
The craft brewing industry is big business in Pennsylvania, and a recent grant will allow Penn State Berks to develop a program of craft brewing courses, with an emphasis on the use of Pennsylvania-grown specialty grains.
