Stony Brook University SUNY Korea

In 2009, published genome-wide DNA data was not available for a single ancient human individual. Today, there is genome-wide data available for more than 6,000 ancient humans. This rapid expansion of ancient DNA (aDNA) research enables scientists to uncover more information than ever on past human populations, including their genetic adaptations, patterns of migration and mixing, and even clues about our species’ deep past. But this wide availability of aDNA brings ethical questions on how the data is gathered and used to the forefront. Now a team of more than 60 scholars from 31 countries has articulated a set of ethical guidelines regarding aDNA as a way to govern such research globally. Their guidelines are published in Nature.     The authors — which include Elizabeth Sawchuk, a research assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, and a research associate of the Turkana Basin Institute — contend that the ethics of aDNA research has a particular urgency because of the rapid growth of the field, the societal and political impacts of studying ancestry, and the fact that aDNA work analyzes once living people who must be respected.     Any research that pursues questions about the past by generating genetic data from archaeologically derived human tissues, such as skeletal remains, constitutes aDNA research. Such work has revealed new information about individuals and events anywhere from hundreds to thousands of years old.     Sawchuk believes that establishing a globally applicable set of guidelines is a turning point in the field of aDNA research.     Sawchuckpic Elizabeth Sawchuk in the Turkana Basin in Kenya collecting a sample for ancient DNA analysis. “Since the first fully sequenced ancient human genome was published in 2010, we have been operating in what some have characterized as a rather chaotic ancient DNA revolution,” says Sawchuk. “After years of public outcry to establish clear universal guidelines for ethical research in this field, our paper attempts to do just that. The work represents the largest effort to date to create global guidelines for aDNA research developed by a team of diverse archeologists, curators, geneticists and other stakeholders. I think our guidelines will fundamentally shift the way the field operates and will have a long-lasting impact.”     The authors point out that much of the literature thus far on the ethics of aDNA research has centered around North America. Their research presents global case studies that illustrate the breadth of issues surrounding the identification of community and Indigenous groups, and stress that researchers need to recognize that there are global differences in the meaning of Indigeneity.     The team together assessed a range of issues related to carrying out research on ancient human remains, with a specific focus on different research contexts and diverse perspectives held by those conducting research as well as other stakeholders — which may include Indigenous peoples, descendants and/or guardian communities, museum curators, and others with a connection to the ancient individuals sampled.     Using this approach, the international team of scholars developed what they believe is a strong and universally applicable set of ethical guidelines summarized by five points:     Researchers must ensure that all regulations are followed in the places where they work, including all local regulations. Prepare a detailed plan prior to beginning any study. Minimize damage to human remains. Ensure that data are made available following publication to allow critical reexamination of the scientific findings. Engage with other stakeholders from the beginning of a study to ensure respect and sensitivity to stakeholder perspectives. Key to ensuring ethical practices and sensitivity when conducting aDNA research, say the authors, is to identify and consult with the stakeholders and communities appropriate to specific research contexts and questions. This should occur from the very beginning of a study, alongside the creation of a detailed plan for how research will be conducted, and results shared.     Another key guideline involves making aDNA data available to other scientists for the purpose of replication once research is complete, so scientific results can be independently confirmed without the need for additional destructive sampling. Researchers should also engage with how their findings are communicated and understood, and correct misrepresentations when appropriate.     As an anthropologist who studies ancient human remains, Sawchuk particularly supports the guideline aimed at minimizing damage to remains.     “As our only direct link to people who experienced life in the past, human remains must be respected and carefully conserved. We must balance the potential benefits of aDNA research with the impacts on skeletal collections, and always remember that we are studying other human beings,” she stressed.

As a child growing up in a small town in India with little access to electronics or technology, Anurag Purwar never had a chance to experience anything related to robotics.     “Looking back, I’m sure it would have had a major impact on me,” said Purwar, now an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University.     And while a second chance at childhood is the stuff Hollywood screenplays are made of, Purwar is not only getting an opportunity to experience the dreams he missed, he’s working with a greater goal of making a transformational robotics experience possible for today’s children all around the world.     Boosting his noble cause, Purwar’s research group, in collaboration with Stony Brook University startup Mechanismic Inc., recently received a $1 million award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for their proposal, “A Design-Driven Educational Robotics Framework.” The award comes from NSF’s Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR), an approximately $180 million seed funding program designed to help commercialize high-risk technological innovations via research and development grants to small businesses and startups.     Assisting Purwar with their own unique expertise are Stony Brook colleagues Keith Sheppard from the Institute of STEM Education, Erik Flynn, clinical lecturer from the School of Health Technology and Management, Kedar Kirane, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Jeff Ge, professor and chair, Department of Mechanical Engineering.     The award follows Phase I funding Purwar received from the NSF in 2019, which led to the development of SnappyXO Design, a platform that was conceived and developed in Purwar’s research lab, Computer-Aided Design and Innovation. Prior to receiving NSF funding, Purwar received funding from the NSF’s I-Corps (Innovation-Corps) program, which helped him with customer discovery. Building upon his entrepreneurial experiences, Purwar is the current PI and the site director of the NSF I-Corps program at Stony Brook.     Mechanismic Inc. is the licensing partner and is working to bring the technology to market. The company, for which Purwar serves as CEO, has received several startup awards and grants from the SUNY Research Foundation, Fuzehub, SPIR, SensorCAT, and MTRC (Manufacturing & Technology Resource Consortium at Stony Brook programs. In addition, Purwar and his team have received significant commercialization support from SUNY Research Foundation as a SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund (TAF) awardee and SUNY Startup Summer School Class of 2020 graduate and TAF Catalyst Investment winner.     “SnappyXO was originally created to address a fundamental need to teach freshman college students authentic engineering design in the context of robotics,” he said.     Snappy xo ms A middle school student wiring a SnappyXO robot. Purwar is currently working to develop a Design-Driven Educational Robotics Framework, a unified and holistic platform which teaches students engineering design, practical electronics, and computer programming under one umbrella, and brings a new approach to STEM and robotics education. In this model, students engage in the entire design innovation cycle from conceptualization to programmed robots.     Purwar said that this multi-disciplinary approach provides multiple entry points for students to be engaged in different STEM disciplines, including mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science, rather than just focusing on coding.     “This approach has been shown to be especially effective for engaging young women and encouraging them to pursue STEM education and careers,” he said. “Given that both minorities and women are highly underrepresented across STEM education and careers, adoption of this teaching style presents an opportunity to increase engagement among these groups.”     Purwar’s robotics education program is unique in that it enables students to not only build robots but to design and prototype their own robot kits. The incorporated hardware has varied levels of sophistication suitable for individual students’ level of knowledge.     “This technology can not only transform STEM and robotics education in schools and colleges, it could also lead to design tools used by automation and robotic industries,” he said.     “Professor Purwar and his SnappyXO robot kit have been featured in the summer MTRC Robotics Camp since 2018, in which high school students team up to learn and design robots for prescribed tasks,” said Imin Kao, executive director of MTRC. “This robotics learning program is a workforce development event for MTRC because these students will join the manufacturing workforce in just a few years.”     Anurag purwar 1 2 Anurag Purwar A key component of SnappyXO Design is a state-of-the-art robot motion design software, which builds on years of Purwar’s NSF-funded research in solving an age-old problem of kinematic design of machines and robots.     “As part of this project, our research is going to bring together rigid body kinematics and machine learning to develop a suite of methods and algorithms for an AI-driven mechanism design architecture,” he said. “This software will democratize design innovation and invention and put the power of creativity in the hands of every student and engineer. SnappyXO Design also comes with a patented hardware and standards-aligned curriculum for K-12 and college students.”     Purwar said this award will enable his research team to develop the next generation of hardware for robot design, software for building invention design capacity, and a standards-aligned curriculum for K-12 and college students.     “Creating this robotics education product is my way of reliving my childhood playing, tinkering, and learning with robots and machines that I wish I had,” he said. “I expect that the scalability and affordability of this product would allow millions of children all over the world to experience authentic robotics education.”     — Robert Emproto

Stony Brook President Maurie McInnis announced sweeping investments in research at the Campus Conversation on Accelerating Research, held online on Friday, October 15.     “Today is a start of a new and exciting chapter in Stony Brook history, because we’re going to be talking about making investments, hiring, looking ahead, and planning what comes next for this great institution,” said McInnis. “When I first came here, one of the things I was committed to was expanding our research. Today we’re going to talk about some of the work that we’re doing to enhance our research portfolio. As I speak with people in the Stony Brook community, I sense a greater degree of optimism of hope and a sense that exciting things are coming.”     Joining McInnis in the webinar were Paul Goldbart, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, Richard Reeder, vice president for research, and Alfredo Fontanini, professor of neurobiology and behavior, who was recently appointed as Stony Brook’s first vice provost for research and infrastructure.     McInnis began by clarifying the initiative, providing a bigger picture of what this investment means.     “We’re talking about all disciplines, including the humanities, the social sciences and the creative arts,” she said. “We’re talking about the English professor who’s writing a book on Indian captivity narratives; the historian who is writing about race and race relations between India and Africa; the soprano who is preparing for performance with one of the world’s great opera companies; and the economist who is working on the effects of COVID-19 through network simulation and big data.”     Goldbart echoed the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration.     “Having this full spectrum of research is one of the things that makes Stony Brook incredibly exciting,” he said. “We have ethicists and philosophers, microbiologists and ecologists, anthropologists, chemists, linguists, neuroscientists humanists and physician scientists all striving to understand the world more deeply and elevate the human spirit. It’s remarkable. We’ve had inspiring conversations with people in music and people in history and other disciplines, learning from each other about what draws them to their scholarship and research. It’s an example of our deep commitment to the full spectrum of research.”     Accelerating research title     Goldbart also announced that Stony Brook is moving ahead with faculty hiring, with a goal to hire more than 50 tenure and tenure track faculty this year and next year, hopefully by September 2022.     “As we engaged with faculty across the spectrum, we saw that there are critical roles to be played by people in the arts, people in the humanities, and people in social sciences as well as people in STEM fields,” Goldbart said. “This diversity is the heart of the Stony Brook future.”     Reeder discussed two important current pieces of legislation in Congress, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the reconciliation bill. “This legislation has provisions for tens of billions of dollars for new research and development,” he said, noting that agencies including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, NASA, and the Department of Defense would all see significant budget increases. “Some of the priority topics that have been highlighted, like climate and clean energy, quantum information, and health-related topics, are very important to us.”     Reeder also said the U.S. Innovation in Competition Act (USICA) has broad bipartisan support, and identifies 10 focus areas that need to have additional funding. “These 10 focus areas are what we really use to define our focus teams,” he said. “There is a pilot project sponsored by both the Provost’s Office and my office with the goal of constructing teams of subject matter experts that would be nimble and able to respond to funding opportunities as early as possible.“     Fontanini discussed the work of the Strategic Research Council, a committee he created that advocates for researchers. “It expresses the needs of the faculty and the research active faculty,” he said. “One of these needs was for a standing committee on campus that would advocate for research and research support in administration and identify challenges and opportunities and provide actionable advice.”     To this end, Fontanini, Goldbart and Reeder meet on a monthly basis.     “The overarching goal is to support research here at Stony Brook,” Fontanini said. “The more practical goal and ambition of ours is to increase health and research investment. But we need to connect our researchers and administration. We need to facilitate communication and putting a clear governance in place via the Strategic Resource Council will make everyone’s life much easier. We’re working hard on these challenges.”     McInnis pointed to the interdisciplinary nature of Stony Brook’s research and the need to bring disciplines together to tackle immediate real-world challenges like climate science, healthcare disparity, and injustice.     “These are vitally important conversations for us to be having right now,” she said. “What we’re talking about when we say we’re accelerating research is supporting our faculty across all of our disciplines to work together in tackling these far-reaching challenges.”     — Robert Emproto

The impact of climate change on Long Island is visible almost anywhere you look. A new WSHU podcast, Higher Ground, produced with help from faculty and students at Stony Brook’s School of Communication and Journalism, was recently featured on the nationally syndicated National Public Radio show “Science Friday.”     Higher Ground graphicProduced by J.D. Allen, WSHU assistant news director and journalism instructor, the podcast takes an in-depth look at the effects of our changing climate on Long Island’s culture and history, economy, and power distribution systems. It also explores regional pollution and the social costs of climate change on low-income and other disadvantaged communities.      “We are so excited to share Higher Ground with the WSHU listening audience and the broader community around the country,” said Rima Dael, WSHU general manager. “When we surveyed our listeners recently about what kind of stories and news they wanted, 80 percent of them said they wanted environmental stories. We’re so happy to respond with this podcast. These episodes are not just stories; they share solutions to climate issues that are impacting our communities locally, and that are representative of national and international climate issues we all face.”     The podcast also featured researchers from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) and was created with help from Stony Brook students.      “We wanted not just to report on the effects of climate change, but to look at possible solutions,” said Terry Sheridan, WSHU news director and another journalism instructor at Stony Brook. “This is something that we have to deal with sooner rather than later.”     The eight-episode series encompasses almost all of Long Island’s Suffolk County, from North Shore’s Setauket to the Hamptons on the South Shore. It ventures into Nassau County as well, to explore endangered birds at Lido Beach and the historic bay homes of Hempstead.     “Climate change is inescapable on Long Island; many of us have seen sea levels rise, and we all bear memories of the increasingly frequent ‘storms of the century,’” said Laura Lindenfeld, dean of the School of Communication and Journalism and executive director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science. “Though we all live with climate change everyday, we will continue to struggle with how to adapt to it without help from in-depth conversations and stories like those featured on Higher Ground.”     Donovan Finn and Lesley Thorne, both assistant professors at SoMAS, were featured in episodes, along with Kimberly Lato, one of Thorne’s PhD students.     “Higher Ground tackles the complexities of climate change in a very personal way,” said Donovan, who also directs the environmental design, policy and planning program at SoMAS. “It’s an incredibly timely and important topic because climate change is going to fundamentally alter the lives of every Long Islander in the future, and Higher Ground confronts the implications of these hard choices in a really compassionate way by giving voice to the real people who will be most affected. It’s a moving and effective piece of journalism.”     Kelly Hills-Muckey, a genetics PhD student who is also earning an advanced graduate certificate in communicating science, and journalism major Sara Ruberg worked as associate producers of the podcast, helping with research and fact checking. Joshua Joseph, another journalism student, produced the graphics.     “I contributed research I’ve done in the past on these topics and then helped to coordinate each episode’s theme and sources and how different climate topics are impacting Long Island,” said Ruberg, a senior from Cincinnati. “Climate change reporting and environmental reporting is something I’m passionate about. I learned a lot about climate science, and I love going deep into ongoing issues and getting the context and the full story.”     The podcast was supported by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and the Kavli Foundation.      Subscribe to Higher Ground on Apple, Google, Spotify and Stitcher.

Bill Siemering, a pioneer in radio broadcasting, will deliver a virtual lecture on Wednesday, October 20, about his storied career and the ongoing power of public radio. Hosted by the Stony Brook University School of Communication and Journalism, the event is part of the School’s My Life As Speaker Series.      A central figure in the creation of National Public Radio (NPR), Siemering is the author of its original mission statement. He served as a member of the organization’s founding board of directors.      He was then hired as NPR’s first director of programming, and developed the popular program “All Things Considered,” as well as other NPR original programs including “Fresh Air” and “Soundprint.” While manager of WHYY in Philadelphia, he collaborated with station staff to develop “Fresh Air with Terry Gross” from a local to a national program.     “Bill Siemering is a trailblazer in radio,” said Laura Lindenfeld, dean of the School of Communication and Journalism. “Many of our students have developed passions for audio journalism through our partnership with NPR member station WSHU, and we are excited they’ll have the opportunity to hear and learn from such an influential figure in the world of radio.”      Siemering began his career in radio and worked his way through the University of Wisconsin at the university station and state-wide FM Network. There, he learned the basics of broadcasting, from engineering to on-air work. He went on to manage public radio stations WBFO, SUNY Buffalo, and KCCM in Moorhead, Minnesota.      In 2004, he started Developing Radio Partners to enrich the programming of community radio stations in Africa.      Siemering is currently a senior fellow at the Wyncote Foundation in Philadelphia.     The lecture and a question-and-answer session will stream live beginning at 7 pm to the School of Communication and Journalism’s YouTube, Facebook and Twitter accounts.

The closing reception for Stony Brook University Art Professor Nobuho Nagasawa’s installation, “Drawn to the Light,” will be held on Saturday, October 16, from 2 pm to 6 pm at the Westwood Gallery in New York City. Her solo exhibition has been on display since August 19, where visitors have been sharing their stories of the loss of loved ones due to COVID-19.     Nagasawa exhibit Throughout the exhibit, Nagasawa stenciled hundreds of luna moths on one of the gallery walls, marking a visual memory that connects to emotional memory. As part of the closing reception, starting at 2 pm, Nagasawa will begin to erase the moth drawings created together with the community as a symbolic act of release for all we have lost during COVID-19.      Then at 4 pm, Stony Brook University Theatre Arts Professor Izumi Ashizawa will perform, “And, Into Thin Air,” which is a movement performance of art in dialogue with Nagasawa’s installation. Through her concentrated movements, Ashizawa will guide the audience to release their memories of loved ones.

Zhenhua Liu, from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS), has received the prestigious National Science Foundation (NSF) Early CAREER Research Award. He will receive a total of $533,000 to develop his project, “An adaptive framework to accelerate real-time workloads in heterogeneous and reconfigurable environments.”     Artificial intelligence and machine learning are enabling real-time decisions based on live data for interactive scientific discovery and mission critical applications such as autonomous driving and smart grid. They are increasingly powered by heterogeneous and even reconfigurable accelerators. Today, managing heterogeneous and reconfigurable systems for diverse workloads with high resource utilization and performance guarantee is an extremely challenging task and can slow down scientific discovery and waste computing resources and energy.     Liu’s research aims to design an adaptive framework that automatically detects, profiles, and analyzes both workloads and accelerators on the fly. The developed framework will provide provable performance even with partial information in unknown environments, which is urgently needed due to the ever-increasing system complexity and volatility in workloads.     “This technology has the potential to improve the efficiency of costly computing systems, which saves energy, makes better use of existing investments, and leads to a net savings to taxpayers,” said Joe Mitchell, chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. “Zhenhua’s research will have broader impacts too, bringing educational innovations, outreach, and opportunities for both academic and industrial participants to train the next generation of researchers and practitioners for society as a whole.”     “The NSF CAREER award is one of the most prestigious honors for junior faculty members,” said Jon Longtin, interim dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “Zhenhua’s well-deserved accomplishments fuel our research enterprise with scientific discoveries that address today’s biggest societal challenges while enhancing the opportunities we provide to our students. I wish to extend my heartfelt congratulations to Zhenhau and look forward to his future contributions to CEAS!”     Liu’s research interests include sustainable computing and networking systems, cloud platforms for big data applications and energy management, and renewable energy integration. He develops and applies techniques from distributed systems, nonlinear optimization, game theory, and online algorithms for these systems. In particular, his research combines rigorous analysis and system design, and goes from theory, to prototype, and eventually to industry to make real impacts. In addition to the CAREER award, Liu was recently awarded the IBM 2020 Global University Program Academic Award, ACM SIGMETRICS 2021 Rising Star Research Award, ACM SIGMETRICS 2021 Test-of-time Paper Award, and INFOCOM 2020 Best Paper Award.     The NSF’s Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award is a Foundation-wide program that offers the NSF’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education. The awards, presented once each year, include a federal grant for research and education activities for five consecutive years.

Susan Y. Lee, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine at Stony Brook’s Renaissance School of Medicine, is an inaugural winner of the INSPIRE Award from the American Medical Women’s Association (AMWA). She received the award — along with her colleague Dr. Ankita Sagar from the Zucker School of Medicine Hofstra/Northwell Health — for starting a Women in Medicine Series for the New York Chapter of the American College of Physicians (ACP). Dr. Lee is also governor of the ACP New York Chapter.     The AMWA Leadership Council established the INSPIRE Awards to recognize women physicians who personally and/or professionally provide inspiration to other physicians or students through expert and compassionate patient-oriented medical care, or through mentorship, or service to the community. INSPIRE recipients were nominated by their peers, or their students, and selected by AMWA leaders. A total of eight accomplished women physicians who exemplify the highest values in vision, integrity, service, and collaboration in medicine received the award.     Dr. Lee is an internist and medical director of Stony Brook Primary Care, an accredited Patient Centered Medical Home. She received her MD from New York University School of Medicine and completed post-doctoral training at New York Hospital Cornell Medical Center.

Stony Brook University ranked 125th in the United States — and 32nd among public institutions — in the recently released Times Higher Education/Wall Street Journal 2022 College Rankings.     The ranking includes almost 800 universities and uses the results of the THE U.S. Student Survey, which examines a range of key issues including students’ engagement with their studies, their interaction with their teachers and their satisfaction with their experience.     The ranking adopts a balanced scorecard approach, with 15 individual performance indicators combining to create an overall score that reflects the broad strength of the institution.     Data come from a variety of sources: the U.S. government (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System – IPEDS), the College Scorecard, the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the THE US Student Survey, the THE Academic Survey, and the Elsevier bibliometric dataset.     View the complete methodology here.

On August 30, the Career Center held its third Instagram Live marathon with Stony Brook University faculty and staff members to promote this semester’s four industry virtual job and internship fairs and highlight stories of faculty and staff members across campus. Faculty and staff also had the opportunity to share words of wisdom with students related to careers and finding valuable experiences.      Ric mcclendon Ric McClendon, assistant vice president and dean of students, reminded viewers that they should not sell themselves short. In a series of nine Instagram live streams, the Career Center’s ​​Elizabeth Ann Moon, marketing and digital content specialist, met with faculty members from various departments including several academic colleges, the Faculty Student Association and the Division of Student Affairs. During each session, professors, deans and other SBU leaders offered their best advice for students preparing to participate in the upcoming job and internship fairs, and emphasized the importance of persistence.      John Longtin, interim dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, shared that his first job was during high school at a small repair shop where he fixed lawnmowers and chainsaws, among other mechanical tools.      Longtin said, “It was a fantastic experience. It allowed me to learn things like the value of a dollar, the importance of responsibility, dealing with conflict, or if a customer wasn’t happy.”     He added, “Even after all these years, it’s funny how some of those lessons are still front and center on a daily basis.” Longtin’s experience echoed a sentiment shared by Rewa Thompson, clinical assistant professor in the School of Nursing, who said, “There’s no such thing as a wasted experience.”     The social media initiative to inform students of the four upcoming job and internship fairs hosted by the Career Center reached more than 600 views. Audience members were able to send questions for the interviewees and learn more about their experiences.      When asked about job searching in unprecedented times for recent college graduates, Peter Caprariello, professor in the College of Business, mentioned, “When there’s uncertainty, put your resume out there, send out a lot of applications, see who you can get interviews with, anything to get your name out there; and don’t worry about creating enormous pressures to ‘get it right.’ Life will work itself out, but you have to put yourself out there in order to capture the opportunity.”     During the Instagram Live marathon, students were encouraged to take advantage of resources such as resume reviews, mock interviews and career coaching to prepare for the one-on-one sessions with employers offered at the job and internship fairs. Students can register for these sessions through Handshake.      Ric McClendon, assistant vice president and dean of students, reminded the viewers that in these one-on-one sessions and future interviews, they should not “sell themselves short.”      McClendon said, “There are so many skill sets that I think we sell ourselves short on; we miss that window of opportunity to talk about the transferable skill sets. I always tell people, classroom work, club and activity work, volunteer work, all of it is so relevant to every single job because there are skill sets and competencies that we develop over time and it adds such value to the workplace.”      Recordings of the livestream series are ready for viewing on the Career Center’s Instagram account (@SBUCareerCenter). The initiative featured the following faculty members:     Jon Longtin, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences      Robin DeLuca-Acconi, School of Social Welfare     Rewa Thompson, School of Nursing      Chris Paparo, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences      Tara Rider, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences     Rachel Rodriguez, College of Arts and Sciences      Laura Martorano, Campus Dining      Peter Caprariello, College of Business      Ric McClendon, Division of Student Affairs      Upcoming Career Center Virtual Job and Internship Fairs     Virtual IT and Engineering Job & Internship Fair Friday, September 24, 2021 | 1 pm to 5 pm     Virtual Healthcare, Research, Human Services Job & Internship Fair Friday, October 1, 2021 | 1 pm to 4 pm

Stony Brook University professor Peng Zhang, a SUNY Empire Innovation professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is leading a statewide team of collaborators in developing “AI-Grid,” an artificial intelligence-enabled, autonomous grid designed to keep power infrastructure resilient from cyberattacks, faults and disastrous accidents.     The work is part of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Convergence Accelerator Program, which supports and builds upon basic research and discovery that involves multidisciplinary work to accelerate solutions toward societal impact.     In September 2020, the program launched the 2020 cohort, which included AI-Grid as a phase 1 awardee and grant funding of a $1 million to further AI-Grid research from an idea to a low-fidelity prototype. The Convergence Accelerator recently selected teams for phase 2, to focus on expanding the solution prototype and to build a sustainability plan beyond the NSF funding. Under phase 2, a new $5 million NSF cooperative agreement will fund the AI-Grid project.     “This project led by Professor Zhang is a great example demonstrating the impact of this novel research on essential infrastructure that we rely on daily, and defines a pathway for enhancing the resiliency and security of our electrical grid systems,” said Stony Brook University Vice President for Research Richard J. Reeder.     “We expect to show that our AI-Grid solution is affordable, lightweight, secure and replicable, thus offering what could be unprecedented flexibility for an approach to transform today’s infrastructures into tomorrow’s autonomous AI-Grid,” said Zhang, the project’s principal investigator. “This project will demonstrate AI-Grid’s capability to empower our nation’s digital economic engines, relieve the pains of those communities suffering from high electricity costs, and knock out low energy reliability and poor resilience.”     Peng Zhang Peng Zhang According to Zhang, the program includes a broad multidisciplinary team of researchers and many academic and industry partnerships key to its success. The AI-Grid team has established more than 30 partnerships that include power utilities, independent system operators, local and state government, industry and university researchers. Zhang said these partnerships have significantly advanced the technology involved in the work that now includes various deep learning methods, online distribution control, encrypted control, active fault management, and a fully programmable microgrid platform.     “The technologies that Peng and his team are developing come at a critical time as the nation pivots toward renewable energy and the inevitable impact it will have on the grid in the coming decade,” said College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) Interim Dean Jon Longtin. “This kind of multidisciplinary collaboration strengthens our research enterprise, while demonstrating to our students how complicated problems are solved in the modern world.”     Collaborative work at Stony Brook includes faculty and students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Computer Science, in conjunction with scientists, engineers and stakeholders affiliated with the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC), and with those from Brookhaven National Laboratory, EIP, RTDS, Hitachi America, Eversource, CCAT, ISO New England, New York Power Authority, PSEG Long Island and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.     Stony Brook co-investigators include Scott Smolka, Scott Stoller, Xin Wang and Yifan Zhou. They will work with Zhang to deploy AI-Grid in the field and verify its replicability and universality at three of the most representative networked microgrid sites in the U.S.     “A convergence approach is essential to solving large-scale societal challenges, which is why the NSF Convergence Accelerator requires our funded teams to include a wide-range of expertise from academia, non-profits, industry, government and other communities,” said Douglas Maughan, head of the NSF Convergence Accelerator program. “The merging of ideas, techniques and approaches combined with human-center design concepts assists our teams in accelerating their ideas toward solutions within three years.”     Most recently, the AI-Grid team established end-user partnerships with Energy and Innovation Park, a fuel cell grid-connected energy project in Connecticut; Epic Institute, a global climate solutions organization that also manages The Plant — an old coal power plant being redeveloped into a global climate exhibition and convention center in New York City; and the Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) owned Bronzeville Community Microgrid (BCM) in Chicago.     These end-users will test, demonstrate and ideally implement the technology. The team will develop an open-access AI-grid technology platform with industry partners.

Stony Brook’s Ellen Pikitch from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is part of an international team of scientists that developed a novel scientific framework to consistently understand, plan, establish, evaluate and monitor ocean protection in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Published in Science, the guide is the result of a decade of collaborative research and comes at a key time as countries prepare to negotiate the target of protecting at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030 at the upcoming virtual meeting on Biological Diversity in October.     Ellen Pikitch, Ellen Pikitch, Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science at SoMAS Ellen Pikitch, Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science at SoMAS Authored by 42 marine and social scientists from 38 institutions across six continents, The MPA Guide: A Framework to Achieve Global Goals for the Ocean, enables the global community to advance understanding of ocean protection and achieve global goals to reverse biodiversity loss through MPAs. The MPA Guide categorizes each area according to four levels of protection (full, high, light or minimal), tracks whether protection has been activated in the water, and matches both of those with the benefits the MPA can expect to deliver.     “For the first time, we have an authoritative tool to predict MPA outcomes from actions. We will be able to use this guide to strengthen existing MPAs and build new ones that have a high likelihood of producing major benefits for people and nature,” said Pikitch, Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science at SoMAS.     With more than 20 years of experience working in MPAs around the globe, Pikitch’s contributions to the study focused on developing expected outcomes of MPAs in relation to how strongly they are protected. For example, MPAs that are strictly no-take areas typically produce much more diverse fish communities, with greater numbers and larger sizes of fish than MPAs that permit extensive extractive or destructive activities.     According to the authors, urgent interventions are needed to sustain the health of the ocean, build its resilience to disruption from climate change and other stressors, and enable people to thrive from the full range of benefits provided by healthy and productive ocean ecosystems. These include the provision of food and livelihoods, carbon sequestration and storage, opportunities for recreation, inspiration and cultural heritage. However, sustained exploitation and extraction of the ocean, facilitated by technological advances, has impacted its resilience against multiple threats and its ability to continue delivering benefits for people and nature.     Pikitch explains that the scientific team looked to develop a consistent framework on how to categorize MPAs. While MPAs are a central tool for ocean conservation, not all MPAs are the same. There are wide-ranging types of MPAs with various goals, regulations, and consequently, outcomes. This variety causes confusion. For example, some MPAs allow fishing, aquaculture and anchoring, while others do not. Some MPAs are counted on paper but are not active in the ocean.     By providing the science, evidence and framework to categorize different types of MPAs and track their progress, The MPA Guide aims to equip all stakeholders with the tools and practical guidance they need to ensure MPAs are designed optimally to deliver on their goals, to conserve biodiversity and benefit people.     There are four core components to The MPA Guide:     Stages of Establishment specifies an MPA’s status — whether it only exists on paper or is in operation. Levels of Protection clarifies the degree to which biodiversity is protected from extractive or destructive activities. Enabling Conditions provide the principles and processes needed to plan, design and govern a successful MPA. Outcomes describe the conservation and social results that can be expected from an MPA at a particular stage and level, provided the enabling conditions are in place. The MPA Guide will be continually tested and adjusted by the international team of scientists. National trials are underway in the United States, France and Indonesia, where MPA experts are using the guide to categorize existing MPAs so that communities and governments can make informed decisions.

Graduate student Johnnie Paola Cullinane has found another home at Stony Brook University, one that presents much-desired challenges while making her feel like she belongs.     Studying for a master’s degree in Human Resource Management (HRM) in the School of Professional Development (SPD), Cullinane, who is from Floral Park, NY, graduated from John Jay College with a bachelor’s degree in forensic psychology. She considered becoming a police officer or enlisting in the military, and looked into both extensively, taking the Suffolk County and NYPD exams while contacting Navy and Air Force recruiters.     “The moment that changed everything was when I walked in to the Navy recruiting office,” she said of the turning point in early 2014. “A sense of peace washed over me, and I knew that is where I belonged in that moment.”     After completing basic training, Cullinane attended the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in California, spending the next year learning Persian-Farsi as a cryptologic technician interpretive (CTI) in training. There she would meet her future husband, also a CTI, who was studying Korean.     Cullinane graduated with excellent scores in reading and listening Persian-Farsi at an advanced level, and spoke at an intermediate level. She graduated and then completed her apprenticeship as a cryptologic linguist at Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA. After one year, she and her husband were stationed in Hawaii and they started a family, with “three beautiful little boys.”     “Having children definitely made my experience in the military different than what I thought it would be when it all started,” she recalled. “It certainly changed the direction I thought I was going in, which was to retire in the service. But I am so glad that I was able to serve my country, and still do so in the Naval Reserve, while also be present in my children’s lives, especially at their very young stages of life.”     Cullinane said she is grateful to continue developing as a professional in SPD while still being able to have a positive effect on the lives of those around her.     “Much like how I knew the Navy was the right choice back in 2014, SBU has allowed me to experience that same peace of mind as an HRM graduate student, where I already feel more equipped to handle the next set of challenges a new career has to offer,” she said.     Cullinane steve navy ball Johnnie Paola Cullinane and her husband, Steven Cullinane, at the Navy Ball. Cullinane was impressed with Stony Brook’s course listing and program, and it was her one and only choice. She credited Susan Russo, the assistant director of the program, helping her navigate her course load as a mother who was, at the time, pregnant with her third child.     “She has been so warm and welcoming to all of my needs that I felt as though she is the kind of professional I want to be,” Cullinane said. “I have had the same experience with Pamela Pfeil, assistant director in the Office of Veterans Affairs, who has become a mentor to me as another veteran and working mother who also strives to give back to others, especially veterans and their dependents.”     Cullinane plans to finish her degree by the end of spring next year, and pursue another master of science in either clinical psychology or organizational psychology.     Cullinane, whose parents are from Puerto Rico, said that being a linguist in the Navy taught her the importance of passing down heritage languages to the next generation, and said it is her and her husband’s mission to continue teaching their children Spanish first.     “I feel lucky to experience both the magic of American culture, which is made up of so many cultures, and the wonderful and lively culture of being a Latina in the United States,” said Cullinane, adding that her four-year-old speaks Spanish beautifully, while her two-year-old “is on the same path, but for now mostly only feels comfortable with other Spanish speakers.”     “This is where my thoughts of language being a unifier become prominent in my mind,” she said. “It transcends the issues of race and stereotypes and can join people in ways that I have only seen the love of food do.”     —   Glenn Jochum

A team from Stony Brook University won the SUNY Startup Summer School (S4) Class of 2021 Demo Day quick pitch competition on August 11, designed to showcase grant proposals and research of 153 SUNY students and faculty in the emerging technologies fields. The winning startup, Orchid Imaging, is led by David Gu, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in SBU’s Department of Computer Science; Rong Zhao, director of the Software Systems Division at Stony Brook’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT); and Shikui Chen, associate professor in Stony Brook’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.     SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras virtually presented the winning check to Orchid Imaging. SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras virtually presented the winning check to Orchid Imaging. “Winning this pitch competition means a great deal to us,” said Professor Zhao, Orchid’s commercialization lead. “We are immensely grateful for the unique opportunities and much-needed resources offered by SUNY and the University for us to pursue innovations and entrepreneurship.”      Orchid Imaging was formed in 2020 to commercialize 3D imaging technologies invented at Stony Brook University by Professor Gu, which includes a high-performance 3D scanner and an image analysis software based on his research in computational conformal geometry.      Through numerous grants funded by federal agencies and industry sponsors, Gu has been developing medical applications for many years. For example, in virtual colonoscopy, companies such as GE and Siemens have licensed from SBU his conformal flattening method for CT image registration and polyp detection. Adding to his software innovations, Gu has designed and prototyped multiple generations of 3D scanner hardware in his lab at CEWIT. Stony Brook University’s Intellectual Property Partners (IPP) office has filed a patent application on this invention, which Orchid has signed an option agreement to license and commercialize.      “3D scanning creates an extremely accurate digital twin for doctors to evaluate the patient in a more insightful way,” explained Professor Gu. “A digital twin is a virtual representation of a person, object or process that provides a bridge between the physical and digital worlds. Our technology precisely captures and automatically compares the patient’s skin, allowing doctors to identify and measure changes both efficiently and effectively.”      Orchid Imaging's 3D scanner Orchid Imaging’s 3D scanner Orchid’s focus is early detection of skin cancer, the most common cancer in the United States. The company is partnering with Stony Brook Dermatology and other clinics to develop a 3D full-body scanning system and to demonstrate that its skin analysis software can identify and track nevi at a level of accuracy that makes this technology feasible for skin cancer screening. This technology can also be used by orthodontists, oral surgeons and plastic surgeons for treatment planning, evaluation and adjustment, thereby improving the clinical outcome and patient satisfaction.      “Stony Brook University supports and nurtures young startups through our Economic Development incubator system. Our Centers of Excellence, supported through NYSTAR funding, help to develop and foster great ideas and research,” said Peter Donnelly, Associate Vice President for Technology Development. “Dr. Zhao and his team at Orchid have begun their journey to success, and Stony Brook is proud to be a part of this journey and help in any way we can.”      “Being an entrepreneur takes a strong team working together collaboratively, and that’s especially the case with breakthrough research,” said SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras. “Programs like the SUNY Startup Summer School help to give our students, faculty and staff opportunities where they wouldn’t have them otherwise. Our SUNY participants are helping spur innovation crucial to society. I’m excited by what we’re doing — and we need to do more. This is where we give students — no matter their background — opportunities to succeed. My congratulations to this year’s winners from Stony Brook University and Upstate Medical, as well as all the participants that made this year’s competition a success.”     S4 provides faculty, students and staff with the knowledge and networks that will enable them to commercialize breakthrough technology, and offers virtual accelerated entrepreneurial education and training for participants to help them secure the initial funding needed to get their technology to market.     Orchid Imaging, in addition to earning a $10,000 S4 Technology Accelerator Fund Catalyst Investment, will also receive follow-on support from SUNY to identify and write strong proposals for grant funding, which will allow the team to continue commercializing its technology.      The other Stony Brook entry in the S4 quick pitch competition, Downtown Dating, won the People’s Choice Award.

Chamber Music America (CMA), the national network of ensemble music professionals, has named Stony Brook University alumnus Kevin Kwan Loucks as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1, 2021.       Loucks earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook in 2013, and served as teaching assistant for the Emerson String Quartet. He was named one of Stony Brook’s distinguished 40 Under 40 Alumni in 2018. He has also earned a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, an Executive MBA from the Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University, and a professional certificate in Strategic Marketing Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Executive Education Program.       “As a lifelong chamber musician and arts entrepreneur, I am honored to be leading Chamber Music America into a new chapter of growth and expansion,” said Loucks. “This appointment comes at a critical time for artists, creators, educators, managers, presenters, and organizations that support our vibrant national arts economy, and I look forward to utilizing my skills and experience to create new opportunities for CMA and its membership community. I am eager to work with everyone as we meet the challenges of a post-COVID performing arts landscape together.”       “I am incredibly impressed by Kevin’s success since leaving the program at Stony Brook,” said Christina Dahl, incoming chair in the Department of Music who mentored Loucks as a student in the program. “Even as a doctoral student, Kevin was particularly talented at organization, and with a sense of vision about all things related to chamber music. The Department of Music at Stony Brook wishes him fantastic success in this new position with Chamber Music America!”       “In addition to his leadership experience and demonstrated commitment to the field, Kevin impressed the search committee with his wide-ranging background in business development, artistic and program planning, fundraising, and strategic management,” said Mimi Hwang, chair of CMA’s Board of Directors. “He is enthusiastic about continuing CMA’s important work advocating for the arts and working toward racial equity, while bringing new ideas that will help invigorate the field.”       Loucks created the Music Academy of the West’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Residential to help artists cultivate formal business skills, and has consulted for the organization’s Alumni Enterprise Awards, which supports audience development, education, social justice and technology ventures. He teaches portfolio development, strategic management, and entrepreneurship at Chamber Music | OC’s Pre-College Program, and has presented leadership seminars at Boston University, The Juilliard School, Texas Christian University, and UCLA.       Loucks previously served as the Philharmonic Society of Orange County’s Director of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he secured new funding through individual solicitations, corporate, and foundation support, and led “Making Music Essential,” the organization’s first Virtual Gala, as well as “The Music Plays On,” a two-night Gala event celebrating a post-COVID return to live concerts. Prior to that, he served as Director of Innovation and Program Development at Music Academy of the West, where his work creating the Sing! Program, a free, after-school choral music initiative serving hundreds of students from more than 30 schools in Santa Barbara County, earned him recognition from the California State Legislature.       As Co-Founder and President of Chamber Music | OC, Loucks, with violinist Iryna Krechkovsky, championed classical music in the greater Orange County area; the organization’s programs reach thousands of Southern California residents annually.       A founding member of the award-winning ensemble Trio Céleste, Loucks has performed internationally at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Prösels Castle in Italy, and Seoul Arts Center. He was a top prize winner at the Schlern International Competition in Italy and has earned accolades from the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition in Boston and the American Prize in Piano Performance.