Students Display Creativity, Scholarship, and Research at SOURCE

More than 120 students and 40 presentations were featured at NYIT’s 13th annual Symposium on University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE). Held on April 15 at 16 W. 61st St., the event welcomed students from the Manhattan, Old Westbury, and Nanjing campuses as they presented their creative, scholarly, and research efforts to members of the NYIT community. Topics included breast cancer screening, Big Data to improve mass transit, 3-D-printed models that assist with DNA microarray research, virtual reality documentary filmmaking, and many more.

The keynote speaker, Ahna Skop, associate professor of genetics and life sciences communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, described how art and science often blend to further developments in robotics, pharmaceuticals, cellular research, and other fields. Following her presentation, faculty members Kevin LaGrandeur, Terry Nauheim, Ana Petrovic, and Mathew Ford joined her to discuss how they each incorporate cross-disciplinary experiences that merge art and science into their NYIT coursework.

Following the presentations, President Edward Guiliano, Ph.D., awarded certificates to each participant and discussed how SOURCE helps build critical thinking skills, creativity, a collaborative mindset, problem-solving skills, and intellectual independence.

“Synthesizing knowledge and offering critical analysis is more vital than ever in an age where the sum of all human knowledge is often at our fingertips,” he said. “Being able to sift, decipher, and process oceans of digital data—and then present your findings in a manner suitable for public consumption—is what you cultivate through events like SOURCE.”