Bios

Derek Elsworth Age: 40-something Profession: professor of energy and geo-environmental engineering What the students call him: Dr. Elsworth His tough love travel advice: “What do you mean you need a chaperone? You’re adults. You have tickets. Get on the plane and fly.” Profile: Traveling Man

Semih Eser Age: 40-something Profession: associate professor of energy and geo-environmental engineering What the students call him: Dr. Eser His memorable contribution to the course syllabus: asking science and engineering students to read Dickens’ “Hard Times” to get a feeling for the social landscape of the industrial revolution Profile: Seeing Students as Resources

Jonathan Mathews Age: 30-something Profession: assistant professor of energy and geo-environmental engineering What the students call him: Jonathan His van-driving antics: car dancing and singing along to the soundtrack of the movie “Fame” and giving the students pop-quizzes on how fluidized bed coal combustion works Take Jonathan’s Web course: Energy and the Environment

Dana Bauer Dana is writer and editor for the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences at Penn State.