Mechanical engineering graduate student Brent Freestone is sowing seeds of hope abroad as part of Stony Brook University’s CentriSeed Innovations, a student-run nonprofit organization he co-founded in summer 2015.

CentriSeed focuses on community improvement projects.

CentriSeed recently entered into formal and informal partnerships with iCreate, a faculty-run organization dedicated to fostering innovation, with the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and with the Global Innovation study abroad program, which Brent attended in Kenya.

As part of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences Global Innovation Field School Brent and nine other students, a teaching assistant and instructor Rodrigo Peña-Lang traveled to the Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya to assist the Dassanech tribe. There, they helped remove fluoride from the water supply, began the process of redesigning healthcare facilities, remodeled a dormitory into a school building, helped develop an education system for the nomadic population and organized trash collection events.

“This is my favorite way to help, and the purest way,” said Brent. “We offered support for things they needed help to accomplish by demonstrating a genuine desire to achieve what’s best for them.”

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/student-spotlight/grad-student-brent-freestone-tackles-engineering-challenges-on-campus-and-abroad/

With Stony Brook University personnel, Brentwood Middle School and High School teachers will get to participate in the Scientist and Teachers Engaging in Professional Development with University Personnel (STEPD-UP) program.

This collaboration will engage teachers in hands-on learning about Long Island’s salt marshes and marine ecosystems, dovetailing Engineering Design standards with Matter and Energy in Organisms and Ecosystems.

Ecology and Evolution with students at Flax Pond Marine Laboratory, an excellent training location that will now be used for the teacher training.

Teachers will apply problem-solving strategies, hands-on laboratory work, lesson-plan writing and learning techniques to provide in-service training to others. By engaging educators in scientific questions and investigations of global and local relevance with experts, STEPD-UP creates novel student-centered activities that educators can use to further students’ 21^st century skills.

Project leader Rebecca Grella, a PhD graduate from the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook, has taught at Brentwood Union Free School District (the state’s largest suburban school district) for 17 years. Grella has created a research laboratory at Brentwood High School, which is referred to locally as “Little Stony Brook.”

Through this comprehensive professional plan, secondary science teachers participating in STEPD-UP will develop confidence for themselves and for their students, and engage in meaningful collaboration of innovative ideas, skills and expertise with their peers and University professors to positively affect student outcomes.

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/facultystaff/stony-brook-brentwood-collaboration-will-give-teachers-hands-on-professional-development-training/

Every summer, spinal cord injury survivors from across the country gather at Stony Brook University for two weeks of intensive rehab and camaraderie through a program run by Empower SCI, a nonprofit organization that helps individuals develop skills that foster independence.

The program was founded in 2012 by three New England therapists who were troubled by ever-shortening rehab stays for spinal cord injury patients.

Therapists work with Ethan Callihan to practice transferring in and out of a wheelchair at Empower SCI.

Although Empower SCI program participants pay a fee, fundraising and a team of more than 50 volunteers help defray some of the costs.

Students in the School of Health Technology and Management were eager for hands-on experiences, so along with several faculty they assisted Empower SCI staff. What’s more, residence halls provided ample space for participants and live-in volunteers.

“A lot of our patients have had their injuries in the water, so there’s an element of facing old fears and overcoming the past,” said Tiffany Moy ’19, a graduate student in occupational therapy who volunteered at this summer’s Empower SCI. “They feel so excited because it’s something they never thought they could do again.”

Read more: https://news.stonybrook.edu/featuredpost/program-offers-spinal-cord-injury-survivors-new-opportunities/