Dr. Ross-Lee on Graduate Medical Education in The DO

Aug 29, 2014

"The fact that there is inadequate accountability and transparency creates an environment in which the Graduate Medical Education (GME) system is not aligned with the direction that American healthcare is going," says Vice President for Health Sciences and Medical Affairs Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee in an interview with The DO, the official magazine of the American Osteopathic Association.

Ross-Lee was the sole DO on an 18-member Institute of Medicine committee that released a special report on graduate medical education. The report called for freezing Medicare's $14 million GME support and using some existing funds to establish innovative programs that better reflect the culture and health demographics of communities.

"We need to establish residency programs in communities and develop incentives for students to stay in these communities and to go into the generalist disciplines of family medicine, pediatrics, and general internal medicine," says Ross-Lee.

Ross-Lee notes that osteopathic collaboratives now in place, which offer residents multiple locations to serve in institutions beyond large teaching hospitals, are a model for graduate medical education.

"I remember somebody on the committee saying, 'The DOs are doing what we're tryig to get the rest of the system to do.'" says Ross-Lee.

 

Dr. Hadjiargyrou on Race in Live Science

Aug 29, 2014

"...data show that the DNA of any two human beings is 99.9 percent identical, and we all share the same set of genes, scientifically validating the existence of a single biological human race and one origin for all human beings," writes Life Sciences Chair Dr. Michael Hadjiargyrou in an op-ed posted on livescience.com. "In short, we are all brothers and sisters."

Hadjiargyrou says the notion of separate races is a social, rather than scientific, concept.

"Over centuries, people have used the word to divide us into black, white, yellow, red, and other distinctions in order to fulfill selfish goals and objectives," he writes. "Whether those goals were to subjugate various groups of humans, deem them inferior or simply discriminate against them, the reality is that billions of people have been directly affected as a result of the misuse of the word race. The end result, in its extreme form, has led to a plethora of existential crises such as segregation, slavery, violence, wars and genocides."

Hadjiargyrou says "society must be relentless" in eliminating the word "race,"

"We must all realize that the faster we eliminate the use of the word that drives a wedge between people, the better our world will be: More peaceful and prosperous and with equality and mutual respect"

 

Stan Silverman on Online Courses

Aug 24, 2014

Stan Silverman, director of NYIT's Technology Based Learning Systems, sounded a cautionary note in a Newsday story (subscription required) about the development and content of online courses at local universities.

"In looking at the landscape of online education, in bigger institutions they are hiring course designers to build the courses and then handing them off to faculty who teach off those courses," Silverman said in the article.

At NYIT, where the number of online courses has grown from 133 in 2008 to 178 last spring, Silverman said faculty members develop the content and design their own online and blended courses.

 

Newsday Reports on NYIT's National Science Foundation Grant

Aug 21, 2014

"With the help of this grant, nanotechnology, advanced materials science, and the microfabrication of labs-on-a-chip, implantable or wearable devices and sensors, are going to be integrated in the programs and engineering courses we offer," School of Engineering and Computing Sciences Dean Nada Marie Anid said in a Newsday article (subscription required) about NYIT's $230,000 National Science Foundation grant.

The NSF grant will support the purchase of a sputtering system -- a special piece of equipment that allows NYIT researchers to develop and study wearable or implanted mini-sensors that measure a patient's health. 

NYIT will build a clean room -- the first in Nassau County -- to house the system in Harry Schure Hall. Other universities, including Farmingdale State College and Stony Brook University, as well as local companies, will collaborate on projects that use the new facility.

 

Bloom on New York City Public Housing Woes

Aug 12, 2014

NYIT Associate Professor Nicholas Bloom, an expert in public housing, spoke to the New York Times about the severe economic and physical problems plaguing the New York City Housing Authority, which operates 2,600 buildings housing more than 400,000 people.

Federal funding for NYCHA has decreased dramatically in recent years, yet many buildings are in desperate need of major renovation to roofs, plumbing and heating, systems, and facades. Conditions are so poor that some buildings' equipment is at or beyond the end of its life.

“Basically,” said Bloom, "it’s a 1950s automobile that New York City is still driving. It’s like Cuba.”

Bloom is author of Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century.

 

SoECS Dean Anid Promotes STEM

Aug 01, 2014

"The message is this: This is what you can accomplish. You can do it. It doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl. Science and engineering are gender-neutral," says NYIT Dean of the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences Nada Marie Anid, Ph.D. in a Long Island Business News article about encouraging younger students -- especially girls -- to pursue STEM careers.

NYIT's undergraduate female enrollment in engineering and computer sciences increased by 50% between fall 2010 and fall 2013, whle graduate female enrollment more than doubled.

"It's very important that younger students in high school and middle school identify with STEM careers," says Anid.

 

Enrollment VP Ron Maggiore on Keeping SATs in the Admissions Mix

Aug 01, 2014

"I have been in higher education for 30 years, and the conversation about SATs is at least that old," says NYIT Vice President for Enrollment Ronald Maggiore in a Long Island Business News article about test-optional admissions (subscription required).

Maggiore believes SAT scores should be among the mix of requirements in the college admissions process.

"The more information you have about students, the better decision you can make," he says.

NYIT requires varying SAT scores, depending on the field of study.

"Our admission criteria is established so that the student has a reasonable chance of success in a particular program," says Maggiore.

 

President Guiliano on Going Global

Aug 01, 2014

"The world has changed tremendously in education and otherwise," NYIT President Edward Guiliano, Ph.D., says in a Long Island Business News article about global education (subscription required). "Business, research, environmental issues -- they all have become global. Cultural fluency will be required to solve problems in the coming years, and our goal is to graduate global citizens."

The courses and curricula at NYIT campuses in Abu Dhabia, Nanjing, and Vancouver are the same as what is offered at NYIT's New York campuses.

"We assess students the same way, and our faculty can teach in multiple locations," Guiliano said.

Guiliano also discussed the growth of NYIT's dual-degree programs and global network.

"We have students on our New York campuses from about 100 countries," he said. "Having a global network of alumni, students, and faculty is an important part of being a global university."

 

Oren Shtayermman on Suicidal Thoughts and Autism

Jul 31, 2014

"As they become adolescents, they become more and more ostracized from their peer groups," says School of Health Professions Associate Professor Oren Shtayermann, Ph.D., in a Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative article, referring to autistic teenagers' risk of suicide. "They become more and more isolated from society."

The article, "Suicidal Thoughts Alarmingly Common in People with Autism," explores recent studies that concluded that adolescents and adults with autism, including those with Asperger syndrome, often feel suicidal, although it may be difficult for caregivers to recognize.

The SFARI article mentions Shtayermann's 2007 study in Issues in Comprehensive Pediatric Nursing. The study showed that five of ten adolescents with Asperger syndrome answered questions about suicidal thoughts that resulted in scores indicating they had a high risk for suicide.

Adolescents with autism have difficult experiences with the social and emotional turmoil common in the teenage years, he says in the SFARI article. 

 

SoECS Dean Anid's Work Celebrated in Online Feature

Jul 30, 2014

"Science and engineering don't have a gender, yet women are underrepresented in many STEM programs and professional fields," says NYIT School of Engineering and Computing Sciences Dean Nada Marie Anid, Ph.D., in "Celebrating Women in Higher Education" on Gradschools.com. "I am committed to helping change this."

Anid was among several "inspirational females" profiled in an article designed to highlight their achievements in helping other women achieve professional success and leadership positions in the academic world.

"NYIT works tirelessly to provide high-quality education and experiential learning opportunities for our undergraduate and graduate engineering students, but also extends that to help instill a passion for STEM among K-12 students, especially girls and young women," Anid says. "I am invested in helping them experience the thrill of discovery through science, and in changing the face of engineering from nerdy to cool and fun."

NYIT Assistant Professor Ziqian "Cecilia" Dong noted that women need role models to "serve as examples of what they can do for this world," and she praised Anid's efforts to expose young girls to STEM fields.