LEWISBURG, Pa. — The following are Bucknell University story ideas that may interest you in August.
SOUND MONKEY BUSINESS – Bucknell Dining Services is now supplementing the diets of research monkeys and baboons from the animal behavior program with bits of fresh produce that would have otherwise been thrown away. There are approximately 50 primates currently living in the Animal Behavior Facility, where psychology and animal behavior students have the chance to observe their social behavior and cognitive ability. Since last fall, the dining hall has delivered more than 700 pounds of fresh produce scraps — including tomato ends, the outer leaves of cabbage or lettuce, cores and stems of bell peppers, tough broccoli stems and onion ends — to the primate house on the far end of campus over the past year. Additional produce comes from local grocery stores and the local farmers’ market, although the Dining Service effort has reduced waste and animal behavior expense. “The dining scraps are not used as the primates’ main diet,” said Carlos Soza, resident district manager for Bucknell Dining with Parkhurst. “Their main diet is dry food.” The dining services staff sets aside kitchen scraps during prep time to later be delivered to the primate house. For additional information, read this story. CONTACT: Soza, 570-577-1240, carlos.soza@bucknell.edu; Peter Judge, director of the Animal Behavior Program, 570-577-1339, pjudge@bucknell.edu
ENGINEERING A 125th CELEBRATION – Engineering education at Bucknell began in 1893 with a class as part of a new program in “surveying, city surveying, and civil engineering,” overseen by the math department. The University now celebrates 125 years of engineering education with the College of Engineering offering bachelor’s degrees in eight disciplines to more than 700 students. Bucknell’s engineering history includes:
- Its first woman graduate, Katherine Owens Hayden, who earned a bachelor’s in chemical engineering in 1923. Bucknell now ranks 13th nationally for percentage of women in undergraduate engineering programs.
- The first computer on campus, a Burroughs E103, was installed in 1957, making Bucknell one of the first universities in the country to introduce computing to undergraduates.
- The program’s foundational Engineering 100 course pioneered introducing design to first-year engineering students in 1988. Now variations can be found in engineering colleges nationwide.
- Bucknell’s biomedical engineering program was one of the first of its kind when established in 2000. The major is now offered at more than 75 U.S. colleges and universities.
An anniversary celebration is being planned, with the biggest events taking place during Homecoming Weekend, Oct. 19-20. Additional information can be found here. CONTACT: Lois Engle, Engineering External Relations, 570-577-3162, lois.engle@bucknell.edu
PENNSYLVANIA MIDTERM MANIA – The eyes of the nation will be on Pennsylvania during the hotly-contested midterm elections following its newly drawn congressional district map. It was already going to be a battleground state according to Bucknell political science professor and department chair Scott Meinke, but redistricting coupled with the departures of several incumbents have made the state even more of a target for party switches. “They [the state Supreme Court] seem to have deliberately drawn the districts in order to create an outcome statewide that will mirror the vote statewide, and that has thrown a number of areas of the state that were previously not competitive into competition,” said Meinke, an expert in legislative politics. “If Democrats are able to take over the House of Representatives, part of the margin that they’re going to build in order to do that is going to come from seats that they pick up in Pennsylvania.” CONTACT: Meinke, 570-577-3512, smeinke@bucknell.edu
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CONTACT: Mike Ferlazzo, 570-577-3212, 570-238-6266 (c), mike.ferlazzo@bucknell.edu