Topics ranging from drone efficiency to translating neglected Viking sagas to the art of healing through color among those presented by BU students at the 9th annual Susquehanna Valley Undergraduate Research Symposium (SVURS) at Bucknell University. The projects were a part of BU’s Undergraduate research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity (URSCA) program that funded nearly 30 projects this summer. Of them, Hannah Geczi’s work on “Police Lethal Shootings and Cases of Suicide by Cop: An Exploratory Study” earned her an award from the symposium.

Geczi was among the four oral presentation winners. SVURS also awarded winners for poster presentations and an audience favorite. More than 100 students representing Bloomsburg, Bucknell, Susquehanna and Geisinger Health System participated.

Children of migratory agriculture workers have a better chance at future academic success thanks in part to a program called the Migrant Education Program (MEP) and students in the College of Education are playing an important role. The MEP, which just concluded its 22nd year in Hazleton and third year in Harrisburg, is a four-week program designed for children from kindergarten through grade 11, whose parents are involved in the agricultural business as migrant workers. At both sites, BU is partnering with the CSIU Migrant Education Program to facilitate a summer school/camp experience for English learners. This year the Hazleton program featured 70 students.The theme of this year’s session was the rain forest.

Allison Sowers developed a deeper understanding of herself and the world she lives in during a recent internship with International Medical Aid (IMA) in Mombasa, Kenya. Sowers, a biology and pre-medical sciences major, spent three weeks in Kenya working with IMA at the Coast Provincial General Hospital.

“My biggest take away from going there might sound cliché, but the IMA internship taught me that heart is more important than privilege, resources, or money,” Sowers said. “My time in Mombasa allowed me to experience Kenya’s healthcare system firsthand and opened my eyes to how underprivileged the public hospitals are in that country. According to IMA, the Kenyan government spends only 24 USD on health care per capita, and only 4.6 percent of the GDP goes towards health expenditures.”

As NASA’s crew on the International Space Station becomes increasingly better at their jobs, a recent instructional technology graduate can take pride in knowing he played a role in that. Patrick Berridge ’17, '19M, spent the past academic year as an intern with the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, working in the Flight Operations Directorate with the Distance Learning Lab. There he helped create eLearning lessons for the International Space Station and crew.

“Honestly, it’s been incredible experience,” Berridge says. “My favorite moments come from touring the facility and getting an up-close look at things like the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility and Mission Control. I’m grateful to have met a ton of brilliant people who aspire to advance our knowledge of space.”

Twelve members of Bloomsburg University’s Chapter of Phi Beta Lambda and their advisor, Mark L. Usry, associate professor of business law, joined more than 1,000 other students at the recent PBL National Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The students qualified for the conference by placing first or second in their competitive events at the Pennsylvania State Leadership Conference this past spring. Competitive events include analyzing cases in areas such as forensic accounting and entrepreneurship, sales competition, help desk and customer service, impromptu speaking, and competitive examinations.

The attached campus maps show the facilities planning and construction project sites for 2019. The intent of the general map is to identify the locations and dates of areas that will be affected, as well as note a brief project description. As always, some projects will affect pedestrian and vehicular movements more than others. Several of the projects shown are current construction projects that will be ongoing in 2019.