Professor Lends Expertise to Quikly

May 09, 2023

Colleen Kirk, D.P.S., associate professor of management and marketing studies, shared her expertise in an article by the marketing news site Quikly. Kirk, who researches psychological ownership in consumers (when shoppers feel a product or brand is "theirs"), explains how this phenomenon can impact brands.

“In my research, my colleagues and I have shown that consumers can become very defensive when they feel ownership of a product. A classic example was when Tropicana tried to remove consumers’ beloved straw and orange from their packaging in 2009,” said Kirk. “Consumers at the time had grown up with the straw and orange on their breakfast table — they had a strong sense of intimate knowledge and ownership. They rebelled, and within six weeks, Tropicana had to scrap their repackaging efforts.”

 

Outlets Feature Rajnarayanan's COVID-19 Insight

May 09, 2023

Several prominent outlets, including WebMD, Salon, and Fortune, featured insight from Rajendram Rajnarayanan, Ph.D., assistant dean of research and associate professor at NYITCOM-Arkansas, regarding the end of the federal COVID-19 public health emergency and the potential of future pandemics. Rajnarayanan, who maintains a coronavirus variant tracker tells Salon, "Trying to paint COVID as endemic flu will have serious consequences in the long run. We will feel workforce issues soon and long COVID might hurt our healthcare system country-wide. That could really be the next big impact of the pandemic."

 

Cancer Biologist Quoted in PatientPower

May 05, 2023

Breast cancer researcher Dong Zhang, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical sciences at NYITCOM, is quoted in PatientPower, a news site dedicated to sharing information with cancer patients and survivors. Zhang, who researches targeted drug therapies for breast and ovarian cancers, explains that breast cancer treatment is typically tailored to the patient, with targeted therapy often used when a patient has a specific gene mutation coding for proteins that help tumors to grow and spread. Therapies work by interfering with these proteins. 

“When a patient is diagnosed with breast cancer, oncologists would then recommend sequencing the genome of the breast cancer to determine if one or more breast cancer susceptibility genes are mutated in this patient,” says Zhang. “Knowing the mutation profile of breast cancer can be very informative in selecting the most appropriate treatment strategy.”

 

Psychology Research Featured In the Media

Apr 28, 2023

On the heels of Mental Health Awareness Month (May), insight from Melissa Huey, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, is featured in several online news articles by MedicalXpress and others. The coverage highlights Huey’s recent research findings, which discovered that college students’ mindfulness, anxiety, and course comprehension were negatively affected when smartphones were physically present in the classroom.

 

Newsday Taps Nizich for Cybersecurity Story

Apr 28, 2023

Michael Nizich, Ph.D., director of the ETIC and adjunct associate professor of computer science, lent his cybersecurity expertise to Newsday’s ongoing coverage of the Suffolk County ransomware attack. As the article notes, at the time of publishing, "a handful of services remain offline and Suffolk County's capital budget will be filed two weeks late as impacts of a cyberattack on the county's systems linger." This includes remote applications, such as those used for county title searches. Nizich explains that these types of applications are more vulnerable to attack by an outside entity because they do not reside inside the county's “trusted” computer base. For this reason, those systems must maintain the highest level of security because they allow outside access to county data. He said these services are typically in what is known as a demilitarized zone (DMZ), or a digital space where users can view and access county data while not being allowed to harm the network.

“Due to the complexity of these configurations, it's imperative that care be taken to properly install, configure, and, most of all, test the DMZ and all services that lie inside of it to assure that they are secure from all human and non-human threat agents,” Nizich said.

 

Kirk Quoted in WalletHub

Apr 26, 2023

Comments from marketing expert Colleen Kirk, D.P.S., associate professor in the School of Management, are featured in a WalletHub article about American Express credit cards and the strength of the American Express brand. In addition to providing insight on competitors' advertising, Kirk helps to answer the question, “How strong is the American Express brand today, relative to the past?”

“Brand equity, a financial measure of the value of a brand, is an intangible asset, and for some companies, brand equity can represent the largest asset the firm owns. According to Interbrand, a leading brand valuation company, although American Express remains a leading global brand, the brand has been slipping in the rankings in recent years. For example, whereas the firm was ranked 15th in 2002, it slipped to 27th in 2022,” says Kirk.

 

Concussion Study Featured in Newsday

Apr 21, 2023

Research by Milan Toma, Ph.D., biomedical engineer and assistant professor at NYITCOM, was featured in Newsday. Toma’s study found that helmets, including those used by football players, jockeys, motorcyclists, and bicyclists, are generally not enough protection from a "rapid hit," the type of impact that causes most concussions. In addition, rapid hits were more prevalent among those wearing padded helmets. While helmets are still essential to protect against head injuries and skull fractures, Toma’s findings suggest that the sudden movements and torque on the neck and head from a rapid hit cause the brain to rattle in the skull before protective spinal fluid can reset.

 

Local Media Cover Researcher's Prestigious Award

Apr 20, 2023

As seen in LongIsland.com, The Island360, and Patch, NYITCOM researcher Maria Alicia Carrillo Sepulveda, Ph.D., B.S.N., associate professor of biomedical sciences, has received the John F. Perkins Jr. Research Career Enhancement Award from the American Physiological Society. The award allows early-career researchers to obtain special training or an established researcher to develop new skills or retrain in areas of developing interest.

This year, Sepulveda, whose research focuses on vascular (blood vessel) biology and health, is one of only four researchers in the nation to receive this prestigious honor.

 

Nadler Quoted in U.S. News and World Report PFAS Story

Apr 20, 2023

A U.S. News and World Report article features environmental health insight from Research Assistant Professor David Nadler, Ph.D. The article discusses the potential health dangers of PFAS, which are commonly known as “forever chemicals,” and have been found in clothing, tap water, and home products. Nadler, who has conducted research on ways to safely break down PFAS, points out that the chemicals are often found with other pollutants and toxins, so it’s hard to solely blame PFAS for causing negative health effects.

“(PFAS) just might be one of the ingredients in the recipe of all of these other chemical mixtures that we're inhaling, or that may be in small quantities, in our water supply and with clothing, as well,” Nadler says. 

He also notes that the best way for consumers to find out whether they are exposed to PFAS through their tap water is to check the annual water quality report issued by their local government. “If you really look at it, you get to see everything that's been tested. You see the number of times a certain chemical came up higher than what, let's say, the state health department might allow.”

 

Medical Student Featured in Hometown Newspaper

Apr 18, 2023

Sylvia Marshall, a medical student from NYITCOM’s Class of 2023, was featured in the Staten Island Advance for securing an impressive ophthalmology residency at the University of Buffalo. In addition to highlighting Marshall’s residency placement, the article notes that the Staten Island native worked in the laboratory of Akinobu Watanabe, Ph.D., assistant professor of anatomy, where she assisted with his National Science Foundation-funded research on cranial birth defects and the 3-D imaging of eyes from human cadavers.