A Green Roof

When I think of green roofs I imagine quaint cottages or houses that might appear in a landscape from the Lord of the Rings. But more and more modern commercial buildings are taking advantage of them. At Penn State there are a number of new buildings with green roofs. I was looking at a green roof in full bloom that lives above classrooms in the new Forestry Building on campus. The plants thrive in the heat that comes from life in the open sun.

Projects like this one are part of ongoing research focused on development of sustainable buildings. And it looks nice too.

Medieval Affair

I attended graduation on Saturday morning at Eisenhower Auditorium and looking at the colorful gowns and robes was struck by the strong current of tradition. In the United States our academic regalia finds roots over 600 years ago in traditions started in Europe. The more important tradition has roots far older though and probably lost in human prehistory – the recognition of the transfer of knowledge from generation to generation.

Watching graduation was a lesson in the process of ensuring knowledge remains alive and vital. It doesn’t matter what it is or if it occurs at a university, a high school, in an apprenticeship, or in any number of other educational venues it is always comforting to know that our society understands the value of committing to this process that stretches back to the beginning.

Sitting in the balcony looking out over the audience I wondered how often this same sort of ceremony has occurred throughout the world.

Peanut Butter Swirl Ice Cream

First Raspberry Parfait, then Peanut Butter Swirl. All the great flavors manufactured in the Creamery Plant and sold at the Berkey Creamery fly down this line. My own personal favorite is Death by Chocolate.

I was in the plant making photographs for the upcoming Ice Cream Short Course held annually at Penn State. If you want to learn how to make ice cream this is THE place. The Creamery and the short course are both part of the programs managed by the Department of Food Science.

Originally I planned to make a photograph in the big walk in freezer of the forklift adding ice cream to storage but after a minute in the -40 degree Fahrenheit temperature and the big fans blowing on me I decided to save that for another time.

Aerial Spraying for Gypsy Moth

This morning I saw a helicopter flying low over the site of Penn State’s new Arboretum. Seeing the booms mounted on the aircraft meant only one thing around here – spraying for Gypsy Moth caterpillars. The helicopter was a long way off and moving away from me as it followed careful patterns to cover the forested areas of campus. The helicopter was making another pass by the Hosler Oak, a signature tree planting in the site.

Being on foot I never did catch up with the helicopter but judging from the numbers of Gypsy Moth larva I have seen this spring we may be in store for more serious defoliation. At it’s worst stages of infestation I have seen places in June and July that look like winter---not a leaf to be seen.

Form and Function

Many of the new buildings on campus not only have state of the art labs and classrooms but unique architectural details as well. Like this series of water fountains in the Life Sciences Building. Our marketing director pointed it out to me while we were scouting locations for a photo shoot.

The Life Sciences Building houses College of Agricultural Sciences faculty working as part of the Huck Institute for the Life Sciences. CAS faculty are in leadership positions in areas from molecular toxicology and carcinogenesis to immunology and infectious disease. They research human disease, animal disease and more.

None of that explains the elegant water fountain configuration but I’m glad to see them.

3D Visualization in Agriculture

When you stand at the elevators on the ground floor of the Agricultural Science and Industries Building you can look into the Land Analysis Lab. Work done here specializes in the use of GIS and related advanced geospatial / information system technologies for environmental assessment, agriculture, land management and planning. I always like to sneak peaks at the large maps and satellite images arrayed on walls and tables.

The above picture is a 3D visualization of 2D GIS data from a site in Centre County, Pennsylvania. I asked someone to take it off their bulletin board so I could make a quick shot.  People already shudder when I arrive with the camera.  No need to wear out my welcome unnecessarily.

The translation into a 3D model allows a person to interact with the data from a different point of reference, one that more closely models the physical reality of a space. Data for visualizations can come from a wide range of sources from satellites to readings from hand-held GPS devices in the field.

I’m always hoping I will see my house in one of these images. But then, that’s not why they are doing this work.