Meyland Calls for Long Island Aquifer Management Compact

Jul 27, 2013

"No one agency is overseeing the management of our aquifers," School of Engineering and Computing Sciences Associate Professor Sarah Meyland, J.D., tells the Great Neck Record. "This is what we need. This is not to bash the Department of Environmental Conservation, but they have had severe cutbacks in staff and budgets and they have a broad mandate. We need a mandate that is specific to our water supply. A compact would be very hands on and action-oriented...and a compact would advocate for our water rights."  Meyland, director of NYIT's Center for Water Resources Management, adds that Long Island's aquifers are also threatened by salt water intrusion.

 

NYIT in EcoPartnership Effort to Address China Water Challenges

Jul 26, 2013

“EcoPartnerships” — teams of academics, nonprofits, and private industry — are tackling China's huge environmental challenges. NYIT is leading an ecopartnership to address clean water challenges in China, and several local businesses will soon participate, according to an article in Long Island Business News (subscription required).

The project seeks to detect and protect groundwater resources and will also address drinking-water shortages. Among the partners are: the International Society for Water Solutions, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and China's Peking and Wuhan Universities. 

 

NYIT Measures Long Island's Carbon Footprint

Jul 03, 2013

NYIT's Long Island Carbon Footprint project is among numerous Long Island initiatives aimed at measuring measuring energy use and environmental impacts, as noted in Long Island Business News (subscription required). 

“Through the hard work of graduate students in the energy management and environmental technology programs, we were able to establish and compare energy use and resultant greenhouse gas emissions on Long Island for 2010 with the baseline year of 2005,” says Greg Banhazl, director of business development, in "Long Island Firms Assess Green Benchmarks."  The findings of the NYIT team indicate that greenhouse gas emissions dropped 9.75% from 2005 to 2010.

 

Medical School Grads: Residency Shortages Lie Ahead

Jul 01, 2013

Medical school graduates face more competition for residency positions, due in part to increases in medical school enrollment and decreasing federal aid for additional slots. “The competitiveness will increase,” says Wolfgang Gilliar, DO, FAAPMR, dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine, in Long Island Business News (subscription required). 

“Therefore, students will have to adjust their first or second choice and may have to consider residencies and specialties they might not have otherwise. The number of medical schools has increased from 125 to 141 since 2006, with 26,000 students currently enrolled. Nationwide, there are about 100,000 residencies available, with about 25,000 positions opening annually. The growing number of graduates coupled with the lack of new residency positions means some U.S. medical school graduates were turned away this year for residencies. 

 

Herman: PAs Must Continue Healthcare Leadership Role

Jun 28, 2013

"Medicine is changing so quickly that it's difficult to keep up, and impossible to predict the future," says School of Health Professions Physican Assistant Studies Chair Lawrence Herman, PA, in a Q&A for PAs Connect. "Fortunately, PAs are perfectly positioned in this new era, and I'm excited about helping to lead them through this change. We can dramatically alter the healthcare landscape in this country and positive impact our patients."

Herman, who is also president of the American Academy of Physican Assistants, adds: "PAs should be concerned about many things, starting with being the best possible clinicians and taking care of patients at the highest level. PAs have always done that well, and we need to continue to escalate our clinical acumen. But PAs also need to take on leadership roles. This includes all settings, from hospitals to the smallest private practice. You can be a champion in diabetes care, spearhead a new EHR or volunteer to sit on or even chair a committee in your hospital."

 

Abramson in Newsday: Seniors Benefit from Creative Activities and Community Bonding

Jun 27, 2013

When older adults participate in creative activities, including music, the visual arts, or community theater they tend to have better physical and mental health, fewer doctor visits, and less need for medication, says Tobi Abramson, director of NYIT Center for Gerontology and Geriatrics, in Newsday (subscription required). Abramson says groups like Senior Pops contribute to seniors' well-being and quality of life. "It's about the music that brings them together, but it's the community that keeps them there." 

 

Extreme Weather Architects: A New Profession?

Jun 23, 2013

Graduate Daniel Horn was featured in Yahoo Finance speaking about NYIT's 3C Competition, which provides architects around the world with a chance to submit design and urban reconstruction plans for areas facing future challenges caused by climate change.

Horn is pursuing a career that focuses on environmentally minded architecture, and his idea for the competition stemmed from a design question: how do you raise effectively plan and design the elevation of neighborhood by eight to ten feet to avoid future flooding or to comply with new laws? Horn says "extreme architecture" should use a holistic approach and think beyond conceptual ideas as they consider the best ways to reshape construction in shoreline areas.

 

NSA Q&A with SoECS Associate Dean and Professor Babak Beheshti

Jun 19, 2013

“There is no such thing as anonymity anymore,” says School of Engineering Associate Dean and Professor Babak Beheshti, Ph.D., in a Q&A feature in NY Press. “All of this data is stored somewhere. The question remains who and in what capacity will they use that information. The question is policy as opposed to technology.”

In “Living in a PRISM State,” Beheshti notes that the Edward Snowden case “speaks to the gaps in the protocol” that allow for privacy to be compromised. While our personal information is accessible, it’s another issue to have the ability to download and take information off-site, says Beheshti.  

 

Dong Offers Tips for Keeping Kids Safe and Smart on their Smartphones

Jun 18, 2013

"The ever-changing, fast-paced world of the Internet and mobile technology presents unique challenges to parents of tweens and teens,” says Cecilia Dong, Ph.D. Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, in a blog post for uknowkids.com.

“We want our children to be computer-savvy and technologically literate, but safety should be our main priority. It’s often difficult to provide parental guidance when we feel like we know less about the cyber world than our children.”

 

Microgrids Offer Opportunities to Keep the Lights Shining

Jun 14, 2013

The miniature, self-contained energy systems known as microgrids may help prevent long-term outages and allow researchers to study new energy generation and storage methods, says NYIT Dean of Engineering and Computing Sciences Nada Anid, Ph.D., in Long Island Business News (subscription required). Anid envisions a system where a fleet of hybrid vehicles or fully electric vehicles could serve as electrical sources during an emergency.