Nifty Fifty (times two)

The 2nd Science and Engineering Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC was just announced for the spring of 2012.  (Here's an older post about the first one.)  I was recently named one of the Nifty Fifty (x2) for this event.  The ‘Nifty Fifty (times 2)’ are a group of one hundred noted science and engineering professionals who will fan out across the Washington, DC area in the 2011-2012 school year to speak about their work and careers at various middle and high schools.  It should be a lot of fun and they just posted a great bio of me, check it out.

Shaking the President's Hand

A visit by the Secretary of Energy is cool (see below), but a chance to shake the hand of the POTUS is more awesome than I ever imagined!

Besides my day job at PPPL, I am the Associate Director for Education and Workforce Development for the Greater Philadelphia Innovation Cluster (GPIC).  Located at The Navy Yard in Philadelphia, the goals of the GPIC are to improve energy efficiency and operability and reduce carbon emissions of new and existing buildings, and to stimulate private investment and quality job creation in the Greater Philadelphia region, the larger Mid Atlantic region, and beyond. Penn State University is leading the effort but there are dozens of institutions all working together for this common goal.  Funding for GPIC includes $122,000,000 from the Department of Energy, $30,000,000 from the state of Pennsylvania, and millions more from other federal agencies.  My role in all of this is to coordinate the educational activities and the workforce pipeline for people at all levels involved in building design and construction.  That includes everyone from the contractors to the engineers to the architects.  We need to figure out what new skills this workforce needs, now to get them the training, and how to help them get high quality jobs.

But that's not what I wanted to blog about...

Last week, the White House announced that President Obama would travel to Penn State to announce the start of GPIC and that there would be an invitation-only event and I was invited.  Well, that's interesting!  And it wasn't just me, I also got to go with my colleagues, Adam Cohen and Stephanie Wissel (Assistant Director of PPPL and a post-doctoral fellow in Science Education, respectively).  Then, the night before, Adam and I got an email letting us know that we were no longer simply VIP guests, now we were Honored VIP guests. (sorry Steph!)

But there was a catch.  We had to be there by 9:30 am, the weather had been terrible (the event was actually postponed by 24 hours due to the weather) and it seemed easier to leave in the morning.  So we left at 4:30 am for Happy Valley.

By 9:30 am we were on the line to get into Rec Hall, a gymnasium with folding chairs on the floor and bleachers up high.  The line was packed, the Secret Service were everywhere, and we slowly made our way through security (similar to airport security).  But all of a sudden the very special VIPs got to cut the line and within a few minutes we were past security and inside.

Cameras were everywhere, there was a big stage set up, and the place was filling up quickly.  We were also told that the President would begin his speech around noon, but the doors to Rec Hall would be closed at 11:00 am.  That gave us time to find our seats, talk, take in the atmosphere, etc.  So I marched up to the front and went past the ropes that separated the first 4 rows from the rest of the floor to find my assigned seat.  I didn't see it so I figured I should go to the front center and scan to the left and right.  Still nothing.  Then I looked down.  And there I was, there was my name in the last place I considered looking.  Front row, center.  Whoa.  And two rows behind me are 4 reserved seats for the real star of the show and his family.  Joe Pa.  Coach Paterno and his family have seats behind me?

Coach Paterno finding his seat behind me.

I planted myself in the aisle next to those seats and spent the next 45 minutes talking to colleagues but really just camping out so I could stand next to Coach Paterno when he and his family arrived.  And a few minutes before 11:00 am the energy in the auditorium changed.  The students started another chant of WE ARE...PENN STATE...but this time it was LOUD.  And getting louder and louder.  The students started going nuts....The crowd parted and sure enough, there he was.

Now I'm really getting into it but I have to be on a conference call.  I'm organizing a large group of teachers from around the country to fly on NASA's microgravity airplane this summer and I organized a conference call at 11 am weeks before I knew about this visit.  I apologized for the background noise, we went through the agenda, and around 11:40 am I got to say something I've never said during a conference call before.  "I'm sorry, but I have to go, the President of the United States is about to come out to give a speech."

And a little after 12:00 pm he came out to a loud ovation.  Quite simply, he's amazing, the charisma, the ability to inspire, to communicate, all of the things that pour off of him when you see him on television are so obviously stronger when he is 20 feet away from you.  He was funny, poignant, and eloquent.  Here's a 1 minute clip from his speech when he gives an overview of GPIC.

Finally, after a rousing 25 minute speech, it was time for the President to press the flesh.  It's a firm handshake.  (You can see the entire speech on C-Span here.)