Layoffs Being Announced at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory

UPDATE @ 8:09 a.m. Wednesday: StateCollege.com has posted an updated news article about the ARL cuts. It’s available at this page.

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Earlier report, posted @ 10:39 a.m. Tuesday:

Thirteen of the roughly 900 workers at Penn State’s Applied Research Laboratory will be laid off, and 20 others will see reduced work hours, university spokeswoman Lisa Powers confirmed late Monday.

She said the layoffs are being announced this week.

‘The reason for this action is that business/economic conditions have meant that fewer dollars are coming into the lab,’ Powers wrote in an e-mail message. ‘ARL operates on sponsored funding (soft money) — and without additional contracts coming in during this economic downturn, there is no way to support and keep busy everyone in every area of the lab.

‘The 13 that are affected are those who do not currently have a project to support them, and the 20 with reduced hours are those whose projects are slowing down,’ she continued.

Powers indicated that ‘ARL needs to take these steps now to avoid potentially bigger problems later.’

It was not immediately clear whether the ARL layoffs are related to the cost-reduction efforts being undertaken by the university’s Core Council, a leadership group looking to identify some $10 million in expense savings across the university — including in the academic colleges.

StateCollege.com is continuing to follow this news and will post more information as it becomes available.

Established in 1945, ARL is ‘an integral part’ of Penn State and ‘serves as a university center of excellence in defense science and technologies, with a focus in naval missions and related areas,’ according to the ARL website. It ‘provides science and technology for national security, economic competitiveness and quality of life through education, scientific discovery, technology demonstrations (and) transition to application.’