Solving a two-sided problem for the real estate industry

Research shows that project-based learning better prepares students for their futures. In the engineering world, it's not enough to simply have theoretical knowledge and technical breadth. You also need that spark of innovation and creativity that often only comes when you mix education with real-world experience. Enter the Learning Factory. What started as a shop […]

Happy Valley innovation and ingenuity is a driving force in this Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ success story, but timing played an equally important role in the rise of SoftGenetics.  “It was kind of kismet,” chuckles co-founder John Fosnacht. “My partner Dr. Jonathan Liu and myself had just sold a weld sequencer to a leading cancer […]

Happy Valley-based early-stage gene technology company NeuExcell Therapeutics is on the cusp of a life-changing breakthrough treatment for patients suffering from Huntington’s Disease, an incurable, hereditary brain disorder that affects different parts of the brain, impacting movement, behavior and cognition. In September, the company announced a gene therapy collaboration with Spark Therapeutics aimed at developing […]

Over the last 18 months, I’ve asked a lot of Happy Valley leaders about how they feel about working here. Here in this valley that’s built out of mountains and patchwork fields, startups and materials DNA and entrepreneurial grit, as opposed to Silicon Valley or Research Triangle.  Does location even matter anymore, you might ask? […]

This year’s Materials Day made a last-minute pivot from an in-person meetup to a virtual forum, but the event was no less impactful. Speaking to attendees on Oct. 13, Clive Randall, the director of the Materials Research Institute (MRI), highlighted Penn State’s accomplishments and goals.  “Materials touches every domain in society,” he said, “particularly from […]

The Penn State ARL was developed in 1945 – in the wake of World War II – by Dr. Eric Walker and 100 engineers from Harvard University. During the war, Dr. Walker had been appointed associate director of Harvard’s Underwater Sound Laboratory — which was one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s National Defense Research Committee […]