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Stony Brook’s Ellen Pikitch from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is part of an international team of scientists that developed a novel scientific framework to consistently understand, plan, establish, evaluate and monitor ocean protection in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Published in Science, the guide is the result of a decade of collaborative research and comes at a key time as countries prepare to negotiate the target of protecting at least 30 percent of the ocean by 2030 at the upcoming virtual meeting on Biological Diversity in October.     Ellen Pikitch, Ellen Pikitch, Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science at SoMAS Ellen Pikitch, Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science at SoMAS Authored by 42 marine and social scientists from 38 institutions across six continents, The MPA Guide: A Framework to Achieve Global Goals for the Ocean, enables the global community to advance understanding of ocean protection and achieve global goals to reverse biodiversity loss through MPAs. The MPA Guide categorizes each area according to four levels of protection (full, high, light or minimal), tracks whether protection has been activated in the water, and matches both of those with the benefits the MPA can expect to deliver.     “For the first time, we have an authoritative tool to predict MPA outcomes from actions. We will be able to use this guide to strengthen existing MPAs and build new ones that have a high likelihood of producing major benefits for people and nature,” said Pikitch, Endowed Professor of Ocean Conservation Science at SoMAS.     With more than 20 years of experience working in MPAs around the globe, Pikitch’s contributions to the study focused on developing expected outcomes of MPAs in relation to how strongly they are protected. For example, MPAs that are strictly no-take areas typically produce much more diverse fish communities, with greater numbers and larger sizes of fish than MPAs that permit extensive extractive or destructive activities.     According to the authors, urgent interventions are needed to sustain the health of the ocean, build its resilience to disruption from climate change and other stressors, and enable people to thrive from the full range of benefits provided by healthy and productive ocean ecosystems. These include the provision of food and livelihoods, carbon sequestration and storage, opportunities for recreation, inspiration and cultural heritage. However, sustained exploitation and extraction of the ocean, facilitated by technological advances, has impacted its resilience against multiple threats and its ability to continue delivering benefits for people and nature.     Pikitch explains that the scientific team looked to develop a consistent framework on how to categorize MPAs. While MPAs are a central tool for ocean conservation, not all MPAs are the same. There are wide-ranging types of MPAs with various goals, regulations, and consequently, outcomes. This variety causes confusion. For example, some MPAs allow fishing, aquaculture and anchoring, while others do not. Some MPAs are counted on paper but are not active in the ocean.     By providing the science, evidence and framework to categorize different types of MPAs and track their progress, The MPA Guide aims to equip all stakeholders with the tools and practical guidance they need to ensure MPAs are designed optimally to deliver on their goals, to conserve biodiversity and benefit people.     There are four core components to The MPA Guide:     Stages of Establishment specifies an MPA’s status — whether it only exists on paper or is in operation. Levels of Protection clarifies the degree to which biodiversity is protected from extractive or destructive activities. Enabling Conditions provide the principles and processes needed to plan, design and govern a successful MPA. Outcomes describe the conservation and social results that can be expected from an MPA at a particular stage and level, provided the enabling conditions are in place. The MPA Guide will be continually tested and adjusted by the international team of scientists. National trials are underway in the United States, France and Indonesia, where MPA experts are using the guide to categorize existing MPAs so that communities and governments can make informed decisions.

Graduate student Johnnie Paola Cullinane has found another home at Stony Brook University, one that presents much-desired challenges while making her feel like she belongs.     Studying for a master’s degree in Human Resource Management (HRM) in the School of Professional Development (SPD), Cullinane, who is from Floral Park, NY, graduated from John Jay College with a bachelor’s degree in forensic psychology. She considered becoming a police officer or enlisting in the military, and looked into both extensively, taking the Suffolk County and NYPD exams while contacting Navy and Air Force recruiters.     “The moment that changed everything was when I walked in to the Navy recruiting office,” she said of the turning point in early 2014. “A sense of peace washed over me, and I knew that is where I belonged in that moment.”     After completing basic training, Cullinane attended the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center in California, spending the next year learning Persian-Farsi as a cryptologic technician interpretive (CTI) in training. There she would meet her future husband, also a CTI, who was studying Korean.     Cullinane graduated with excellent scores in reading and listening Persian-Farsi at an advanced level, and spoke at an intermediate level. She graduated and then completed her apprenticeship as a cryptologic linguist at Fort Gordon in Augusta, GA. After one year, she and her husband were stationed in Hawaii and they started a family, with “three beautiful little boys.”     “Having children definitely made my experience in the military different than what I thought it would be when it all started,” she recalled. “It certainly changed the direction I thought I was going in, which was to retire in the service. But I am so glad that I was able to serve my country, and still do so in the Naval Reserve, while also be present in my children’s lives, especially at their very young stages of life.”     Cullinane said she is grateful to continue developing as a professional in SPD while still being able to have a positive effect on the lives of those around her.     “Much like how I knew the Navy was the right choice back in 2014, SBU has allowed me to experience that same peace of mind as an HRM graduate student, where I already feel more equipped to handle the next set of challenges a new career has to offer,” she said.     Cullinane steve navy ball Johnnie Paola Cullinane and her husband, Steven Cullinane, at the Navy Ball. Cullinane was impressed with Stony Brook’s course listing and program, and it was her one and only choice. She credited Susan Russo, the assistant director of the program, helping her navigate her course load as a mother who was, at the time, pregnant with her third child.     “She has been so warm and welcoming to all of my needs that I felt as though she is the kind of professional I want to be,” Cullinane said. “I have had the same experience with Pamela Pfeil, assistant director in the Office of Veterans Affairs, who has become a mentor to me as another veteran and working mother who also strives to give back to others, especially veterans and their dependents.”     Cullinane plans to finish her degree by the end of spring next year, and pursue another master of science in either clinical psychology or organizational psychology.     Cullinane, whose parents are from Puerto Rico, said that being a linguist in the Navy taught her the importance of passing down heritage languages to the next generation, and said it is her and her husband’s mission to continue teaching their children Spanish first.     “I feel lucky to experience both the magic of American culture, which is made up of so many cultures, and the wonderful and lively culture of being a Latina in the United States,” said Cullinane, adding that her four-year-old speaks Spanish beautifully, while her two-year-old “is on the same path, but for now mostly only feels comfortable with other Spanish speakers.”     “This is where my thoughts of language being a unifier become prominent in my mind,” she said. “It transcends the issues of race and stereotypes and can join people in ways that I have only seen the love of food do.”     —   Glenn Jochum

A team from Stony Brook University won the SUNY Startup Summer School (S4) Class of 2021 Demo Day quick pitch competition on August 11, designed to showcase grant proposals and research of 153 SUNY students and faculty in the emerging technologies fields. The winning startup, Orchid Imaging, is led by David Gu, SUNY Empire Innovation Professor in SBU’s Department of Computer Science; Rong Zhao, director of the Software Systems Division at Stony Brook’s Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT); and Shikui Chen, associate professor in Stony Brook’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.     SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras virtually presented the winning check to Orchid Imaging. SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras virtually presented the winning check to Orchid Imaging. “Winning this pitch competition means a great deal to us,” said Professor Zhao, Orchid’s commercialization lead. “We are immensely grateful for the unique opportunities and much-needed resources offered by SUNY and the University for us to pursue innovations and entrepreneurship.”      Orchid Imaging was formed in 2020 to commercialize 3D imaging technologies invented at Stony Brook University by Professor Gu, which includes a high-performance 3D scanner and an image analysis software based on his research in computational conformal geometry.      Through numerous grants funded by federal agencies and industry sponsors, Gu has been developing medical applications for many years. For example, in virtual colonoscopy, companies such as GE and Siemens have licensed from SBU his conformal flattening method for CT image registration and polyp detection. Adding to his software innovations, Gu has designed and prototyped multiple generations of 3D scanner hardware in his lab at CEWIT. Stony Brook University’s Intellectual Property Partners (IPP) office has filed a patent application on this invention, which Orchid has signed an option agreement to license and commercialize.      “3D scanning creates an extremely accurate digital twin for doctors to evaluate the patient in a more insightful way,” explained Professor Gu. “A digital twin is a virtual representation of a person, object or process that provides a bridge between the physical and digital worlds. Our technology precisely captures and automatically compares the patient’s skin, allowing doctors to identify and measure changes both efficiently and effectively.”      Orchid Imaging's 3D scanner Orchid Imaging’s 3D scanner Orchid’s focus is early detection of skin cancer, the most common cancer in the United States. The company is partnering with Stony Brook Dermatology and other clinics to develop a 3D full-body scanning system and to demonstrate that its skin analysis software can identify and track nevi at a level of accuracy that makes this technology feasible for skin cancer screening. This technology can also be used by orthodontists, oral surgeons and plastic surgeons for treatment planning, evaluation and adjustment, thereby improving the clinical outcome and patient satisfaction.      “Stony Brook University supports and nurtures young startups through our Economic Development incubator system. Our Centers of Excellence, supported through NYSTAR funding, help to develop and foster great ideas and research,” said Peter Donnelly, Associate Vice President for Technology Development. “Dr. Zhao and his team at Orchid have begun their journey to success, and Stony Brook is proud to be a part of this journey and help in any way we can.”      “Being an entrepreneur takes a strong team working together collaboratively, and that’s especially the case with breakthrough research,” said SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras. “Programs like the SUNY Startup Summer School help to give our students, faculty and staff opportunities where they wouldn’t have them otherwise. Our SUNY participants are helping spur innovation crucial to society. I’m excited by what we’re doing — and we need to do more. This is where we give students — no matter their background — opportunities to succeed. My congratulations to this year’s winners from Stony Brook University and Upstate Medical, as well as all the participants that made this year’s competition a success.”     S4 provides faculty, students and staff with the knowledge and networks that will enable them to commercialize breakthrough technology, and offers virtual accelerated entrepreneurial education and training for participants to help them secure the initial funding needed to get their technology to market.     Orchid Imaging, in addition to earning a $10,000 S4 Technology Accelerator Fund Catalyst Investment, will also receive follow-on support from SUNY to identify and write strong proposals for grant funding, which will allow the team to continue commercializing its technology.      The other Stony Brook entry in the S4 quick pitch competition, Downtown Dating, won the People’s Choice Award.

Chamber Music America (CMA), the national network of ensemble music professionals, has named Stony Brook University alumnus Kevin Kwan Loucks as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective September 1, 2021.       Loucks earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook in 2013, and served as teaching assistant for the Emerson String Quartet. He was named one of Stony Brook’s distinguished 40 Under 40 Alumni in 2018. He has also earned a Master of Music from The Juilliard School, an Executive MBA from the Argyros School of Business and Economics at Chapman University, and a professional certificate in Strategic Marketing Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business’s Executive Education Program.       “As a lifelong chamber musician and arts entrepreneur, I am honored to be leading Chamber Music America into a new chapter of growth and expansion,” said Loucks. “This appointment comes at a critical time for artists, creators, educators, managers, presenters, and organizations that support our vibrant national arts economy, and I look forward to utilizing my skills and experience to create new opportunities for CMA and its membership community. I am eager to work with everyone as we meet the challenges of a post-COVID performing arts landscape together.”       “I am incredibly impressed by Kevin’s success since leaving the program at Stony Brook,” said Christina Dahl, incoming chair in the Department of Music who mentored Loucks as a student in the program. “Even as a doctoral student, Kevin was particularly talented at organization, and with a sense of vision about all things related to chamber music. The Department of Music at Stony Brook wishes him fantastic success in this new position with Chamber Music America!”       “In addition to his leadership experience and demonstrated commitment to the field, Kevin impressed the search committee with his wide-ranging background in business development, artistic and program planning, fundraising, and strategic management,” said Mimi Hwang, chair of CMA’s Board of Directors. “He is enthusiastic about continuing CMA’s important work advocating for the arts and working toward racial equity, while bringing new ideas that will help invigorate the field.”       Loucks created the Music Academy of the West’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Residential to help artists cultivate formal business skills, and has consulted for the organization’s Alumni Enterprise Awards, which supports audience development, education, social justice and technology ventures. He teaches portfolio development, strategic management, and entrepreneurship at Chamber Music | OC’s Pre-College Program, and has presented leadership seminars at Boston University, The Juilliard School, Texas Christian University, and UCLA.       Loucks previously served as the Philharmonic Society of Orange County’s Director of Business Development and Strategic Partnerships. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he secured new funding through individual solicitations, corporate, and foundation support, and led “Making Music Essential,” the organization’s first Virtual Gala, as well as “The Music Plays On,” a two-night Gala event celebrating a post-COVID return to live concerts. Prior to that, he served as Director of Innovation and Program Development at Music Academy of the West, where his work creating the Sing! Program, a free, after-school choral music initiative serving hundreds of students from more than 30 schools in Santa Barbara County, earned him recognition from the California State Legislature.       As Co-Founder and President of Chamber Music | OC, Loucks, with violinist Iryna Krechkovsky, championed classical music in the greater Orange County area; the organization’s programs reach thousands of Southern California residents annually.       A founding member of the award-winning ensemble Trio Céleste, Loucks has performed internationally at Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Prösels Castle in Italy, and Seoul Arts Center. He was a top prize winner at the Schlern International Competition in Italy and has earned accolades from the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition in Boston and the American Prize in Piano Performance.

India Pagan’s memorable and historic Olympic journey has ended, yielding a bounty of memories for the graduate senior on the Stony Brook University women’s basketball team.       Pagan became only the third Stony Brook athlete to compete in the Olympics and the first ever in women’s basketball, representing Puerto Rico at the Games in Tokyo, Japan. Pagan joined Lucy Van Dalen ’12, who ran the 5,000 meters representing New Zealand in the 2012 Olympics in London, and the late Roger Gill ’94, a sprinter who represented Guyana in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.       Pagan, who grew up in New London, Conn., received a hero’s welcome at Bradley International Airport Aug. 4, greeted by her parents and sister, and a group of family and friends.       “It was unbelievable,” she told NBC Connecticut. “It was memories for a lifetime. I can’t believe I call myself an Olympian. It’s still surreal. I was still getting teary eyed on the plane. So it still hasn’t set in that it’s over.”       Pagan played in all three games of the tournament and combined for nine minutes, six points and six rebounds. She was third on the team in scoring with those six points coming in Puerto Rico’s 87-52 loss to Belgium on July 29. Puerto Rico opened with a 97-55 loss to China on July 27, and finished the preliminary round with a 96-69 loss to Australia on Aug. 2. Australia and China both lost in the quarterfinals, with the Aussies falling to the United States, 79-55, on Aug. 4.       Pagan also filed a first-person photo report on life in the Olympic Village for The New York Times. She talked about daily COVID tests, navigating the Olympic Village, practicing with the team, playing at Saitama Super Arena, and the array of food available to the athletes (“They have everything you can imagine.”)       This year marked the first time Puerto Rico has ever qualified for the Olympic Games.

Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering Team Receives $2.4 Million ARPA-E Award     The team in the Engineered Microstructures and Radiation Effects Laboratory (EMREL), led by Professor Lance Snead as the Principal Investigator (PI) and co-PI’s, Professor Jason Trelewicz and Professor David Sprouster, has been awarded $2.4 million from the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) program, an agency tasked with promoting and funding research and development of advanced energy technologies. All three investigators are part of the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, and Professor Trelewicz is also a core faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Computational Science.         Pictured left to right: Dr. Jonathan Gentile, Dr. Bin Cheng, Prof. Lance Snead, Mary Botha, Dr. Dave Sprouster, Elinor Coats, Streit Cunningham and Prof. Jason Trelewicz Pictured left to right: Dr. Jonathan Gentile, Dr. Bin Cheng, Prof. Lance Snead, Mary Botha, Dr. Dave Sprouster, Elinor Coats, Streit Cunningham and Prof. Jason Trelewicz The award is part of a grant program focused on the development of fusion energy science and technologies that would lead to a safe, carbon-free, and abundant energy source for developed and emerging economies, specifically the joint Office of Fusion Energy and ARPA-E initiative Galvanizing Advances in Market-aligned Fusion for an Overabundance of Watts (GAMOW).     “The ARPA-E award process is extremely competitive and requires demonstrating leading-edge research and solutions,” said Fotis Sotiropoulos, Dean, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. “I’m incredibly proud of Lance and the EMREL team’s work in this important area of research for our College and the University.”     The project, ENHANCED Shield: A Critical Materials Technology Enabling Compact Superconducting Tokamaks, addresses a key issue facing the next generation of small, high-field fusion reactors. Specifically, with the significant progress made in the development of High Temperature Superconductor (HTS), the magnetic field strength required to drive a fusion plasma has been greatly enhanced allowing for much smaller, more economic systems. However, as the system becomes smaller, damage to magnets becomes a serious concern.  This Stony Brook project aims to solve that problem through development of a new class of shield materials to protect the magnets, thus enabling compact fusion systems.     According to Snead, the current superconducting magnets we know, the ones that work at cryogenic temperatures, are typically shielded by common engineering materials such as water and steel, perhaps with a bit of other materials layered in. The water, like any material with hydrogen, is good at shielding neutrons, while steel or heavy materials like lead are what you would use for X-rays or gamma rays.       “It’s all pretty low-tech but works just fine for the larger machines. The problem comes in when you don’t have a lot of real estate to work with and water is not a coolant option,” he says.     The solution being proposed by the EMREL for compact fusion devices is to fabricate composited structures which simultaneously shield neutrons and gamma-rays.       The proposed innovation will pursue two classes of engineered composite materials, one with a metal matrix and one with a ceramic matrix. The metal matrix is considered a more mature technology and will be applied in lower temperature application while the ceramic matrix composite is targeting higher temperature application. Of note is that the ceramic matrix composite owes its base technology to a breakthrough made by the Stony Brook team under an ongoing ARPA-E grant work which demonstrated fabrication of dense magnesia materials at temperatures hundreds of degrees lower than previously seen. This has allowed, as taken advantage of here, the inclusion of high neutron absorbing metal hydride materials within a magnesia composite structure.       The team includes Professor Steve Zinkle in the Department of Nuclear Engineering at the University of Tennessee Knoxville and Dr. Ethan Peterson of the Massachusetts of Technology. The project is also joined by two privately funded commercial fusion ventures: Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Tokamak Energy.

Community Service Day is Saturday, August 21, and will feature more than 600 volunteers from Stony Brook University taking part in a variety of service projects that are important to both the campus and the community.     Co-chairs Joan Dickinson, director of University Community Relations, and Jeff Barnett, assistant dean of students, described the undertaking as “the most ambitious single-day service program ever attempted by Stony Brook.”     Managed by SBU staff members, hundreds of students will help power projects that take place on campus, indoors and outside, along with off-campus outdoor events. Incoming freshmen will be able to choose their service project on SB Engaged in early August.     The day begins at 11 am on the Staller Steps with all students being checked in and receiving a free sandwich, courtesy of Jersey Mike’s, T-shirts, water and backpacks. After a few speakers, the students will be ushered to their assignments.     The day will end with an ice cream social at the Student Union parking lot where other activities will be in motion for opening week. WUSB-FM will have a tent and music for the kick-off and return, managed by Isobel Breheny-Schafer, WUSB general manager.     The list of proposed projects includes:     ON CAMPUS     Backpack Supplies Packout: More than 100 students will be packing out 1,300 backpacks with various school supplies for K-12 children from 22 schools across Long Island. The project is being held with community partners Island Harvest and Supplies for Success, and is being managed by Urszula Zalewski from the Career Center.     Notes of Hope: Roughly 250 students will be writing notes of hope and inspiration for homebound Brookhaven residents. Each student will create three different messages: one of hope and two seasonal wishes for later use at Thanksgiving and holidays. The project is being held with community partners Meals on Wheels, the Town of Brookhaven and the Long Island State Veterans Home, and is managed by Pam Pfeil of Veterans Affairs.     Story Writing: Up to 10 students will create content about their studies and experiences here at Stony Brook for a monthly newsletter. The project is being held with Meals on Wheels and the Town of Brookhaven and is being managed by Cathrine Duffy from HealthierU.     Campus Beautification: Approximately 50 students will plant hellebores and astible at the 9/11 Memorial Arch location, and heuchera and pansies on the walkway between the SAC and Frey Hall. The project is being managed by Nicole Chiuchiolo from Commuter Student Services in concert with facilities staff.     OFF CAMPUS     Route 25A Clean Up: Up to 100 students will make their way down the road starting at the LIRR station and ending at Mario’s in Setauket to pick up litter and debris. Several restaurants have agreed to offer the students a restroom break where needed and coupons for future use. The project is being coordinated with Suffolk County Legislator Kara Hahn’s office for trash bag pickup and is being managed by Jeff Barnett.     Patriot’s Rock Clean Up: A small team of six to eight students will be on hand to remove branches, litter and pull up invasive species of plants where appropriate at this local community treasure. The project is being held with the Three Village Community Land Trust and will be managed by an orientation leader or other designee.     Field Day Fun: Fifteen students will venture to Patchogue to help run a field day for children with Down Syndrome. The project is being held with community partner Gigi’s Playhouse and will be managed by an orientation leader or other designee.

The 26th annual Stony Brook Film Festival presented by Island Federal makes its glorious and long-awaited return to the Staller Center for the Arts with live, in-person screenings from July 22-31, and will also hold an encore presentation online a month later.       The festival will continue its partnership with IndieFlix Festivals and virtually offer this year’s slate of films, streaming on the IndieFlix Festivals app from August 5-30.       “We are thrilled to be able to bring the arts back to our community this way, by reopening with the 26th annual Stony Brook Film Festival, and we have some amazing films this year to mark that return,” said Festival Director Alan Inkles. “We are the first festival to announce our return AND offer both a live festival and a virtual option — there is almost no one else in the world doing both right now — and we’re fortunate to have some amazing support and partnerships to be able to make that happen.”       Appropriately — following a year and a half of uncertainty and disconnection — many of the films this year revolve around the theme of second chances. “Though we never choose films with an overall theme in mind, a theme always seems to emerge, and this year is no exception,” says Festival Co-Programmer Kent Marks. “So many of this year’s films tell the story of people trying to get their lives back, stories about reviving lost relationships, renewing lost dreams, rescuing lost causes, or finding a way to escape a seemingly hopeless situation.”                   The 2021 Festival lineup boasts 35 films from more than 15 countries and includes never-before-seen features from around the globe.       Opening night has a strong Long Island connection, starting with the world premiere of The Fifth Man, a documentary on Paul Limmer, a former track coach at Bellmore’s Mepham High School. During his 50-year career there, Limmer racked up hundreds of wins, though director Trey Nelson focuses on the story of all the other kids — the ones who never felt “seen” — until Paul Limmer came into their lives. The film will be preceded by Feeling Through, an Oscar-nominated short featuring deaf-blind actor Robert Tarango of Selden.       Other must-see features include Yamina Benguigui’s Sisters, starring Isabelle Adjani and Maïwenn, a finely crafted reflection on memory and belonging to two worlds. The Hungarian As Far As I Know is an uncompromising film that wrestles with questions of perspective and victimhood. Milcho Manchevski’s newest masterpiece, Willow, is resplendent in unforgettable images and unconventional narrative. Lorelei, starring Pablo Schreiber and Jena Malone, is about an ex-con who tries to get his life back together without getting back into trouble.       Thefinalset The French film ‘Final Set’ will close out the festival on July 31. Closing out the 2021 Festival is the intense and complexly drawn sports drama Final Set, about a former tennis prodigy who must face his own demons as well as a young genius who disturbingly reminds him of himself. The film will be followed by the Closing Night Awards Ceremony.       Notable shorts include David, starring Will Ferrell and directed by Zachary Woods (The Office, Silicon Valley) about a depressed man who reaches out for an emergency therapy session.       Passes for the Stony Brook Film Festival are on sale now. The festival is offering a Gold Pass, Festival Pass or Virtual Pass option for patrons.       All passholders will get to hear from filmmakers throughout the festival and have the opportunity to rate and vote on favorite films to help choose the winners. Gold Passholders receive a Stony Brook Film Festival swag bag and commemorative gift, discounts at hospitality sponsor restaurants and businesses, VIP reserved seating, access to the Closing Night Awards Ceremony, and full access to both the live festival and the virtual festival.       Festival Passholders will receive entry to all live films and guaranteed seating for sold-out shows, access to the Closing Night Awards Ceremony, discounts at hospitality sponsor restaurants and businesses, and a Stony Brook Film Festival commemorative gift. Virtual Passholders are guaranteed access to all virtual films for the entire household and recorded filmmaker discussions. A Student Pass is available free to all SBU students and includes access to all virtual films.       View the complete list of films, with synopsis and trailers       View the complete live festival schedule       View all available trailers 

SUNY Guidance and the Chancellor’s ‘Take a Shot’ Message       On Friday, July 9, SUNY published a news release focused on the full reopening of campuses and return to a ‘more traditional college experience’ this fall. In it, you’ll find links to:       Chancellor Jim Malatras’ USA Today Network Op-Ed: SUNY students need the vaccine. Don’t pass up a shot at normalcy. Details on SUNY’s 30-Day Vax Challenge for unvaccinated students: Don’t Wait. Get Vaccinated Now Before Returning to Campus this Fall. Latest SUNY COVID-19 guidance (updated July 8): Please take a moment to review this document from SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras. While it provides general guidance, it is important to note that protocols may be different depending on your affiliation with Stony Brook. If you are a Stony Brook Medicineemployee, testing and screening requirements are still in effect, and mask guidance and physical distancing are also required for these employees, regardless of your vaccination status (please see detailed information below). Fully Vaccinated? Let Us Know!       Stony Brook University West Campus employees, Stony Brook Southampton employees, HSC faculty and staff, School of Medicine staff, and all other employees in a non-healthcare setting:       Please log onto SOLAR to submit your vaccination status, which will allow you to take advantage of more relaxed COVID-19 protocols for fully vaccinated individuals outlined in the updated SUNY guidance above. Click here for instructions.  SBU Resident Students COVID Vaccine Requirement       A new health policy update requires all students planning to live on campus as residential students in the Fall 2021 semester to be fully vaccinated, with limited exceptions. Read more here.       If You Haven’t Already … Please Affirm You’ve Read and Will Follow GOER Guidance       If you are a Stony Brook University Hospital employee and haven’t already done so, please log in to the Learning Management System (LMS) to review and affirm the document. As stated, those who work in healthcare agencies must continue to wear PPE as prescribed by your position, and follow other guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that are specific to healthcare settings.       For all other Stony Brook State employees in a non-healthcare setting, you must read the document, Guidance for State Agencies and Authorities during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, then affirm you have read and understand your obligation to follow this guidance and its provisions. Click here for instructions on how to access this document in SOLAR.        Who Needs to Test Weekly and Who Doesn’t       If you are an employee working onsite at the hospital, you are still required to participate in weekly COVID surveillance testing, even if you have already received the COVID vaccine. Testing takes place in the Health Sciences Galleria on Level 3 Mondays and Wednesdays, 5:45 am – 3:15 pm, and Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7:45 am – 5:00 pm.        Stony Brook University West Campus employees, Stony Brook Southampton employees, HSC faculty and staff, School of Medicine staff, and all other employees in a non-healthcare setting: The latest NYS and SUNY COVID-19 guidance no longer requires surveillance pooled testing every week if you are fully vaccinated and have shared your vaccination status. Most vaccinated employees will be tested approximately once a month, receiving email notification when scheduled for testing. If you are not fully vaccinated and/or have not shared your full vaccination status with us, you will still be required to test weekly.        Mask Guidance at Stony Brook University Hospital       When you are in the hospital, regardless of your vaccination status, you must wear a mask and practice social distancing. This includes:       All patient-care/patient-facing areas and public spaces, including the hospital lobby and all other hallways and common areas where you can encounter patients. While you are in the hospital cafeteria. NOTE: You may only remove your mask in the cafeteria when you are actively eating or drinking and must remain at least six feet apart from others. Drinking or eating while walking in restricted areas is prohibited. When in the sitting areas of The Brook, by Jamba Juice and in Panera. Again, you are allowed to remove your mask only when actively eating or drinking and must continue to practice social distancing. When you are walking from the Health Sciences Tower and entering the hospital.       NOTE: If you work in an office located in the hospital with another person, regardless of your vaccination status, you must wear a mask or remain at least six feet apart. If you are alone in your office, you do not need to be masked.

Eden Figueroa has long been fascinated with quantum mechanics.     It’s a strange, Star Trek-like world in which objects can exist in two or more states simultaneously, interact with each other instantly over long distances, and flash into and out of existence. Scientists like Figueroa — the quantum information technology research leader in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University — work to harness this behavior with hopes of turning it into a new and improved internet.     “I think the internet is one of the greatest things humanity has ever made. But it’s not perfect,” Figueroa said. “What we want is an internet that’s fast and secure. Those are the two questions that there are currently no answers to.”     Despite the high level of the physics involved, the premise of the real-world challenge isn’t any deeper than that.     “When you have Zoom meetings you don’t want to lose the other participants, and if you’re using your credit cards for internet transactions, you don’t want people to get your information,” said Figueroa. “These are examples anyone can relate to.”     Technology is usually grown incrementally and organically; it starts off small and grows. That didn’t happen with the internet.       “In a short period of time we went from having a small network of researchers to a worldwide network in which everybody is connected,” explained Figueroa. “It was amazing and it changed the world. But nobody was paying attention along the way to things like internet security or transferring amounts of data that were previously unimaginable.”      While a standard computer handles digital bits of 0s and 1s, quantum computers use quantum bits that can take on any value between 0 and 1. And if you entangle the bits, you can solve problems that typical computers cannot. Figueroa says the main challenge to building these quantum networks is demonstrating that they work with single photons, and showing you can transfer entanglement in a network, using it whenever you need.              “If you have entanglement, you have quantum teleportation, and therefore you can move information from one place to the other,” he said. “If you manage to have lots of photons that are all entangled, then you can — in principle, using quantum teleportation — transfer lots of data from one place to the other. Once we get that far, the challenge is to transfer these entangled photons over longer distances.”     Figueroa came to Stony Brook in 2013, the first professor hired to specifically do quantum information science, tasked with building both a lab and a program. Eight years later, Figueroa and his team of 12 graduate students and two undergrads aim to develop and implement the first agnostic quantum repeater network.      “All the technology that we develop in this laboratory is intended to create a first version of that quantum repeater,” he said.     The test bed for his ideas is a quantum network connecting locations in Stony Brook and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), about 17 miles away. Figueroa used existing fiberoptic infrastructure and has deployed entanglement sources and quantum memories in several buildings on the BNL campus, with fibers used to quantum connect the physics and instrumentation buildings with the Scientific Data and Computation Center. A similar local area quantum network was developed on the Stony Brook campus.     With the quantum communication channels in place, Figueroa uses the photonic entanglement sources to simultaneously store and retrieve quantum correlations in four quantum memories on both campuses. In 2020, the team achieved transmission of single-photon level polarization quantum bits (qubits) in a configuration covering a total of approximately 87 miles. This marked the longest successful quantum communication link experiment in the United States.     “In the last two or three years the problem has become bigger,” said Figueroa. “Now we have some ‘toys’; how do we network them? This is what makes us unique. With these test beds we are really testing the devices in this network configurations, and really moving quantum information over longer distances. That is very original. In the U.S. there are only a few test beds, but I think the one that we have is by far the most advanced right now.”      Figueroa isn’t alone in working toward this grand vision. His small but extremely dedicated team shares his passion, doing whatever it takes to further the cause. To illustrate the point, Figueroa shows off a working model network in his lab, with optical tables built with components that had to be made and assembled and precisely placed. “Once you build all of them, you have to align them to serve a purpose,” he said. “It’s a lot of work.”     Figueroa lab detail 3 21     PhD candidate Guodong Cui ’22 is on that team, and describes the quantum challenge as one of “depth and prosperity.”      “If you ask a serious thinker about it, entanglement is simply impossible — it’s like working with a ghost except that a ghost would have been much easier to understand,” said Cui. “Yet it is possible, because we generate, process and even build a quantum gate for it. The fact that I’m working on a project that hits both the deepest curiosity of me as a person and serves the need for revolutionizing information technology for human beings makes this work incredibly interesting.”     “What I like about quantum communication is that fundamental questions about light matter interaction are being studied in parallel with the engineering strategies to converge to the goal of building future technology,” added PhD candidate Sonali Gera ‘21.     Physics major Leonardo Castillo Veneros ’22, focuses on room-temperature quantum memories and finding their optimal regimes of operation.     “Before enrolling at Stony Brook, about four years ago, I visited the Quantum Information Laboratory on a campus tour and I was blown away looking at the setups on the optical tables,” said Castillo Veneros, who enrolled in Fall 2017 and began working in the lab in Spring 2018.     Rishikesh Gokhale ’25 works on developing free space quantum communication channel between BNL and Stony Brook. “I like the fact that I work on something which would replace a major chunk of the existing communication network and make communication more secure and faster,” said Gokhale, who is pursuing a PhD in physics. “I was interested in the growing field of quantum information and at the same time, I wanted to be an experimentalist. Professor Figueroa’s lab gives me an opportunity to do that.”       All team members credit Figueroa for being able to offer guidance while still allowing them to explore their individual interests within the project. Rishikesh adds that Figueroa provides the “freedom to think, implement and improvise.”     “His passion and dedication to the field are incredibly inspiring and motivating,” said Castillo Veneros. “When I first learned about the kind of work he was doing, I wanted to become part of it. I’m thankful for the opportunity to contribute to this extraordinary effort to build a quantum network on Long Island.”     As the project moves ahead, Figueroa hesitates to put a time frame on it, noting that no advancement is ever a sure thing.     “If we had unlimited funds, which is never the case, I would say the horizon is somewhere around five years from now,” he said. “With our current funding it’s going to be more like 10 years. We still need to test this network configuration and every single part of it to get it right. When we get there, then we can scale that up. But this is groundbreaking research we’re doing right now, and we’re training the leaders of the future in this area. It’s a unique story for Stony Brook. And I like that.”     — Robert Emproto

Marcela Muricy ‘23 grew up in Brazil, is fluent in Portuguese and proud of her heritage.     But there is another language the University Scholar is trying to master. Speaking STEM is an organization she co-founded at Stony Brook University with her best friend, Joshua Gershenson, a biology major and professional writing minor, in Spring 2021.     “We are incredibly passionate about biology and — at times — find ourselves frustrated with how many misconceptions become widespread, instilling fear, doubt, and disbelief in people,” said Muricy. “A major example of this is global warming; the age of misinformation preys on those who doubt what can very well be the end of the world.”     Muricy is a dual major in biology and women’s gender and sexuality studies and is driven to communicate her knowledge to the general public whether it is about COVID, climate change or gynecology. She is currently on the pre-med track with the long-term goal of establishing her own gynecology clinic and doing intensive research in the field of OB-GYN.     “I would also love to educate more people regarding gynecology, because I feel like there is a major lack of reliable information available to those who need it,” she said.     But her main thrust for now remains addressing the misinformation associated with quelling the spread of the COVID-19 virus and climate change.     “The rumors of certain medications being effective in combating the virus was a dangerous game,” Muricy said. “We believe the responsibility for this falls on both [political] parties, the people who must take the time to learn and also the scientists, biologists and doctors who must move cautiously with their words. There is power in the lasting effect they may have.”     Mariela muricy 2The organization’s stated main goal is to emphasize the importance of rhetoric in the world, in educating others about important topics that need to be discussed.     Members will analyze rhetoric and writing and speaking styles, dissecting specific examples. Muricy is planning a presentation by someone from the writing department, and climate expert Joseph Romm’s book, Language Intelligence, will serve as a study text.     “Romm’s book is a key piece to recognizing how, in a struggle for power, the person with stronger and more clever rhetoric will win, regardless of the stance they are taking,” assessed Muricy. “This is important in cases like climate change and COVID because of those who are attempting to control the narrative and sway bias using rhetorical strategies.”     Muricy believes that learning how to communicate STEM topics will help students when they leave academia as much as it will help ensure that key legislation gets passed, because the general public will be made aware of critical issues.     “The topics STEM majors know best should not be unattainable by the public majority, but well within reach if they are addressed appropriately,” she contends. “This entails not only speaking STEM, but speaking it in a language others can understand, digest, and analyze. This will help the students once they’ve graduated and need to depend on their use of rhetoric in their professions, a practice not currently emphasized enough.”     “Rhetoric is important at home, at work, and in battle,” Muricy continued. “It is a bridge as much as it can be a blockade. The result will be better science-driven legislation. Rhetoric used by well-educated individuals will be the ticket to a more grounded and logical country.”     Muricy is an editor and contributing writer of Brooklogue, a sociology journal founded by Stony Brook student Sophia Garbarino (a double major in sociology, women’s gender and sexuality studies) which students can use as a platform to discuss their ideas concerning important racial, ethnic, and cultural issues. She has, for now, the perfect vehicle with which to educate and communicate.     — Glenn Jochum

July 8, 2021 More than 150 million Americans have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But even as that number approaches fifty percent of the U.S. population, misinformation and misconceptions about the vaccine and the science behind it are making it difficult to drive that number to even safer levels. Addressing the issue, the Stony Brook University Labor Council hosted a COVID-19 vaccine panel on June 23 that featured a diverse group of Stony Brook experts, moderated by Stacey Finkelstein, associated professor of marketing in the College of Business, and vice president for academics, UUP West Campus. “The underpinnings of vaccine hesitancy are numerous and deal with questions ranging from science to psychological biases,” Finkelstein said. “Anti-vax attitudes are not the same as being hesitant, and even those who are pro-vaccine may experience hesitancy… People who are hesitant have questions, and we’re hoping to answer some of them here today.” Kenneth Kaushansky, senior vice president of health sciences at Stony Brook University, took on questions surrounding the current COVID variants, including the Delta variant, which he described as “totally expected.” “We know that the natural history of virtually every viral infection is that it will mutate with time,” he said. “By ‘variant’ we mean that the nucleic acid structure changes. Most of those changes are irrelevant, but occasionally the virus creates a mutation that makes it more transmissible or enables it to escape immune system surveillance.” Kaushansky said the variant is now in almost every state in the United States and that mutations have changed the infectivity, but not in any way that affects the ability of natural or vaccine-induced immunity to deal with it. “This variant is supposed to be a bit more infectious than the other viruses, but it’s completely covered by neutralizing antibody responses that are directed by any of the vaccines that are generated,” said Erich Mackow, professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook. He said a very small number of breakthrough cases — around 1 in 10,000 — are yielding mild COVID positivity but not serious disease. “These vaccines seem to be almost 100-percent effective against serious disease, hospitalization and death, which is a very important point.” Bettina Fries, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Renaissance School of Medicine, pointed out that those who have received a full course of vaccines and who are infected now are not being hospitalized or dying. “We’re seeing younger people coming in, and yes, they don’t get as sick as the older folks, but they do get sick, and in some cases, very sick,” she said. “That is the reason the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is pushing for everybody to get vaccinated.” Immunologist Catherine Feintuch addressed confusion surrounding Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and the difference between full FDA authorization and emergency-use authorization. “Look at it as comparing a courthouse wedding to a country club wedding,” she explained. “At the end of the day the two people are still married, but the bells and whistles are different. With the emergency-use authorization, you have all the critical safety and efficacy information submitted. The only piece that’s missing is the six-month follow-up data. Moderna and Pfizer have already submitted for full authorization approval. We’re in unprecedented times, but no steps were skipped and the safety and efficacy data we have is very, very good.” The panel also reviewed concern for potential long-term effects as a contributor to the vaccine decision-making process. “When we talk about vaccines, what we are actually doing is giving somebody a substance against which their body makes an antibody response,” said Fries. “This antibody response sort of becomes a cell memory response that will remember this antibody response. If years from now you need to fight coronavirus again, your body will still be able to mount this antibody response.” Fries said that vaccine-hesitant people may fear an unwanted immune response that accidentally recognizes not only the virus, but something else that you have in your body, which is called an autoimmune response. “We would have seen that already, and we didn’t,” she said. “After two months your antibody response is at its max. If you don’t see it by then, there’s no reason to believe that you’ll see it 10 years from now. There have been patients that had thromboembolic events (blood clots) that we are looking into. But there’s no biological evidence that supports something developing 10 years from now, and the concern of the vaccine somehow getting integrated into your genome is also not biologically supported.” Mackow said that “the other side of the coin is that instead of worrying about the side effects of the vaccine, what we should be worrying about is the long-term effects that we don’t know about from having gotten COVID and whether damage from the infection will predispose us to later pulmonary or cardiac disease. Those are going to be much more worrisome going forward.” Feintuch offered a sobering observation regarding future exposure. “Everyone’s going to be exposed to coronavirus at some point,” she said. “It’s here to stay for the foreseeable future, and unless you plan to isolate and mask yourself for years, you will be exposed. So, you really can’t compare the vaccine versus nothing; the appropriate comparison is getting the vaccine versus getting coronavirus.” Fries advised those who were pregnant that the only way they can protect their baby is by being vaccinated before the baby is born. “From a protective point of view, you protect your baby best if you give them as many antibodies as possible before they are born,” she said. Ruobing Li, assistant professor, School of Communication and Journalism, addressed the difficulties presented by the proliferation of misinformation. “Many people are misinformed and just don’t know it,” she said. “They truly believe in their information as much as we believe in the information that we’ve gathered here.” She also advised double-checking your own information when it seems to conflict with someone else’s. “Try not to treat the conversation as a corrective lecture,” she warned. “Many times you hear, ‘Oh, I just read it on Facebook’ or ‘I just saw it on Twitter.’ People don’t realize those are just platforms and not sources of the information. They are not going to be responsible for every single piece of information that’s circulating on them.” Kaushansky offered some final guidance and advised not to wait get vaccinated. “You can take precautions and be as careful as possible, but if you go out there’s a chance you might get infected,” he said. “Why wait? People who work in the health sciences didn’t wait. There’s not a lot to fear here.” Fries said that in every worldwide pandemic, the breakthrough came with vaccines. “Go ask the older folks who saw kids die of measles growing up. Polio was a nightmare two generations ago. Plague killed a third of Europe in the 1300s and recurred until the 19th century. With all of these, progress came from hygiene and vaccination. Almost every physician at Stony Brook Medicine got vaccinated. Why? Because we saw those patients die, we saw terrible and devastating loss. 40,000 kids lost a parent during this pandemic.” “As a psychologist, I know that fear and risk are very personal judgments, and it’s really important to listen and heed the experiences of those who have been on the frontlines treating patients,” said Finkelstein. “Sometimes we process things emotionally, but we really need to think about the very real consequences to not being vaccinated.” — Robert Emproto Click here to read the original article

July 6, 2021 REMINDERS: Ice Cream Social TOMORROW and More As more of us have begun to return to campus today, here are just a few reminders to help us all thrive this summer and fall … Stronger Together. Reminder #1: ICE CREAMJoin us for a free Ice Cream Social tomorrow – Wednesday, July 7, 12-2 pm – outside the Stony Brook Union  (rain location: Student Union lobby). Student Affairs will also be hosting an Open House event called Stony Brook Union: Yesterday and Today – with tours every 20 minutes highlighting the new, and improved, Union and where to find all the services you need. Reminder #2: Submit Your Full Vaccine Status for Relaxed COVID ProtocolsOn June 23, we shared a Coming Back Safe and Strong Update highlighting new COVID protocols from the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER), including more relaxed guidance for fully vaccinated individuals, including no need to physically distance, wear a mask, test weekly or self-screen daily in non-healthcare settings. If you haven’t yet, you can submit your full vaccination status simply and directly on your personal SOLAR account. Click here for instructions. Reminder #3: Affirm That You’ve Read and Will Follow GOER GuidanceBy this Friday, July 9 (or within three business days of returning to campus for remote workers), New York State requires that all State employees affirm they have read and understand their obligation to follow GOER’s revised guidance and its provisions. It’s easy and can be accomplished right on SOLAR. Find detailed instructions here: Revised Workplace Guidance – Instructions. Reminder #4: Be sure to check out/bookmark our new Stronger Together website, with a page highlighting the Latest COVID19 Guidance. There’s also a Calendar of Events featuring seminars, live entertainment and opportunities for informal gatherings with others on campus. In addition to films at the Staller Center and exhibits at the Zuccaire Gallery, you’ll find a HealthierU nutrition-based ‘pop-up tent, Yoga on the Staller Steps and well-being walks. We look forward to sharing more news over the coming weeks and months. Click here to read the original article

July 1, 2021 Researchers at Stony Brook University and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have identified the primary reaction mechanism that occurs in a rechargeable, water-based battery made from zinc and manganese oxide. The findings, published in Energy and Environmental Science, provide new insight for developing grid-scale energy storage.   Before renewable energy sources like wind and solar power can be fully integrated into the electric grid, scientists must develop advanced batteries that can store these intermittent sources of power. Researchers at the Center for Mesoscale Transport Properties (m2m), a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center led by Stony Brook in collaboration with Brookhaven Lab, are currently studying water-based batteries as a safe and scalable solution. “As we think about big batteries that can back up the grid, we’ve become very interested in using water as the electrolyte, rather than the flammable solvents that are used in traditional lithium-ion batteries,” said Distinguished Professor Esther Takeuchi, director of m2m and co-author of the study. Takeuchi, from Stony Brook’s Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, holds a joint appointment at Brookhaven Lab. “We are very mindful of environmental impact. In the rare event that something goes wrong with this technology — if a giant, grid-scale battery started to leak — leaking salt water is a lot safer than leaking something flammable.” “It’s also hard to find something cheaper than water,” Takeuchi said, expanding on the cost efficiency of deploying water-based batteries across the grid. Cost efficiency and safety were two factors Takeuchi and her colleagues also kept in mind for their latest study on the zinc and manganese oxide-based battery, as both materials are cheap, abundant and nontoxic. Scientists have studied rechargeable batteries comprised of these compounds before, but the research was widely inconclusive. “We found several papers, all published within the last few years in very high profile journals, that all came to different conclusions on what the reaction mechanism in this battery actually was,” Takeuchi said. “So, we decided to take this on as an area of interest.” To understand the complex reaction mechanism in the zinc/manganese oxide rechargeable battery, the researchers turned to the National Synchroton Light Source II (NSLS-II), a DOE Office of Science User Facility at Brookhaven Lab. NSLS-II is an ultrabright x-ray light source that can reveal the structural and chemical makeup of samples down to the atomic scale. There, the research team ran three rounds of experiments, one at the Quick x-ray Absorption and Scattering (QAS) beamline and two at the X-ray Fluorescence Microprobe (XFM) beamline. Starting at QAS, the team ran x-ray absorption spectroscopy experiments to probe the battery’s electrochemical changes. These results from QAS presented important yet puzzling data; there was too much current passing through the battery to be explained by oxidation state changes. “That’s when we realized we needed to do an operando imaging experiment,” Takeuchi said. Operando experiments occur while the sample is operating or as a chemical reaction is occurring. For battery studies, that means data is collected while the battery charges and discharges. Many of NSLS-II’s advanced beamlines, including QAS, specialize in operando experiments. But for this study, the research team ran two experiments at XFM, where they could also conduct element-specific imaging. First, they produced an elemental map of the electrode and electrolyte. “That’s really where the breakthrough came,” Takeuchi said. “SBU Professor Ken Takeuchi suggested that we map the electrolyte while the battery discharges, pause the experiment, and then continue the discharge. We saw that while the battery discharged, manganese was moving from the cathode into the electrolyte. The manganese concentration kept increasing as long as the battery was discharging, and once we put the reaction on pause, the concentration stayed the same.” In the second round of experiments, the team continuously cycled the battery — that is, charged and discharged the cell many times. “Element-specific imaging with high detection sensitivity is a distinguishing characteristic of (synchrotron-based) x-ray fluorescence microscopy,” said co-author Ryan Tappero, lead beamline scientist at XFM. “It’s the high sensitivity that allowed us to capture subtle differences in manganese abundance across the electrode-electrolyte interface.” “We were able to definitively see that as the battery discharged, the manganese concentration in the electrolyte increased, and as the battery charged, the manganese concentration decreased,” Takeuchi said. The results enabled the research team to determine the true reaction mechanism taking place in the battery: a manganese dissolution-deposition reaction. “We demonstrated that manganese dissolves from the solid cathode and into the electrolyte as the battery discharges, then it redeposits on the cathode as the battery charges,” Takeuchi said. “The manganese is not just changing from a solid to a liquid, but rather, it is dissolving and electrochemically depositing as a new phase.” Takeuchi added, “This was an operando-enabled breakthrough. We’ve spent years developing and testing these methods at NSLS-II. Without them, this reaction mechanism would be very difficult to sort out. It explains why there were so many contrary reports in the literature.” The researchers say their findings set the stage for pushing water-based, grid-scale energy storage solutions forward, no longer having to rely on trial-and-error-based approaches to modifying and optimizing this class of batteries. “This series of experiments is a great example of the teamwork that is required to solve large, complex problems,” Takeuchi said. “We had team members from NSLS-II, Brookhaven’s Interdisciplinary Sciences Department, Stony Brook University and our graduate students — people from all different backgrounds — putting their heads together, each contributing to get this data. Collaboration can bring great benefits to science.” — Stephanie Kossman, Brookhaven National Laboratory Click here to read the original article

June 16, 2021 In a new video, Distinguished Professor Scott McLennan and Associate Professor Joel Hurowitz of the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook University talk about their experience with the Mars exploration rover Perseverance, which is on a two-year investigative mission looking for signs of life on the Red Planet. “Mars has always held out something special in the public imagination,” McLennan says. “People are looking for something that’s really exciting, and something that’s positive and something that shows we can still do things that are really important.” “Being a part of a team that’s landing something on Mars, that feeling never gets old,” Hurowitz says. “I highly recommend it if you can be a part of a team like that.” The professors discuss their work on the project, the challenges they face and the emotions they felt as they watched the rover land on a planet 293 million miles away. Click here to read the original article