Fall 2015 Issue 18

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“Catfish’s”

Nev Schulman talks online relationships, serendipity and his rise to fame,

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The Free Word on Campus Since 1946

Friday, November 6, 2015 | Vol. LXXXVIII, Issue 18 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com

Air Force sponsors BU study

Election Results 2015

Council District STATE SENATE

Jessica Fridrich allotted $1.85M for research on messages in images

Akshar 79%

A Binghamton University researcher is looking for hidden messages in images, thanks to some help from the U.S. Air Force. Jessica Fridrich, a distinguished professor in the Watson School of Engineering, is conducting studies on the detection of hidden information inside of digital images, a practice called steganography. After submitting a proposal to the Air Force Research Laboratory, Fridrich received a $1.85 million grant to further her research. Since most applications of steganography relate to the military, the Air Force is interested in this research. Steganography can be used to encrypt secret information into things such as pictures and send the information without it being obvious that something is being transmitted. The military can use this to send information without enemies noticing. The grant, which stretches over the course of five years, allows Fridrich and her team to try more high risk ideas that smaller grants would not allow. Fridrich believes that within five years, she and her team can conceive revolutionary ideas and have the time and opportunity to try them. There isn’t a specific goal in mind other than to advance research in the field. “If you get a grant for one year or six months, that limits what you can do,” Fridrich explained. “You can’t try something high risk because if the risk is too high … at the end of a year or six months you won’t have much.”

SEE AIRFORCE PAGE 2

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3

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5 DISTRICT ATTORNEY Cornwell 51%

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49% Mollen

7

Jerry Motsavage

44%

2 County under-sheriff Fred Akshar (R) defeated Barbara Fiala (D), a former Broome County executive, in the race for state senator. The district encompasses Binghamton, Johnson City, Endicott and Owego, which he will represent in the state legislator.

Giovanni Scaringi

56%

21% Fiala

Derek Schuster

Contributing Writer

$600K to fund Ph.D. stipends

Broome County

53%

Joseph Mihalko

47%

Mark Bowers

47%

Joshua Miller

SEE TAYLOR PAGE 2

SEE STIPEND PAGE 2

John Cordisco

45% 55%

Conrad Taylor

60%

Chris Papastrat Dara Silberstein

40%

John Matzo

59%

Shari Weiss

41%

Thomas Scanlon

45%

Bill Berg

55%

Republican Democrat

Sihang Li/Design Assistant

Taylor wins council seat BU sophomore gets elected to represent Binghamton's Fourth District science, will now represent the district that encompasses the North Side of Binghamton as well as Downtown On Tuesday night, Binghamton neighborhoods. It is one of seven University sophomore Conrad Taylor districts represented in the council. won the election for Binghamton City “I’m so proud of what we Council’s fourth district seat, beating accomplished and so thankful to all his opponent, John Cordisco, by 80 of the amazing people that worked so ballots. hard on my campaign. I’m proud of the Taylor, who is majoring in political fact that the community and students

Assistant News Editor

Assistant News Editor

came together on the Northside and Downtown to elect a new voice for our city,” Taylor said. “Most of all, I can’t wait to get to work on day one to make Binghamton a better place.” The final vote was 458 votes to 378 in favor of Taylor, according to the Broome County Board of Elections website. He

Dani Cronce

Pelle Waldron

Pelle Waldron

Binghamton University recently announced that it will be allocating an additional $600,000 to graduate student stipends beginning in Fall 2016. Graduate students who serve as teaching assistants for professors already receive some compensation, but BU has ranked below the 50th percentile nationwide in stipend amounts offered to graduate students. According to BU President Harvey Stenger, the increase in funds is part of the Road Map Plan and aims to increase graduate student enrollment. With the added funds, the University is looking to move into the 75th percentile nationwide. “Of the 93 proposals submitted through the Road Map process, the stipend increase for new doctoral students was given top billing,” Stenger wrote in an email. “We need to remain competitive.” However, the increase in stipends will only go towards incoming graduate students — current ones will receive the same amount of money that they do now. This has caused tension among some students, such as Julien Gago-Viel, a second-year graduate student studying chemistry. He said that he currently receives approximately $18,000 a year in stipends, and that next year’s incoming graduate students could receive up to $7,000 more. “The experienced graduate students who will in most cases be training these new students will receive no pay increase,” GagoViel wrote in an email. “The typical scenario for current graduate students will be to perform at least the same responsibilities as new students, train these new students and receive as much as 30-40% less pay than the new students.” Donald Nieman, BU’s provost, said that although they would ideally like to raise

53%

Steve Cornwell (R) defeated incumbent District Attorney Gerald Mollen (D). Cornwell, a Republican and a native of Broome County, ran on a platform that focuses on prosecuting drug, gang and illegal gun crimes in Broome County.

Incoming Fall '16 doctoral candidates to see increase in pay for campus work

Southern Tier fosters clean, low-cost energy Use of microgrids, combined heat and power as green alternatives discussed at SUNY Best talk Stacey Schimmel Pipe Dream News

Neil Seejoor/Pipe Dream Photographer Dr. Karen and Michael Kerner discuss their time at Binghamton University, their careers and world travels at a round-table discussion with students. This event was part of Harpur Edge’s Lunch and Learn series.

Alum crowdsources for gun safety

Ian Johnstone, '05, looks to private sector to remove weapons from the streets Haley Silverstein Pipe Dream News

As gun violence is becoming an increasingly widespread issue, one Binghamton University alumnus is looking for a modern-day solution. Ian Johnstone is the co-founder and CEO of Gun by Gun, a non-profit organization that buys back guns and helps remove illegal weapons from communities. He spoke with students via Skype on Thursday

night as part of the “Cool Connections, Hot Alumni” series, hosted by the Alumni Center and Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development. With Gun by Gun, people can anonymously turn in guns to local authorities, with no questions asked, in exchange for cash or gift cards. If the guns are stolen, they are returned to their rightful owners; if not, they are destroyed. Since its inception three years ago, the program has removed 800 guns from the streets, has had

ARTS & CULTURE

OPINIONS

Check out Pipe Dream’s five best bodyweight exercises,

The Editorial Board pens a letter to recently-elected city councilman Conrad Taylor,

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See page 5

campaigns in four cities and raised over $90,000 through crowdfunding. “In a market-based, almost libertarian way, it gives people the opportunity to vote with their dollars and say, ‘I want fewer guns around me,’” Johnstone said. Johnstone, who lost his father to gun violence when he was 10 years old, decided a market-based solution to gun violence would be most effective. According to

SEE ALUM PAGE 4

An emerging method of energy distribution could be both cheaper and more efficient than traditional methods, and it could better prepare communities for natural disasters. This Thursday’s SUNY Business and Education Cooperative of the Southern Tier (BEST) brought businesspeople and community members together to discuss alternative energy strategies in the surrounding communities. Three speakers informed the audience about using combined heat and power (CHP), which uses alternative methods to provide energy for homes instead of using both electricity and natural gas. The first speaker was Herbert Dwyer, president of Ithaca-based ASI Energy, which provides clean-energy solutions and services for commercial and industrial buildings. He discussed how CHPs and microgrids, a method that connects windmills, solar energy, power plants and water with cities, could empower communities to be self-sufficient and energy efficient. Traditional power sources come from electricity or through a boiler, in which water is heated and pumped through pipes in the house. The steam leaves the building through the chimney, so when people pay their

utility bills, they are paying for heat that escaped. Microgrids harness more efficient energy sources like thermal or solar power, allowing communities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower costs. He said this system reduces wasted energy by nearly 40 percent. “It’s just a really great way of using energy and becoming more resilient. Do you know what we’re paying for in our utility bill? We’re paying for the useless heat,” Dwyer said. “By utilizing CHP, we take that power plant and we put it right outside a building and instead of the heat going out stack, we take the heat and put it in the building.” He added that though Binghamton University is looking at solar energy, they need to look at other fuel sources such as wind, thermal or geothermal energy that always keeps the power on, even when there is a lack of sunlight. This will help the city operate during floods and other disasters. According to Dwyer, creating a microgrid that combines solar energy with CHP, even within the campus, can make BU a reliable and resilient power provider. Edward Arzouian, Compliance and Special Projects Manager at Bates Troy, a healthcare linen service,

SEE ENERGY PAGE 2

SPORTS

Wrestling set to host the Jonathan Kaloust Bearcat Open,

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Men’s soccer falls to rival Albany,

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Pipe Dream is looking for an Opinions editor. Email

editor@bupipedream.com for more information.


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