Stony Brook University SUNY Korea

  SUNY Korea opened its door and welcomed 174 energetic students for the New Student Welcome Week (NSWW). The week, from February 16th to the 22nd, started with warm welcomes and introductions, providing a perfect platform for the new students to get to know each other and more about the campus life. From icebreakers activities to campus tours, and fun activities prepared by the upper classmates, students were able to make the most out of it. The week also included information sessions, allowing students to familiarize themselves with their professors, academic resources, and support services. The highlight of the NSWW was the Convocation Ceremony, a special moment marking the official entry of the Spring 2024 Freshmen into the SUNY Korea family. President Arthur H. Lee warmly welcomed students from 8 different countries, emphasizing, “As a member of this family you became an ambassador to the outside world.”   The ceremony was graced by the presence of Dr. Carl Lejuez, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs of Stony Brook University, who expressed gratitude to the students for choosing SUNY Korea. He highlighted, “We are shaped & improved by the students who choose to spend their educational career here, and the faculty who teach and produce scholarship and research. Welcome to a new semester of discovery.”   Welcome aboard, class of 2028! May you have a wonderful first semester at SUNY Korea.   Click here to watch the NSWW highlights

Cristina Ng Ng, Margarita Ng Ng, Papa Oppong, Valeria Watson, Deborah Won, and Anthony Oyer, on the set of TODAY with Hoda & Jenna.   In celebration of Fashion Month and fashion education, NBC’s TODAY with Hoda & Jenna has partnered exclusively with FIT on a new, weeklong series: Hoda and Jenna’s “Design the Look.” This marks the first time the show has collaborated with a college on a special series. The segments will appear on the show the week of February 19, which airs between 10 and 11 am. Click here to read the original article

  While some students spent the weekend resting or preparing to watch the Super Bowl, others were armed with caffeine and laptops to compete in the sixth annual SBUHacks, a 48-hour “invention marathon.” Click here to read the original article

Suvino, far left, with the rest of the production design team: Brandon Tonner-Connolly, production designer; Tafv Sampson, set decorator; Sierra Revis, assistant art director; Sun Roller Galloway, art department coordinator; Matt Hyland, art director; and Zed Hamblin di Menno, set decoration buyer.   Work by an alumna for the F/X show Reservation Dogs won a prestigious Art Directors Guild Award. Stacy Suvino, Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design ’08 (now called Spatial Experience Design), acted as a set decoration buyer on a team headed up by production designer Brandon Tonner-Connolly in the category Half Hour Single-Camera series.   Click here to read the original article  

  To help provide a glimpse of higher education and the job market that awaits them, Stony Brook University is reaching out to college-bound high schoolers through an innovative outreach program in an effort to highlight the opportunities expected to exist in the energy workforce in the coming years. The program grew from an initiative designed to provide local high school teachers the fundamentals of offshore wind technology. Click here to read the original article

  Thomas R. Sexton ’79, PhD and Margherita (Terry) Sexton ’85, MS ’88 share a long history with Stony Brook University. Both obtained degrees from Stony Brook — graduating from the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences — their children attended the university, and Tom helped shape the College of Business into what it is today. They met as undergraduates at St. John’s University, and in 1977, Tom was hired at Stony Brook for a research associate position in the W. Averell Harriman College for Urban and Policy Sciences. He began teaching, and never left. “I’ve been teaching at Stony Brook for 47 years now, and they can’t get rid of me!” Click here to read the original article. 

  On Friday, February 2nd, a total of 192 students and their family members participated in the Admitted Students Day hosted at the IGC Small Theater. This event was specifically crafted to introduce incoming students to SUNY Korea and our campus, offering a comprehensive overview of our academic programs, campus facilities, and the vibrant community we have cultivated. Throughout the day, attendees had the opportunity to engage in enlightening sessions, explore our state-of-the-art facilities, and connect with current students, gaining valuable insights into the dynamic student life at SUNY Korea. Notably, incoming students had the chance to meet their future classmates, fostering connections and establishing a sense of belonging within our campus community. The Admitted Students Day served as an invigorating start to the upcoming Spring semester. The welcoming and informative atmosphere provided students with the confidence and enthusiasm needed for their imminent academic journey at SUNY Korea. From February 16th to the 22nd, newly admitted freshmen will participate in the New Student Welcome Week, receiving guidance through a week of orientation activities and concluding with the Spring 2024 Convocation on February 22nd.  

Picture 1: Collect face mask waste.  Picture 2: Collect plastic waste.  Picture 3: Convert face mask waste into 3D printer filaments for making reusable face mask frame.  Picture 4: Make plastic waste into antimicrobial nanofiber filter with advanced nonwoven technology.  Picture 5: 3D printed face mask frame with the nanofiber filter incorporated.  Picture 6: Comprehensive evaluation of the performance of the 3D-printed face mask prototypes.   The worst of the pandemic may be largely over, but the waste from everyone’s face masks isn’t. Now three Textile Development and Marketing faculty members—assistant chair Ajoy Sarkar and assistant professors Huipu Gao and Imran Islam—working with FIT students, have received a $75,000 P3 (People, Prosperity, Planet) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to try to solve that problem by developing one-of-a-kind reusable, antiviral face masks made from plastic waste. Click here to read the original article

  On Monday, January 29, 2024, SUNY Korea Research & Business Development Foundation (R&BDF), GM Employee Foundation Korea, and Incheon Metropolitan City Education Superintendent solidified their collaboration by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This strategic partnership aims to enhance cooperation in a "GLOCAL" (global + local) Research Project. The agreement underscores the commitment of both organizations to generate fresh knowledge and value through AI education, cultivate innovative ideas that embrace diversity, and embody the principles of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) along with a "GLOCAL" approach. The GLOCAL Research Project is a collaborative initiative where professors and students work together to generate innovative solutions addressing global challenges encountered by both multinational corporations and Green Climate Fund (GCF) companies, utilizing the capabilities of AI. Approximately 50 people joined the MOU ceremony, including SUNY Korea R&BDF Executive Director Min-Koo Han, GM Employee Foundation Korea Secretary-General Myongok Yoon, Incheon Metropolitan City Education Superintendent Do Seong-hoon, and other distinguished guests. The ceremony included presentations from four student academic clubs, each highlighting the results of their research projects developed over the past year. The event was marked by a congratulatory speech, followed by the official signing ceremony.

At Stony Brook, the collaborative spirit among students is palpable, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) team of faculty, undergraduate and graduate students, working together on tissue regeneration research.   The VIP Program unites undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members in multidisciplinary teams to work on long-term, real-world projects in research, design and entrepreneurship. Two years ago, Miriam Rafailovich, distinguished professor in the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, along with Marcia Simon, professor in the Department of Oral Biology and Pathology in the School of Dental Medicine; Gurtej Singh, associate professor in the Department of Surgery in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony University; and Alexander Dagum, MD, chief of the Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Division in the Renaissance School of Medicine, discussed whether it would be possible to 3D print skin tissue and posed this question to the VIP students. Click here to see the original article

When Grace Chen, Fashion Design ’96, sees a woman, she thinks of her as being in a story. Through her designs, Chen tries to help that woman fit into her story or inspire her to play her role even better. Chen, an FIT alumna who established her own brand in China in 2009, discussed her design journey with Cathleen Sheehan, chair of the Fashion Design MFA program, on Jan. 23 in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre. The evening comprised a meet and greet with the designer, a fashion show of Chen’s designs, and the one-on-one conversation. Click here to see the original article  

Last fall, The RealReal, an online marketplace for authenticated resale luxury goods, partnered with FIT to offer Fashion Design students the opportunity to design and create a luxury, sustainable, upcycled coat from unsold items in The RealReal’s inventory. This collaboration is the first time the online consignment company has partnered with a higher education institution. This challenge was created to promote sustainable practices in fashion and give new life to luxury clothing. Eight finalists were selected to design the coats; the industry judges were RealReal president and COO Rati Sahi Levesque, VIP stylist Erin Walsh, and model Pat Cleveland. Click here to see the original article

On Monday, January 22nd, SUNY Korea launched the Access to Excellence (AE) Program for the newly enrolled freshmen of the Spring 2024 semester. Scheduled to run from January 22 to February 2, the program is designed to offer comprehensive academic support, focusing on collegiate-level English and Math classes. During these two weeks, 52 incoming students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in coursework, connect with their peers, and integrate into the college community, aiding their adaptation to university life. The primary goal of the AE Program is to help the incoming students prepare both mentally and academically for the upcoming Spring 2024 semester. The program boasts a diverse curriculum, featuring a morning session dedicated to Academic Speaking & Writing (English) and an afternoon session offering a Refresher STEM Class (Math). In addition, students who demonstrate excellence in attendance and exhibit the most improvement in their grades will receive recognition and rewards. The AE program presents a unique opportunity for freshmen to elevate their scores in placement exams and establish a robust academic foundation for their journey at SUNY Korea.  

The 130 members of the Class of 2024 Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) Scholars and Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholars were announced on Thursday, January 18. Among the winners are two FIT students, Jennifer DeBellis, Advertising and Marketing Communications ’26, and Lily Noble, Fashion Design AAS ’24. FSF awards scholarships based on an annual competition in which students submit case studies addressing a particular theme. This year, the competition focused on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) pillars such as sustainability and circularity, accessibility and community, and technology. click here to read the original article  

International research team led by SBU’s Jin Koda to present “molecular cloud” research at national meeting The mystery of star formation in galaxies continues to intrigue astronomers worldwide. Yet, a key question remains just how and why and where do stars form in the Universe? A new discovery from an international team of astronomers provides a significant clue to star formation. Led by Jin Koda, a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the research team used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and investigated the far edge of the spiral galaxy M83, at a distance of 15 million light years from Earth. They uncovered 23 concentrations of dense molecular gas called “molecular clouds,” which are evidence of the birthing region of stars. Click here to see the original article