Dr. Brandon Packard, associate professor in PennWest’s Computing and Engineering Technology Department, was honored as a recipient of the Special Equity Award at the PennWest Clarion Student Senate and Equity Awards ceremony in November.

Packard received this award after being nominated by multiple students and colleagues who recognized his efforts to create a welcoming environment where all can thrive and feel safe. Outside the classroom, he supports his students at events such as Lavender Graduation and Minority Student Awards.

Dr. Lisa Kovalchick, chairperson, and Dr. Pratibha Menon, associate professor in Computing and Engineering Technology Department, co-authored a paper with Dr. Alan Peslak, from Penn State University, titled “Social Media Users Only Have Two Clusters: A United States Analysis.”

This paper received Meritorious Paper Award in the IS Applied Research Focus Area at the Information Systems & Computing Academic Professionals (ISCAP) conference in November.

Through the National Science Foundation grant that supports career readiness and STEM education, Dr. Jennifer Wilburn, associate professor in Computing and Engineering Technology Department, and California’s ACCESS scholars toured a meter manufacturing plant in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

ACCESS scholars, who earned scholarship awards for content knowledge and career readiness in a variety of technology fields, explored the Sensus complex, which manufactures water and gas meters. Sensus, owned by Xylem, Inc., is an active member of California’s Mechatronics Engineering Technology Industrial Advisory Board since the program’s inception and sponsors one senior project each year.

This is the second industry tour for students participating in the ACCESS program.

Photo: Dr. Brandon Packard, associate professor in PennWest’s Computing and Engineering Technology Department, was honored as a recipient of the Special Equity Award