Together, the Faculty Student Association (FSA), CulinArt and the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) are making strides toward reducing the amount of plastic waste produced by the dining operations and shifting to more environmentally friendly materials.

Alternative serviceware was introduced into the campus dining locations.

According to Plastic Oceans, more than 8 million tons of plastic waste are dumped into oceans each year. Plastic waste has an immense negative impact on the environment as it pollutes waterways, its disposal clogs up landfills and litters the land and water, and causes severe problems in marine habitats.

The shift began last spring at Midnight Breakfast where alternative serviceware was used instead of plastic materials and utensils to serve more than 2,900 students.

This academic year dining locations have transitioned away from using disposable plastics and instead are using compostable containers made from sugarcane, paper products and Greenware, drink cups and containers made entirely from annually renewable plants – not petroleum.

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(Summer 2019) Two Stony Brook student leaders are devoting their whole summer to cycling more than 4,000 miles across the country to raise awareness and funds for their respective charities.

Justas Klimavicius and Zachary Shaps prepare for their bike trip.

Justas Klimavicius ’19, President of Undergraduate Student Government (USG), will be biking across the country with The Ability Experience, a philanthropic initiative of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity that focuses on empowering people with disabilities.

For the past 30 years, members of the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity have sponsored an event called Journey of Hope in which students bike across the United States to raise awareness of disabilities. The cross-country journey is intended to fulfill the vision of The Ability Experience, which seeks to create a community where “abilities of all people are recognized and valued.”

Meanwhile, Zachary Shaps, USG Senator, will also be cycling across the country for 70 days this summer for a cause dear to his heart. His 4,000-mile journey from Baltimore to Seattle is intended to to raise awareness for the Ulman Foundation.

Shaps’s journey is sponsored by 4K for Cancer. The Foundation has raised over $7 million for the fight against cancer since its inception in 2001, and this number continues to rise with the participation of students such as Shaps.

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Outside of a temporary pop-up clinic at a Cookeville, Tennessee high school, patients had been sleeping in cars and waiting upwards of 24-hours for medical, dental, and vision care. This level of need is pervasive in the areas of Appalachia visited by Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine in its 10 years of partnership with Remote Area Medical (RAM).

SBU team provides dental care in a high school gym in Tennessee.

“Many of these patients only see a dentist when a RAM event comes to town,” explained Dr. Scott Firestone, clinical assistant professor. “Some travel hundreds of miles, arriving in the middle of the night to get a ticket of admission.”

“I strongly believe that as health care providers, we have an obligation to help those less fortunate than us and to have dental students participate in these missions is of paramount importance,” said Dr. Gabriele Conte, clinical assistant professor. “Not only are they learning how to handle difficult extractions and operative procedures, but more importantly, they are helping their fellow Americans,” he said.

Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine students and faculty participate in two to three RAM events per year, typically in Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee.

Over 150 students have attended these outreach missions over the past decade, with the next mission scheduled for the fall of 2019.

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