The Village of Port Jefferson recently held a competition to design a series of sculptures in the Village for collecting recyclable materials and also to raise awareness about single-use plastics and the dangers of waste in aquatic ecosystems. Stony Brook University senior Michael Manning’s “Shellfish Recycling Bin” and Art Professor Nobuho Nagasawa’s “Sea Turtle” were the two winning designs.

Port Jefferson Trustee Rebecca Kassay and Mayor Margot Garant collaborated with Karen Levitov, director and curator of the Staller Center’s Paul W. Zuccaire Gallery, to establish another synergistic relationship between the Village and the University. The Village’s competition was open exclusively to Stony Brook’s sculpture MFA students and undergraduate sculpture students working with Nagasawa. A total of 11 proposals were submitted and reviewed by a selection committee, and three finalists were invited to present their proposals via Zoom. 

“Shellfish Recycling Bin” is a human-scale crab that will collect recyclables at Rocketship Park and “Sea Turtle” will be placed at Harborfront Park. Both locations are highly visible to locals and visitors. The sculptures will be accompanied by plaques that credit the artists and provide information about the sculptures’ function as recycling containers and reminders of the dangers of plastic waste to the local ecosystem.

Read the Full Story: SBU Collaborates with Village of Port Jefferson to Create Recycling Sculptures | | SBU

On Saturday, October 24, the SBU Center for Prevention and Outreach’s SB IMPACT Coalition partnered with the Town of Brookhaven to provide a drive-thru wellness event. They kicked off Red Ribbon Week, a 10-day drug-free awareness campaign, by offering the community an opportunity to safely dispose of expired prescription drugs.

The event took place at the Port Jefferson Station Chamber of Commerce office housed in an old train car. The clear weather made it easy for community members to drive through, handing in more than 80 pounds of outdated prescription medication without having to leave their vehicle.

“It was a very successful event,” said Alana Marino, College Prevention Coordinator for the Center for Prevention and Outreach. “We were proud to partner with the Town of Brookhaven’s Council District 3, Drug Prevention Coalition, to orchestrate this event. Both our coalitions are passionate about community safety and wellness.”

The SB IMPACT Coalition group was not only proud of their success, but they were especially pleased to have orchestrated this wellness day event in the midst of a pandemic. The results of their efforts were very gratifying, and they appreciated the community’s willingness to step up to keep others safe.

Read the Full Story: Drive-Thru Wellness Event Collects 80 Pounds of Expired Medication

(From October) The next edition of the Stony Brook Young Investigators Review (SBYIR) will be twice as large as usual when the student-run, peer-reviewed journal comes out this fall.

Every semester, the journal is filled with well-written, accurate articles about recent research happening at Stony Brook and in the wider scientific community. This semester, the articles by SBU students will appear alongside the winning pieces from a summer writing competition for high school students run by SBYIR members.

Graphic created by Ujala Dar, courtesy of SBYIR

“Once COVID took hold and schools shut down, research opportunities available through local and regional science competitions were cancelled, and there was a void in terms of science opportunities for students,” said Stephanie Budhan, a senior chemistry major from Smithtown, and the organization’s editor in chief. “But even before, there has always been a general disconnect between science and public policy.

“We thought this competition could serve as an accessible academic challenge to encourage students to address societal controversies. We wanted to help them think outside the box, to think about scientific controversies in different ways.”

This will be the first time the journal will include pieces written by students from outside of the University.

“When COVID-19 changed our organization’s ability to function as usual, our student leaders were committed to thinking creatively about how they may continue to share science,” said Nicole Leavey, a faculty member at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and SBYIR’s advisor. “They found a way during an incredibly challenging time, and I couldn’t be more proud of them. This competition served our organization’s greater mission, provided an outlet for young people interested in science and science communication, and was so powerful that we now plan to offer it annually. This group of students inspires me and makes me hopeful for the next generation of science communicators.”

SBYIR for several years focused on showcasing exciting scientific research through a speaker series. In recent years, the organization’s executive board has worked to expand its activities, including creating and steadily improving the journal and including a growing range of academic disciplines. The journal has been in existence for more than a decade, publishing reviews researched and written by undergraduate students.

“We have a mission of bringing science to the public,” said Priya Aggarwal, a human evolutionary biology major from Levittown and head of the SBYIR cabinet. “We’ve gone beyond just a text-based journal. We now have graphics editors who create custom graphics to illustrate the science behind each article. We are building engagement events and ways to bring science to the public.”

With support from the Division of Student Affairs, Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities and the Alda Center, SBYIR members contacted libraries, public schools and private schools across Long Island in the late spring semester to engage students from all backgrounds. More than 120 students from 34 schools submitted papers in response to prompts about the intersections of science and society.

Read the full story: https://news.stonybrook.edu/student-spotlight/student-science-journal-expands/