Enhancing student opportunities in the School of Science, with Dr. Cora MacBeth

Dr. Ralph Ford, chancellor of Penn State Behrend, talks with Dr. Cora MacBeth, a 1996 Behrend graduate, about her first year as director of the School of Science. Originally recorded on June 15, 2026.

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Background

Ralph Ford 0:00

I'm Dr. Ralph Ford, Chancellor of Penn State Behrend, and you are listening to Behrend Talks. I have a very special guest today, and that is Dr. Cora MacBeth. Cora is the director of the School of Science here at Penn State Behrend, has been for the last year, but she knows Behrend well because she was a 1996 graduate and uh just finishing her first year. So it's gonna be a great opportunity to talk about your reflections, what's changed, what you see, your vision for the future. So welcome here, Cora.

Cora MacBeth 0:29

Thanks so much for having me.

Ralph Ford 0:31

I always embarrass the guests. I say that line all the time, but uh you know we have really distinguished people on here. So I do like to say a little bit about your background, as we know you got your bachelor's degree in chemistry at Penn State Behrend, and then you earned a PhD at the University of Kansas, and you were a senior research fellow at uh Caltech. And uh you looked at the synthesis characterization and small molecule reactivity of transition metal complexes. I am clearly reading that off a piece of paper, so we expect a full dissertation on that during this. Okay, maybe not. Uh we're really happy to have you back here, Cora. After uh you spent 20 years in academia at Emory University teaching research and leadership, a whole lot of important roles there, including Associate Dean in the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Emory College of Arts and Sciences. At Emory, you were part of a team that led a $20 million National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation. And you have authored more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and hold three patents. So uh again, welcome. Let's uh let's talk about what brought you back to Behrend.

Cora MacBeth 1:45

Absolutely. You know, the thing about returning to Behrend, it was the it was the right time for me to

Why She Returned To Behrend

Cora MacBeth 1:50

make a career transition. Ralph knows this well, but I often tell people I was not looking to change positions. But Behrend is a really special place. It helped shape me, and I um really drawn to the mission of the school, its impact in Erie, and what it does for the students in western Pennsylvania. So I'm excited to be back here and to be part of the leadership team that's moving Behrend forward.

Ralph Ford 2:13

Well, we appreciate it. And I will add there was a little bit of serendipity in the whole process. We were searching, and one of our development officers was out there, and he ran into you and said, Hey, the position's open, and I think that's how you found out about the application then and away we went from there.

Cora MacBeth 2:28

Absolutely. I had no idea, but I he was in Atlanta actually, and we yeah, we ran into each other, and it was um it was a happy accident.

Ralph Ford 2:36

You grew up in uh in rural PA, if I may say.

Cora MacBeth 2:40

Yes.

Ralph Ford 2:40

And uh as many of our successful graduates have. Can you talk about that experience

Rural Roots And Falling For Chemistry

Ralph Ford 2:45

and how you decided to study chemistry and why you ended up at Behrend in the first place?

Cora MacBeth 2:50

Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up uh near Cook Forest State Park, you know, which is a rural part of the state. In high school, I fell in love with chemistry, my first chemistry course. Everything made sense. It was the first time that I saw an application for math. You know, when I when I took chemistry, I was like, oh, this is why I need to understand algebra, this is why I need to be able to derive and integrate. And so it was the course in high school where everything clicked. So I tell students, I tell our students at Behrend, they don't need to know what they do when they get here, but they need to be open to possibilities. I'm one of those students who, when I came to college, planned on studying chemistry or chemical engineering, and I stayed the course.

Ralph Ford 3:30

So you thought maybe you'd go to University Park? You weren't sure what was.

Cora MacBeth 3:33

Yeah, I was I was open to going to University Park, um, but I definitely knew I wanted chemistry in the equation.

Ralph Ford 3:40

Did you have a high school teacher in chemistry who was really influential?

Cora MacBeth 3:43

Very influential. She held a master's degree, she was also the track coach. She held a very high bar for students. So there was the introductory chemistry and then an advanced chemistry you had to place into. Um she's acknowledged in my PhD dissertation because she, you know, every time I rose to the challenge, she had another challenge for me.

Ralph Ford 4:03

Do you keep in touch with her?

Cora MacBeth 4:04

I do, I do. She got a copy of my dissertation.

Ralph Ford 4:07

That's really special. And then when you got here, you know, I know that some of those faculty members maybe are still here, but are there any that you want to name, or like what were the formative experiences when you got here that made you say, I really want chemistry versus, say, chemical engineering or something else?

Cora MacBeth 4:22

Yeah, it was really the environment that I think the School of Science and

Research Culture And Mentors

Cora MacBeth 4:27

the Chemistry Department at the time created. There was an expectation, and we knew it from the time we showed up on campus, there was an expectation that if you were going to study chemistry here, you were, you had to do research. There was, it was required as part of our degree program. And the sooner you could start that, the better. And so, really, from you know, the beginning of my sophomore year at Behrend, I was doing research with faculty in the chemistry department. So I actually started my research with a faculty member who's no longer here. He left Behrend actually halfway through my undergraduate career. And then I transitioned to working with Alan Gersetano, who just retired. Just retired. Just retired. And then Mary Chisholm also was a huge, was a huge influence and really actually quite remarkable at the time that you had a tenured female organic chemist on the faculty, which, you know, in the 90s was pretty unheard, was there weren't a lot of women in chemistry then. So that was very influential. And she um is a very strong personality, fantastic chemist, but also was a real role model for I think all students studying chemistry at Behrend. She just held a very high bar for us.

Ralph Ford 5:36

But she's a fat, you know, fascinating person. I've actually got to know her better since she retired when I traveled south. I think North Carolina, she's in North Carolina, and she keeps in touch with this and you know, loves Behrend, and I think left a tremendous legacy. And if I recall, her research was on smell and aromas. Is that correct?

Cora MacBeth 5:54

That's correct. And she had she had collaborations with grape growers in the wine industry, actually. So it wasn't when I was a student, it was not uncommon to have uh samples from uh from from the local wineries, and you were doing some absolutely trying to actually we would use she would use gas chromatic uh chromatographs to separate out the wine into different components, and then there was a sniffer attached to the instrument, and the students so it would separate the complex chemical mixture and they would smell and record what the smells reminded them of so they could find you know the suspect chemical components.

Ralph Ford 6:30

And you were actually comparing it to actual real data to see if you're old factory nerve, you know, we're we're working probably as well.

Cora MacBeth 6:38

Absolutely. There was a lot of interest.

Ralph Ford 6:41

So undergraduate research is something that you participated in. It's clearly

First Year Reflections And Outcomes

Ralph Ford 6:46

part of our DNA and culture is still here. So why don't we switch forward to now your time at Behrend? You've been here for a year. Take some time, reflect on what you've seen and uh you know what you're working on.

Cora MacBeth 6:58

Absolutely. Well, in many ways, um, you know, reflecting on what I've seen, in many ways I think Behrend is is really well positioned to serve our students, our future students. I think we're doing a lot of work to make sure that we're on solid footing moving forward and that we can attract the best students and we can make sure students that come to Behrend end up in careers. And I think this is really important. We know that the students who are considering should I go to college? Should I get a college degree? What's my return? One of the things that I think makes me really proud about Behrend is our students do really well. They really do really well. And the you know, the vast majority of them are placed within six months of graduation. You know, I think based on recent data, you know, the data supports it. Yeah, yeah. Over over over 65% of our students knew where they were going before they were graduating. You'll correct this if this is not correct, but um we have really good placement data. So we think we're doing a lot of things right. And I think, you know, some of the strengths of Behrend, and I'll just speak for the School of Science. I was I was just joking with someone. I spent spend most of my time down there on that side of campus. Uh, we really have an incredibly dedicated faculty who I think they have a shared vision of what we want for our students and what we want them to experience. And we really want all of our students to come to Behrend and do what it is that they want to do. And so when when higher education, when the media talks about a personalized educational experience, I think that what we do in the School of Science at Behrend is exactly that. We have students, you know, I'll just use an example that came up recently at the Council of Fellows meeting. We had a student speaking there. She came to Behrend, non-traditional student, came back in her mid-20s, really wanted to study mushrooms. And we don't have a mushroom expert on the faculty, but Mike Campbell and Matt Caruel came together and they're mentoring this student. And she has had, you know, I think she's published, she's a co-author on two papers. She discovered a new type of mushroom on Cube. Yeah, no, it's incredible. I mean, and you know, and these are the type of experiences. Imagine being an undergraduate science major and genetically characterizing something that's unknown, that'd never been observed before in Pennsylvania. That's a really character-forming moment.

Ralph Ford 9:18

So I think that uh the dedication was great too, in that she didn't even intend to go to college.

Cora MacBeth 9:24

Exactly. Yes, she didn't. It was like a happy accident she ended up here, and she's phenomenal. She's just a great student. So I think it's really this confluence of, you know, you get, we have students from all over the country, but the vast majority of our students come from a regional area who, you know, have a certain mindset, are willing to work hard, and we just provide them with the resources to do so. So I think we're well positioned to continue graduating students who go off and do exactly what it is that they want to do.

Ralph Ford 9:53

So a lot of people hear research, they're not sure what that means. They could, you

Why Undergraduate Research Works

Ralph Ford 9:58

know, I think in today's culture maybe dismiss it, but why don't you talk about what is the importance? Like, are there some statistics or of the impact on undergraduate research in particular on a student's success?

Cora MacBeth 10:11

Absolutely. I mean, there are a lot of statistics and facts out there I could share, but I think one of the most important parts of students being exposed to undergraduate research, students who are doing really well in science, so if you look at the students who are getting, you know, 3-8 to 4-0 GPAs, they're doing great, right? They know what they're doing. The amazing thing about undergraduate research is the impact it has on average students. So students that are in the C B range, when they get involved in research, statistically, those students start doing better academically, right? Because undergraduate research really helps them shift from this passive learning environment, right? Where you're where you're sitting, you're sitting in lecture, you're reviewing things online, you're studying for exams, to solving real world problems. And, you know, it's I I earlier in the conversation, I talked about my experience with math. I never really liked math until I got into chemistry, and I realized that I needed to understand it to be able to do well, and it clicked. The same thing happens for students when they start doing research. They shift from passive learning to real-world problem solving. The other thing is it helps them see connections between what they're learning in the classroom and real-world applications. It develops skills, it develops skills that we don't often think about developing in the science curriculum. Like, you know, they have to be able to communicate. They have to be able to communicate with their mentor, they have to be able to do presentations, writing, data analysis, project management, a fundamental skill like project management that undergrids all of research. So and finally, I think the benefit of undergraduate research for our students is really this idea of intellectual independence. And what I mean is being comfortable with ambiguity and being comfortable with the idea that I'm gonna navigate through, um, I'm gonna navigate through a problem. And then I think also it helps students become comfortable with iterative thinking. Like you have an idea, you have a plan, you go out, you execute, maybe it doesn't work out like you thought. That's okay. Try again. And the the more students can be comfortable with that, the more they're gonna be able to succeed with any problem that they face.

Ralph Ford 12:19

It builds their confidence, it builds their perseverance, all the time.

Cora MacBeth 12:22

Yeah, resilience, absolutely.

Ralph Ford 12:24

Does this translate? I mean, I'll ask this question, you know, people may believe, well, that's great if they want to go to graduate school. Is does this translate to the workforce?

Cora MacBeth 12:32

Absolutely. I think I think it absolutely translates to the workforce, and I will give you an example. So the fall career fair is fantastic. Behrend has an amazing career fair, both in the fall and the spring. But I was at the career fair, and my favorite part was going out, and actually we had a lot of Behrend Delums at the career fair who were working that were working the other side of the table. And so I was talking to reps from a couple of different oil companies, and one of them had a Behrend Chemistry alum behind the table, and we were chatting. And his colleague was like, Oh, for chemistry, we like to hire barren alums more than anyone else because they walk into the lab and they're ready to work. Like they're not afraid of equipment. They they know how everything works, they know what they're expected to do. And that really resonated with me because I've heard that not just from chemistry alums, but I've heard that from physics alum as well. Like, you know, we've had physics alums tell us that our barren physics grads basically function as like master's level students when they get hired, you know, at the research labs.

Ralph Ford 13:32

Oh, I mean, it uh I truly believe it, or I wouldn't have maybe asked the question, but it it is the reality, and I think it's worth pointing out the things that that you just did. But it's, you know, I think the important point to make is you you interact with industry a lot as well. So you talked about the fact that uh you're at the career fair, but you have advisory boards and the like as well, with many industrial representatives.

Cora MacBeth 13:53

Absolutely, absolutely. The advisory boards, you know, especially so in the School of Science, we have uh board of visitors who are largely made up of people from industry. You know, these are these are Behrend School of Science grads that have gone on into industry positions, and many of them are leadership level positions, and their insight is so invaluable because, you know, in some of the recent conversations, we had um a board of visitors meeting in April, and some of the recent conversations we had were really about the impact of AI on entry-level jobs and entry-level positions, and really, you know, the overwhelming feedback from from the board was like, look, students who are comfortable with ambiguity and you know, and and thinking through problems, they're they're always gonna have positions waiting for them. We just have to help the students. Our job is to help the students figure out how to market those skills.

Ralph Ford 14:44

How are you and your faculty adapting to this new AI world that's moving so rapidly?

Industry Feedback And AI Readiness

Cora MacBeth 14:50

Yeah, well, it's really just so I was just on a Zoom call right before this chat, uh talking with a faculty member who is doing some experimentation with AI in the classroom. So uh I think everybody is is using it in different ways. I think everybody knows our student, you know, our students are all using it. And I think the question is how do we use it in a productive way to help their learning and not supplant it? Like we don't want it to replace student learning, we want it to help them learn uh better, faster.

Ralph Ford 15:20

Yeah, I think it's this whole idea of let's say human-centered AI approach. We know it has many pitfalls and we know it has many advantages, but we got to get to the advantages and minimize the case.

Cora MacBeth 15:31

It's the pitfalls, exactly.

Ralph Ford 15:32

And I think once you think of it in those terms, it's probably not going to end the world, but we don't know.

Cora MacBeth 15:37

Right. I don't I don't think so.

Ralph Ford 15:39

We don't have to speculate on that too much right now. So let's talk a bit about programs in the school of science. I mean,

Degrees With Momentum And Demand

Ralph Ford 15:47

as uh many people would expect, we've got chemistry, biology, physics, math, you know, kind of the traditional programs, great programs, but we've got some others that maybe people don't know about. Environmental science, you're growing in the health sciences area. Let's just run through, you know, your program portfolio and the things you're focusing on.

Cora MacBeth 16:06

Yeah, so in the School of Science, we do have uh traditional disciplines. We have physics, chemistry, math, biology, all very strong in different ways. And we also have environmental science, which is a unique program to Behrend. Um, and it's it's a fantastic degree program for students who are interested in careers in environmental stewardship. It is a it is a rigorous, I will say our environmental science program is a rigorous STEM program. Environmental science is really interesting as a discipline because if you look at different schools, it's positioned differently at different universities. So in some schools, environmental science is more policy-based and it may be more aligned with a humanities or social science program. At Behrend, our environmental science program is squarely located within the School of Science, and it has uh a strong mathematics, it has a strong uh geographical information systems component, and that's really important and really unique, I think, to some of our graduates, and it's one of the reasons they're so highly employable. I have told Dr. Ford this before, but you know, it's amazing that the number of emails and uh requests we get from uh local industry partners and engineering firms who are looking to hire our environmental science grads because they do have this uh strong training in uh geographical information systems. They know how to layer data, they know how to talk to engineers in a way that the students with a social science background don't. They understand the math, they understand sort of the complex systems. So, environmental science is definitely an area of focus for us moving forward. It's a unique program. A lot of students are interested in it. There's a lot of job growth, of course. So that's wonderful. And then the other thing I think I would talk a little bit about is oh, go ahead.

Ralph Ford 17:51

Before we let's before we move on, I think the other thing I'd say about environmental science is we're in a place in the world that we have everything from the lake to what's happening here on campus. There's no better open lab type environment to be working on environmental science.

Cora MacBeth 18:05

Absolutely. We have the Wintergrading Gorge, we have this beautiful campus, we have the Gospel Hill site, which is the reclaimed golf, you know, the golf course that's currently undergoing reforestation. Um, we also, the Behrend Arboretum just got promoted to a level two arboretum status this summer, which is a quite a mark of excellence. We're really excited about that. That's going to open up opportunities for us to apply for different types of research grants that we weren't able to do as a level one site. So, yeah, and with the lake, and and the other thing is we have so many great partners for environmental science. We have the Tom Ridge Environmental Science Center. Yep. We have uh SeaGrant based here, which they're incredible. NOAA is doing more work in the Great Lakes, and we have connections with that. So there's just a lot of um a lot of opportunities for collaboration. It's really exciting. And then the other program I would talk a little bit about is you know our growth in nursing.

Environmental Science On Lake Erie

Cora MacBeth 18:59

We know that nursing is a high demand field. There's a lot of need in Erie. You know, I think when I spoke with people from St. Vincent's and other local area hospitals a few months ago, they said that their current vacancy rate for most uh nursing positions, BSN level trained, is about 14%. So there's high demand. Our nursing programs are, you know, at capacity. We have wait lists for, we have two programs in nursing. We have a regular BSN first degree, regular undergraduate degree, traditional sort of student pathway. And then the one that's starting this fall that we're really excited about is the second degree nursing program, or some people would refer to it as an accelerated uh BSN. And that is for career changers. So this degree is appropriate for maybe someone who studied something different in undergrad when they got their first degree, and then they've decided I really want to go into nursing, they can come back to Barent and they enter into a very structured, scaffolded program. And if they already have a bachelor's degree in something else, they can get their nursing degree, their BSN in 16 months.

Ralph Ford 20:04

Yeah, super popular.

Cora MacBeth 20:06

Yeah.

Ralph Ford 20:07

And uh, you know, there's there's a great reason for that. Well, let's talk as well. I mean, those are great stories, but we also started something called biobehavioral health. And what's that program about?

Cora MacBeth 20:17

Yeah, so biobehavioral health is really an interesting program. It is really a joint program between sort of the School of Science and the School of Humanities and Social Science. And what it does is it takes the best of biology and the best of the social science, psychology, behavioral, social sciences, and combines them into one degree program. And that that degree program is really an excellent choice for people who think they're interested in careers in health broadly, right? We've many students that might come in and think, I'm interested in being a doctor or pre-med. That is definitely a health career, but that's only one of the many areas of health that you could go into. And biobehavioral health lends itself really well to people who are interested in careers in public health, people who are interested in different types of counseling. It can also be an appropriate degree program for people maybe who who they want an undergraduate degree and they're thinking maybe later they'll go on for a graduate degree in some allied health profession. If the students plan carefully, they can meet all of the requirements for whatever they want to do post-Berend through the biobehavioral health or the biology, the standalone biology degree. So I think it really complements our biology degree for students interested in health.

Ralph Ford 21:37

I've been excited about this one for a while. I'm so happy that we're offering it a lot of potential. We're already seeing good student interests. Absolutely. Well, let's talk about, at least in my mind, one more program that isn't official yet. We'll put that caveat on there, but it will be soon, and that is one that you personally have been working on, and that's physical therapy assistant.

Cora MacBeth 21:56

Absolutely. So, you know, and I think this fits when we think about physical therapy. I think this fits into the area of allied health programs, which I think makes a lot of sense for Behrend. We know that you know we have major healthcare providers in the region. We have an aging population. Careers in physical therapy are growing. It's an in-demand workforce area. So we're really excited about the possibility of bringing this physical therapy assistant program to Behrend. Again, great, great job placement rates. It's a, I think it's going to be a unique program for us because one of the things we did in researching what the potential was for this program is we we talked to other Penn State campuses that have this program. And one of the things we learned is it really does offer a really unique pathway to students where students can do this program, get their associative science, and this is an important distinction for me. The physical therapy assistant program is an associate of science degree. This is why it's in the School of Science. They can enter the workforce while they're completing their bachelor's degree, right? So they the the associative science is really a degree on the way to a bachelor's degree. And so, you know, we have I talked to a student last week who was thinking, you know, thinking nursing, the want definitely wants to do something allied to health. I didn't bring this up, but this sounded like it would have been a really good option for her. So I think I think when we bring it here, there will be students. Our students are resourceful.

Ralph Ford 23:20

Yeah, they are. And we'll announce it this fall for sure. So it's it's on its way. And uh congratulations on all the work to do that. Well, it's I want to talk as well about some of the research focus areas in your school, some of the larger partnerships. So the first one that jumps to mind is our partnership with McGee Women's Research

Nursing Growth And Allied Health Pathways

Ralph Ford 23:41

Institute. And you know, give me your perspective on what's happening there and what the future looks like.

Cora MacBeth 23:46

Absolutely. Our partnership with Magee Women's Research Institute is um it's core to the School of Science. I think it's core to our biology and and life sciences research focus. I think what it brings to us is it brings accessibility to state-of-the-art equipment, and it provides access to clinicians and people working in the field that can get samples and have access to things that we just we wouldn't be able to do otherwise because we're not a research hospital. Like that, we Penn State has a research hospital, it's in Hershey. It's a little hard to collaborate when you're looking at uh specimens that were just isolated from somebody, but we can drive them across town and we can get them into the appropriate bio uh biosafety level research lab, and we can be looking at them in real time, and that's really exciting. And when you think about we're not doing this work with graduate students, this biology research is happening with undergraduate students handling real samples, you know, real consequences for what they're doing. So it's it's really exciting to be able to offer that. And the partnership with McGee is really important, and it's providing it's providing students in this area access to something that doesn't exist elsewhere. Nowhere else in area are they gonna find the equipment that we have, the state of the art facilities.

Ralph Ford 24:58

When I walk into that lab and knowledge park, it just always amazes me. I see a number of students working there, they're under the tutelage, I would say, of uh Dr. Will Walker and he's spending time, but it is a truly state-of-the-art lab that uh many would die for.

Cora MacBeth 25:13

Yeah, absolutely. It's the first one of it, and the only one of its kind.

Ralph Ford 25:16

And we're improving, you know, we're improving women's health in Eri PA. Absolutely. Demonstrably so well, that's that's a great one. And the other is uh and you know, when we do this, we'll always miss some area of focus, but I think

Research Partnerships With Real Samples

Ralph Ford 25:29

really this partnership with the Lake Erie Grape Research Center and and the College of Agricultural Sciences is one that's been underway, but you've really looked at this in a different light. You're really looking to expand it. Can you talk about what that brings?

Cora MacBeth 25:42

Yeah, I'd love to. Um so the the Grape Research Station is a really unique asset. It serves over 120 grape farmers between Erie and Buffalo, New York. And when they throw, when they have programs, when they host events or sessions, you know, the growers show up. They are interested in the work that's being done. They want to understand what are the cutting-edge technologies that can be used to help things like yield and you know to control pests. Uh, the great, the great thing about the Great Research Station is we've had a really vital connection for a number of years because our very own Mike Campbell, who is a distinguished professor of biology in the School of Science, was the director of that research station. And he understands the Behrend mission. And every summer he would have between four and you know, seven students out there conducting research with him at the grape station. And we're really hoping that that trend will continue. We're currently searching for a new director of the grape research station. We've got some fantastic candidates. But really, I think the other reason it's really vital is students from this part of Pennsylvania might think, oh, I'm interested in ag, you know, agricultural science. The only way to do that is, you know, through maybe this College of Ag at Penn State. But because we have these connections at Behrend, the students can get really relevant experience, research, hands-on work opportunities right here in Erie. They don't have to leave the county if they're interested in ag.

Ralph Ford 27:10

And one of the really practical points, we keep talking about students involved in research, but they usually get paid for this too.

Cora MacBeth 27:16

Yes, of course. And that's one of the amazing things about the grape station, actually, is because they uh believe it or not, it's a it's a grape research station, but we have phenomenal collaborations with industry who actually fund a lot of the research trials that we do at the grape station. And that's because they're interested in things like we we talk about the spray trials, so testing pesticides and things like that. We can do that in a very controlled and scientific way at the grape station because we have research facilities out there. So often the research that we're doing is being funded by private industry.

Ralph Ford 27:50

I want to switch to what's happening here on campus. I haven't been down in the science complex. I think 30 days, I'll say that, but my understanding is

Grape Research And Paid Student Work

Ralph Ford 27:58

it's all changing and that there's a lot of construction going on. So uh you've come in and you're starting new programs, and now we're we're uh redoing a number of facilities. So tell us what's going on down there, what it'll look like this fall, and hopefully a few years from now.

Cora MacBeth 28:12

Yeah, so one of the projects we're really, really excited about is our large lecture hall that's often used for our introductory courses. Um I joke that it hasn't changed since I was a student here. It is undergoing a complete gut renovation starting this fall. So that'll that'll begin this August, and we're hoping that it'll be done by the end of the fall semester. Everything is being upgraded, sound, lighting, HVAC, which we desperately need, all seats, furniture, cosmetics, um, and then all teaching technology. It's gonna be state of the art. And we're really excited. It's gonna have some things that are probably um specific to science. So we're hoping to have a demonstration fume hood so that will be equipped with cameras so we can be doing real live demonstrations to large audiences. So when we have large groups of students and things come in, we can have cameras and project it. We're also hoping to have it live stream to our observatories so when we do astronomy nights and things like that, we can we can hold lectures and things inside and actually be projecting in real time. So we really hope that what will come out of this renovation is we'll have a state-of-the-art lecture hall that'll be someplace that we're ready to have outside speakers and hold TED-like talks in for the public.

Ralph Ford 29:29

Well, we're excited. And you were right, it was time, you know, it was uh well used. It was loved. I don't know how many thousands of students went through there. But one thing when you walked in is there's this big periodic table on the wall. What's the plan for the periodic table?

Cora MacBeth 29:42

Yeah, so we're really excited. We're do we're being very barren about this. So we're collaborating with uh Jacob Marsh and the Innovation Commons, and there's a group of students currently working on it. And they they have a plan to recreate it. Okay.

Ralph Ford 29:57

They're gonna recreate. Yeah, but I'll keep you in suspense.

Cora MacBeth 30:03

And for any chemistry alum that are listening, we're planning on doing a chemistry alum event in the fall to unveil it. And that was actually that was actually requested by some of our some of our chemistry alums who found out about the table going away.

Ralph Ford 30:15

And they yes, so we all signed it or something to do.

Cora MacBeth 30:21

Yep, and we're gonna we're gonna try to continue that.

Ralph Ford 30:24

Okay. Well, what other changes are going on? You're expanding nursing labs or other classrooms doing it.

Cora MacBeth 30:29

Yeah, we're we're we're setting aside a little bit more space, dedicated space for nursing. Because of the way the curricular program and nursing works, they have some, they have some non-standard, I would say non-standard meeting times for their courses. So we're setting aside some dedicated classroom space that'll just give them a little bit more flexibility. Um, and we feel like we need that with the second degree program coming on as well. It's just gonna create um good but additional pressure, but it's a good pressure on the School of Science. Uh, we're also we're we're also replacing all the entryways to the NIC building uh this summer, and that that'll be a great we're just making things compliant and ADA accessible, but that'll be a great um great addition. And then we also have built some modular teaching space in Fais and Meyer, and part of that was actually in direct plan for the renovation of OBS because the large lecture hall in OBS is a workhorse and it is busy all semester long. So taking that offline was going to be a pain point for us.

Ralph Ford 31:31

Yeah, and I one of the things that you know we can talk about is your facilities, they've really expanded. It's pretty amazing for those who haven't seen the science complex. It's all interconnected now. You can go from one end to the other. I don't know how many square feet you've got down there, but you've got a mix of newer spaces and older spaces. So we do have a master plan vision for the future. It's going to take time to fund it, but I think it's worth talking about that vision.

Cora MacBeth 31:54

Absolutely. There is a master plan uh for the science complex. And Dr. Ford is absolutely right. Some of the spaces down there are quite nice, like our chemistry labs, teaching lab spaces were all yeah, state-of-the-art, incredible, beautiful spaces. Very fortunate to have those. But some of our other spaces haven't been updated. So some of our biology labs and things like that are quite, you know, quite out of date. Um, and what the master plan really does is that is it focuses on getting updated research and research spaces and and state-of-the-art teaching spaces in the School of Science. I think, yeah, our classrooms, many of the classrooms that we teach math and some of our upper division courses are also quite out of date and could use a significant refresh.

Ralph Ford 32:40

So and then as you know, we're I feel pretty confident we're gonna make some big changes here in the next couple years. Absolutely. And uh we have much we're getting there and it's a great plan.

Cora MacBeth 32:49

Absolutely. I was you know, the one thing that we talked about with the board of visitors when they were here is with science research space, the infrastructure is and and engineering as well, the infrastructure is just more complicated. You have to think about ventilation and HVAC and temperature control and backup power, and and you know, when you when you have animal care facilities, that has to be designed differently than you know a classroom. So there's a lot of it is it's a large-scale project and it's very expensive, but it is an investment. And if you look, you know, if you say we only have to do this once every 40 years, it's you know, I think I think you can make the case for the investment.

Ralph Ford 33:27

Well, let's talk about uh outreach. And your faculty are highly engaged, and you

Renovations And The Science Master Plan

Ralph Ford 33:32

know, students and staff, with engaging with the K-12 space. And that's really important. So tell us what sort of things are going on in the school in that regard.

Cora MacBeth 33:41

Yeah, so I think, you know, earlier this week, I think was it Monday? I think it was on Monday, I was really excited. Our math faculty, in particular, uh Courtney, Nagel, Andy George, Pat Kelly, they organized a conference for math teachers in the region, and it was outstanding. I couldn't be over there in the morning because I had meetings, but I went over in the afternoon, and the the quality and the level of the talks and presentations, I was so impressed with what they were able to deliver. So that sort of, you know, that sort of outreach for educators, we do that. We believe in being a resource for local educators in the high schools and middle schools. We do a ton of outreach. One of the things, Tracy Helmy is our outreach coordinator for the School of Science, and she's been in that position officially for the past year, and she has just been great because when we get requests, and we've sort of we've um socialized this among all the faculty. Sometimes a school teacher will reach out and say, you know, they'll they'll find somebody on the website and say, Hey, do you have anybody that can do this? You know, looking for something for their class. All of that is getting funneled to Tracy, and then she is finding faculty to go and do those opportunities. So I would say, you know, on yeah, on a weekly basis, they are traveling to classrooms, they are working, you know, they're going to the eagle's nest, they are willing to step up. The challenge for us in the School of Science moving forward, and Tracy has a plan for this and is really doing a great job, is really making sure that we're measuring what we're doing so we can report this to, you know, youth education outreach so they have numbers on what we're doing, and so that we can really complement each other and identify places where we can collaborate. And yeah.

Ralph Ford 35:18

Well, I'll tell you, I I read a story on a news study that was out, and I don't think I've shared it with you yet, but it shows that engagement in STEM outreach, particularly for young women, increases their earnings. So I don't know if you saw that. It was in the newsreaders all this week.

Cora MacBeth 35:34

No, I didn't, I didn't see it, but I'm it doesn't surprise me because it's it helps them with you know with communication. Oh, our our biologist, Dr. Lynn Beatty, she does this event. I don't know if she does it every fall, but this past fall, she did a herptology event at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center, and it was it was fantastic. She probably had 20, 24 student volunteers at this event that is manning all of these tables, and it was incredible. It was really, really, you know, that was our barren students doing that work, doing that outreach. And the community, they were bringing in their kids that like lizards, frogs, snakes, you know. So it was it was just a great, great outreach event.

Ralph Ford 36:13

And you have a planetarium. You have the Yon Planetarium down there.

Cora MacBeth 36:17

Yes, and um, the Yon Planetarium every year, you know, serves so many people from the Erie community, so many school. Um last week was the last week that we had school groups coming through, but all in the fall and in the spring, large

K-12 Outreach And The Planetarium

Cora MacBeth 36:31

numbers of school groups they come on field trips in the school buses, they come to the Yon Planetarium. You know, we're serving thousands and thousands of area school kids every year with the planetarium, and our and our director does just an outstanding job.

Ralph Ford 36:46

Yeah, so much to offer. Well, I'm going to ask you uh a little bit about yourself. What do you do uh to keep professionally active? I know you're involved in ACS at a pretty significant level.

Cora MacBeth 36:56

Yeah, so ACS, the American Chemical Society, I've been fortunate enough to be involved in leadership of that organization. I spent, I think, nine, ten years on the Committee for Professional Training, and that is the committee that basically accredits undergraduate chemistry degree programs. And when we think about accreditation and undergraduate degrees, you might ask, why would chemistry need to be accredited? Well, it turns out because there's a big safety. You know, under the biggest issue is really safety. You have to graduate safe chemistry graduates. But then there was also this issue where, and I think it was back in the 1940s, where the chemical industry really went to the American Chemical Society and said, look, you know, students are coming out with various degrees of preparation. We really need a uniformed chemistry curriculum. Yeah. It is important and it helps.

Ralph Ford 37:45

Professional skills, all of those things.

Cora MacBeth 37:47

Exactly, absolutely. And so every chemistry program, not every, there are about 700 accredited chemistry programs across the US and Canada. If they want to be accredited every six years, they go through a rigorous review process. So I was fortunate to be on that committee. I actually chaired it for two years, um, right before I exited. And most recently, now I am on the membership affairs committee, which I didn't know much about, but I joined it. Well, I was appointed by the president this past year, and now we're making all the tough decisions about membership fees, structures, and good stuff, but it's important work.

Ralph Ford 38:22

Well, we are coming to the end of our discussion. You get the last word. Is there anything we've missed to add? Anything you'd like here?

Cora MacBeth 38:28

Yeah, I guess the one thing that

ACS Leadership And Chemistry Standards

Cora MacBeth 38:30

I would say is that I think an opportunity for us is to think about, and something I'm gonna be focused on in the School of Science over the next year, because we're we're preparing our strategic plan for the School of Science. And this is also fueled by the most recent Board of Visitors meeting, is thinking about how we tell the story of what's special about Behrend. Because if you talk to any student who graduated from Behrend,

Telling Behrend’s Story To Erie

Cora MacBeth 38:55

they know why Behrend's special. And and people love Behrend in a way that, you know, like we like Penn State, but we love Behrend. Like that is what we identify with. Well, we have to think about how to make more people aware of just how special Behrend is, and even within our own community. And I'm thinking about what, you know, what are ways that we in the School of Science we do a lot of outreach K through 12. But, you know, I have neighbors in in Frontier Park who've never been on campus. They, you know, I was having a conversation with a neighbor not too long ago when he was like, Can you do an undergraduate engineering degree there? Or is it just two years? He really thought it was like, and I said, No, I'm like, we have an excellent engineering school, as a matter of fact. And so then I was sending, he's like, I didn't know. He's like, I have to get over there and see the campus. Yes, you do. He's retired. Why isn't he over here? What, what events, you know, we don't want, we don't have all the money in the world, but what events can we hold on campus just to get people over here to see what we have, the Erie community. And then we really have to tell a story about why, you know, what differentiates a barren degree. And I've told Ralph this before, and I'll say it again. One of the things about being a professional academic is we do travel a bit. So I've seen different institutions of all types. I've seen the top-tier liberal arts, private liberal arts institutions in the country. You know, you see places like the Hope Colleges and the Furmans. I've been there, I've met their students, I've given talks. I've also, you know, been at places like Caltech and Berkeley. And the funny thing is, I've seen all of these institutions, and Behrend is really, really unique. And I've told Ralph this in the past, is when I think of all the places I've been, the place that's the closest to Behrend in terms of sort of attitude and the way that we allow students to drive things is really Caltech. But Behrend's different because we don't have the graduate students and postdocs. It's really faculty for the most part. We do have some postdocs, but for the most part, it's really faculty and students really driving the innovation bus. They're deciding what projects we look at. They're deciding, you know, where we're going to invest our scholarly time. And so I think that, you know, somehow telling that story that this place is really a powerhouse of student innovation is just something we have to work on. And we're thinking about student testimonials. And before the most recent graduation, I got to hang out with some of our graduating seniors who, you know, they know how special Behrend is. I had students tell, you know, telling me, they're like, oh, I I have a I have a friend who's a biology major at this school, and they don't have access to any of this. So, you know, our students know, but somehow I still feel like we're keeping it a little bit secret. So I want to figure out how we can share this message, you know, do a better job of getting it out there.

Ralph Ford 41:41

Well, I said I'd give you the last word, and that was just phenomenal. I can't add much more other than we'll help you, and we're excited to have you here. And uh just have really enjoyed this conversation. You were listening to Behrend Talks. I'm Dr. Ralph Ford. And uh my guest today is Dr. Cora MacBeth, director of the School of Science, who's just completed her first year. This has been a great conversation. We're looking forward to all the great things to come.

Cora MacBeth 42:04

Thanks. Thanks for having me. This was really fun. I enjoyed it.