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Wednesday, August 23, 2017 | Vol. XCII, Issue 1 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
Professor develops protective DNA film Amy Donovan
Assistant News Editor
like this one, are important in providing a sense of comfort to new students of color within the predominantly white University. The more students are able to build their community, the more likely they are to stay. The idea for the networking event first came up in March, according to Jazell Johnson, divisional diversity officer of student affairs at BU and a member of the Intercultural
Reapplying sunscreen over and over at the beach could be a thing of the past, thanks to the development of a new DNA film by Binghamton University researchers. The film, developed by Guy German, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at BU, becomes increasingly protective against UV light the longer the film is exposed to it. German and his team of researchers have been working on the relationship between UV light and DNA since 2013 and published a paper about it in Scientific Reports, an online scientific journal, last month. “UV light goes into skin and can damage DNA molecules, which is called lesion-forming,” German said. “We want to stop this, so why not do the simplest thing possible — let’s put more DNA on it.” To test the effects of UV light on DNA, German placed a thin layer of the film on glass squares and shined a UV light on it. His team concluded that the DNA absorbed more UV as its exposure time lengthened. “So if you translate that into an application, it’s a sunscreen that gets better the longer you stay in the sun,” German said. While German and his co-researchers have concluded that the DNA absorbs more UV light the longer it’s exposed, they have not yet determined the exact reason why. Amber Doiron, co-author of the paper and assistant professor of biomedical engineering at BU, said that one cause of this could be chemical changes in DNA molecules. German also said that the reason could
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Nearly 100 students and faculty gathered at the New Student of Color Networking Event on Tuesday night to continue building cultural communities on campus.
Lida Tozzi/Pipe Dream Photographer
Intercultural Welcome Series kicks off Students and faculty of color network to strengthen community, increase presence
Jillian Forstadt Assistant News Editor
On the eve of the first day of classes, students, faculty and professors shuffled from table to table in a room on the first floor of the New University Union. Stick-on name tags were scanned and friendly greetings were exchanged for two hours at the first-ever New Student of Color Networking Event on Tuesday night. Nearly 100 students and faculty of
color gathered to continue building the multicultural community on campus and discuss specific challenges students of color may face. Both new and returning students attended the networking session, the first event in the Intercultural Welcome Kick-Off Series. The series is a result of collaboration between 11 organizations across campus, including the Multicultural Resource Center, Student Association (SA), Faculty and Staff of Color Association and Intercultural
Welcome Committee. The networking event followed a “speed-dating” framework, allowing students to ask questions to a variety of people and start building support systems that can help them navigate their college careers. According to Tanyah Barnes, interim assistant director of the Multicultural Resource Center, the first six weeks of freshman year are critically important to students’ retention and success. Barnes said that Welcome Week events,
STEM Student denied visa, unable to finish degree receives PhD candidate barred from US after applying for change of legal status $4M in funding Hannah Walter
Pipe Dream News
Sasha Hupka Assistant News Editor
Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) transfer students to Binghamton University may now have access to funding and resources designed to facilitate undergraduate degree completion. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and New York state Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand announced this month that the University will receive more than $4 million in federal funding to promote the completion of bachelor of science degrees in STEM fields. The award is intended to support students transferring from two-year colleges, and the grant will link BU with Broome Community College and Queensborough Community College. According to M. Stanley Whittingham, distinguished professor of chemistry and materials science at BU and coprincipal investigator on the grant, the collaboration will help students get involved with research and form links with local businesses. “We’re excited to strengthen our ties with these schools,” Whittingham said in a statement. “This effort pairs well with the recent SUNY 2020 award to Binghamton for equipment and resources to increase
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For former Binghamton University Ph.D. candidate Abdourahim Kebe, 56, this summer’s trip to his native country, Senegal, was to serve one purpose: to receive approval of his new visa status so he could return to campus in the fall and complete his degree in translation studies. Unfortunately, that never happened. Following an interview at the U.S. Embassy in the Senegalese capital of Dakar last month, the candidate’s request for an F-1 visa, reserved for students, was denied, and he was stripped of his A-1 visa, which would have been valid until October 2018. Kebe was a student in associate English professor Joseph Keith’s ENG 593T: Transnational American Studies class during the spring 2017 semester. Keith remembers him as a student who brought a worldly perspective to the classroom. “He was a very gracious student, in terms of his thinking and how he interacted with other people in the course and I think everybody in the course felt that way,” he said. Kebe, known as Abdou to friends and classmates, had been granted an A-1 visa when he was posted at the Senegalese Embassy in Washington, D.C., from January 2013 to October 2016. At the recommendation of BU’s Office of International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) this year he applied to switch to an F-1, with the goal of transitioning his status from that of a diplomat to one of a student.
ARTS & CULTURE
According to Kebe, the interviewer at the consulate told him he did not have legal status in the United States because he began taking classes at BU months before his F-1 was officially approved by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. “She did not even give me a chance to defend myself,” Kebe wrote in an email. “The only answer was ‘I am sorry, there is nothing I can do. But if you want, you can apply again.’” So he did, securing a second interview for early this month. This time, he was
armed with a letter from Valarie Lane, a designated University official for ISSS, asking for Kebe to be allowed to finish his education at BU. At this interview, Kebe’s ability to pay for his education was put into question. He said that when he provided the interviewer with the proper documents proving his legality and financial capabilities, she barely glanced at them before handing him his second rejection. The ISSS office declined to comment on the specifics of Kebe’s case, but Patricia Bello, assistant provost for international
and global affairs, issued the following statement in an email: “Please rest assured that the Office of International Student and Scholar Services continues to collaborate with offices across campus to provide the best customer service and advising possible to our new and continuing students, which also includes those who need to navigate the complex system surrounding the non-immigrant student visa application process.” Kebe has since obtained a Canadian
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Provided by Abdourahim Kebe Former Binghamton University Ph.D. candidate Abdourahim Kebe, fifth from right, with classmates in BU’s English 593T: Transnational American Studies course during the spring of 2017. Kebe’s student visa application was denied by the U.S. Embassy in Senegal this summer, making him ineligible to continue his studies in the United States.
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Learn the hottest slang with our BU dictionary,
Jam out on the Spine with Pipe Dream’s end-of-summer playlist,
Here's a welcome back from the editor-in-chief,
Women’s soccer wins two close matches to open the preseason,
Volleyball prepares to begin season in Las Vegas,
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