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Monday, April 3, 2017 | Vol. XCI, Issue 21 | Binghamton University | bupipedream.com
BU student researchers look to 3-D print human organs Thomas Hays, Kyle Reeser and Sebastian Freeman hope to create an artificial pancreas Stacey Blansky Contributing Writer
Kojo Senoo/Contributing Photographer Students gathered outside the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion last Thursday in support of the X-Fact’r Step Team. The team met with Chief Diversity Officer Valerie Hampton following an incident of racial harassment involving its members in Downtown Binghamton last month.
Racial harassment sparks sit-in
Students show solidarity after step team threatened on West Side Brendan Zarkower Assistant News Editor
The Binghamton University X-Fact’r Step Team met with representatives of the BU Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) on Thursday to solicit the office’s support in the wake
of an incident of racial harassment that occurred in the city of Binghamton on March 7. Several dozen students gathered outside the DEI in support of X-Fact’r as they met with Chief Diversity Officer Valerie Hampton. Members of the team claim that they
Student startup acquired by national marketing agency Treasure-hunt app Campus Pursuit has spread to locations across the country Alexandra Hupka News Intern
In the fall of 2013, Binghamton University students Shachar Avraham, ‘15, and Scott Wisotsky, ‘15, came up with an idea that would change their lives. At the time, Avraham and Wisotsky were just juniors. Now, they are the co-founders of Campus Pursuit, an app that is used at over 45 college campuses nationwide and has been acquired by Refuel Agency, a marketing solutions firm. Campus Pursuit allows students to engage in an ongoing scavenger hunt for prizes hidden around their college campus. Wisotsky wrote in an email that the app was created to help connect students with businesses and represents a new, interactive type of marketing. “We wanted to create a fun and engaging platform for brands to advertise to students,” Wisotsky wrote. “Although it was difficult to scale the app and grow our business, one of the things that always motivated us through the hard times was that we are making students happy every day.” When the app was first started, scavenger hunts ran Monday through Friday, and local businesses such as GasLamp Gym, Binghamton Hots and Number 5 Restaurant sponsored prizes. As the app grew, it began to attract the attention of larger companies such as Neuro Drinks, No Whey Chocolate, PopCorners, NFL Sunday Ticket and Swago. Now, scavenger hunts only run when a brand is interested in activating one, and prizes are sponsored by both small and large businesses. “Brands benefit from the organic user-generated content and recognize the authentic drive the students involved in the scavengers have for their products,” Avraham wrote. “Students can find all different prizes from many
kinds of businesses on the Campus Pursuit app.” The app quickly became popular on BU’s campus, and in 2014, it began to spread to other colleges. In doing so, the app attracted the attention of Refuel Agency, a niche marketing services company that saw potential in Campus Pursuit. In January 2017, Refuel Agency acquired Campus Pursuit and offered Avraham and Wisotsky positions at the company. Now, they are involved in the operation of Campus Pursuit and help sell and market other Refuel Agency solutions. With Refuel Agency’s backing, Campus Pursuit is expected to be active at 100 campuses nationwide by fall 2017. In addition, Wisotsky and Avraham hope to expand the app to other locations, including corporate campuses and community colleges. “We would like to see more and more brands utilizing scavenger hunts in their overall college-marketing strategy,” Wisotsky said. “We already ran a scavenger hunt on a corporate campus. In the future, we see other organizations outside of traditional college campuses utilizing our software to run their own scavenger hunts.” Over the past five years, Avraham and Wisotsky have been able to watch their idea grow from a college hobby into a career path. Wisotsky stated that much of Campus Pursuit’s success is due to the competitive and interactive nature of the app. “From the beginning, our philosophy has been to engage students with brands in an interactive and memorable way,” Wisotsky wrote. “Campus Pursuit scavenger hunts combine the physical with the digital, and evoke emotion within the students who race around campus against one another to find prizes. The thrill of accomplishment after winning a prize is unmatched.”
ARTS & CULTURE
were the victims of racially-charged taunts and threats as they practiced on a street near one of its members’ homes on the city of Binghamton’s West Side. X-Fact’r’s secretary, Epiphany
SEE SIT-IN PAGE 4
The creation of human organs through 3-D printing may soon become a reality, thanks to researchers like Thomas Hays, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering. Hays, who will attend Stony Brook University School of Medicine in the fall, got involved with laboratory research as a sophomore and pursued a 3-D printing project with Kyle Reeser, a second-year graduate student studying biomedical engineering, and Sebastian Freeman, a fourth-year Ph.D. student studying biomedical engineering. The goal of the project is to create an artificial pancreas through 3-D printing. “It is essentially a layer-by-layer technique where they overlap different 2-D layers of material until you have a 3-D product,” Hays said. “[We] took that technology and applied bio-printing to the title. You take different materials, different cells and create an organ in that sense.” The process requires a bioengineer to take autologous cells — cells from one’s own body — and layer them repeatedly, creating 3-D tissue to be reinserted into a patient’s body. Autologous cells are used because, almost always, our bodies reject foreign tissues and organs, whereas they readily accept our own developed cells. “The goal is to take a stem cell, differentiate that into a pancreatic cell,
or whatever cell you need, and then put it in a reservoir,” Hays said. “Then they can print that into 3-D layers to create your final organ. You have to have vasculature in there, too. It’s hard to nail down just a few things to put in [the printer], but it is a lot of cells and growth factors.” Tissues with less vasculature, or fewer blood vessels in them, such as skin and cartilage, can already be processed in the 3-D printing world. Hays estimated that it will be about a decade, if not longer, until we begin to see some of the more vascular structures enter the medical world through 3-D printing. “Say you have Type 1 diabetes, you can’t just get a new pancreas and call it a day,” Hays said. “Maybe in the future, they will be able to take your own cells, if you have Type 1 diabetes, print this organ for you — which is your own cells — and put it back in your body.” Hays explained that he developed his clinical skills through his involvement with Harpur’s Ferry ambulance, and the hands-on engagement taught him how to work on a team. He and partner Rushi Shah, a senior majoring in biomedical engineering, built an automated respiratory device. Hays explained that this was the moment he realized that he wanted to mix the research component of biomedical engineering with
SEE 3-D PAGE 2
Binghamton could lose $1.7M in funding Community Development Block Grant slashed under Trump budget Alexandra Hupka News Intern
At a recent press conference, Binghamton Mayor Rich David stated that President Donald Trump’s proposed budget could have “disastrous” effects on the city of Binghamton. Pipe Dream spoke with David to determine how the budget could affect the city. David stated that his primary area of concern centered on Community Development Block Grant program funding. Annually, the city of Binghamton receives $1.7 million in aid from this program. Under President Trump’s proposed budget, the city stands to lose this funding. “Binghamton is one of hundreds of cities across the country that receives this funding,” David said. “This program must not be eliminated. [The Community Development Block Grant program] is one of the most transparent and effective
ways the federal government can invest in local communities.” If the proposed budget is approved, the program would be cut entirely, eliminating $3.5 billion in funding for cities across the nation. The program, established in 1974, is administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is designed to provide communities with resources that address a wide range of unique community development needs, and thus funding is very flexible. The program is one of the department’s longest continuously run programs. In the city of Binghamton, Community Development Block Grant funding helps the city invest in and fix parks, remove blighted properties and fund infrastructure improvements. Additionally, money granted through it allows the city to support local community programs and service agencies like Action for Older
Persons and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Binghamton. Both recipients serve high-need populations and help fund departments such as code enforcement and economic development. “That funding provides the city with considerable latitude in how it is spent,” David said. “If this budget proposal is approved, popular programs could be eliminated or local taxes could skyrocket to cover their costs.” During the course of his administration, David said he had been confronted by cuts to this funding, but a loss of funding entirely is unprecedented. Should Trump’s proposed budget be approved, the city may be unable to continue projects such as demolitions and street repairs, which affect all residents. Since 2014, the city has spent $820,420 on public infrastructure, $785,455 on blight demolition and
SEE BUDGET PAGE 4
Forum highlights race relations, challenges
'A Public Deliberation' focuses on diversity, racial justice at BU Alana Epstein Pipe Dream News
Michael A. Contegni/Photography Editor Wednesday’s forum, “A Public Deliberation: The State of Race at Binghamton University,” was hosted by Scott Corley, an associate professor at SUNY Broome and a first-year graduate student student in the College of Community and Public Affairs at BU (left) and DEI diversity specialist Lea Webb (right).
OPINIONS
Conversations regarding race dominated national discourse during the 2016 presidential election and have continued to make headlines across the country. On Wednesday night, students, faculty and staff participated in a forum designed to ignite similar conversations about diversity at Binghamton University. The forum, titled “A Public Deliberation: The State of Race at Binghamton University,” was sponsored by the University’s Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the Dean of Students Office and the President’s Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion at SUNY Broome, and is part of the
SEE FORUM PAGE 2
SPORTS
Femme Fest celebrates punk, grunge and women,
BU Art Museum features works by the creator of the “I Heart NY” logo,
The Editorial Board calls on the administration to stand up and support students affected by racial discrimination,
Miceli sets program record in decathlon,
Men’s lacrosse earns seventh straight victory,
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