Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in The Centre Daily Times as an installment of the paper’s Focus on Research column. Focus on Research highlights research projects and topics being explored across all disciplines at Penn State. Each column features the work of a different researcher.
For grammar nerds such as myself, this is an exciting time. We are experiencing a massive shift in the language thanks to the pronoun “they.”
Earlier this month, the American Dialect Society voted the singular they as its 2015 word of the year. Regarding they, voters “singled out its newer usage as an identifier for someone who may identify as ‘non-binary’ in gender terms,” the group said in a statement on its website. Continue reading Focus on research: How ‘they’ is causing waves in language and society→
It might be a common assumption that high-growth companies are largely based in Silicon Valley. But Penn State economist Stephan Goetz says that’s not so. In a study of Inc. Magazine’s list of 5,000 high-growth companies, Goetz and colleagues discovered that “these firms are found in many different sectors, not just in the high tech space, and … these companies are found across the United States.”
In this case, “high growth” refers to revenue, which in turn measures the expansion of operation and improvement in efficiency. For more about this study, visit the Penn State News site to read the story by Matt Swayne.
Of all the committees I’ve served on in my career, the one tasked with helping the Penn State Berkey Creamery commemorate its 150th birthday has proven to be a pretty sweet gig.
Research On the Road’s two #Creamery 150 summer events began with a road-trip to Klavon’s in Pittsburgh, a beloved historic ice-cream parlor lovingly restored and reopened by Penn State alumnus Jacob Hanchar and family.
Sitting in the lobby of the Renaissance Hotel in Tel Aviv (on points) and watching all the American tourists, it strikes me that they are probably looking at me as well, because I’ve been here for more than two hours already and will probably sit here for another three before I head to the airport. Flights to the U.S. typically leave at 11:00 p.m. or midnight and I had to check out at noon. But the reality is, I’m not wearing plaid or Bermuda shorts or a fanny pack logoed Hard Rock Café. I look like a local in a skirt and blouse and so I look out of place. Continue reading Season’s End→
Today, students and staff placed 2,500 sandbags around the excavations at Tel Akko to protect them over the winter. All the pottery is washed, although not all is catalogued and recorded. The field season for Total Archaeology @ Tel Akko is over. Well, at least in the field. Some staff will remain next week to finish up paperwork and a few more the following week in Haifa to tie up loose ends and complete some of the computer work.
I did not have to place sandbags today, which is a good thing as it is hot and very dirty work. Instead, I was editing some student blog posts and creating a video of some of the students. While all admit that sometimes this is really hard work, most of them loved it, even if they wouldn’t do it again.
