Stony Brook faculty and staff often go above and beyond their roles as educators and administrators to help students succeed.

One example of faculty engagement is the Siemens Competition. Five of the finalists in the 2016 Siemens Competition in Math Science and Technology — the nation’s premier research competition for high school students — were mentored at Stony Brook University.

The Garcia Center’s Research Scholar Program for High School Students offers high school teachers and students the opportunity to perform research on the forefronts of polymer science and technology together with Garcia faculty and staff.

The Siemens Foundation established the competition in 1999, and requires intensive research . The five high school students make up two teams, with both from the University’s Garcia Center.

The teams are:

• Rose Hong (California) and Jasmin Gao (Georgia), with Stony Brook mentors Marcia Simon, Oral Biology and Pathology; Dennis Galanakis, Pathology; and Miriam Rafailovich, Materials Science and Engineering
• Katherine Cao (Wisconsin), Alice Wu (New York) and William Hu (California), with Stony Brook mentors Miriam Rafailovich and Adriana Pinkas-Sarafova, Garcia Center

Both teams worked on research related to the use of dental pulp stem cells used for dental regeneration.

A Stony Brook-mentored student/team has won the grand prize in the Siemens Competition three times (2009, 2007 and 2001).Since 2005, Stony Brook faculty have mentored a total of 441 Siemens semifinalists.

Learn more about the Garcia Center for Polymers at Engineered Interfaces: http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/garcia/

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope you enjoyed learning about some of the ways Stony Brook University gives back to the community.

With unique educational opportunities, donation drives, cultural events and more, the students, faculty and staff at Stony Brook are proud to share their time, resources and expertise to improve the lives of others.

We look forward to sharing more good news next year.

– Joan Dickinson, Community Relations Director

Every child deserves some happiness at the holidays. This year, members of the Stony Brook American Marketing Association Student Chapter worked together to bring  some joy to pediatric patients at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital.

The group hosted a toy drive and was proud to deliver more than $1,000 in gifts, hoping to make a stay at the hospital during the holidays a little happier for the kids.

Members of the SBU AMA Student Chapter present their toy drive donations.

This was the first toy drive held by the group, and was  was spearheaded by Chris Verolla, with the help from AMA Student Chapter members Meaghan Schnell, Hayley O’Rourke, Sabrina McCormack and Michael Pizzirusso and Faculty Advisor Camille Abbruscato from the College of Business.

The students posted the request for donations on their Facebook page, created and distributed posters on campus, posted messages on campus though Blackboard, and told friends about their efforts.

The staff at the hospital were very appreciative of the donation. Through the course of  conversation when the toys were delivered, the group was told the toys are needed year round, but that most people only think of donating at the holidays.

This sparked the AMA Student Chapter members to commit to a toy drive in the spring to benefit the Children’s Hospital. Appeals for donations will begin early in the spring semester.

Learn more about the Stony Brook Student Chapter of the American Marketing Association: https://stonybrook.collegiatelink.net/organization/AMA

In addition to be a leading research university, Stony Brook is  home for many arts and music programs that serve the community.

Art2Go is an education initiative created  by Paul  W. Zuccaire Gallery Director and Curator Karen Levitov with the goal of bringing art to schools and school groups to art. They recently held a two-day art engagement project with the 5th Grade Art Club of Port Jefferson’s Edna Louise Spear Elementary School.l

Students from Port Jefferson were joined by artist Lorna Bieber (center) to create their own pieces of art drawing on her works for inspiration.

Nearly two dozen students, art teachers, school principal and the school district’s Director of Music and Fine Art took part in the program. Day One was a visit to the elementary school. Students learned about artist Lorna Bieber, and then created their own work of art using images by Bieber.

On the second day, the students came to campus to showcase the works they made. They started with a visual learning activity focused on one large piece in the show currently in the Zuccaire Gallery of Bieber’s work. Then. working in pairs. the students took photocopies of their collage projects around the gallery to find the images that they used that are the artists’s work. As a final step, the collages were put on large paper to look like a Lorna Bieber work.

Bieber was so excited about the project that she came to the Zuccaire Gallery to meet with the students and see their projects.

Learn more about the Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery: https://zuccairegallery.stonybrook.edu/