Stony Brook University SUNY Korea

A team of CS Students came in third place in the AI  Contest hosted by Korea Innovation Foundation and KAERI (Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute). The team, ‘Tacomaster,’ consisted of four students: Junghun Park, Youngho Kim, Hamin Lim and Dajung Choi.   The contest, held from last December to February, required developing an AI model to predict the quantity of the sun rays generated in developing countries. 1472 teams in total participated.   If the AI model is applied in developing countries, it is expected that a supply of energy will be possible in areas with unstable supplies of electricity.   Related article: https://www.boannews.com/media/view.asp?idx=95577&kind=                             http://www.chungnamilbo.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=590337

SUNY Korea was introduced in a TV program called “Welcome to My Village” on SK Broadband BTV. FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology), in particular was mentioned as one of the top three fashion universities in the world. SUNY Korea students, Quinne Murakawa and Danielle Macmaster were interviewed during the program.   Quinne, an FIT student, explained that “I chose to attend the Korean Campus because there would be more opportunities to meet people with different perspectives, while taking advantage of the exact same curriculum of FIT in New York.”   Located in the international city, Songdo, the whole community of SUNY Korea is absolutely delighted to have our students from all over the globe. SUNY Korea will continually strive to help every student realize their full potential.   *Due to copyright restrictions, the video is not visible to the public.  SK users can watch the full show by visiting the following website or downloading the SK mobile B TV application.   Trailer :   https://www.facebook.com/skbroadbandbusan/videos/%EC%98%88%EA%B3%A0%EC%9B%B0%EC%BB%B4%ED%88%AC-%EB%A7%88%EC%9D%B4%EC%B4%8C-4%ED%9A%8C/341786827188927/?__so__=permalink&__rv__=related_videos   “Welcome to My Village” YouTube Channel:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCReENaX7jbFVGMu5fuv92rQ

All Campus Facilities Re-opening and Certain classes will be back to in-person       Dear Students and Faculty,        From Monday on March 15th, All SUNY Korea facilities including SUNY Korea library, computer labs, student lounges, graduate research labs, and FIT labs will be reopened.        The following classes will go back to the in-person class mode from Monday on March 15th.       [SK-SBU]         - MEC 101 Freshman Design     - MEC 317 Thermal Fluids Lab     - MEC 440 Senior Design           [SK-FIT]             - FD 227: Design Studio IV    - FD 244: Design Development    - FD 127: Design Studio II    - FD 134: Materials and construction II               As always, take precautionary measures such as wearing a face mask, washing your hands often, keeping social distance, and seek medical assistance if you have COVID-19 related symptoms.    Should you have any questions regarding symptoms, please call 1339.         If you have any further questions, please contact Academic Affairs, 032-626-1121 (SBU), or 032-626-1123 (FIT).         

February 25, 2021 Each year, a growing number of enterprises collate and crunch swaths of data to build college rankings, relied upon by high school seniors worldwide in making college decisions. Though a number can hardly encapsulate the complexity of the college experience, we are still pleased that FIT places well. Here are a few recent rankings. In its 2021 rankings, study.com ranked FIT the number one Best Bachelor’s Degree in Advertising  and the number one Best Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion Merchandising. The popular ranking site based its decisions on academic and career resources, quality of education, faculty, and more. Another highlight: Study.com also included FIT’s up-and-coming Entrepreneurship program for the first time in its top 50 Bachelor’s Degrees in Entrepreneurship. House Beautiful compiled the 13 best interior design schools—in no particular order—and FIT’s renowned program made the list. In another ranking of top Interior Design degree programs, both undergraduate and graduate, Intelligent.com included FIT’s undergraduate Interior Design major and its graduate Experience and Exhibition Design major in the mix. Criteria included flexibility of study, faculty excellence, course strength, cost, and reputation.  Best Value Schools ranked FIT number one on its list of Best Fashion Design Schools. The site’s editors based the ranking primarily on tuition costs; FIT’s top placement reflects the college’s unparalleled value. In a similar vein, CollegeCalc recognized FIT as the most affordable school in New York State. Of 143 schools in the category of Specialized Sales, Merchandising, and Marketing, FIT’s Fashion Business Management program was the most popular, its curriculum was the third most focused, and alumni salaries were ranked at number four. FIT was also the most popular of 370 competing programs in the category of Public Relations and Advertising, corresponding to FIT’s Advertising and Marketing Communications major. The curriculum was judged to be the second most focused, and the program was given an overall rank of second place nationwide. FIT also ranked at or near the top in the categories of Textile and Apparel Studies, Visual and Performing Arts, and Design and Applied Arts. In fact, FIT received badges for high placement in 72 of College Factual’s rankings for many of the college’s varied programs in business and design. Prep Scholar named FIT the top fashion school in the country, based on its enviable New York City location, its successful alumni, the breadth of its programs, and its overall reputation. The site included all of FIT’s many fashion-related programs, both in business and design, in the ranking. GameDesigning, a site for those looking to create their own video games, included FIT in its ranking of the top graphic design schools in the U.S., as many graphic designers become game designers. For those looking to focus on video games from the get-go, FIT also offers a BFA in Animation, Interactive Media, and Game Design. UniversityHQ praised FIT specifically for its Advertising and Marketing Communications major, placing FIT’s program in the top 20 among all marketing programs nationwide. FIT strives to be a welcoming place for students of all races, ethnicities, and cultures. In a recent ranking by Hispanic Outlook on Education magazine, the college had the second-most Hispanic students in the category of visual and performing arts degrees. Click here to read the original article 

February 23, 2021     When children wear school uniforms, how much do they forfeit their individual identities? On Feb. 4, Kyunghee Pyun, associate professor, History of Art, gave a presentation about school uniform culture in South Korea. Inspired by the theories of semiotician Roland Barthes and sociologist Erving Goffman, Pyun examined images from media, such as the popular Korean film Our Twisted Hero (1992), which is about a schoolboy who is bullied. “I want to challenge a hypothesis that social influence has a significant impact on our beliefs or behaviors, making us more similar to others around us,” Pyun said. Following an established dress code “often represents superficial public compliance rather than private acceptance,” she argued.     Click here to read the original article 

February 10, 2021 Two students from the Exhibition and Experience Design MA program (EED) partnered with a student from the Fashion Design MFA program to create an interactive website. The project received a $4,000 grant from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Two years ago, the chair of EED, Christina Lyons, invited students from the MFA program to team up with her students and share their thesis work. EED students then designed concepts for exhibitions to highlight the fashions. One team emerged with a promising idea. For his thesis, MFA student YunRay Chung created a series of performances on the theme of “culture shock” (he is from Taiwan), involving garments that were doused in paint and glue and exchanged between the performers. In response, EED students Tina Columbus and Chang Lee proposed a series of installations around New York at which visitors could bond, based on their shared experience of immigrating to the city. The team, which called itself “by xx,” won a grant for the proposal. When COVID-19 rendered an in-person version of the project impossible, they transformed it into an interactive website. The result, our nyc journeys, launched in October, along with a related Instagram component. Visitors can tag places on a map of New York to contribute a memory. Chung said one participant marked the location of their first apartment, which happens to be the same block where his was. Columbus said her favorite anecdote was contributed by EED Professor Brenda Cowan, who described being in SoHo in the 1980s. Columbus said, “This is what we wanted to do—expose the multiple layers of the city.” More than 120 memories have been collected so far.   The site is still live, and the team hopes to realize an in-person version after the pandemic ends. All three graduated in 2019, and Columbus works as an experiential graphic designer for the firm IA Interior Architects. Lyons says the project proves the potential of interdisciplinary work: “Exhibition and Experience Design is an extremely multidisciplinary field, so we certainly look forward to further project partnerships across FIT.” our nyc journeys was made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.     Click here to read the original article 

February 8, 2021     When in-person classes were halted in March 2020, faculty scrambled to reinvent their curricula for remote delivery. They came up with creative solutions, especially challenging for hands-on courses. Here are four of countless examples of courses that shine online. In TY 421: Advanced Hard Toy Design and Engineering, students typically build prototypes of hard toys in FIT’s state-of-the-art lab, but when classes moved online, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor Judith Ellis and her team substituted 3D printing for lab work. Faculty member Joseph Masibay and James Pearce, manager of the Innovative Technology and Digital Production Group, showed students how to digitally model their toys in SolidWorks. Then, using a new industrial-grade high-resolution 3D printer, Pearce’s team in the FabLab produced and mailed toy parts to the students, allowing them to present a fully functioning toy vehicle by semester’s end. “We’ll never go back to teaching the way we did,” Ellis says.   For Lori Massaro, professor of Fashion Business Management, it was easy to move her courses in Computer-Aided Product Development (FM 341 and 441) online. Most of the technology used in the curriculum is cloud-based, and the lab component became more streamlined when students could share files and receive feedback seamlessly. Importantly, the shift to remote meetings mirrored the same shift by industry, a change that experts predict will linger after the pandemic. In other words, according to Massaro, students need to learn on a virtual platform to be better prepared for the workforce. Collaborating remotely, she says, “I find we get a more personal connection.” Prior to the pandemic, Jean Marc Rejaud, professor of Advertising and Marketing Communications, had been setting up partnerships with institutions to help raise FIT’s profile in the advertising industry. He trained members of the Association of National Advertisers in shopper marketing and taught at ISCOM, a college in France specializing in communications and advertising. When COVID-19 struck, he taught these seminars remotely—and then applied lessons learned to his courses at FIT. Rejaud found that attention spans are shorter on digital platforms, so he broke up his lectures with frequent polls and small-group discussions. This meant he couldn’t cover the material as quickly, but he supplemented class time with videos that students watched in between classes. He also met with students individually, to reduce the distance brought on by remote learning. One benefit of teaching online is that he can easily bring in speakers from around the world. In TS 461: Weft Knit Fabrication and Finishing Techniques, Fashion Design students usually learn how to operate the industrial machines in FIT’s Knitting Lab. Marian Grealish-Forino, adjunct assistant professor of Textile Development and Marketing, and technologists Kathryn Malik and Bernd Wyss worked to replicate that experience for students at home. Through trial and error, they recorded demonstrations on the large, complex Stoll knitting machines; a custom-built box held an iPad above Grealish-Forino while she operated the equipment. They also mailed students yarn kits to teach them to knit and apply trims by hand. To make final garments, the team programmed the Stoll machines according to students’ specifications, then mailed them the pieces to be assembled at home. “They ultimately did finish their garments,” Grealish-Forino says. “We really pulled it off.”     Click here to read the original article 

February 4, 2021 As senior curator of education and public programs at The Museum at FIT (MFIT), Tanya Melendez-Escalante, also a graduate of FIT’s Fashion and Textiles Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice master’s degree program, connects exhibition curators and fashion designers to create dynamic learning experiences. However, for a recent exhibition at the Museo de Arte de Zapopan (MAZ) in Guadalajara, Mexico, she seized the opportunity to curate a show herself. Newsroom recently sat down with Melendez-Escalante to talk about the experience of curating her new exhibition, Julia y Renata: Moda y Transformación, which tells the story of the Guadalajara-born sisters and fashion designers Julia and Renata Franco through their fashion collections. Newsroom: How did you become involved in curating this exhibition? Melendez-Escalante: I really like installing shows. In my current role at MFIT, I hadn’t done installation in a really long time. I forgot how much I loved it, being able to touch garments, and being hands-on. The similarities between my job at MFIT and my role as curator for the exhibition is that I am always thinking about the audience. How is the public going to receive it? Are we serving all of the audiences and connecting people to the content? I approach the museum’s Fashion Culture series and our symposia through that lens, while thinking about how to attract new audiences. I’m always thinking about the person who is new to the subject matter as well as the scholar. You want to educate, inform, and delight. It’s important to give everyone points of entry, make the content accessible. Giving people interesting bits that spark their curiosity and make them want more. In 2019, I attended a program at MAZ for an exhibition on Rei Kawakubo, of Comme Des Garçons and interviewed Julia and Renata as part of a panel discussion. Afterwards, it was Vivianna Kuri, the MAZ museum director, who thought it would be a great idea to have me curate an exhibition about their label, Julia y Renata. Everyone was on board. MAZ is a contemporary art museum in Zapopan, a small suburb of Guadalajara, which itself is the second largest city in Mexico and is known as a creative hub—home to architects, designers, musicians, painters, and curators. What was it like to bring this exhibition to life?   I like being the bridge between designers and curators; I see that as part of my job. Julia, whose personality is more intuitive, is the draper, and Renata, who is more analytical, is the patternmaker. Their contrasting strengths are reflected in their designs. When they first launched in the ’90s, they were seen as avant-garde because they developed their business on their own terms. From the very beginning they included artists and curators in their shows instead of working with fashion producers. Their commitment to their own vision paid off, and by the 2000s, they were popular among press and fashion fans alike. The exhibition, which opened in November, was organized and designed entirely by women. The exhibition designer, Karla Vasquez, is also a furniture and interior designer, and a fashion collector. How important was it to you to highlight the role of women in Mexico? Organizing the sections of the exhibition allowed me to show the designers’ strong feminist point of view. Julia and Renata are known for their play with silhouettes and shapes, structure and drape. To capture their artistry, which is the root of their work, multiple garments were displayed as flat, like paintings on the walls, instead of entirely on dress forms. I met Julia and Renata when I was facilitating an acquisition for a pink dress to be featured in MFIT’s spring 2019 exhibition, Minimalism/Maximalism. I had been a longtime admirer of their aesthetic, and the relationship blossomed from there. The collaboration across the board was a lucky coincidence. All the women involved shared the same fondness and respect for the designers, and we were all on the same page in terms of execution and outcomes. We have all been lucky to be in leadership roles in our fields, which was instrumental in bringing this exhibition to life. The more women that have the opportunity to be leaders in their profession, the more women can collaborate across all industries. How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect your process? Though the curation process began in 2019, the heavy lifting started at the beginning of 2020 and continued through the pandemic that affected New York City as the epicenter in March. Curating an exhibition in the midst of a pandemic came with many challenges. MAZ is a government-funded institution, and prioritizing COVID-19 needs was a top priority. Garment selection was done through Zoom; garments on loan could only be accepted from local lenders and collectors. In late October, I traveled from New York City to Guadalajara to oversee the final stages of the installation. While I was there, there was a statewide curfew issued to the state of Jalisco, where Guadalajara is located. Working under new, but crucial, constraints meant added pressure to complete the work by Nov. 6, the opening date. The hard work paid off and the press preview was well attended by both the press and government officials, like the mayor of Zapopan, his wife, and the secretary of culture of Jalisco, Mexico. Guided tours were limited due to occupancy rules. Still, despite the newly placed restrictions, the opening was considered a success. Julia y Renata: Moda y Transformación is on view at the Museo de Arte de Zapopan through Feb. 14, 2021 and will remain available online through the museum’s website.   Click here to read the original article 

March 3, 2021 While college is a stepping stone to greater things for many people, a growing number of Stony Brook students have dreams that include launching businesses of their own, some even while still in school. WolfieTank — Stony Brook’s cross-campus pitch competition — is designed with these students in mind, providing a challenging event that not only is fun, but also sparks the innovative and creative minds of entrepreneurial students. Inspired by the popular TV show “Shark Tank,” WolfieTank was conducted virtually on February 24, giving teams a unique opportunity to showcase their talents. Alumni judges included Dipita Chakraborty, client partner at Fractal Analytics Inc.; Derek Peterson, CEO and founder of Soter Technologies; and Bob Williams, president of IV Matters Inc. Five teams delivered prerecorded presentations featuring the following business ideas: Active Sight – an exercise tool for visually impaired people IO-Rem – an IV product for medical emergencies EOS Solar — technology to deliver efficient solar energy to more communities C.E.N.T.S. — a smart device for emergency stretcher data collection “Hocus Pocus” by Ultrasound Simulation – a portable ultrasound training tool for hospitals and first responders After a series of live Q&A sessions that followed each presentation, Hocus Pocus was named the winning business idea, taking the top prize of $1,500. “The judges felt that their solution was extremely well designed, researched, good marketing plan and a detailed business model for implementation,” said event moderator David Ecker, director of iCREATE at Stony Brook, which sponsors WolfieTank. “I felt that ultrasound simulation for medical training is very timely with the pandemic, solutions that are implementing engineering driven medicine are vital for our work in the future of healthcare.” The winning team is part of the Medical Device Innovation Clinic, a multidisciplinary group of medical professionals, masters students and undergraduates across majors. The team is part of Stony Brook’s VIP (Vertically Integrated Projects) Program.  “We heard about this market need from Lauren Maloney, our clinical mentor, who is the director for paramedics at Stony Brook Hospital,” said Ultrasound Simulation co-presenter Alex Eichert, a junior majoring in biomedical engineering and chemistry. “She had written a paper about the lack of medical ultrasound training for first responders and had just published it at the beginning of the fall semester. She suggested it as a potential project for us and we decided to run with it.” Eichert explained that EMTs and paramedics make critical decisions in determining to which facility patients go and what intervention might be necessary to save a life. Sometimes a key step is obtaining ultrasound information to diagnose a potentially fatal condition. In order to make an accurate diagnosis, users need to be well-trained in the complex ultrasound technology. “Physicians and medical students have access to ultrasound training technology that adequately represents a hospital environment,” said Eichert. “However, EMTs and paramedics have no such device to prepare them for using an ultrasound in a moving environment like an ambulance or helicopter; 305 of collapsed lung cases have been misdiagnosed in ambulance settings due to an unfamiliarity with the technology from lack of training. This is what we are setting out to correct.” Click here to read the original article 

March 3, 2021 Stony Brook University’s Facilities & Services Division is proud to announce the completed construction of Building K in the West Apartments.  Maintaining a consistent layout with other student housing across the West side of campus, this new, three-story apartment style residence hall features 173 beds across 30 suites. Each suite consists of four to six single bedrooms, one kitchen, two bathrooms and a common living/dining area. The building also includes communal laundry rooms for residents to share. The ground-up construction project will be available to upperclass students for occupancy in the fall semester, and will be included in room selection this spring for residents to choose from.  Visit the Campus Residences website or more information about West Apartments and other undergraduate housing options. Click here to read the original article 

February 28, 2021 Connect with the Alumni Association from home with our robust calendar of Virtual Programming. Catch up on past discussions and mark your calendar with upcoming programs!  Heroines in Politics: A Black History Month EventA Black History Month Panel Discussion with the Black and Latino Alumni Network and the Department of Africana Studies. A Bird’s Eye View of the Massive Upheaval of the Media and Advertising EcosystemsAn AMS Spotlight Series discussion with  Howard Shimmel ’79, President of Janus Strategy and Insights, LLC. Brought to you by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Stony Brook Career Center and the Alumni Association. A Quantum Leap: Peg DiOrio’s Journey from Math Teacher to Quantitative Financial ExpertAn AMS Spotlight Series discussion with Peg DiOrio ’89, Head of Quantitative Equity Portfolio Management, Voya Investment Management.  Brought to you by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Stony Brook Career Center and the Alumni Association. AMS Spotlight Series: Analytics & Technology in the Music IndustryA discussion with Howie Singer ’74, Adjunct Professor in the NYU Music Business Program and Former Chief Strategic Technologist for Warner Music Group. Brought to you by the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Stony Brook Career Center and the Alumni Association. Alumni Career Services Presents: Advice from Alumni that Successfully Landed Jobs During COVID-19A discussion with alumni panelists that landed jobs during COVID-19. Hear about their process and the steps that they took to lead them to success during a difficult job market. From Batteries to Drugs: Stony Brook Chemistry in 2020A discussion led by Dr. Peter Tonge, distinguished professor and chair, to hear more about the past, present and future of the Department, including research highlights and our response to COVID-19. Brought to you by the Stony Brook Alumni Association and the College of Arts and Sciences.  STAY HOMEcoming: Micro-Mentoring Program Kick-OffAlumni Career Services is excited to roll out our 2020 Micro-Mentoring Program Kick-Off. Join us to learn about how to volunteer to be a mentor or sign-up as a mentee. STAY HOMEcoming: Election Predictions from Stony Brook Experts Hear from an expert panel as they discuss the 2020 presidential election and share their predictions. Special thanks to our moderator, Professor Leonie Huddy, chair of the Department of Political Science, as well as our expert panelists from the Department, Professors Helmut Norpoth and Stanley Feldman and Associate Professor Yanna Krupnikov. This event was hosted by the Stony Brook Alumni Association and the College of Arts and Sciences.   “Surviving My First Decade In Corporate America”An Exclusive Interview with Alumni Author Stephanie Hayman ’12, ’18   An energizing interview with alumna and former career center intern, Stephanie Hayman (Marketing Manager at Global Payments Integrated). Kimberly Dixon (Director of Employer Engagement and Diversity Recruitment) was her mentor. Together, they have open conversation to discuss Stephanie’s recently published first book. Brought to you by the Career Center, College of Business and the Stony Brook Alumni Association. Inaugural Globalization Studies and International Relations Virtual Forum       An inaugural event in celebration of the College of Arts and Sciences new BA in Globalization Studies and International Relations major! Hear from distinguished alumni who will share their career trajectories, global contributions, and some of the grand challenges their particular industry is facing at this time, as well as how people in their respective fields are making a difference in the world. They will also provide valuable insight for students and those in our community who are interested in global studies careers, fields or topics. Presented by the College of Arts and Sciences Institute for Globalization Studies  Undergraduate Biology and the Life Sciences: Living and Learning in the Times of COVID-19   Peter Gergen, PhD, Director of the Undergraduate Biology Program is joined by a student and alumni panel to share information about the program and the life sciences at Stony Brook today. You’ll be inspired by student and alumni stories of resilience in overcoming the pandemic’s impact on research and education. Brought to you by the Stony Brook Alumni Association and the College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate Biology Program. Business & COVID 19: You’ve Opened, Now What?Associate Professor Stacey Finkelstein of the College of Business joins a Newsday panel to provide critical information for small businesses during coronavirus. Ethics, Values and Changes within Public Health During a PandemicProfessor Andrew Flescher, PhD discusses why the Humanities are critical to STEM, public health, biomedical ethics and medical humanities at Stony Brook University. Presented in partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences FAQ of Social MediaA panel discussion with a concrete toolkit to solve common business problems. Presented in partnership with the College of Business.     Click here to read the original article 

February 26, 2021 PhD student Huy Vu has found a creative way to explain his thesis — by writing, directing, producing and dancing in a video. The third-year PhD candidate in the Department of Computer Science at Stony Brook University, created the video for the 13th annual worldwide "Dance Your PhD" competition run by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and its research journal, Science. The contest requires students to explain their PhD thesis through dance and body movements. Huy’s video also delivers messages about LGBTQ inclusion, the struggles of researchers and the meaning of doing research. It also suggests balancing work and life by pursuing and enjoying your hobbies. He sees the video as more than just a way to win the Dance Your PhD contest. “As you can see in the video, there are many messages that I wanted to share with my PhD peers and hopefully with anyone who’s thinking about getting an PhD: What you do is meaningful. It is very hard though. But keep working on it, don’t give up! Every researcher struggles. So don’t ever feel down when things are not working out. We researchers can be really cool too! Honestly, I feel like having many people watch and get inspired from it is my biggest reward. I do want to win of course, not because of the money prize, but because it will help my video get promoted and reach more people, hopefully inspire more researchers. So if you like the video, please share it with your friends.”  The idea for Huy’s thesis began with a very interesting paper by his advisor, Professor H. Andrew Schwartz, in which he uses a data-driven method to look for language keywords corresponding to different personalities used by social media users. The method has many pros, but it also has a con — keywords in word clouds are sparse and difficult to understand without context. So Huy proposed building a generative model to generate full, complete sentences corresponding to each personality trait. These sentences potentially contain richer information, with full contexts that deliver the semantics in a more natural, interpretable way than with word clouds.     Huy works with Professor Schwartz in the HLAB (Human Language Analysis Beings) at Stony Brook, which develops large and scalable language analyses for health and social sciences. Utilizing natural language processing and machine learning techniques, the lab seeks to discover new behavioral and psychological factors of health and well-being as shown through language in social media. The HLAB attempts to change the way natural language processing is done to focus more on the humans behind the language and change the way psychological and health research is done by introducing rigorous data-driven and behavior-based analyses that unlock answers to big questions that are difficult to answer with traditional techniques. Huy’s research centers on the intersection of computer science and psychology. “I love applying data science and natural language processing methods to analyze human thoughts, their characteristics and behaviors,” he said. “Isn’t it cool to transform a person’s thought, something very abstract, into a concrete numeric vector space and then manipulate and analyze these vectors. Finally, map them back to the human’s thought space to predict their next behavior or to predict their mental health state.” His main research direction is text generation conditioned on human mental health and psychological traits such as personalities, with the goal of understanding human psychology with another perspective, as well as building more human-like, sympathetic conversation robots. “I have a great interest in machine learning, especially natural language processing and its application to psychology and social science,” he added. “I always believe that the collisions of different scientific fields are the origins of novel and exciting innovations.” In 2017 Huy earned a bachelors degree in mathematics and computer science from Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City University of Science, where he was leader of the university’s dance club.  Although Huy considers his strength is in logical thinking, he always had a big love for art, starting with dancing, since it’s a great way to experience and understand a great span of human emotions. Interestingly, Professor Schwartz’s research is at the intersection of the two — logical thinking from computer science and understanding emotions from psychology research. In fact, it’s the reason he decided to attend Stony Brook after learning about Schwartz’s work on the HLAB website.  Huy is still deciding between working in industry or in academia after graduation. He likes the idea of freedom to do research in academia, but also likes the practical approach in problem solving found in the industry. About the Contest   Winners are selected based on the combination of three scores: scientific merit, artistic merit and creative combination of the science and art. Entrants are classified into one of four categories based on the scientific field of their thesis: Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Social Sciences. This year, individuals can also enter a dance in the newly created COVID-19 category based on research that explains the disease and its consequences to health and society. Normal category winners receive $750, the COVID-19 category has a $500 award and the overall winner receives an extra $2,000. Winners will be announced in a few weeks. Click here to read the original article  

Dear Students and Faculty,    We have just received confirmation that there are now a total of three confirmed cases on campus from another university in IGC (1 yesterday and 2 today).  As the number of cases is increasing, we strongly recommend that you limit on-campus movement, minimize social interaction, and stay in your residence as much as possible if you are living on campus.  IGCF is currently working with the local health center regarding the investigation, contact tracing, and disinfection. We will keep you updated if we receive more details.    From this afternoon on March 9th, all in-person lab classes will be held online until further notice from the university.   In addition, all SUNY Korea facilities including SUNY Korea library, computer labs, student lounges, and FIT labs will be closed until further notice from the university.   As always, take precautionary measures such as wearing a face mask, washing your hands often, keeping social distance, and seek medical assistance if you have COVID-19 related symptoms.  Should you have any questions regarding symptoms, please call 1339.   If you have any further questions, please contact Academic Affairs, 032-626-1121 (SBU), or 032-626-1123 (FIT).    Thank you and stay safe!   Best regards,    Academic Affairs      

AI (Artificial Intelligence) has immersed itself into the fashion industry field. SUNY Korea FIT Professor Koo Bonkuk has an opinion about the AI technologies used in the abruptly changing fashion industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Koo introduces the function, “Tagger”, by the company OMNIOUS, which automatically classifies the information of the outfits and jewelry shown on e-commerce, fashion shows, and SNS.        To find out more about AI in the fashion industry, check out professor Koo's article: http://www.senmoney.co.kr/news/articleView.html? 

February 25, 2021       Before the winter break, 30 middle school students and their supervisors joined the Stony Brook Women in Computer Science (WICS) club online for an introduction to coding.       For the third year in a row, WICS  hosted an Hour of Coding event for local schools. In the past, they’ve hosted in-person visits to campus, but due to COVID-19 restrictions, the group pivoted to online instruction. “WICS didn’t want to take away an opportunity for students to learn about computer science and develop new skills that will help them in the future,” said Regina Wong, WICS treasurer. They reached out to the Stony Brook University Community Relations office, which connected them with two local schools from underserved communities – the Milton L. Olive Middle School in Wyandanch and the J. Taylor Finley Middle School in Huntington.  Each student was able to follow along on their own computer as their WICS host, Regina Wong, led them in a step-by-step activity through the Zoom platform. Wong was joined by fellow club members Anna Zhang, WICS secretary, and Katheryn Martinez Hernandez, WICS public relations officer, to help out with any questions or problems that students might encounter. “I like to volunteer for Hour of Code,” said Hernandez, “because I like to show our young generation how cool computer science can be, especially for girls. But in the end, their enthusiasm and curiosity reminded me of that instead.” The students were taught about a Python module, Turtle, which they utilized to create various graphics by controlling a digital “turtle.” Python Turtle is a popular tool for introducing young students to coding because it allows them to see what happens on the screen as they experiment with their code when running the program. The club leaders patiently helped each individual student be successful with their project. “It always amazes me to see these students going beyond expectations and taking what they learned to the next level,” said  Zhang. In the end, students were creating beautiful and intricate designs with the tools they had learned. They were shown how to save their codes as well so that they could continue practicing with them at home.  This virtual lab experience was coordinated through the Community Relations office and the Long Island Latinos Teachers Association (LILTA) as a part of an outreach program to encourage and inspire grade school students.     Click here to read the original article