Alumni Newsletter
Office of Development and Alumni Relations
Welcoming New Development and Alumni Relations Senior Director Mike Weyandt
We are thrilled to welcome Mike Weyandt as our new senior director of development and alumni relations!
He has a longstanding relationship with the college, where he has served in multiple roles with the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, including associate director of development and director of major gifts.
Please join us in welcoming him!
Donor Impact
Estate Commitment to Support Scholarships for Actuarial Science Students
Eberly College of Science alumnus Ron Gebhardtsbauer, a 1971 graduate in mathematics and professor emeritus of actuarial science at Penn State, and his partner of 30 years—husband Greg Wright—have made a $1 million estate commitment to create the Ron Gebhardtsbauer and Greg Wright Scholarship in the Penn State Smeal College of Business with the hope of encouraging diversity in the actuarial science profession.
“I loved teaching, but I was always troubled to learn just how many of my students were graduating with significant debt,” Gebhardtsbauer said.
Read more about Gebhardtsbauer's and Wright's inspiration for giving back to their alma mater.
Alumni Impact
Forbes 30 Under 30: Alumna Sylvia Biscoveanu
Penn State physics alumna Sylvia Biscoveanu, now a postdoc at Northwestern University, studies gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime caused by cosmic events like merging black holes and neutron stars.
College Highlights
Eberly College Modernizes Science Major to Reflect Interdisciplinary Nature
The Science major in the Penn State Eberly College of Science has received a modern refresh to reflect its interdisciplinary nature. Renamed Integrative Science, this undergraduate degree program has been revamped to better serve students in the college who enroll in the major.
The changes enable students to customize and align their coursework to their own unique scientific interests, which prepares them for industries ranging from research and development to medicine to sustainability and more.
Our Online Store Is Here
We're thrilled to announce the launch of our online store, your one-stop shop for officially licensed Eberly College of Science–branded merchandise!
We've got college-branded and, for the first time ever, department-branded merchandise for sale. Head into the new year with some new gear showing your school spirit, and help support a student scholarship in the college with your purchase.
If you haven't managed to pick up one of our "Come for football. Stay for SCIENCE." T-shirts (read more on our LinkedIn page), we've got them, too!
In the News
We've Seen Particles That Are Massless Only When Moving One Direction
Inside a hunk of a material called a semimetal, scientists including Yinming Shao, assistant professor of physics at Penn State, have uncovered signatures of bizarre particles that sometimes move like they have no mass but at other times move just like a very massive particle.
University Highlights
A Note from Neeli: Penn State at the Forefront of Microbiome Research
At Penn State’s award-winning One Health Microbiome Center, faculty and students in 10 colleges are collaborating on interdisciplinary research to improve human, agricultural and environmental health.
New NSF-Funded Center in Molecular and Cellular Sciences
Penn State and the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) celebrated the official launch of the National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences (NCEMS)—led by Ed O'Brien, professor of chemistry—with a ribbon cutting and ceremony at the Verne M. Willaman Gateway to the Life Sciences on November 18. The event marked the physical dedication of the federally funded center, which was first announced in April.
Upcoming Events
January 9, 2025: Alumni Reception at the Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle
The Penn State Eberly College of Science invites you to a reception on Thursday, January 9, 2025, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Sheraton Grand Seattle Hotel, during the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings in Seattle, Washington.
Please consider joining us for food, drinks, and networking!
All Penn State alumni in the Seattle area are invited to attend, regardless of their Penn State major.
You help put the “we” in “We Are Penn State!”
Join our community of alumni and friends today.
For more than 150 years, we have been keeping alumni connected to the University and to each other.
