Students and Faculty Honored at Annual PSLS Conference

Penn State Wilkes-Barre students and faculty members were honored in January at the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors (PSLS) Annual Conference.

Seven Penn State Wilkes-Barre students entered the PSLS 2015 Student Paper competition with three taking home the top honors. 1st Place went to Kevin Katchko of Sweet Valley for GRAV-D, 2nd Place to Theodore Frear of Factoryville for Height Modernization, and 3rd to Heather Nicholson of Lehman for Feeling the Effects of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment. Nicholson is the President of Lambda Sigma, the National Surveying Engineering Honor Society. Winning papers will be published in the 2015 issues of The Pennsylvania Surveyor.

Additionally, three Penn State Wilkes-Barre students were honored with the PSLS Foundation Scholarship Award at the collegiate level. The scholarship recipients are chosen by the Foundation's Board of Trustees based upon achievements, content of responses, grammar, presentation and an advisor's evaluation. The Foundation Scholarship's objective is to promote, improve, and encourage the profession and practice of land surveying in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by providing financial assistance to those persons intending to pursue, or who are currently pursuing, an education in surveying with an ultimate goal of becoming practicing Professional Land Surveyors. This year, Penn State Wilkes-Barre students Gregory Copelli of Kersey, Theodore Frear of Factoryville, and Alexander Wood of Jeannette were among the college level recipients.

PSLS also honors faculty members for various achievements. This year, Penn State Wilkes-Barre's Instructor of Surveying Engineering, Brian Naberezny was recognized for his contribution to PSLS through the President's Award. The PSLS President gives this award, at their discretion, to recognize any individual or group they feel has contributed beyond expectations while they are serving their term in office.

In addition to the President's Award, Naberezny along with Professor of Surveying Engineering, Thomas Seybert were presented with the Distinguished Service Award. The Distinguished Service Award is given to members of PSLS who have provided an exceptional contribution or service to the surveying profession and have been nominated by an active PSLS Chapter. Former Penn State Wilkes-Barre Surveying Engineering Faculty, Charles Ghilani and Wesley Parks also received the Distinguished Service Award.