Media Coverage

Matz Calls Upon Silicon Valley to Rein in Spread of Fake News

Dec 27, 2017

As seen in an Investor’s Business Daily op-ed, Charles Matz, associate professor of Architecture and Interior Design and Director of NYIT's Data Visualization, Entertainment, and Education Engineering, stresses the need for Silicon Valley giants such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google, to stop propagating misleading, inaccurate, and false news stories. Noting that the public's inability to distinguish between factual claims and fabrication poses a danger to society, Matz argues these companies have a responsibility to stop the spread of “fake news,” he states:

“These tech giants are far from struggling startups. They are some of the most profitable companies in the world and have become integral to the very fabric our lives. Given their vast influence, privileged positions and near-bottomless resources, they have an obligation to create a viable, cohesive strategy that stems the dissemination of false information.”

 

Cohn’s Research Cited in The National

Dec 23, 2017

The research of Associate Professor of Marketing Deborah Cohn, Ph.D., was part of an article in The National, a respected English-medium newspaper in the U.A.E. In “Science has discovered the rules of Christmas giving – and we break every one of them,” science journalist Robert Matthews discusses Cohn’s 2016 research paper on why people dislike receiving certain kinds of gifts.

In one example from Cohn’s research, a mother gave her adolescent daughter, for a Christmas gift, a pocket knife, a chocolate bar, and a card saying “Good luck in the wild.”

 

Dec 15, 2017

Mark Hampton, vice president for planning, analytics and decision support, and interim vice president for enrollment management, is quoted in Long Island Business News’ “A Worldly Degree,” (subscription required), which provides insight into how local colleges are fostering a global educational experience for students. In discussing NYIT’s model, he notes, “We pair what we offer with the campus site and the needs of the region.”

Hampton added that students who aren’t interested in traveling as a part of obtaining a degree can still benefit from NYIT’s diverse staff. “Students have a faculty that has these global perspectives,” he says, and highlights the depth and breadth of the institution’s alumni network that “has deep roots in the communities the college operates in.”

 

Cohn Joins The Conversation with Article about Unkind Gifts

Dec 15, 2017

Deborah Cohn, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing, published an article in The Conversation explaining her research into why people intentionally give bad gifts. The Conversation is an independent, nonprofit blog featuring news, analysis, and commentary written by academic experts for a wide audience. Cohn's article has been republished in more than 80 news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune.

Cohn explains the five categories of unsatisfactory gifts she uncovered through her research: confrontational, selfish, aggressive, obligatory, and competitive (and these categories can overlap). With each category, Cohn shared a real-life example, such as the mother-in-law who bought her childless daughter-in-law a pregnancy test as a Christmas present, and the woman who bought her husband birthday presents she knew he would return to the store.

 

The Hill Publishes Haar Op-ed Addressing The Food Industry and Nutrition Information

Dec 14, 2017

In an op-ed published by The Hill, Mindy Haar, Ph.D., RDN, associate dean of undergraduate affairs, School of Health Professions, argues that Americans can no longer afford the food industry's continual efforts to delay FDA regulations for improved nutrition information labels and menu boards.

“The obesity epidemic is taking a major toll on our waistlines -- and our wallets,” says Haar.

Obesity puts people at greater risk for many diseases, including diabetes, cancer, stroke, and heart disease. These illnesses, in total, kill nearly 1.6 million Americans every year, and cost the nation almost $700 billion. While many believe the solution to the obesity crisis is simply to eat healthier, Haar maintains that combatting the epidemic will require federal lawmakers to enact two proposed regulations that would require food manufacturers and chain restaurants to be more transparent about calorie counts and nutrition information.

“The obesity epidemic will only worsen -- sickening Americans and bankrupting the healthcare system -- if regulators continue to cave to the food industry. It's time for restaurants and manufacturers to tell Americans what's really in their food,” she concludes.

 

NYIT-Hosted Infrastructure Workshop Cited in InnovateLI

Dec 13, 2017

InnovateLI reported on the National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop organized by faculty in the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences and the School of Architecture and Design. The notice mentions the need for increasing resiliency and sustainability in systems that provide food, energy, and water, especially in cities. The event gathered experts in various areas related to urban critical infrastructure.

 

Dec 13, 2017

In the New York Times article, “Tending Haiti’s Dead: Everybody Needs Someone to Bury Them,” NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYITCOM) alum, Rev. Richard Frechette (D.O. ’98), is featured among the inspiring volunteers providing medical relief and dignified burials to victims.

The article details Frechette's accounts of caring for victims during times of violent political upheaval, as well as his decision to pursue a medical degree at the age of 40. His choice to become a physician came while establishing a Christian orphanage in the early 1990s, during which time Frechette noted a remarkable lack of available medical supplies and healthcare providers for sick and injured children. “I couldn’t find anyone to treat them. We couldn’t find gauze. I swore I wouldn’t be in that situation again,” he states.

 

Beheshti Quoted in Gizmodo on History and Impacts of Wireless Tech

Dec 12, 2017

Gizmodo recently quoted Babak Beheshti, Ph.D., associate dean of the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, in an article regarding the history and advancement of wireless technology. In the article, Beheshti who helped to develop 3G technology, comments on the social consequences of 4G wireless technology:

“With 3G, for the first time you had a larger bandwidth and reasonable data rates to support meaningful experiences for the user, the idea that internet access would become possible arrived with 3G. With 4G, we’re looking at data rates up to 100 mbps, already a 30-fold increase over 3G, and a much more integrated web. In terms of impact to consumers and to society, we have become much more tethered to our work and the outside world by having constant internet connectivity.”

 

Hampton Op-ed Publishes in Washington Post Blog

Dec 12, 2017

College administrators could use existing data to identify at-risk students to intervene and help them stay in school, according to Mark C. Hampton, vice president for planning, analytics, and decision support, in an op-ed published by Grade Point, an education blog of The Washington Post. Imagine the insights colleges could glean from a broad array of data that could help identify struggling students before they drop out, he writes.  

Some might worry about colleges collecting and analyzing these kinds of data about students, but they already give information about their social activities and locations to companies like Facebook and Google -- which sell that data for a profit. Colleges and universities could promise to only collect data that has a tangible connection to students' academic and social success, he suggests.

Formalizing standards in a code of ethics would make students comfortable with increased data collection and make colleges accountable for the appropriate use of these data. “Private companies and non-profit organizations already employ Big Data to drive sales and predict consumer behavior. It's about time colleges apply these same technologies to help students stay in school and reach their full potential,” Hampton concludes.

 

Dec 06, 2017

The new NYIT cybersecurity lab in Harry J. Schure Hall received media attention in The Island Now, an online news source affiliated with several Long Island newspapers, including The Roslyn Times and The Manhasset Press. In the article, Nada Anid, Ph.D., dean, School of Engineering and Computing Sciences, discusses the ways in which this new facility will prepare future cybersecurity professionals to combat threats. Anid emphasizes the need for a strong supply of workers within this field, as threats are invisible and can affect a wide range of users, stating:

“It’s ubiquitous. It can affect private individual users and it can affect entire institutions. We heard about breaches to the Pentagon and Sony and Yahoo and Uber. Every month we hear about a new breach. These are all very costly attacks to our institutions, whether they’re government or a corporation. It’s a threat that is hidden and we can’t see.”