Category: Uncategorized

By Heather Cass
Publications & Design Coordinator, Penn State Behrend

When Olga Vanieva graduated from Penn State Behrend in 2004 with a degree in Marketing and minor in Psychology, she never would have guessed she would find herself working for a tech company in Silicon Valley. And not just any tech company, but Yahoo Inc., where Vanieva is a senior product manager of customer experience.

There were, however, a few clues during her time at Behrend.

“I worked in the computer lab, and I just loved it,” she said. “I was probably the least technical person employed there, but I really enjoyed working with the engineering students. They taught me a lot.”

She was also part of the college’s initial foray into engineering-business collaboration. She was a student in the Small Product Realization class that was a precursor to future engineering-business partnerships and the Interdisciplinary Business with Engineering Studies degree program.

“Olga was clearly interested in the business-engineering interface, and my recollection is that she was quite a good student,” said Chancellor Ralph Ford, who was one of the engineering professors teaching the Small Product Realization class when Vanieva was at Behrend.

We recently chatted with Vanieva by phone from her office in Sunnyvale, California, to learn more about her life after college and what it’s like to work for an internet giant.

What do you do as a senior product manager of customer experience at Yahoo?

At Yahoo, product managers work on either user-facing products such as Yahoo Mail or internal business tools, consumers of which are Yahoo employees. I work on the internal side of things as a link between the needs of the user (Yahoo employees) and the engineers who build the program or tools to meet those needs.

Prior to this position, you were a project manager?

Yes. I started as a project manager at GE Consumer Finance and continued at Yahoo on the Customer Experience team. I had a chance to work on various teams covering social support and call center operations, as well as teams managing customer support tools and systems.

Why did you want to switch to internal projects?

As a project manager, you facilitate the project, but you don’t own it. In my current role, I get to take an idea from start to finish and work with the engineers to develop it. It’s more satisfying for me. My very first project was a mobile help site.

Products seem to be developed quickly in tech companies. Is that true or does it just seem that way to outside viewers?

Yahoo uses the Agile method of development, and we are on a two-week cycle. So every two weeks, you roll out a new product or improvement or feature.

In the Agile style, development teams — engineers, designers, project managers, and product managers – work on the project simultaneously, constantly communicating and adapting to finish it quickly. It’s a very agile (hence the name) way of developing products, particularly compared to the traditional Waterfall method in which a product is developed just one step at a time. More on Agile versus Waterfall styles here.

Which style of development do you prefer?

Definitely Agile because it allows us to constantly adapt and change. Nothing is ever really a failure because you learn from it and use that to improve the next product or project.

What do you enjoy about your job?

The people, for sure. I work with really humble, but very smart people who have a good work-life balance. We work hard, but we enjoy what we do. I’m surrounded by smart people, and it’s inspiring.

What’s it like at Yahoo headquarters in California? You once described it as a “college campus meets Willy Wonka factory.”

It’s laid out like a college campus with a quad in the middle and different buildings jutting out from there. We have a canteen, and there are ten different types of cuisines offered across campus. It’s all free, too. That’s actually pretty common in Silicon Valley, though. Most people working here expect those kinds of perks.

What are some of the best or most unique perks at Yahoo?

There are a lot of training events, speakers, book signings, lectures, coding seminars, etc. If you’re interested in growing or learning, there are opportunities everywhere. Every Friday, we have a happy hour FYI event where our CEO, Marissa Mayer, and her staff get on stage and answer questions from employees. There’s an online moderator, so people from other offices can ask questions, too. It’s fun, and it helps us to be aware of what’s happening in the company. Sometimes, we can be so focused on our projects that we don’t see the big picture, but you can get a wider view and learn about the company strategy there.

What would people be surprised to know about Yahoo?

The transparency and how approachable our leadership is. We have over 10,000 employees and any one of them could walk up to our CEO and Yahoo leadership team and chat with them.

On the user end of things, I think people think of Yahoo as a portal and email site, but we are doing well in online content production and delivery, too. Our online media sites, such as YahooStyle, YahooSports and YahooNews, are doing well on their own.

You’re a native of Russia. How did you end up at Behrend? I grew up in Moscow, and originally started college at the University of Maryland in Germany. But I thought, if I’m going to study the American educational system, I may as well live there, so I applied to Penn State University. I was attracted to Behrend because of its size. I just couldn’t see myself at a massive school, and I loved Behrend when I visited. It was definitely the right decision.

At the end of your college career, you moved to Ireland?

Yes. I was working for GE in Dublin in my senior year. I worked for them for about three years and completed a graduate management program where I did six-month rotations at their offices in London, Moscow, and Dublin.

Why did you leave GE?

I was working in a consumer finance branch at GE and the financial crisis in 2007 was causing things to sort of fall apart. At that time, the opportunity at Yahoo came up, and I decided to move on.

Having lived all over the world, what has been your favorite place so far?

I liked living in Erie and going to Presque Isle and, believe it or not, I do miss the snow. Remember, I grew up in Moscow! But the climate in California is fabulous. Silicon Valley has a great music scene and lots of things to do, too. It is expensive to live here, though. I don’t miss the rainy weather in the U.K. and Ireland.

Any advice for students who might want to follow in your footsteps?

Don’t be afraid of geographic change! I was nervous every time I moved, too, but it became second nature after a while. Moving out of your comfort zone (literally), even if only for a year or two, will help you grow tremendously and develop new perspectives.

What’s in the future for you?

I think everyone who works in the technical field considers their own startup. It would be cool to do something on my own someday.

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, left, and Olga

By Steve Orbanek
Marketing Communications Specialist, Penn State Behrend

When Jonathan Wolff ’13 decided to propose to Marissa Morrissette ’14, his girlfriend of more than three years, he could think of only one place to “pop the question.”

“I wanted to make it personal, and for us, that meant proposing at (Penn State) Behrend,” Wolff said.

While Behrend is not exactly a hotbed of romance, it was for Wolff and Morrissette. The two first met in 2012 in a management course at the college. Wolff slyly asked Morrissette to study.

“I just thought, ‘Yay, study partner!’ I didn’t think anything of it,” Morrissette recalled.

However, Wolff’s intentions were far more deliberate. He wanted an excuse to spend time with Morrissette, and the two soon found that they had plenty in common.

They were both members of the Lion Entertainment Board and Reality Check, a service-based organization at Behrend that focuses on helping people on campus, in the local community, and around the country.

As part of Reality Check, the two went to Mission, Texas, that March for Alternative Spring Break, an annual week-long service trip where students immerse themselves into a community that is different from their own. They hit it off during the trip, and began officially dating.

Wolff and Morrissette made several great memories at Behrend. They traveled to Puerto Rico for Alternative Spring Break in 2013, and they spent dozens of Friday evenings together planning programming for LEB.

“Behrend allowed us to do so much together,” Morrissette said. “We both had a passion for service, and Behrend gave us the opportunities to serve.”

Their love for Behrend was further cemented on November 22 when Wolff proposed to Morrissette in front of the lion shrine on campus. While the two had talked about getting married, Wolff took steps to ensure she did not see the proposal coming. He told her he would be out of town that weekend, so Morrissette made plans to have lunch with a friend.

That friend, however, was in on Wolff’s plan. After lunch, she took Morrissette to campus where Wolff had posted clues in various areas that would then lead to the next clue.

The final clue brought Morrissette to the lion shrine where a laptop was set up to play a montage of classic moments from Disney films. When the footage ended, Morrissette turned around to see Wolff, who promptly got down on one knee.

“I was crying, and it was perfect. This is the place that brought us together,” Morrissette said.

The two plan to marry on June 3, 2017, in their hometown of Pittsburgh.

By Allison Counasse
e-Communications Coordinator, Penn State Behrend

An unexpected package that arrived over the summer at the Penn State Behrend Archives from Ernst and Mary Behrend’s grandsons, Richard and William Sayre, was particularly well-timed. It contained items for the Archives’ Behrend Family Collection and arrived while the college was nearing completion of a new monument for their grandmother.

Jane Ingold, college archivist, opened the package to find Behrend family personal items and memorabilia, including a photo of Ernst as a baby in 1869, a miniature chess set belonging to Ernst, and the diary Mary kept when she was 13 years old.

The diary held particular interest for Ingold, who curates exhibits from the archives and displays them in the John M. Lilley Library gallery. It soon became the centerpiece for a new exhibit, “Mary Brownell Behrend: Diary of a Girl/Portrait of a Woman,” which features excerpts from the diary, as well as several of Mary’s paintings.

“I wanted to display something that people could look at in conjunction with the monument’s unveiling,” said Ingold. “The diary has so much in it. You can see her in the diary when she was 13.”

The diary gives a glimpse into Mary’s childhood, documenting both the ordinary and the extraordinary aspects of her life—from a list of Christmas presents she received to a trip that she, her mother, and her siblings took to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and to California, where they attended the Fifth Tournament of Roses in January 1894.

Mary used her diary as both a journal and a scrapbook with decorated pages, photographs, pressed flowers, a small paper sign where she advertised her handmade dolls for sale, and trip souvenirs. These illustrate Mary’s lifelong interests in art, gardening, dolls, and travel.

The diary also provided more insight into her family. Mary’s mention of a brother named Warren, who would serve as a namesake for her son, was a revelation for Ingold and the Sayres. Ingold had run across Warren Brownell’s name during basic genealogy research but didn’t realize he was Mary’s brother. The diary enabled her to make the connection and identify Warren in photos that also are on display.

“Mary Brownell Behrend: Diary of a Girl/Portrait of a Woman” is on display through November 5 and again in summer 2016. The exhibit is open to the public during library hours.

Tonight is the Penn State Behrend Athletics Ice Cream Fun Run. There are currently more than 200 people signed up to run…and then cool down with some delicious Berkey’s Creamery ice cream.

Here’s what you need to know:

• The race starts & finishes in the Junker Center parking lot near the new soccer complex.
• Packet pickup is at the race start/finish (see above) from 5-6:15 p.m.
• Day-of-Race registration is also at the race start/finish area from 5-6 p.m. Cost is $25 and there are a few shirts left. If they go through the leftover stock, they will order and mail out shirts.
• You can view the race course here. (Also posted below).
• Dogs are permitted, but they must be leashed. Also, please clean up after your pet.
• The race is not timed…so bring a watch/GPS if you want to keep track of your splits/pace/finish time.
• There are no awards, but there is FREE BERKEY’s ICE CREAM!
• Post-run ice cream will be served out of the concession stand at the soccer complex.
• You can have seconds! Race organizers say they are not tracking consumption, so…eat up until it’s gone!
• BTW …Berkey’s is no run-of-the-mill ice cream. It is to ice cream what Smith’s is to hot dogs, which is to say – the very best. It’s made fresh from the cows at Penn State in University Park.

By Heather Cass
Publications & Design Coordinator, Penn State Behrend

When people find out that Sara Bell ’12 is a mechanical engineer, they usually say something like, “Oh, well, good for you!”

Bell said she doesn’t perceive the response to be patronizing; rather she thinks it reflects a general lack of understand about the field of engineering.

“They usually have no idea what being an engineer entails or what I actually do, so I think that’s why they say it,” Bell, who works at Eriez (formerly Eriez Magnetics) in Erie, said. “Sometimes they ask me about my job, but it’s often based on things they’ve seen about engineers on TV, and they ask if I work on a big team or make big machines and equipment. They seem disappointed when I tell them ‘no.’”

Bell works with detection systems, helping design conveyor systems and reject systems and working with metal detector heads. She says her job may not be as glamorous as that of a NASA engineer, but it’s no less important or rewarding.

“The world needs engineers for everything, even for things that don’t seem ‘cool,’” she said. “I really enjoy seeing my designs and ideas come to life.”

Born with an engineer’s mind

Bell says she has always had an aptitude for math and science. As an Erie-area native, she participated in some of Penn State Behrend’s outreach programs, including Math Options for Girls and the FIRST robotics league in her senior year.

“Robotics had the largest impact,” she said. “That’s where I saw how cool it was to see something come together and work.”

A friend suggested that Bell look into a career in engineering.

“I wanted to do something where I could learn and use my brain,” she said. “I chose mechanical engineering because it is a catch-all engineering field. I thought it would be a really versatile degree that would allow me to do a variety of things but still hone in on something specific down the road if I wanted to.”

She’s been a mechanical engineer at Eriez for two and a half years, though she’s worked there longer, having interned there for several semesters before graduating,” she said.

Encouraging future generations

Bell has returned to Behrend to volunteer at Women in Engineering Day for the past two years.

“I always feel the need to encourage more women to pursue any STEM-related career they are interested in,” she said. “I think you’re seeing more women in engineering because they have opportunities to explore and learn about these types of careers before they even reach college.”

Bell is quick to point out that education never really ends for engineers.

“I sometimes say that I didn’t earn my degree for engineering; I earned it for learning,” she said. “As an engineering student, you learn how to learn. With that knowledge, you can do pretty much anything you want to in life.”

By Heather Cass
Publications & Design Coordinator, Penn State Behrend

Dr. Bernd Hacker

Penn State Behrend welcomes the opportunity to host foreign scholars who enrich our community’s intellectual and research endeavors, international connections, and global perspectives.

Dr. Bernd Hacker, a professor from the University of Applied Sciences in Rosenheim, Germany, a partner school of Penn State Behrend, has been a visiting scholar in the Black School of Business since January.

With Hacker’s experience at Behrend drawing to a close in August, we sat down to talk with him about his time at the college, how students in Germany and the United States compare, and the 5-year-old quadruplets (two sets of identical twins!) he and his wife are raising.

How did you end up at Penn State Behrend?

In February of 2014, Penn State Behrend and the University of Applied Sciences in Rosenheim signed a memorandum of understanding, agreeing to collaborate in various areas including student and faculty exchange programs and joint research projects and educational programs. I was the first to enroll in the faculty exchange program.

What courses did you teach?

In the spring semester, I taught ACCTG 305: Financial Statements and Management Decisions and I’m currently teaching a summer course, ACCTG 211: Financial and Managerial Accounting.

Are accounting principles/lessons the same in the United States as Germany?   

Yes, accounting principles don’t change. However, the teaching structure and system here are different from what I know.

How so?

In Germany, we don’t have midterms, quizzes, or graded homework assignments. We have a full semester of teaching followed by one big exam or project at the end of the class. American students are tested and graded much more.

So which system do you think is best?

I think a combination of both systems might be ideal. There is value to the system as it is here for students in their first year or two of college who might need more guidance and feedback.  As students move toward graduation, though, I think it’s important to transition them to a more self-directed system in which they have to come up with a plan for self-assessment, manage their time, and succeed without a lot of feedback or guidance along the way. I plan to take some of what I learned here about exams, testing, and quizzes to Rosenheim and try it in some of my classes with younger students.

In what ways is Behrend like your university?

They are similar in size with Rosenheim having about 5,500 students (Behrend has about 4,350 students). We have similar schools within our university and, like Behrend, we have very strong business, engineering, and plastics programs.

What is the biggest different between the universities?

We don’t charge tuition. In Germany, there are some private universities that charge tuition, but not many.

So everyone in Germany can go to college for free?

Yes, and no. It’s free, but not everyone can go. Admission is strictly merit based. There are only a certain amount of slots to fill in the programs at the universities and if you’re not good enough to earn a spot, you don’t get in. Some programs are more competitive than others, but in general, you have to have very good grades to go to university.

In Germany, students are separated at about age 10 or 11 and put on different tracks. Gymnasium is for academically-inclined students headed for college. Realschule is a middle level education for average or higher white-collar jobs. Hauptschule is for trades and blue-color jobs. It is possible to switch tracks, but not common.   More about the German School system here.

How do students in Germany and the United States compare?

They are very much alike. They care about what they learn. They are concerned about their grades. They like to have fun on the weekends.  I learned that students are not that different around the world.

Did anything surprise you?

I couldn’t buy a car without a United States driver’s license, so we rented one. Also, the winter was much colder and snowier here than in Germany. This children enjoyed the snow though.

You and your wife have quadruplets?

Yes, they are going to be six years old soon. Two boys and two girls, two sets of identical twins.

That must’ve been shocking news?

Yes. The doctor kept finding more in there whenever we went back. (Laughs)

Did your family travel to the U.S. with you?

Yes. My wife is a lawyer and she took a sabbatical to bring the children and come with me. She’s really enjoyed the extra time with the children. They love the beaches at Presque Isle.  They also attended preschool from January to May, which was a great international experience for them.

Have you always wanted to be a professor?

Yes. I taught while earning my Ph.D. and I enjoyed it. I worked in the banking industry for five years and at Seimens (the largest engineering company in Europe) prior to teaching though. In Germany, in the applied sciences college, professors are required to have five years of industry experience before becoming a professor.

How have students benefitted from the agreement between the universities so far?

Right from the start, we were able to arrange internships for Behrend students in Germany. The first intern went to Germany in May of 2014. This summer, three students are interning in Munich, Berlin, and Rosenheim. It’s a great opportunity for Behrend students to gain international experiences in multinational companies.

Have there been any student exchanges yet?

We’re currently working together on making it viable. There are several departments in Rosenheim that match Behrend’s four schools. We, too, have a School of Business and a School of Engineering. We also have a School of Business and Engineering, so I see a lot of opportunities for Behrend students to go to Germany and our students to attend Behrend. I am confident the partnership will benefit both schools, and I’m looking forward to greeting the first Behrend students at the University of Applied Sciences in Rosenheim.

Any advice for students interested in studying in Germany? Do they need to learn German?

No, you can definitely get along speaking English in Germany. Most Germans can speak, or at least understand, English. I would advise students to plan as early as possible if they want to study abroad. There are financial considerations (travel and accommodations). They should also keep some of their electives open. Students can earn 12 to 15 credits while in Germany, but they may need to be credits from their available electives.

Where can students get more information about the German exchange program?

Contact Ruth Pflueger, director of the Learning Resource Center, at (814) 898-6418 or rcp1@psu.edu.

Lee Brice, left, and opening act, Chase Bryant
Last night, four-time Country Airplay chart-topper Lee Brice played Penn State Behrend’s Junker Center to a sell-out crowd.

A Sumter, South Carolina native, Brice got his start in the country music industry after he co-wrote Garth Brooks’ 2007 single “More Than a Memory,” which became the first single in the history of the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart to debut at No. 1. That same year, he signed with Curb Records, but it was in 2009 that he would see his own success as a singer-songwriter.

That was when he released “Love Like Crazy,” the first single from the debut album of the same name. Overall, the song spent 56 weeks on the Country Airplay chart, making it the longest-charting song in the chart’s history.

In 2011, Lee released “Hard 2 Love,” which produced three No. 1 hits, including “A Woman Like You,” “Hard 2 Love” and “I Drive Your Truck.” The title track on his current album, “I Don’t Dance,” became his fourth No. 1 hit in August 2014.

There were two opening acts: Chase Bryant & The Cadillac Three, who fired up the audience of a few thousand attendees before Lee Brice took stage at 9:45 p.m.

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By Heather Cass
Publications & Design Coordinator, Penn State Behrend

Saturday, March 14 is Pi Day – a day in which we celebrate one of the most well-known principles in mathematics.

This year’s Pi Day is especially cool because, written numerically, the date—3/14/15— is the first five digits of pi~3.1415… in order, which is something that only happens once a century.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you’re a student or faculty member), Behrend will be out on spring break on Pi Day, so the Math Club is subtracting a week and a day and celebrating Pi Day on this Friday, March 6 with

….wait for it….

Free PIE for everyone!

Math Club members will be outside of Bruno’s on Friday, March 6 from noon to 2 p.m. handing out pie to satisfy your sweet tooth. And, don’t worry fellow right-brainers, I checked and they are not even making you solve a math problem or anything to get it. Phewww…..

I talked with Adam Combs, lecturer in mathematics, and Math Club adviser to find out a little more about Pi Day, mathematics, and what kind of pie they’ll be serving up.

What is Pi and why is it significant in math?

We all learn the number Pi ~ 3.1415… is significant in math when it comes to circles in geometry. It is related to both the area and circumference of a circle. From this, and something called the “unit circle,” it also is very prevalent in trigonometry, and hence Calculus, and hence Differential Equations, and hence…the list goes on. So, there is so much importance from just one shape, the circle.

The number pi is also given so much importance because it tends to pop up so unexpectedly in other areas of mathematics. For example, you can prove that if you randomly pick two positive whole numbers the probability they have no divisors in common is 6/pi^2. Also, if I add the numbers 1+1/4+1/9+1/16+… to infinity it equals pi^2/6. Now, what does that have to do with circles? 🙂

This year’s actual Pi day (3.14.15) is particularly significant, right? Mathematicians must love that!

People who love math always get excited when something uniquely mathematical happens in daily life. This occurrence of having the date read 3/14/15 which is the first 5 digits of pi~3.1415… in order, happens once in a century.

Why do you love math?

Not to wax philosophic, but I think Galileo said it best when he said, “Mathematics is the language in which God has written the universe.” The belief in a higher being aside, everything in the way our physical world works has some kind of relationship to math. The sense of wonder this inspires is why I love math.

Why do you think some people hate math?

Some people unfortunately do not get to see how interesting, and useful, math can really be. Some people who may have struggled with math in the past may also be a little afraid of math. This is natural, but I think the faculty members here at Behrend are really great at helping with that.

Do you believe that anyone can learn to be good at math?

Do you want to know what my worst subject was in high school? MATH! I hated it because I was afraid of it. I thought I couldn’t do it, and waited until my sophomore year in college to actually take my first college math class.

Then, I found that the teachers I had were willing to take the extra time to help me understand it. Once I started to understand it, the fear went away. Of course, I also worked very hard at it, too. Believe it or not, I am not one of those people who was born with an inherently mathematical brain. So, if I can do it with some help and hard work, I believe that anyone can.

What do you suggest for people who have trouble understanding math? What can they do?

Talk to your professor! Faculty members at Behrend are very happy and willing to help students who need it. There is also FREE math tutoring available to the students.

Favorite math joke?

This is so hard, because there are so many.

Q: What did one math book say to the other?

A: Don’t bother me I’ve got my own problems!

What do you like to do in your free time?

I enjoy spending time with my wife and two wonderful boys, Gabriel and Addison. My oldest son Gabriel, at the age of 5, is even showing promising signs of being a mathematician. On an almost daily basis, he tests the hypothesis that my patience is infinite.

OK…let’s talk about the good stuff. What kinds of pie are you going to be giving away?

We have both apple and pumpkin pie from Wegmans.

Sweet!