Salon Publishes Op-ed Advocating for More School Counselors

Jan 09, 2023

A Salon op-ed by School Counseling (M.S.) Assistant Professor Cameka Hazel, Ed.D., calls for expanded access to school counselors as a concrete strategy for improving youth mental health.

School counselors are trained to help K-12 students reach their goals by addressing academic, career development, emotional, and social challenges. Their skillset goes beyond assisting students with navigating classroom conflicts and college readiness; they also are trained to recognize mental health warning signs. And yet they remain all too uncommon, Hazel writes.

“If we're to have any hope of reversing the alarming youth mental-health deterioration, we must improve access to school counselors,” Hazel notes. Nationwide, all schools should be required to provide counseling services to students and maintain appropriate counselor-to-student ratios. At the state level, curriculum designers should incorporate social and emotional learning as standard practice for K-12 students.

 

Nizich Lends Expertise to Newsday Cybersecurity Story

Jan 06, 2023

Michael Nizich, Ph.D., director of the ETIC and adjunct associate professor of computer science, lent his cybersecurity expertise to Newsday’s continued coverage of the Suffolk County ransomware attack. In response to a recently released forensic report, Nizich notes that it’s not clear how investigators could know for sure if the county's health department data was stolen. However, he advises Suffolk County residents whose data may be on any of the identified servers to operate as if it’s been viewed by signing up for ID theft protection and blocking new credit signups through credit monitoring services.

 

Rajnarayanan Featured in XBB Subvariant Coverage

Jan 04, 2023

As seen in Salon, Boston Globe, CBC News, Forbes, New Atlas, and other media outlets, Raj Rajnarayanan, Ph.D., assistant dean of research and associate professor at NYITCOM-Arkansas, lends his biomedical insight to news stories about the new COVID-19 XBB subvariant. The subvariant has been found in around 70 countries and has caused COVID-19 case surges in places like Singapore and India during fall 2022.

Rajnarayanan tells Salon, “XBB is a different ballgame. With a recombinant, you get mutations that make it more evasive. And as we expected, [XBB.1.5] changed one small mutation, a V changed to a P at the 486 position. And that's it. All of a sudden, it binds to the host receptor better than most variants that we know so far.”

 

As Seen on News 12: Jarkon Shares Tips to Manage Holiday Stress

Dec 21, 2022

News 12 interviewed Psychiatrist Liat Jarkon, D.O., director of the Center for Behavioral Health, in a live segment about the importance of caring for mental health during the holiday season. While the holidays can bring out a range of emotions—from feeling anxious in social situations to the stress of hosting parties—Jarkon encourages viewers to let go of the need to strive for “holiday perfection.” She also urges people to continue self-care practices, be mindful of alcohol consumption, and manage feelings of “FOMO” (fear of missing out) brought on by social media.   

 

Haar Shares Kosher Diet Insight with Everyday Health

Dec 20, 2022

School of Health Professions Assistant Dean and Chair of Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Mindy Haar, Ph.D., is featured prominently in an Everyday Health article about the kosher diet. Throughout the article, Haar explains the factors used to determine whether food meets kosher guidelines, the laws of eating kosher, and kosher food preparation. She notes that there are two variables in determining whether a food is kosher: the source of the ingredients and the status of the production equipment. 

“Certification involves having an inspector come on regular, unannounced visits to verify that kosher ingredients and equipment are used, basic hygienic practices are followed, there’s been no cross-contamination between meat and dairy products, and that all produce is washed and free of insects and worms,” says Haar. She adds that you may also see food with the K symbol, meaning the manufacturer feels the food is kosher, but it has not been officially inspected.

 

Huey Interviewed for Healthline Story

Dec 19, 2022

Healthline featured comments from Melissa Huey, Ph.D., assistant professor of behavioral sciences, in an article regarding teens’ exposure to harmful social media content. Huey, whose research focuses on the psychological impact of technology, reacts to a recent study that finds harmful TikTok content can appear within minutes of creating an account. Researchers from the non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate set up TikTok accounts posing as 13-year-old users from the United States and several other countries. Within 2.6 minutes after joining, they were recommended content related to suicide, while eating disorder content was recommended within eight minutes.

In response, Huey calls upon social media companies to have greater accountability, noting that this harmful content is targeting teens at a time when they are “highly susceptible to peer influence.” She says, “Instead of pushing things that exacerbate an eating disorder, [social media platforms] should provide resources that help, like eating disorder or suicide prevention helplines.” Huey also reminds parents to get involved in and place limits on their child’s online activity.

 

Nizich Quoted in Communications of the ACM

Dec 15, 2022

Communications of the ACM quoted Michael Nizich, Ph.D., director of the ETIC and adjunct associate professor of computer science, in an article regarding Bluetooth security research. The findings, which were published by another university, suggest that more than 50 market-available Bluetooth devices, including smartphones, earbuds, and even hearing aids, could potentially be hacked to reveal the user's location. Nizich notes that securing Bluetooth technology, which was never designed to communicate secure data, will not be an easy task. 

“You can patch Bluetooth software on a device's operating system, but this newly found flaw in the general Bluetooth protocol will not be amenable to an easy fix while maintaining backward compatibility with existing devices,” he says. 

 

Health Careers Site Highlights Health Sciences Program

Dec 15, 2022

New York Tech’s Health Sciences program was featured in a blog article by the healthcare careers site Naturalhealers.com. The story, which features an interview with School of Health Professions Assistant Dean Mindy Haar, Ph.D., showcases how a health sciences education prepares students for many different healthcare careers by teaching foundational knowledge in the natural and behavioral sciences. It can also prepare students for graduate programs or careers in the areas of healthcare administration or sales.

“At the core of a health science degree are a whole list of health science courses, which we think is important knowledge for any area or career in health that one would go into,” says Haar, who also serves as the chairperson for the Department of Health Sciences. “[Employers] want people like that to work in hospitals as patient care coordinators and other administrative jobs.”

 

Parade Quotes Haar in Chocolate Cravings Story

Dec 15, 2022

Parade featured comments from registered dietitian Mindy Haar, Ph.D., School of Health Professions assistant dean, in a story about chocolate cravings. Haar explains that early humans viewed the desire for sugar and fat as beneficial—something that has evolved with us over time.

She says, “A sensitivity to sweet tastes allowed individuals to distinguish fruit that was at the peak of freshness and vitamin and mineral content. An enjoyment of fat propelled people to eat high-fat foods, which increased the chance of survival during periods of food scarcity.”

Similar coverage also appeared in Yahoo Life and other sites.

 

Gasti Shares Expertise for Password Security Story

Dec 12, 2022

The tech news outlet Lifewire featured comments from Paolo Gasti, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science, in an article about password security. Gasti, whose research helped to develop a system that uses machine learning to predict users’ passwords, explains the “science” behind creating strong passwords. He notes that a bad password is one that can be easily guessed. 

“The best way to choose a password is to pick a string of letters and numbers that is long and random,” says Gasti. For instance, a password like ‘NJvJpCnG96Wz’ is “virtually impossible” to guess, he notes. Unfortunately, it is also “virtually impossible to remember.” Instead, he recommends choosing from a list of random words.