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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.

India Pagan’s memorable and historic Olympic journey has ended, yielding a bounty of memories for the graduate senior on the Stony Brook University women’s basketball team.       Pagan became only the third Stony Brook athlete to compete in the Olympics and the first ever in women’s basketball, representing Puerto Rico at the Games in Tokyo, Japan. Pagan joined Lucy Van Dalen ’12, who ran the 5,000 meters representing New Zealand in the 2012 Olympics in London, and the late Roger Gill ’94, a sprinter who represented Guyana in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.       Pagan, who grew up in New London, Conn., received a hero’s welcome at Bradley International Airport Aug. 4, greeted by her parents and sister, and a group of family and friends.       “It was unbelievable,” she told NBC Connecticut. “It was memories for a lifetime. I can’t believe I call myself an Olympian. It’s still surreal. I was still getting teary eyed on the plane. So it still hasn’t set in that it’s over.”       Pagan played in all three games of the tournament and combined for nine minutes, six points and six rebounds. She was third on the team in scoring with those six points coming in Puerto Rico’s 87-52 loss to Belgium on July 29. Puerto Rico opened with a 97-55 loss to China on July 27, and finished the preliminary round with a 96-69 loss to Australia on Aug. 2. Australia and China both lost in the quarterfinals, with the Aussies falling to the United States, 79-55, on Aug. 4.       Pagan also filed a first-person photo report on life in the Olympic Village for The New York Times. She talked about daily COVID tests, navigating the Olympic Village, practicing with the team, playing at Saitama Super Arena, and the array of food available to the athletes (“They have everything you can imagine.”)       This year marked the first time Puerto Rico has ever qualified for the Olympic Games.

Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering Team Receives $2.4 Million ARPA-E Award     The team in the Engineered Microstructures and Radiation Effects Laboratory (EMREL), led by Professor Lance Snead as the Principal Investigator (PI) and co-PI’s, Professor Jason Trelewicz and Professor David Sprouster, has been awarded $2.4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) program, an agency tasked with promoting and funding research and development of advanced energy technologies. All three investigators are part of the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, and Professor Trelewicz is also a core faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Computational Science.         Pictured left to right: Dr. Jonathan Gentile, Dr. Bin Cheng, Prof. Lance Snead, Mary Botha, Dr. Dave Sprouster, Elinor Coats, Streit Cunningham and Prof. Jason Trelewicz Pictured left to right: Dr. Jonathan Gentile, Dr. Bin Cheng, Prof. Lance Snead, Mary Botha, Dr. Dave Sprouster, Elinor Coats, Streit Cunningham and Prof. Jason Trelewicz The award is part of a grant program focused on the development of fusion energy science and technologies that would lead to a safe, carbon-free, and abundant energy source for developed and emerging economies, specifically the joint Office of Fusion Energy and ARPA-E initiative Galvanizing Advances in Market-aligned Fusion for an Overabundance of Watts (GAMOW).     “The ARPA-E award process is extremely competitive and requires demonstrating leading-edge research and solutions,” said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “I’m incredibly proud of Lance and the EMREL team’s work in this important area of research for our College and the University.”     The project, ENHANCED Shield: A Critical Materials Technology Enabling Compact Superconducting Tokamaks, addresses a key issue facing the next generation of small, high-field fusion reactors. Specifically, with the significant progress made in the development of High Temperature Superconductor (HTS), the magnetic field strength required to drive a fusion plasma has been greatly enhanced allowing for much smaller, more economic systems. However, as the system becomes smaller, damage to magnets becomes a serious concern.  This Stony Brook project aims to solve that problem through development of a new class of shield materials to protect the magnets, thus enabling compact fusion systems.     According to Snead, the current superconducting magnets we know, the ones that work at cryogenic temperatures, are typically shielded by common engineering materials such as water and steel, perhaps with a bit of other materials layered in. The water, like any material with hydrogen, is good at shielding neutrons, while steel or heavy materials like lead are what you would use for X-rays or gamma rays.       “It’s all pretty low-tech but works just fine for the larger machines. The problem comes in when you don’t have a lot of real estate to work with and water is not a coolant option,” he says.     The solution being proposed by the EMREL for compact fusion devices is to fabricate composited structures which simultaneously shield neutrons and gamma-rays.       The proposed innovation will pursue two classes of engineered composite materials, one with a metal matrix and one with a ceramic matrix. The metal matrix is considered a more mature technology and will be applied in lower temperature application while the ceramic matrix composite is targeting higher temperature application. Of note is that the ceramic matrix composite owes its base technology to a breakthrough made by the Stony Brook team under an ongoing ARPA-E grant work which demonstrated fabrication of dense magnesia materials at temperatures hundreds of degrees lower than previously seen. This has allowed, as taken advantage of here, the inclusion of high neutron absorbing metal hydride materials within a magnesia composite structure.       The team includes Professor Steve Zinkle in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and Dr. Ethan Peterson of the Massachusetts of Technology. The project is also joined by two privately funded commercial fusion ventures: Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Tokamak Energy.

Community Service Day is Saturday, August 21, and will feature more than 600 volunteers from Stony Brook University taking part in a variety of service projects that are important to both the campus and the community.     Co-chairs Joan Dickinson, director of University Community Relations, and Jeff Barnett, assistant dean of students, described the undertaking as “the most ambitious single-day service program ever attempted by Stony Brook.”     Managed by SBU staff members, hundreds of students will help power projects that take place on campus, indoors and outside, along with off-campus outdoor events. Incoming freshmen will be able to choose their service project on SB Engaged in early August.     The day begins at 11 am on the Staller Steps with all students being checked in and receiving a free sandwich, courtesy of Jersey Mike’s, T-shirts, water and backpacks. After a few speakers, the students will be ushered to their assignments.     The day will end with an ice cream social at the Student Union parking lot where other activities will be in motion for opening week. WUSB-FM will have a tent and music for the kick-off and return, managed by Isobel Breheny-Schafer, WUSB general manager.     The list of proposed projects includes:     ON CAMPUS     Backpack Supplies Packout: More than 100 students will be packing out 1,300 backpacks with various school supplies for K-12 children from 22 schools across Long Island. The project is being held with community partners Island Harvest and Supplies for Success, and is being managed by Urszula Zalewski from the Career Center.     Notes of Hope: Roughly 250 students will be writing notes of hope and inspiration for homebound Brookhaven residents. Each student will create three different messages: one of hope and two seasonal wishes for later use at Thanksgiving and holidays. The project is being held with community partners Meals on Wheels, the Town of Brookhaven and the Long Island State Veterans Home, and is managed by Pam Pfeil of Veterans Affairs.     Story Writing: Up to 10 students will create content about their studies and experiences here at Stony Brook for a monthly newsletter. The project is being held with Meals on Wheels and the Town of Brookhaven and is being managed by Cathrine Duffy from HealthierU.     Campus Beautification: Approximately 50 students will plant hellebores and astible at the 9/11 Memorial Arch location, and heuchera and pansies on the walkway between the SAC and Frey Hall. The project is being managed by Nicole Chiuchiolo from Commuter Student Services in concert with facilities staff.     OFF CAMPUS     Route 25A Clean Up: Up to 100 students will make their way down the road starting at the LIRR station and ending at Mario’s in Setauket to pick up litter and debris. Several restaurants have agreed to offer the students a restroom break where needed and coupons for future use. The project is being coordinated with Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn’s office for trash bag pickup and is being managed by Jeff Barnett.     Patriot’s Rock Clean Up: A small team of six to eight students will be on hand to remove branches, litter and pull up invasive species of plants where appropriate at this local community treasure. The project is being held with the Three Village Community Land Trust and will be managed by an orientation leader or other designee.     Field Day Fun: Fifteen students will venture to Patchogue to help run a field day for children with Down Syndrome. The project is being held with community partner Gigi’s Playhouse and will be managed by an orientation leader or other designee.

The 26th annual Stony Brook Film Festival presented by Island Federal makes its glorious and long-awaited return to the Staller Center for the Arts with live, in-person screenings from July 22-31, and will also hold an encore presentation online a month later.       The festival will continue its partnership with IndieFlix Festivals and virtually offer this year’s slate of films, streaming on the IndieFlix Festivals app from August 5-30.       “We are thrilled to be able to bring the arts back to our community this way, by reopening with the 26th annual Stony Brook Film Festival, and we have some amazing films this year to mark that return,” said Festival Director Alan Inkles. “We are the first festival to announce our return AND offer both a live festival and a virtual option — there is almost no one else in the world doing both right now — and we’re fortunate to have some amazing support and partnerships to be able to make that happen.”       Appropriately — following a year and a half of uncertainty and disconnection — many of the films this year revolve around the theme of second chances. “Though we never choose films with an overall theme in mind, a theme always seems to emerge, and this year is no exception,” says Festival Co-Programmer Kent Marks. “So many of this year’s films tell the story of people trying to get their lives back, stories about reviving lost relationships, renewing lost dreams, rescuing lost causes, or finding a way to escape a seemingly hopeless situation.”                   The 2021 Festival lineup boasts 35 films from more than 15 countries and includes never-before-seen features from around the globe.       Opening night has a strong Long Island connection, starting with the world premiere of The Fifth Man, a documentary on Paul Limmer, a former track coach at Bellmore’s Mepham High School. During his 50-year career there, Limmer racked up hundreds of wins, though director Trey Nelson focuses on the story of all the other kids — the ones who never felt “seen” — until Paul Limmer came into their lives. The film will be preceded by Feeling Through, an Oscar-nominated short featuring deaf-blind actor Robert Tarango of Selden.       Other must-see features include Yamina Benguigui’s Sisters, starring Isabelle Adjani and Maïwenn, a finely crafted reflection on memory and belonging to two worlds. The Hungarian As Far As I Know is an uncompromising film that wrestles with questions of perspective and victimhood. Milcho Manchevski’s newest masterpiece, Willow, is resplendent in unforgettable images and unconventional narrative. Lorelei, starring Pablo Schreiber and Jena Malone, is about an ex-con who tries to get his life back together without getting back into trouble.       Thefinalset The French film ‘Final Set’ will close out the festival on July 31. Closing out the 2021 Festival is the intense and complexly drawn sports drama Final Set, about a former tennis prodigy who must face his own demons as well as a young genius who disturbingly reminds him of himself. The film will be followed by the Closing Night Awards Ceremony.       Notable shorts include David, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Zachary Woods (The Office, Silicon Valley) about a depressed man who reaches out for an emergency therapy session.       Passes for the Stony Brook Film Festival are on sale now. The festival is offering a Gold Pass, Festival Pass or Virtual Pass option for patrons.       All passholders will get to hear from filmmakers throughout the festival and have the opportunity to rate and vote on favorite films to help choose the winners. Gold Passholders receive a Stony Brook Film Festival swag bag and commemorative gift, discounts at hospitality sponsor restaurants and businesses, VIP reserved seating, access to the Closing Night Awards Ceremony, and full access to both the live festival and the virtual festival.       Festival Passholders will receive entry to all live films and guaranteed seating for sold-out shows, access to the Closing Night Awards Ceremony, discounts at hospitality sponsor restaurants and businesses, and a Stony Brook Film Festival commemorative gift. Virtual Passholders are guaranteed access to all virtual films for the entire household and recorded filmmaker discussions. A Student Pass is available free to all SBU students and includes access to all virtual films.       View the complete list of films, with synopsis and trailers       View the complete live festival schedule       View all available trailers 

SUNY Guidance and the Chancellor’s ‘Take a Shot’ Message       On Friday, July 9, SUNY published a news release focused on the full reopening of campuses and return to a ‘more traditional college experience’ this fall. In it, you’ll find links to:       Chancellor Jim Malatras’ USA Today Network Op-Ed: SUNY students need the vaccine. Don’t pass up a shot at normalcy. Details on SUNY’s 30-Day Vax Challenge for unvaccinated students: Don’t Wait. Get Vaccinated Now Before Returning to Campus this Fall. Latest SUNY COVID-19 guidance (updated July 8): Please take a moment to review this document from SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras. While it provides general guidance, it is important to note that protocols may be different depending on your affiliation with Stony Brook. If you are a Stony Brook Medicineemployee, testing and screening requirements are still in effect, and mask guidance and physical distancing are also required for these employees, regardless of your vaccination status (please see detailed information below). Fully Vaccinated? Let Us Know!       Stony Brook University West Campus employees, Stony Brook Southampton employees, HSC faculty and staff, School of Medicine staff, and all other employees in a non-healthcare setting:       Please log onto SOLAR to submit your vaccination status, which will allow you to take advantage of more relaxed COVID-19 protocols for fully vaccinated individuals outlined in the updated SUNY guidance above. Click here for instructions.  SBU Resident Students COVID Vaccine Requirement       A new health policy update requires all students planning to live on campus as residential students in the Fall 2021 semester to be fully vaccinated, with limited exceptions. Read more here.       If You Haven’t Already … Please Affirm You’ve Read and Will Follow GOER Guidance       If you are a Stony Brook University Hospital employee and haven’t already done so, please log in to the Learning Management System (LMS) to review and affirm the document. As stated, those who work in healthcare agencies must continue to wear PPE as prescribed by your position, and follow other guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that are specific to healthcare settings.       For all other Stony Brook State employees in a non-healthcare setting, you must read the document, Guidance for State Agencies and Authorities during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, then affirm you have read and understand your obligation to follow this guidance and its provisions. Click here for instructions on how to access this document in SOLAR.        Who Needs to Test Weekly and Who Doesn’t       If you are an employee working onsite at the hospital, you are still required to participate in weekly COVID surveillance testing, even if you have already received the COVID vaccine. Testing takes place in the Health Sciences Galleria on Level 3 Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:45 am – 3:15 pm, and Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:45 am – 5:00 pm.        Stony Brook University West Campus employees, Stony Brook Southampton employees, HSC faculty and staff, School of Medicine staff, and all other employees in a non-healthcare setting: The latest NYS and SUNY COVID-19 guidance no longer requires surveillance pooled testing every week if you are fully vaccinated and have shared your vaccination status. Most vaccinated employees will be tested approximately once a month, receiving email notification when scheduled for testing. If you are not fully vaccinated and/or have not shared your full vaccination status with us, you will still be required to test weekly.        Mask Guidance at Stony Brook University Hospital       When you are in the hospital, regardless of your vaccination status, you must wear a mask and practice social distancing. This includes:       All patient-care/patient-facing areas and public spaces, including the hospital lobby and all other hallways and common areas where you can encounter patients. While you are in the hospital cafeteria. NOTE: You may only remove your mask in the cafeteria when you are actively eating or drinking and must remain at least six feet apart from others. Drinking or eating while walking in restricted areas is prohibited. When in the sitting areas of The Brook, by Jamba Juice and in Panera. Again, you are allowed to remove your mask only when actively eating or drinking and must continue to practice social distancing. When you are walking from the Health Sciences Tower and entering the hospital.       NOTE: If you work in an office located in the hospital with another person, regardless of your vaccination status, you must wear a mask or remain at least six feet apart. If you are alone in your office, you do not need to be masked.

Eden Figueroa has long been fascinated with quantum mechanics.     It’s a strange, Star Trek-like world in which objects can exist in two or more states simultaneously, interact with each other instantly over long distances, and flash into and out of existence. Scientists like Figueroa — the quantum information technology research leader in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University — work to harness this behavior with hopes of turning it into a new and improved internet.     “I think the internet is one of the greatest things humanity has ever made. But it’s not perfect,” Figueroa said. “What we want is an internet that’s fast and secure. Those are the two questions that there are currently no answers to.”     Despite the high level of the physics involved, the premise of the real-world challenge isn’t any deeper than that.     “When you have Zoom meetings you don’t want to lose the other participants, and if you’re using your credit cards for internet transactions, you don’t want people to get your information,” said Figueroa. “These are examples anyone can relate to.”     Technology is usually grown incrementally and organically; it starts off small and grows. That didn’t happen with the internet.       “In a short period of time we went from having a small network of researchers to a worldwide network in which everybody is connected,” explained Figueroa. “It was amazing and it changed the world. But nobody was paying attention along the way to things like internet security or transferring amounts of data that were previously unimaginable.”      While a standard computer handles digital bits of 0s and 1s, quantum computers use quantum bits that can take on any value between 0 and 1. And if you entangle the bits, you can solve problems that typical computers cannot. Figueroa says the main challenge to building these quantum networks is demonstrating that they work with single photons, and showing you can transfer entanglement in a network, using it whenever you need.              “If you have entanglement, you have quantum teleportation, and therefore you can move information from one place to the other,” he said. “If you manage to have lots of photons that are all entangled, then you can — in principle, using quantum teleportation — transfer lots of data from one place to the other. Once we get that far, the challenge is to transfer these entangled photons over longer distances.”     Figueroa came to Stony Brook in 2013, the first professor hired to specifically do quantum information science, tasked with building both a lab and a program. Eight years later, Figueroa and his team of 12 graduate students and two undergrads aim to develop and implement the first agnostic quantum repeater network.      “All the technology that we develop in this laboratory is intended to create a first version of that quantum repeater,” he said.     The test bed for his ideas is a quantum network connecting locations in Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), about 17 miles away. Figueroa used existing fiberoptic infrastructure and has deployed entanglement sources and quantum memories in several buildings on the BNL campus, with fibers used to quantum connect the physics and instrumentation buildings with the Scientific Data and Computation Center. A similar local area quantum network was developed on the Stony Brook campus.     With the quantum communication channels in place, Figueroa uses the photonic entanglement sources to simultaneously store and retrieve quantum correlations in four quantum memories on both campuses. In 2020, the team achieved transmission of single-photon level polarization quantum bits (qubits) in a configuration covering a total of approximately 87 miles. This marked the longest successful quantum communication link experiment in the United States.     “In the last two or three years the problem has become bigger,” said Figueroa. “Now we have some ‘toys’; how do we network them? This is what makes us unique. With these test beds we are really testing the devices in this network configurations, and really moving quantum information over longer distances. That is very original. In the U.S. there are only a few test beds, but I think the one that we have is by far the most advanced right now.”      Figueroa isn’t alone in working toward this grand vision. His small but extremely dedicated team shares his passion, doing whatever it takes to further the cause. To illustrate the point, Figueroa shows off a working model network in his lab, with optical tables built with components that had to be made and assembled and precisely placed. “Once you build all of them, you have to align them to serve a purpose,” he said. “It’s a lot of work.”     Figueroa lab detail 3 21     PhD candidate Guodong Cui ’22 is on that team, and describes the quantum challenge as one of “depth and prosperity.”      “If you ask a serious thinker about it, entanglement is simply impossible — it’s like working with a ghost except that a ghost would have been much easier to understand,” said Cui. “Yet it is possible, because we generate, process and even build a quantum gate for it. The fact that I’m working on a project that hits both the deepest curiosity of me as a person and serves the need for revolutionizing information technology for human beings makes this work incredibly interesting.”     “What I like about quantum communication is that fundamental questions about light matter interaction are being studied in parallel with the engineering strategies to converge to the goal of building future technology,” added PhD candidate Sonali Gera ‘21.     Physics major Leonardo Castillo Veneros ’22, focuses on room-temperature quantum memories and finding their optimal regimes of operation.     “Before enrolling at Stony Brook, about four years ago, I visited the Quantum Information Laboratory on a campus tour and I was blown away looking at the setups on the optical tables,” said Castillo Veneros, who enrolled in Fall 2017 and began working in the lab in Spring 2018.     Rishikesh Gokhale ’25 works on developing free space quantum communication channel between BNL and Stony Brook. “I like the fact that I work on something which would replace a major chunk of the existing communication network and make communication more secure and faster,” said Gokhale, who is pursuing a PhD in physics. “I was interested in the growing field of quantum information and at the same time, I wanted to be an experimentalist. Professor Figueroa’s lab gives me an opportunity to do that.”       All team members credit Figueroa for being able to offer guidance while still allowing them to explore their individual interests within the project. Rishikesh adds that Figueroa provides the “freedom to think, implement and improvise.”     “His passion and dedication to the field are incredibly inspiring and motivating,” said Castillo Veneros. “When I first learned about the kind of work he was doing, I wanted to become part of it. I’m thankful for the opportunity to contribute to this extraordinary effort to build a quantum network on Long Island.”     As the project moves ahead, Figueroa hesitates to put a time frame on it, noting that no advancement is ever a sure thing.     “If we had unlimited funds, which is never the case, I would say the horizon is somewhere around five years from now,” he said. “With our current funding it’s going to be more like 10 years. We still need to test this network configuration and every single part of it to get it right. When we get there, then we can scale that up. But this is groundbreaking research we’re doing right now, and we’re training the leaders of the future in this area. It’s a unique story for Stony Brook. And I like that.”     — Robert Emproto

Marcela Muricy ‘23 grew up in Brazil, is fluent in Portuguese and proud of her heritage.     But there is another language the University Scholar is trying to master. Speaking STEM is an organization she co-founded at Stony Brook University with her best friend, Joshua Gershenson, a biology major and professional writing minor, in Spring 2021.     “We are incredibly passionate about biology and — at times — find ourselves frustrated with how many misconceptions become widespread, instilling fear, doubt, and disbelief in people,” said Muricy. “A major example of this is global warming; the age of misinformation preys on those who doubt what can very well be the end of the world.”     Muricy is a dual major in biology and women’s gender and sexuality studies and is driven to communicate her knowledge to the general public whether it is about COVID, climate change or gynecology. She is currently on the pre-med track with the long-term goal of establishing her own gynecology clinic and doing intensive research in the field of OB-GYN.     “I would also love to educate more people regarding gynecology, because I feel like there is a major lack of reliable information available to those who need it,” she said.     But her main thrust for now remains addressing the misinformation associated with quelling the spread of the COVID-19 virus and climate change.     “The rumors of certain medications being effective in combating the virus was a dangerous game,” Muricy said. “We believe the responsibility for this falls on both [political] parties, the people who must take the time to learn and also the scientists, biologists and doctors who must move cautiously with their words. There is power in the lasting effect they may have.”     Mariela muricy 2The organization’s stated main goal is to emphasize the importance of rhetoric in the world, in educating others about important topics that need to be discussed.     Members will analyze rhetoric and writing and speaking styles, dissecting specific examples. Muricy is planning a presentation by someone from the writing department, and climate expert Joseph Romm’s book, Language Intelligence, will serve as a study text.     “Romm’s book is a key piece to recognizing how, in a struggle for power, the person with stronger and more clever rhetoric will win, regardless of the stance they are taking,” assessed Muricy. “This is important in cases like climate change and COVID because of those who are attempting to control the narrative and sway bias using rhetorical strategies.”     Muricy believes that learning how to communicate STEM topics will help students when they leave academia as much as it will help ensure that key legislation gets passed, because the general public will be made aware of critical issues.     “The topics STEM majors know best should not be unattainable by the public majority, but well within reach if they are addressed appropriately,” she contends. “This entails not only speaking STEM, but speaking it in a language others can understand, digest, and analyze. This will help the students once they’ve graduated and need to depend on their use of rhetoric in their professions, a practice not currently emphasized enough.”     “Rhetoric is important at home, at work, and in battle,” Muricy continued. “It is a bridge as much as it can be a blockade. The result will be better science-driven legislation. Rhetoric used by well-educated individuals will be the ticket to a more grounded and logical country.”     Muricy is an editor and contributing writer of Brooklogue, a sociology journal founded by Stony Brook student Sophia Garbarino (a double major in sociology, women’s gender and sexuality studies) which students can use as a platform to discuss their ideas concerning important racial, ethnic, and cultural issues. She has, for now, the perfect vehicle with which to educate and communicate.     — Glenn Jochum

  The Computer Science (CS) Department at SUNY Korea Stony Brook University equips students with future-oriented knowledge and skills.  Identical to that at the Stony Brook main campus, the CS program at SUNY Korea provides professional education in computer science to prepare students for a career in the computing field. Are you curious to find out what SUNY Korea CS graduates are up to after graduation? Please check out the story of Rediet, a CS graduate at SUNY Korea.   Could you briefly introduce yourself? My name is Rediet. I am originally from Ethiopia. I did my bachelor’s in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence, with a double major in Applied Math and Statistics, at SUNY Korea. I am a Stony Brook 2021 graduate. What is your current job responsibility at Microsoft? Tell me about your career path after graduation. After graduation, I joined Microsoft. I work in Azure which is a Cloud+AI organization of Microsoft. I work specifically in the Network Verification team. We verify any type of Network configuration changes to make sure that the Network is safe before and after the changes are administered. What is the most memorable experience/achievement you had as an undergraduate student at SUNY Korea? SUNY Korea has introduced me to different people from different cultures and backgrounds. The environment we had there helped me to expand my mindset and experience the world that I am living in right now. The time we had together to learn, help each other and even hangout and do activities despite our differences was the most beautiful and memorable experience. Midnight breakfasts right before exams were also memorable. How do you think SUNY Korea’s CS program shaped you as the person you are right now? The CS program at SUNY Korea has prepared me to tackle the challenges I face every day as a Software engineer. Starting from the programming skills I need to do my job, to working professionally in a team-setting, these qualities were all introduced through the classes I took. But mainly, despite the details, the biggest thing I learned is to be able to work on projects and technologies that I am not familiar with by teaching myself during the process of doing it. This is a very important skill to have, because we live in a dynamic world, so the ability to keep learning and update oneself without being intimidated is crucial. Do you have any tips for students who are looking for job opportunities? For CS students who are looking for a job, I would advise them to make coding their habit and solve problems on sites like leetcode or hacker rank on a daily basis. However, the ability to categorize questions into different buckets and approach them strategically is more important than solving a lot of problems. So, I don’t want them to be caught up with doing questions rather than learning from them. I would also encourage them to be content in the application process and focus on the process rather than the result. The process of looking for a job can be frustrating, but it helps them brush up on their skills and prepare them for the job they want. Failing an interview can be unpleasant but it is part of the process. Hence, they should be comfortable with that and continue to learn and try again. I would also recommend them to apply to as many places as they can and do a lot of interviews, rather than just waiting for “the one interview”. They should take the opportunity to interview when they can. Even if you don’t want the job, you will learn from the process of doing the interview as it prepares you for future interviews.

President Wonki Min shares his view on higher education and SUNY Korea; Department Chairs discuss the advantages of each department and outlook for prospective jobs for graduates; Dean of Student Affairs explains SUNY Korea’s special holistic education; alumni interviews and much more. There are also tips for prospective students on the admissions system and advise from Department Chairs. Click the link below to read the interactive articles and click on the pictures to watch the interviews. English: http://15.164.97.217/suny_en/index.html Korean: http://15.164.97.217/suny/index.html

A new technology invented by professor Jihoon Ryoo of the CS department has been registered at the Korean Intellectual Property Office. Nowadays due to the generalization of ride-sharing applications, Uber-like ride-sharing has increased. However, in crowded areas like the airport, it is difficult to recognize which ride is mine. In order to solve such problems, the new invention seeks to provide methods for selecting specific objects among different objects. 

New Freshman student at SUNY Korea’s Computer Science Department featured on Naeil Education     “Yearning for a more systematic curriculum after years of teaching myself, I found SUNY Korea to guide my Computer Science studies”   Kyung Kook Lee’s family had set his life for him: he would win the Korean Mathematical Olympiad in elementary school, attend a Science High School for the Talented, and enter the medical field to become a pharmacist. However, he fell in love with computer language from a young age and taught himself how to code for years. Although disappointed at first, his parents eventually decided it would be best for Kyung Kook to decide the field of study himself. As he continued with self-learning, he felt a great desire to officially learn computer science. He achieved his dream of wanting to study at an American university by entering the Stony Brook University (SBU) in SUNY Korea in September this year.         A fifth-grade kid who fell in love with coding after teaching himself   Because of the parents’ ambitious goals for the son, Kyung Kook had always returned home after 10PM everyday after Korean, English, math, science, violin, piano, and flute classes that he attended after school. He asked his mom to minimize these classes, which gave him more time to explore some of the computer languages, such as C-language, Java, and Python. “I became curious about the principles of score calculation while playing online games. I began to question the algorithm when I scored differently when punching with a fist and using a weapon,” he states. Kyung Kook was only allowed enroll himself in online classes and study groups because of his parents’ opposition for him to officially study computer science. However, this did not stop him as he continued studying computer science to deepen his knowledge.         Parents who wished their son to enter the medical field vs A kid who wishes to study computer science   Kyung Kook is a graduate from Songdo High School, a high school that highly emphasizes the study of the sciences. Although he was not part of the science-focus class, he was in a creative convergence class that puts math and science in the center of learning. From a young age, he was expected to inherit the pharmacy that his grandmother had been operating. He focused on studying math, chemistry, and life science to fulfill the expectations of his family members, but was not able to satisfy them with his relatively low grades for pharmacy school. No other subject was interesting to him as computer science. “I finally got permission to major in computer science as a senior in high school. So, I did not even apply to other Korean schools because my only goal was to attend SUNY Korea,” he remembers. “I believe SBU, SUNY Korea is the place where I can learn computer science best, and the Department of Computer Science will be a stepping stone to grow big in the future at the global level”         The path to study and work in the United States   Until the recent global pandemic, the original plan for Kyung Kook was to physically go study abroad in America, the center of IT industry. However, he thought it was better to stay in Korea for it offers the equivalent education as the home campus in New York and gives him the opportunity to study at the Stony Brook New York Campus for 2 semesters. Noting that graduates from SUNY Korea have received job offers from America in corporates such as Google and Amazon, and have gone to pursue further education by studying at prestigious graduate schools such as UC Berkeley and Columbia University, he decided SBU SUNY Korea would be the best choice for him. Reading about these alumni have given Kyung Kook a positive outlook to studying at SUNY Korea. He also found SUNY Korea advantageous over other universities for undergraduates also have the opportunity research with graduate students as well as receive education from professors who have served as Microsoft’s software engineer for over a decade, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology’s analyst for natural language and medical images, and Apple’s software developer.         An opportunity to pursue higher education   Because SUNY Korea reviews all documents holistically, Kyung Kook took this to his advantage. He states there wasn’t much extracurricular activities documented in his school records because the records primarily focus on activities that are centered around projects hosted by the school. Because Kyung Kook taught himself how to code, created his own computer coding club, and participated in drone competitions outside of school, none of these were recorded. However, he was able to freely discuss these activities in his personal essay in the SUNY Korea application. He also took the time to take an English proficiency test after the College Scholastic Ability Test and asked for a letter of recommendation from the teacher who knew him best. He took SUNY Korea’s holistically review process as an opportunity to show his passion towards computer science.     As Kyung Kook begins his undergrad studies as a Computer Science major this fall, he hopes to receive education from a well-established curriculum from a prestigious research university, Stony Brook University at SUNY Korea.           Read the full article: https://naeiledu.co.kr/29793    

Anonymity  Written by Gerald Stokes There are even more complicated times ahead.           In this ever-expanding age of the internet in which it has become a necessity of life, there is a growing concern about the extent to which individuals’ privacy may be violated. There are certainly many ways privacy can be compromised. As I looked at the range of issues concerning privacy and privacy protection, it led me down a path to the consideration of anonymity in cyberspace. This is becoming another important issue in our highly connected world.       When we think of privacy, probably the most intense invasion of privacy is identity theft. This is a burglary of the most personal kind. People that have experienced feel violated and it takes considerable time and effort to recover. It happens in many ways and in varying degrees. It can range from taking over your identity and stealing your money, to assuming your work identity to steal from your employer. While the users of the internet may bear some responsibility for the theft of their personal data, leaks of personal information held by a third party are increasingly common. This may lead to individual identity theft or any number of other questionable activities. In most of the world, identity theft and the stealing of personal data are crimes – as they should be.       On the other hand, data mining by internet service providers is considered a legitimate business purpose. Providers, like Google, track our use of their browsers, email, news services, and other apps they may provide. They track not only our usage, but the content of that usage. They examine it and sell the results of their examination to advertisers or use it themselves. While these providers may end up knowing more about us than anyone who has stolen our identity, it is considered a fair trade for the free usage of their services. This data collection is largely information about us. Who we are specifically is less important than our attributes, our gender, our age, what our interests are, how much money we make, where we live and other demographic data. These attributes are connected to an “address” – a place to find us on the internet with ads, offers, or political promotions.       Individuals have evolved strategies to deal with this targeting. One is to use the time-honored tradition of choosing your “username”. Some of us prefer to make these usernames similar to our real name, while others choose more exotic aliases or “handles”. Some people will use different identities for different purposes – social media, email, online shopping – thereby compartmentalizing their identity.  Many people go beyond this approach and create elaborate sets of identities for their various social media accounts. These are rapidly evolving to graphical representations or avatars. These are what I would call a weak protection of “who I am”. A more complete protection of protecting “who I am” is to become anonymous. This comes in several layers. In literary circles authors sometimes have a “nom de plume”. The American author Samuel Clemens wrote as “Mark Twain”. Authors true identities may or may not be known. For example, here in Korea, who is, or who are, Djuna?       Increasingly, we see individuals, particularly in social media commentary simply becoming their alias, remaining anonymous. Anonymity is an extreme form of privacy. A person’s true identity remains private while their alias becomes a social commentor, a political gadfly, or a cultural critic. Most democracies protect people’s ability to speak – commonly called freedom of speech.  Generally, freedom of speech is a protection against the actions of the government targeting what we say. However, as we well know, freedom of speech does not protect individuals from “prosecution by the public” on social media. Protection of ones’ private self from this onslaught by using an alias, and remaining anonymous, seems certainly prudent in some cases. On the other hand, the same kind of anonymity can equally protect a bully or a purveyor of false news. Hiding behind their internet identity, individuals feel emboldened to act, believing that they will not be held accountable. This is complicated when one realizes that not all “identities” on the internet are human. The development of bots, artificial users of the internet is becoming commonplace. These can be very simple programs or more sophisticated AI based systems. They are used to amplify and spread messages. These bots never rest and have been used to influence political campaigns and spread false information about individuals, technologies like vaccines or other matters of public interest.       Facebook and other service providers are trying to understand their responsibility for these uses of their platforms. Increasingly around the world governments wonder what, if any regulation might be required. Other governments, or parts of governments, wonder how the same tools might be used to advance their national agenda – either by controlling content within their borders or launching cyber based campaigns in, even against other countries.       As a student of the relationship between technology and society, I have frequently shared ideas in this column that might address the issues I raise. I have suggested another “law” of robotics that requires more responsible human actions and the use of blockchain to ensure data fidelity in the face of fake news. I have no answer for the privacy and anonymity conundrum. A perfectly reasonable desire to protect “who I am” uses anonymity, but that same anonymity can be used as a cover for individuals who approach the world with malicious intent.   Some aspects of privacy concerns are being addressed. Two factor authentication is helping protect against some forms of identity theft. Similarly, there cases where individuals involved in election tampering have been charged with a crime. However, actions are few and the problem is growing.         More complicated times are indeed ahead …        Click here to read the original article     

SUNY Korea Museum of Modern Costume is pleased to announce the opening of the “Blessing Blossoms” exhibition.   With flowers as the theme, the exhibition includes the works of designer Lie Sang Bong, La Sposa, Hun Jong Jung, Min-ja Kim, and Dongrim Jang. Also the pieces of FIT professors (Linda Kim, Goeun Cho) and FIT students (Iris Griffin, Youngwon Joo, Jiwon Park, Purevsuren Batdorj, Yuran Choi, Yoojin Lee) are displayed in the exhibition.   - Location: SUNY Korea Museum of Modern Costume, Academic A Bldg. AB101(Basement Floor) - Exhibition Duration: September 29th, 2021 (Wednesday) – end of the semester - Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (10:00am – 5:00pm) / Weekends and Holidays: closed (Visitors may freely enter the museum for viewing during the opening hours after check-in using the museum visitor's log.) *Inquiry: - Phone: 032-626-1356 - Email: academic.fit@sunykorea.ac.kr

  The Department of Technology and Society (DTS) at SUNY Korea Stony Brook University equips students with the knowledge and skills needed for career success in the 21st century. Identical to that at the Stony Brook main campus, the DTS program at SUNY Korea provides an education that unifies traditionally separate disciplines into an integrated unified whole to address problems in society. Applying concepts and tools drawn from natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences, the Department examines and enhances the relationship between technology and our society. Are you curious to find out what SUNY Korea DTS graduates are up to after graduation? Please check out the story of Yerin Cho, a DTS graduate of SUNY Korea, now working at Samsung Electronics.   Could you briefly introduce yourself? Hello, this is Yerin Cho, a DTS graduate of SUNY Korea, currently working at Samsung Electronics. I am a person who gains energy from interacting with others as my MBTI is ESFP. My life goal is to share with others in need and contribute myself to make a better world through technology. I love traveling, exploring regional beverages at travel sites, and recording my memories in videos. What is your current job responsibility at Samsung Electronics? Tell me about your career path after graduation. I joined the Global Sales & Marketing Team at Samsung Networks, which is in charge of network business at Samsung Electronics. Since I have only been here two months, I have spent most of my days at new employee training. After the OJT, I will be assigned in one of the regional groups to work as a global sales person so that I can make a contract with global MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) to provide Samsung Networks’ telecommunication solutions like 5G devices and software. After graduating from the DTS undergraduate program, I joined in the graduate program to research the DRR (disaster risk reduction) field. After graduating from the master’s program, I worked for the ETHOS (Entrepreneurial Talents’ House of Opportunities and Supports) program operated by SUNY Korea and World Bank Group for a year. While working for this project supporting ICT start-ups in developing countries, I got interested in the private sector, especially in the telecommunication sector, which led me to apply for Samsung Networks.  What is the most memorable experience/achievement you had as an undergraduate student at SUNY Korea? The most memorable achievement that I had as an undergraduate student was when I was selected as a recipient of the Academic Excellence Scholarship. It was special to me because it was the scholarship that I was awarded after my most challenging semester. As a DTS student, I realized that the basis of every technology is CSE, and I wanted to challenge myself to overcome my weakness in programming. Even though I knew that I will not get a good GPA while taking a lot of CSE programming courses, I went for it to broaden my perspectives and cognitive thinking. Through this experience, I learned how to manage limited time and how to utilize the human resources around me who could help me to overcome my weakness. In addition, I was lucky to get good rewards from my effort, which kept me challenging myself for higher goals. How do you think the SUNY Korea DTS program shaped you into the person you are right now?  The DTS program forcibly put me in a position to acquire both technical and managerial aspects when facing a problem. I could experience predicting and analyzing the interaction between the society and a variety of technology including AI, IoT, blockchain, and 5G, which broadened my perspective. I could see the big picture of every matter of fact, which made me decide to work in the telecommunication field, since I thought telecommunication technology is the fundamental technology which enables future industries such as UAM, metaverse, and remote healthcare. Do you have any tips for students who are looking for job opportunities?  I recommend challenging yourself in studying and participating in different types of activities to find which industry or task fits you. In addition, I recommend constantly updating yourself with job boards, so you can read as many job descriptions as possible. In this way, you may find a position that fits you even though you might not have made a precise decision on your career path. If you keep challenging yourself to learn a variety of subjects and participating in as many programs as you can, you will find the job which fits you.