Stony Brook University SUNY Korea

January 26, 2021     Postdoctoral researchers play a special role in academic research, bringing in new ideas and energy while they advance their careers into independent scholars. Stony Brook’s Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation is benefiting from two new postdoctoral associates, Baojian Zhou and Naoya Inoue, both of whom were welcomed to the team this past year. They are spearheading new research that will advance our understanding of online optimization, explainable AI, natural language processing and machine learning. By working with diverse faculty and graduate students across many research groups, their presence amplifies activities across the Institute.     Ai postdocs Baojian and NaoyaTheir stories are revealing. Zhou’s path started with his education at Anhui University in China, now the home of a study program with Stony Brook. His interest was piqued when he encountered combinatorial problems from discrete mathematics and graph theory in his undergraduate algorithms course. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from Anhui University and his master’s degree from Beihang University, Zhou made the concerted effort to earn a PhD in the United States. He landed at the University of Albany, where he concentrated his studies in data mining and machine learning to continue his exploration of mathematical models. Zhou graduated with his PhD in computer science and a master’s degree in mathematics early in 2020.     A chance meeting with a Stony Brook graduate student at the ACM Knowledge and Data Discovery Conference tipped Zhou off about postdoctoral positions at the Institute. Zhou went on to meet Steven Skiena, director of Stony Brook’s AI Institute, and they bonded over shared research interests in data mining, data science and machine learning. “I discovered that Stony Brook is the perfect place to work with diligent and inspired faculty, and to expand my research experience,” said Zhou.     Zhou has dedicated his Stony Brook research predominantly toward graphical representation learning, with the goal to design models that can comprehend network data. Coupled with his focus in online optimization, these two domains create a platform to amplify knowledge of user behavior in social media.     “Through embarking on this new research, we can garner a better understanding of social media users’ behavioral patterns,” said Zhou. In a society dominated with social networking, this behavioral understanding lends itself to its impact on a corporate, academic and personal level.     Since arriving at Stony Brook, he has been working with several faculty members at the university, including Yifan Sun, assistant professor of Computer Science. Professor Sun, an expert in online optimization, has been working closely with Zhou to further his progress in optimization to deal with graphical data. Zhou credits both Professors Skiena and Sun as being cornerstones of his research.     The second postdoctoral scholar, Naoya Inoue, left a faculty position in Japan to join the Institute. He was inspired by artificial intelligence in childhood and blossomed with his introduction to programming,     “When I was 10 years old my father was trying to learn programming, and following in his footsteps, I hand-typed a sample game program into the computer. From then on I fell in love with programming,” said Inoue.     In his home country of Japan, Inoue received his bachelor’s degree in economics. Although this field strays from artificial intelligence, “I enjoyed seeing how human behaviors are modeled in a mathematical manner,” he said. After graduating, Inoue was introduced to Natural Language Processing and went on to receive a master’s degree in the field from Nara Institute of Science and Technology in 2010. Just three years later, he earned his PhD in information science from Tohoku University. But Inoue wanted to gain research experience in the United States.     The value of working with those from diverse backgrounds is indispensable. Inoue says that “the AI Institute at Stony Brook is a great choice for me because it has researchers and students from diverse backgrounds, and its research vision matched with my vision of AI.”     While Stony Brook was enticing, Inoue’s decision was not so simple. With his family and wife back in Yamanashi, Japan, leaving them was a difficult decision, particularly in a pandemic. However, with the unwavering support from his family and the Institute, Inoue rests assured that he made the best decision as he embarks on his new research endeavors at Stony Brook.     Inoue has set his research focus toward machine learning applied to natural language processing and machine reading comprehension. He has tried to tackle disparities within machine intelligence to develop machines that can think and explain their own thinking.     “Some studies report that computers already have a reading comprehension ability almost equivalent to that of humans,” said Inoue. “The truth is that machines are not so strong because they cheat.”     Inoue has focused his research toward quantifying machines’ true level of reading comprehension. This extends itself to “explainable AI,” which is artificial intelligence that can explain its own thinking. Inoue’s work with AI faculty members and students has greatly advanced this work. With respect to his research in developing quantitative data, Inoue has been working closely with Niranjan Balasubramanian, assistant professor of Computer Science, and several graduate students. The group meets weekly to discuss their research progress. He is also working with Steven Skiena and his students to advance their research with explainable AI.     “All of these collaborations will make for better research and will make for a better contribution to the AI community,” added Inoue.     These two young scholars have brought a strong sense of vigor and energy to the Institute.     “Baojian is always the last person to leave the Computer Science building each night, while Naoya has started projects with multiple of our faculty,” said Professor Skiena.     Looking forward, Zhou and Inoue both say that they cannot wait to work in a more in-person, collaborative environment. The research collaborations conducted by both postdocs would have never been possible without the unwavering camaraderie and drive within the Institute. Zhou and Inoue anticipate a productive year in 2021, supplemented by collaboration and diligence.     — Alyssa Dey, Communications Assistant, Institute for AI-Driven Discovery and Innovation     Click here to read the full article

Resident Kisa King receives the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, administered by Pharmacist Ian Pak.     December 16, 2020     After caring for thousands of patients battling COVID-19, Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) has received the coronavirus vaccine and has begun vaccinating hospital workers at the highest risk of exposure. Kisa King, a resident in the Department of Emergency Medicine at SBUH, received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, administered by Ian Pak, a pharmacist at the Hospital.     “I am so excited and thankful to be a part of the solution,” said King. “Not only does this mean that I can continue delivering care to my patients, but it also means I am providing protection to my family, friends and community.”     Based on guidance from the New York State Department of Health, more than 250 personnel working in emergency rooms, critical care units and other high-risk hospital units are scheduled to receive the vaccine at SBUH by the end of the day. The vaccine administration will be staggered in such a way as to ensure staff have the ability to continue providing necessary patient care. Stony Brook Medicine expects to receive additional doses of vaccine in the coming weeks.     This major milestone comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization for a vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 in individuals 16 years of age and older. The emergency use authorization allows the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to be distributed in the U.S. The vaccine has been found to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing COVID-19 after two doses.     Click here to read the original article 

September 21, 2020             The following was written by Stony Brook School of Journalism alumna Taylor Ha ’18. Taylor is currently a staff writer for the Marketing and Communications Department at Fordham University.      When I accepted my first full-time job, I felt like I had betrayed my original dream. I’d graduated as the co-valedictorian of Stony Brook University’s School of Journalism, but I wasn’t about to begin a nationally renowned fellowship, nor a job as a local reporter for a newspaper. Instead, I would become a staff writer for the Marketing and Communications Department at Fordham University.     After I graduated and moved back into my childhood home, I applied to more than 100 entry-level jobs. I never heard back from most of them. In July, I landed an interview at Forbes’ Jersey City office. Two editors were looking for a reporter in diversity and inclusion, and they were impressed by my senior capstone project on the lack of teacher diversity on Long Island. But there was another job that had caught my eye. It was the job at Fordham. The school was looking for someone with strong writing skills, good news judgment, experience with SLR cameras, a commitment to accuracy and the ability to meet deadlines. The job required weekly travel between Manhattan and the Bronx, but I was thrilled. (I prefer public transportation to driving because the latter makes me anxious.) If I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve thought the job application at Fordham was for any newsroom I’d visited on a Professional Fridays trip.     Ten days after I applied, a Fordham editor emailed me and asked if I could come in for an interview. And ten days after that, I was officially hired.     I took the job for several reasons. I was wooed by the starting salary, $65,000 — much more than I had expected as a recent college graduate in the writing field. I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to drive around unfamiliar towns and cities, like a traditional reporter does. But most of all, I was happy I could continue doing what I love most: telling people’s stories with a pen, notebook and camera, as I had done for the past four years.     Since August 2018, I’ve told more than 160 stories. I’ve spoken with a silver-haired rabbi and a young Palestinian activist who share an unlikely friendship. I met the first living Iraq War veteran to receive the national Medal of Honor. I’ve penned obituaries for a Fordham freshman who passed away after a severe asthma attack and a man who mentored Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists. More recently, I independently shot and produced a video profile on an Irish step dancer, which won a university-wide award, and moderated a Q&A on achieving antiracism at Fordham. I’ve accomplished more than I thought I could ever achieve as a writer for a private university.     Being a reporter for a newspaper or TV station is wonderful and rewarding. But time has taught me that you can find that joy at other places, too. There are hundreds of opportunities outside traditional newsrooms. (FYI: If you work at a university, you can earn a tuition-free master’s degree from your employer, the way I did.)     Two summers ago, Forbes turned me down. Now I think of it as a blessing in disguise. I still interview people, document their stories, and share them with the world. It’s a smaller world, but a vibrant world nonetheless.         Click here to read the original article

August 5, 2020 Stony Brook University is among the top 100 universities in the world for reducing inequalities in higher education based on the Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings 2020 — ranking #1 among all U.S. institutions and #27 worldwide. The Impact Rankings show which universities are successfully reducing inequalities in higher education for first generation students or students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.     Campus fall 19The ranking is based on how universities around the world are committing to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a global call to action to tackle poverty, climate change and inequality. SDG 10 covers reducing inequalities.      According to Times Higher Education, some of the metrics that helped to measure which universities were excelling at reducing inequalities were:     - The number of first generation students - The number of students from developing countries - The proportion of students and staff with disabilities - The measures against discrimination - The amount of research a university undertakes on reduced inequalities     More information on the methodology can be found here.     Click here to read the original article

July 29, 2020     For the third time in his career, Joel Hurowitz, assistant professor in the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook University, is going to Mars — well, kind of. “I have invested my professional life in this series of missions. This mission feels like the culmination of the last 14 years of my life. It is definitely a capstone or a mid-career milestone, if you will,” he says.     Hurowitz got involved with the Mars Exploration Rover mission in 2004 when he was a graduate student at Stony Brook University. Following that, he went to work at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and worked on the Mars Science Laboratory, or Curiosity, rover mission. Now, however, he has reached a professional milestone with the latest rover mission, Perseverance.     After joining the faculty at Stony Brook in 2013, Hurowitz was invited to serve as deputy principal investigator of a JPL-led team that was proposing to fly a new instrument to Mars as part of the science payload on the Perseverance rover. That instrument, called “PIXL” (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry), was selected by NASA on July 31, 2014, and Hurowitz set to work as part of the team that was tasked with building, testing and perfecting the PIXL instrument. The PIXL instrument is attached to the end of the arm of the rover and is designed to examine the chemical makeup of rocks on Mars.     The purpose of his segment of this mission is to seek signs and possibly confirmation of ancient, fossilized microbial life in Martian rocks using the rover science instruments, including PIXL. Once such evidence is established, rock samples will be collected via a drill and set aside in a “cache” during the time Perseverance will be roving the surface of the planet.     “We have established that there was water on Mars, so now we have this opportunity to look at the bigger picture. This chemical information allows us to understand what the environment on Mars was like billions of years ago when the rocks formed, and this chemical information also allows us to understand whether microbial life may have played a role in forming or modifying those rocks,” Hurowitz says.     Although, he says, the exploration of Mars won’t be over with this mission. If the samples are deemed interesting by the greater science community, they will be brought back to Earth via a series of follow-up missions.     Perseverance is set to launch on Thursday, July 30, at 7:46 am. According to NASA, it will be at a point when Earth and Mars are in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars. The Rover is scheduled to land on Mars on February 18, 2020. The mission is set to last for 2.5 Earth years, equating to 1.25 years on the Red Planet.     Click here to read the original article