Madison Kwiecinski 

News Editor

Mvk5945@psu.edu

Penn State Behrend has recently been recognized for a variety of achievements in academic programs at the school.  The “Best Colleges” rankings by U.S. News & World Report, were recently released, placing Penn State Behrend’s undergraduate engineering programs among the top 40 in the nation at institutions who do not offer a doctorate.

Ranking in the top 40 is an especially impressive achievement, as Behrend moved up from 46th in 2020, to now being tied for the 39th best program. The list with the most recent rankings was released on September 13th, 2021. 

“This ranking is a testament to the continued commitment of our faculty and staff to prepare our students to be leaders in the engineering discipline,” Director of the Behrend School of Engineering Tim Kurzweg said regarding the ranking, “This past year required us to adapt our pedagogical approach to the changing environment, and this improved ranking is one indicator that we were successful.”

Behrend’s Black School of Business also appeared in the U.S. News and World Report rankings, listing the school as a “best college” for undergraduate business students. 

U.S. news has been publishing “best college” ratings consistently since 1983. In order for a school to qualify to meet these rankings, they must undergo an extensive evaluation based on 17 different criteria. Some of the areas for criteria include graduation rates, class size, financial aid availability and alumni giving. This year, a total of 1,466 schools were assessed.

The Behrend School of Engineering offers a total of 11 different four-year degree programs. Alternative degrees offered include a master’s in manufacturing management and a two-year associate degrees in electrical and mechanical engineering technology. 

The nation’s largest undergraduate plastics processing lab also exists at Behrend through a partnership between the Black School of Business and the School of Engineering, which provides a unique opportunity to Behrend plastic’s students. The partnership between these schools allows for unique multidisciplinary learning that gives students in the program highly valuable experience. 

These programs are clearly producing results, as Penn State Behrend has produced several notable alumni who are being recognized or working on significant projects. 

Kevin Josue, a 2018 Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology (ECET) graduate from Behrend, was recently featured in Control Engineering Magazine as one of their 2020 Engineering Leaders, as a part of their 40 under 40. Josue is pursuing a master’s degree through Penn State World campus, and is working as a field services engineer for Control Station, Inc. which is located in Manchester, Connecticut.

Derek Krzysiak Breski, a 2014 Electrical Engineering Behrend graduate, is a systems engineer with the Planetary Landers team at Astrobotic. Astorbotic is a Pittsburgh based company, and is currently working on its first lunar mission, Peregrine Mission 1. The company focuses on developing advanced equipment meant  for use in space or for navigational travel. 

Joe Prischak, an Erie businessman who was instrumental in getting the college’s Plastics and Engineering Technology program running, was recently named to the Plastics Hall of Fame. This is the highest honor that the Plastics Industry Association can reward an individual with. His support of this program, as well as his support of Behrend and the Erie Community as a whole was instrumental in the advancement of Behrend’s Plastics Engineering Technology program, PLET. 

In addition to Behrend’s revolutionary PLET program, and their diverse engineering majors, the School of Engineering also offers four  minors for students within the school, as well as some recommended minors in the school of business. Engineering minors include Game development, which is offered as an interdisciplinary minor with the School of Humanities, Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering, which is a newly added minor. 

The Behrend School of Engineering and the School of Business have a variety of paths that lead to diverse workplace opportunities for students to participate in, and have noteworthy programs on the national stage.