AVP Cargo Feasibility Study

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP) is undertaking an Air Cargo Feasibility Study Update for the airport with the objective of informing strategic development. Their effort entails extensive quantitative and geographic research, in addition to multiple outreach approaches to garner feedback directly from the cargo industry and its customers.

They will be hosting two virtual workshops on the topic:

  • Friday, October 29, 2021 at 1 PM EST – A one-hour workshop, with 30 minutes being a regional air cargo overview, followed by a 30-minute group discussion of regional cargo challenges and opportunities with representatives of the invited air carriers, handlers, forwarders, trucking companies, and shippers.
  • November 4, 2021 at 10 AM EST  – A 30-minute briefing session to outline the study and our efforts. This session, which will be less technical in nature, is intended to provide local government representatives and transportation agencies with information on the cargo study.

Please contact Carl Beardsley, Executive Director at 570-602-2000 or cbeardsley@flyavp.com October 22, 2021 with the following information:

  • I am willing to participate in an interview. (yes/no)
  • I would like more information about the workshop/session. (yes/no)
  • I would like to be excluded from any further communications about this effort. (yes/no)
  • Preferred contact (name of individual and company) and means of communication
  • Phone number
  • Email

Only those responding affirmatively will be contacted by the consultant team. A platform link will be sent via email in advance. We look forward to your participation and sincerely appreciate your time in support our efforts to evaluate air cargo potential at AVP.

An Introduction to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Workshop

The University of Scranton’s new Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service will offer its inaugural workshop “An Introduction to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for NEPA Government Official” on Tuesday, Aug. 31. The workshop, offered free of charge to county and city officials of Northeastern Pennsylvania via Zoom, will run from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will be facilitated by DNG Consulting, an independent diversity, inclusion and equity consulting group (see attached flyer for facilitator bios). PNC is the exclusive sponsor of the event.

“Promoting and maintaining diversity, equity and inclusion is imperative in ensuring ethical and effective governance for all. We are glad to provide a workshop on these timely issues and we look forward to having the Center offer programs on a range of topics that can aid public officials and their staff in their important work,” said JoyAnna Hopper, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science and co-director of the Center for Ethics and Excellence in Public Service.

The interactive workshop will address why attentiveness to diversity, equity and inclusion is important for effective governance and articulate how implicit bias and systemic racism are defined and identified. The workshop will also cover best practices in how government bodies and officials can take matters of racism and bias into consideration in evaluating institutions and policy effectiveness.

Three experienced consultants with DNG will facilitate in the workshop. Principal at DNG Consulting, Danielle N. Gadson, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of public administration at Villanova University and chairs their Public Administration Department Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. As a professor and a trained Intergroup Dialogue facilitator focusing on race, Dr. Gadson teaches courses in public administration theory, data analysis, health services planning, and intergroup relations.

Senior consultant at DNG, Stephen A. Sheridan, Jr. works as the director for accountability, accreditation and assessment services at Villanova University, providing leadership and expertise in the design, implementation, and analysis of assessment activities related to student development and learning outcomes. He is a trained Intergroup Dialogue facilitator with experience facilitating on the topics of disability, race and socioeconomic status.

Senior consultant at DNG, Terri Boyer, Ed.D., is the founding director of the Anne Welsh McNulty Institute for Women’s Leadership and an associate professor of education and counseling at Villanova University. Dr. Boyer has published widely on educational and workforce equity, institutional reform for equity, women’s education and leadership, the effectiveness of equity programs, and assessment and teacher training.

The workshop is convened by the University’s Center for Excellence in Ethics and Public Service with its Office of Community and Government Relations in collaboration with DNG Consulting. Registration is required to participate in the event and can be completed online or by e-mailing ceeps@scranton.edu.

The University of Scranton Virtual HamSCI Workshop

The fourth annual HamSCI Workshop 2021 for amateur radio operators and professional scientists will be held in a virtual format on Friday and Saturday, March 19-20. The University of Scranton will serve as host for the Zoom webinar, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), that will include addresses by guest speakers, poster presentations and demonstrations of relevant instrumentation and software.

Participation is free through support from the NSF and the University. The theme of this year’s workshop is midlatitude ionospheric science.

The workshop will also serve as a team meeting for the HamSCI Personal Space Weather Station project, which is a NSF funded project awarded to University of Scranton physics and electrical engineering professor Nathaniel Frissell, Ph.D. The project seeks to harness the power of a network of licensed amateur radio operators to better understand and measure the effects of weather in the upper levels of Earth’s atmosphere.

The workshop’s keynote address on the “History of Radio” will be given by Elizabeth Bruton, Ph.D., curator of technology and engineering at the Science Museum of London. She will discuss the history, science, technology and licensing of radio amateur communities from the early 1900s through to the present day, exploring how individuals and communities contributed to “citizen science” long before the term entered popular usage in the 1990s. Dr. Bruton has been a non-licensed member of Oxford and District Amateur Radio Society since 2014 and their web manager since 2015.

J. Michael Ruohoniemi, Ph.D., professor of electrical and computer engineering at Virginia Tech and principal investigator of the Virginia Tech SuperDARN Initiative, will review the physics of the midlatitude ionosphere and discuss ways in which the amateur radio community can contribute to advancing scientific understanding and technical capabilities. Joe Dzekevich K1YOW, an amateur radio citizen scientist who recently published his work in CQ Magazine, will present “Amateur Radio Observations and The Science of Midlatitude Sporadic E.” The event will also include virtual oral presentations by researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, MIT Haystack Observatory, the University of Oslo, the University of Bath, Case Western Reserve University, Dartmouth College. the University of Alabama, Clemson University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology and The University of Scranton, among others.

University students Veronica Romanek (KD2UHN), Hampton, New Jersey; Cuong Nguyen, Ashley; and M. Shaaf Sarwar (KC3PVF), Lahore, Punjab, are among the iposter presenters.

A full schedule of speakers and registration information can be found on the HamSCI Workshop 2021 website.