connections New York City College of Technology
Alum New FDNY Head Virtual World Teaching Annual Alumni Harbor Cruise New Women’s Center Opens Professors Experience Haiti Earthquake First-hand
Spring 2010
Vol. 2, No. 2
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City Tech Charts New Ground in Virtual World of ‘Second Life’ Sistine Chapel, foreign cities, lecture halls and workplaces. On “CityTech Island,” the College’s SL site, students from various academic disciplines not only observe, but also, along with their professors, help create that world, which challenges them to use and master 3-D modeling skills in some cases or script-writing skills in Lansiquot, Barbara and Smith with their ‘Second Life’ avatars. others. “Some consider These days, City Tech faculty and Second Life only a game,” says City students are happy to oblige if anyone Tech Entertainment Technology tells them to “get a life.” That’s because Professor David Smith, “but we see it as several classes are involved with a huge outlet for creative activity, developing the College’s presence in allowing students and faculty to work Second Life (SL), a virtual digital world on projects as a team.” created by its more than nine million City Tech professors currently using SL “residents,” where alter egos (avatars) in their classes, in addition to Smith, they have constructed live, play and work are Isaac Barjis and Walied Samarrai in immersive environments — artificial, (Biological Sciences); Reneta Lansiquot interactive, computer-created scenes or (English) and Jenna Spevack “worlds” within which users can immerse (Entertainment Technology). All of themselves and interact with others. them have presented papers on their For instance, through manipulating their work or have reached out to involve segments of the larger community. avatars’ movements, students can walk around in, fly through and thoroughly CityTech Island features a virtual explore such virtual environments as the laboratory where professor avatars
lecture and conduct experiments. Biology students can take a special ride — inside a virtual cell. At the International Summer Simulation Multiconference, held in Istanbul and co-sponsored by the Society for Modeling and Simulation International and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Smith, Barjis and Samarrai presented a research paper, “Modeling and Simulation of 3-D Virtual Cell as a Game,” to an audience of top simulation and modeling researchers. Labs are just one island attraction. Another is a “Brooklyn is Watching” Museum. It houses photos of artwork created by the Brooklyn is Watching Project, which invites interaction between the thriving art communities of Second Life and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Right now, CityTech Island is nearly full; faculty members are developing a proposal to buy another, enabling the College to own a public one for display and a private one for research. Although hundreds of colleges have SL sites, many don’t use them, at least to the extent that City Tech does. The College is a good example of best practices at a technology college.
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CITY TECH PHYSICISTS RESEARCHING DEFLECTION OF NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS summer 2009, Matloff, Kezerashvili and Assistant Professor Justin F. VázquezPoritz galvanized the International Academy of Astronautics conference in Aosta, Italy, with presentations on topics related to missions to the outer solar system and beyond.
Solar sail A chunk of rock that’s 90 stories tall and weighs 25 million tons is hurtling toward Earth. On Easter Sunday, April 13, 2036, it could strike our planet somewhere between Kazakhstan and Venezuela. It’s named Apophis after the Egyptian god of darkness and the void. If it hit Earth, NASA says it would strike with 68,000 times the force of the atom bomb that leveled Hiroshima. Originally, the U.S. space agency put the chances of collision at 1 in 37, while more recent calculations now peg the threat at 1 in 350,000 or less. Heave a sigh of relief but beware of the unknown. When Apophis first passes Earth in 2029 and heats as it falls toward the sun, it could calve into smaller pieces or emit a tail, which would act like a rocket and change its direction unpredictably. If the object or its fragments enter one of two “keyholes” in space, there could be impact when it returns in 2036.
But Apophis can be diverted according to Dr. Gregory Matloff, a City Tech associate professor of physics and NASA consultant, who favors deflecting asteroids with spacebased solar sails. These are sheets of reflective metal less than a tenth the thickness of a human hair. A solar sail traveling alongside Apophis for a year and continuously focusing the sun’s rays on it could burn off part of the surface and create a jet to steer the object away. Dr. Matloff has theorized about solar sails for more than 30 years and is part of a dynamic team of City Tech physicists who are refining the science behind solar sails in a steady stream of papers and conference presentations. Together and individually, Dr. Matloff and City Tech Department of Physics Chair Roman Kezerashvili, PhD, have explored possible materials, thicknesses and construction techniques for solar sails. And during
Meanwhile, City Tech Assistant Professor Lufeng Leng, a photonics and fiber optics researcher, is firing up the lasers in her lab to measure the optical properties of meteorite samples. She’s seeking a better understanding of how light interacts with the loose rocky, icy or dusty surface covering of such celestial bodies. Her research directs differently colored laser beams at the samples to determine how far the light penetrates below the surface. A beam that penetrates too deeply would simply heat an asteroid, while a beam that penetrates just the right depth to perhaps a thousandth of a millimeter would produce a steerable jet and enable scientists to alter an object’s trajectory. Watch for more news about these and related City Tech-based research projects in future issues of Connections. And mark for your calendar for 2029 and 2036 for what could be a sensational light show. Adapted, in part, from “Foiling Perils from Outer Space,” Neill S. Rosenfeld, Salute to Scholars, The City University of New York, Winter 2010.
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You Can’t Judge A Project By Its Poster In November 2009, three City Tech Computer Engineering Technology students (Sandor Bocz, Michael Hernandez and David Ruffins) competed in the National Science Foundation-funded 1st Annual Robotics Innovations Competition & Conference (RICC) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts against students from schools from as far away as California, Mexico and Egypt. They had built a robotic prototype named Equilibrium designed to mimic the actions of a controlling human torso, arm and hand. Unlike most devices of its kind, the hand of the robot had five movable fingers. When in operation, both the robot’s arm and fingers were controlled and manipulated by a human operator
wearing a glove and a sensor strapped to one arm. Applications of such a partnership between human and machine could serve a multitude of purposes in a vast array of industries. When the group arrived by car at the competition site, two of the three students wenty inside and quickly returned to report that they were mortified by how poorly their largerthan-life project poster compared to those of other competing schools. They were so upset they wanted to turn around and drive back to New York City. It took a while for the two to settle down and agree to stay. The group spent Saturday morning and afternoon demonstrating their project for round after round of judges. Whenever they did a demonstration, people from all over the room came over to watch.
The competition was open to outsiders on Sunday, which featured both public demonstrations and the awards ceremony. When the time came for the awards presentation, Sandor, Michael and David were so tired that at first they didn’t hear when the presenters called out the name New York City College of Technology. “Did somebody say something about City Tech?” one of the three finally asked the others. Indeed, somebody had and the City Tech team made its way to the stage to accept RICC’s first prize for innovation, which included a $5,000 gift package of electronic instruments and testing equipment. This just goes to show that you can’t judge a book by its cover or a research project by its poster.
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The Genetic Wars Adjunct Lecturer Barbara Confino, Advertising Design & Graphic Arts, was invited to present her multimedia graphic history, The Genetic Wars, at the 12th Biennial Symposium on Art and Technology at the Ammerman Center Connecticut College in March 2009. Entitled “Revolution: Technology as Change,” this was a major international conference devoted to presenting the cutting edge and exploring the increasing links in the interdisciplinary world of arts, sciences, media and technology. The Genetic Wars , which can be viewed online at www.thegeneticwars.com, is a graphic history about a future society where cloning is the dominant form of human reproduction. It uses an imaginative context to address the
very real philosophical, psychological, political and legal issues created by cloning. Loss of personal identity and a fixed sense of self, the relationship between past and present, the shape of the body, the right of ownership over DNA, sexuality and personal memory are just some of the topics touched upon by the work. Visually, it is created in a contemporary, surreal graphic style that reinforces its content and mood, while the elliptical and witty text conveys multiple meanings in narrative form. Partaking of imaginative traditions shared by speculative literature, cinema and comic book art, this science fiction fantasy takes the form of both a website installation and a printed book.
New City Tech Women’s Center City Tech has launched a new Center for Women. The goal is to provide programs, activities and resources that promote a supportive, equitable and safe environment for women. Instrumental in its creation were Vice President for Enrollment & Student Affairs Marcela Armoza, Faculty & Staff Service Center Director Roxanna Melendez and Student Wellness Center Director Holly Rider-Milkovich. The new center was initially inspired by a group of women students who attended the National Conference for College Women Student Leaders summer before last. After networking with students from across the country, the City Tech group returned to campus electrified by the experience and committed to the idea that the College community would greatly benefit from a Center for Women like those already established on many other campuses nationwide. The new Women’s Center will provide a public face to City Tech’s long-standing commitment to supporting and increasing the representation of women in technology and other fields in which they long have been underrepresented. City Tech, as one of the largest colleges of technology in the northeast, is uniquely positioned to be a role model of support for women students and alumnae by leading the conversation on what works and what still needs to be created.
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Class NOTES 1985 Roland Knowlden, class of ‘85, is a Consulting Partner at Automation Edge International, Inc.
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Class ACT! City Tech Alumnus Salvatore Cassano Appointed FDNY Commissioner Salvatore Cassano, a 1970 graduate of New York City College of Technology’s associate degree program in Fire Protection, was appointed the 32nd Commissioner of the New York City Fire Department in December 2009. He had been outgoing Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta’s righthand man since 2006, when he was appointed to the highest uniformed position in the department.
Scott Levine, class of ‘87, is Vice President at Morgan Stanley Financial Services.
1990 Raymond Tom, Class of ‘90, is Design Phase Manager at Hill International.
2006 Brenda Provost’s, Class of ‘06, son was just elected CUNY Student Senate Chair. This position gives him a vote on the CUNY Board of Trustees as the University’s student representative.
In making the appointment, New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg praised Cassano as bringing “a lifetime of unmatched experience to the task of managing the world’s greatest fire department. We are choosing Sal not just on the basis of that very impressive record, but even more important, because of Sal’s vision for the future of the FDNY.” Cassano is well-respected by departmental rank-and-file personnel and takes over a department in transition and one that has rebuilt itself following the losses it suffered on 9/11 and more recent budget cuts. In accepting the appointment, Cassano, who turned 65 this year, promised to “continue to build on what has made us successful, while always looking for new ways to improve.” Unlike his predecessor, Cassano assumes the office of Commissioner after serving the FDNY since 1969, when he joined the force as a firefighter at a Lower Manhattan firehouse. He went on to rise through the ranks and was named chief of operations after the collapse of the World Trade Center, which claimed the lives of 343 FDNY personnel.
CITY TECH ALUMNA HONORED Patricia Ann Brown-Wren, a 1968 City Tech graduate who recently retired from the New York City Sheriff’s Office as Assistant to the Commissioner, has been recognized by Cambridge Who’s Who for showing dedication, leadership and excellence in all aspects of administrative management. She also was named Cambridge Who’s Who Professional of the Year in Administrative Management. Prior to her retirement, Ms. Brown-Wren gained many years of professional experience in her field. An expert in administrative management, she was responsible for overseeing all administrative offices and responsibilities under the charge of the Commissioner of the Department of Finance and the mayor. A certified notary public, Ms. Brown-Wren was honored with the Volunteer Award by the New York City Department of Finance. She also earned a number of industry-related certifications, and is a member of the Central Westbury Civic Association and the American Notary Public Association.
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Alumni Relations Director Helen Covington Retires In February 2010, New York City College of Technology bid farewell to long-term Director of Alumni Relations Helen Covington, who shepherded the Alumni Association’s growth and resurgence for nearly 15 years. Under her direction, the association’s active membership multiplied at least ten-fold. She established its annual “New York Harbor Cruise & Graduation Celebration,” now in its thirteenth year, the Alumni vs. Faculty/Staff Basketball Game, and reunion dinner/dance events for its Schools of Technology & Design, Professional Studies and Arts & Sciences. She recently initiated a series of well-attended networking receptions that brought noted speakers together with alumni to provide guidance in dealing with job searches and other related issues in a troubled economy. Her vision and hard work engaged alumni in service to neighboring George Westinghouse Technical High School students through a mentoring partnership that helped better prepare scores of young men and women for the challenges they would face in college. A more recent mentoring project, now in its second year, is pairing City Tech alumnae with women students pursuing careers in fields in which women long have been underrepresented. Under her oversight, City Tech’s participation in the annual CUNY Campaign for Voluntary Charitable Giving met or exceeded campaign goals for most of the past decade or more. Through the campaign, faculty and staff contribute to more than 600 charitable organizations nationwide, including the City Tech Foundation and the College’s Child Care Center. Prior to heading the Office of Alumni Relations at City Tech, Ms. Covington served as executive secretary to late attorney Stanley Fink, a former Speaker of the New York State Assembly and a member of The City University of New York’s Board of Trustees. Following her retirement, City Tech’s Office of Development will temporarily oversee alumni relations activities until a new head is in place.
Phonathon In the heart of City Tech lies a room that comes alive each evening with the energy and excitement of students. These students gather nightly during the fall and spring semesters on the third floor of Namm Hall to reach out by telephone to alumni and other friends of the College across the nation. Their mission is to increase Annual Giving participation and strengthen ties with those who are not able to regularly visit the campus. What’s more, these students are the key element in increasing the unrestricted support essential to City Tech’s continued success. Our student callers are committed to helping maintain and enhance the City Tech experience for today and tomorrow’s students. They value the quality education they receive at City Tech and recognize the life-long advantages that it will provide. So when you see City Tech on your Caller ID, pick up the phone and at the very least update our alumni records and let us know how you can give back to your alma mater.
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2009 STEM CONFERENCE In October 2009, City Tech hosted a day-long conference, “Synergy in STEM: Bringing Mathematics, Physics and Engineering Together,” in the College’s Atrium Amphitheater. The aim of the conference was to promote an exchange of ideas and experiences among those interested and involved in the transfer of learning in Mathematics, Physics, Engineering and Computer Science. The Plenary Session, four subsequent Parallel Sessions and a Poster Session provided a forum for presenting and discussing current research and applications in which the major emphasis was on the transfer of learning in the STEM disciplines. Thirty-eight presentations from these sessions covered the wide spectrum in STEM education. This conference provided the opportunity for 98 participants from 20 institutions to demonstrate the high
quality research they are conducting and to discuss the results of their research and the future in STEM education. The participating colleges and universities were Borough of Manhattan Community College, Bronx Community College, Brooklyn College, California State University/Long Beach, City College of New York, Florida A&M University, Graduate School and University Center/CUNY, Hostos Community College, Kansas University, LaGuardia Community College, Nassau Community College, Penn State Erie/The Behrend College, Rutgers University, University of Wisconsin/Madison, University of Washington/Tacoma, Savannah State
University, Syracuse University, Western Michigan University, Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology, in addition to City Tech. This was the first conference of its kind ever held. Conference organizers were City Tech Professors Roman Kezerashvili, chair, Candido Cabo, Boris Gelman, Sunghoon Jang, Hong Li, Janet Liou-Mark, Djafar Mynbaev, Alexander Rozenblyum, Justin Vazquez-Poritz, Viviana Vladutescu and Special Assistant to the President Stephen M. Soiffer. Welcoming remarks and greetings were provided by Dr. Russell Hotzler, president of New York City College of Technology, Dr. Pamela Brown, dean of the School of Arts & Sciences, and Dr. Kezerashvili.
Two Faculty Members Experience Nature’s Wrath in Haiti “Smoke wafted through the streets as I drove with three other photographers through the crumbled alleys of Port-Au-Prince, Haiti.” So begins the account of Todd Maisel, an adjunct professor of advertising design and graphic arts, who covered the earthquake’s aftermath for the New York Daily News. “We saw a crowd and discovered a man clinging to life inside a corpse-filled office that was reduced to rubble,” he relates. “After more than eight sweat-filled hours, the Israeli rescuers yanked him out. At the waiting ambulance, smiling Haitians clapped and cheered. So much horror and suffering for days and finally, someone comes out alive. I watched the Israeli soldiers and rescuers embracing each other, and I just broke down and cried.” When Hospitality Management Professor Jean Claude lived in Florida, he experienced hurricanes. “I never thought I would be in an earthquake,” he says. He was proven wrong when, visiting his family in Haiti during the break between semesters, he was 15 to 20 miles from the epicenter. “There is no way to describe how terrifying it was to see all the flattened land,” he explains. “The Haitian people are resilient and the country can recover, if the international community doesn’t desert it.”
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e is u r C r o b r a H i Annual Alumn
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SAVE THE DATE! FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010
Chelsea Piers, West 23rd Street, Manhattan Boarding 7:15 p.m., Returning 11:00 p.m. $85 per person, $150 per couple For more information call 718.260.5006
ALUMNI REUNION School of Professional Studies Fall 2010 Accounting • Accountancy Business • Career and Technology Teacher Education • Child Care • Child Welfare • Community Servant Assistant • Dental Hygiene • Dental Laboratory Technology • Distribution-Retail • Executive Assisting • Education Associate • Fashion Marketing • Health Services Administration • Hospitality Management • Human Services • H.S.-Gerentology • Hotel and Restaurant Management • Hotel Technology • Law and Paralegal Studies • Marketing • Medical Laboratory Technology • Nursing • Ophthalmic Dispensing • Occupational Teacher Education • Pre-Health • Radiologic Technology and Medical Imaging • Restorative Dentistry • Retail Distribution • Secretarial Science • Vision Care Technology • X-Ray Technology
Keep an eye out…we’ll be sending more information and invitations soon!
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Foundation Corner CITY TECH BOARD MEMBER ATTENDS SYMPOSIUM Professor Emerita and City Tech Foundation Vice Chair Lorraine Beitler participated in a symposium, “Why the Dreyfus Affair is Relevant Today,” in Tel Aviv and attended a two-day Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism in Jerusalem in December 2009. Dr. Beitler has been active throughout her life in defending democratic ideals, particularly in education and human rights. Dr. Beitler’s is an expert on the “Dreyfus Affair.” Her collection of original artifacts from the period has been exhibited across three continents and tells the story of
CUNY CAMPAIGN We are proud to announce that the CUNY Campaign for Voluntary Charitable Giving exceeded its goal of $27,000 this year by raising $30,000, of which over $20,000 was earmarked for the City Tech Foundation and City Tech Children's Center. The CUNY Campaign for Voluntary Charitable Giving is a long-standing
Jewish French Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who was accused in 1894 of selling military secrets to Germany. Dreyfus was convicted of treason in a rigged court martial and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil’s Island off the coast of South America. The French media fostered a frenzy of anti-Semitism in the wake of what became known worldwide as “The Dreyfus Affair,” but 12 years later the noted French writer and journalist Emil Zola published his now famous letter, “J’Accuse,” which led to a public retrial and the eventual exoneration of Dreyfus.
tradition in the CUNY community. It is the University's annual charitable fundraising drive which takes place throughout the City University of New York system. Its basic aim is to enable the entire University to come together and address critical health, human, environmental and other challenges facing communities in New York City and the nation. The CUNY Campaign is designed to provide the CUNY community the opportunity to give to charities of their choice. The campaign is the only University-wide annual charitable fundraising drive. It has just completed its twenty-sixth year.
PLANNED GIVING This is an exciting time at City Tech as student enrollment and additions to full-time faculty soar. What’s more, the College is about to bring the curtain down on Klitgord Center Auditorium and other facilities in preparation for construction of a new state-of-the-art academic building expected to begin later this year or next year. Despite all that City Tech has to boast about, providing its 15,400 students with a first-rate education and an engaging academic environment remains the College’s top priority. You can help us maintain our high standards for tomorrow’s scholars by remembering City Tech in your estate plan. As you think about your intentions, you’ll find our brochure, Eleven Things To Remember, a valuable reminder of estate planning basics and our booklet, How To Make A Will That Works, which offers valuable information that will be helpful to you as you plan for the long-term distribution of your property to family, friends and charitable interests, especially in light of recent tax law changes that may result in more freedom as you decide how your property is ultimately distributed. Contact us at foundation@citytech.cuny.edu or write us at City Tech Foundation, 300 Jay Street, Namm Hall 323, Brooklyn, NY 11201, to request copies of these publications.
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2010 BEST OF NEW YORK AWARD DINNER The New York City College of Technology Foundation will host its Best of New York Award Dinner on Monday, May 17, 2010, at the Hilton New York in Manhattan. The evening will begin with a Guest of Honor Reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the awards ceremony at 7 p.m. This year’s honorees include Four Seasons Restaurant co-owner Julian Niccolini, “Geraldo at Large” host, Geraldo Rivera, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME/AFL-CIO, Lillian Roberts and White House Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses. Some 400 corporate and community leaders, union officials, educators, public officials
and other good friends of the College are expected to attend. Celebrity chef Michael Lomonaco, will serve as Master of Ceremonies. Peter Meyer, President NYC Markets, TD Bank and Tom O’Donnell, Theatrical Teamsters will serve as honorary co-chairs. Established in 1982, Best of New York Award Dinner proceeds help fund foundation-sponsored scholarships and other student financial assistance programs and make it possible for City Tech students to participate in national and international conferences and competitions. Proceeds also help the College maintain state-of-the-art classroom and laboratory facilities and support a variety of faculty development programs.
DAVID J. WALSH, PRESIDENT & CEO OF AMALGAMATED LIFE JOINS CITY TECH FOUNDATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS Prior to joining Amalgamated Life, David J. Walsh served as executive vice president and member of the office of the president for SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Company and its family of companies. Previously, he served as senior vice president and general counsel for Swiss Re America and superintendent and corporate counsel for Swiss Re Life & Health. Mr. Walsh has also served as general counsel of the Domestic Brokerage Group of AIG and director of insurance for the State of Alaska. He has held other positions in the insurance
industry, including serving as a member of the U.S. delegation to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Anchorage, Alaska Assembly (City Council). Mr. Walsh earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Wisconsin, a master's degree in business administration from Alaska Pacific University and a bachelor's degree in psychology from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. He currently serves on the advisory board of the Greater New York Council of the Boy
Scouts of America and the Insurance Federation of New York. He is a member of the Board of Regents of Loras College in Dubuque. In addition, he was adjunct professor of law at Pace University Law School from 1998 to 2004 and is a frequent public speaker. Mr. Walsh has also served as president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) and was the co-founder and first chairman of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors.
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