Penn State Altoona to host ‘Destination Unknown’ career path panel March 25

ALTOONA, Pa. — Penn State Altoona will offer "Destination Unknown: Mapping Career Pathways in the 21st Century" on Tuesday, March 25, from 12:15 to 1:15 p.m. via Zoom.

The virtual event features three panelists who have built professional expertise from different academic disciplines. They will answer questions and offer advice to current students about the impact of a college education.

Dr. Matthew Newlin practices general and bariatric surgery at UPMC Altoona. A graduate of Tyrone Area High School, Newlin attended Harvard University where he studied economics, rowed on the Harvard crew team, and was president of the Harvard Classics basketball team. After graduating with a degree in economics, he worked as an analyst in investment banking but soon realized he wished to pursue medicine. He earned his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1998 and pursued his dream of becoming a surgeon. He lives in the Tyrone area with his wife and two children.

Shihui Shen is a distinguished professor of rail transportation engineering at Penn State Altoona, a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania, and a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She received her doctoral degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Shen is a leading scholar in railroad and highway infrastructure and materials, having earned national and international recognition by securing over $13 million in competitive research funding and authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal papers and technical reports.

Upon being named a distinguished professor, Shen shared that the ability to make tangible contributions and impacts in the field fuels her passion for engineering, whether through developing innovative solutions for transportation infrastructure, mentoring students, promoting women engineers, or collaborating with colleagues to push the boundaries of research.

Amy Mallory-Kani is an assistant professor of writing and rhetoric studies at the University of Utah. She graduated with degrees in English and cultural studies from Penn State Altoona in 2007. After college, she pursued a doctorate in English at the University at Albany. Mallory-Kani has worked as a professor of British romantic literature, a writer at a marketing consultancy, a freelancer, and a product communication manager at a start-up. She enjoys studying languages including French, German, Italian, Spanish, Welsh, ancient Greek, and Croatian.