Penn State University Has New Partnership
By: Mallory Lane
Updated: February 6, 2013
Siemens Corporation will partner for the first time with an American university to further develop strategic innovation.
Dozens of Penn State students and faculty gathered together Thursday to accept a one-of-a-kind partnership with an international firm.
"We've had a great relationship, we want to expand it and take it to the next level," Eric Spiegel said. "It's our first relationship like this and I think it's going to be one of the largest ones that anybody has in the country."
Siemens Corporation works in technological development across the world, and Spiegel says Penn State is the perfect partner, especially as the company plans to expand to other avenues.
"Penn State happens to sit in the middle of the Marcellus Shale, which is the second or third largest gas field in the world now, so there's a big opportunity," he said. "We think there's going to be a continuing boom in natural gas."
As a Penn State graduate, Steve Wagman is excited for the new partnership and thinks this new generation of students will bring invaluable ideas to the company.
"They're inquisitive, they're not afraid of technology, they're not afraid of learning new things and those that are in the industry can learn from the students as much as we can teach the students," Wagman said.
Alison Taylor agrees. She hopes sustainability will be another key factor of development in the future.
"There's a real opportunity with the diversity of schools here, and even the diversity of campuses across the state, to be a real pilot, a real beacon of light, if you will, of sustainability," she said. "Not just to other universities, but to all kinds of institutions."
The new partnership will expand on several other avenues as well, including health care, infrastructure, energy and people development.


