New Books Authored by Faculty and Alumni

Six New York Tech faculty and alumni have recently published new works chronicling their unique insights, expertise, and experiences and addressing topics ranging from the future of urban landscapes to staying faithful during challenging times.

Michael Foti (D.O. ’19)
Grief: A Doctor’s Battle with Anxiety and Depression

Being a medical professional is not easy. In Foti’s memoir, the physician recounts the dark days of working in the healthcare field as COVID-19 ravaged the world’s population. As he exposes the often-overlooked mental health struggles of healthcare workers, his book offers hope and guidance to readers who may be struggling with their own cases of anxiety and depression.

Farzana Gandhi, M.Arch., Associate Professor, Architecture
“Integrating Soft Infrastructure in Design to Build Community Resilience in Puerto Rico,” Beyond Houses: Architectural Thinking and Practice for Climate, Disaster and Forced Displacement Crises

Part of The Urban Book Series, Beyond Houses contains a 16-page chapter Gandhi authored to shed light on Puerto Rico’s threatened access to social capital, community competence, information and communication, and economic development. These indicators of a community’s resilience in response to disasters are currently jeopardized by corrupt political and economic practices. In her chapter, Gandhi details her fieldwork, in parallel with collaborative case-study research, examining alternative models for disaster design response.

Mark Gugliotti, D.P.T., Associate Professor, Physical Therapy
Makofsky’s Spinal Manual Therapy: An Introduction to Soft Tissue Mobilization, Spinal Manipulation, Therapeutic and Home Exercises, Third Edition

In this fully revised edition of physical therapist Howard Makofsky’s clinical techniques manual, Gugliotti lends his expertise to guiding readers through therapeutic spine, pelvis, and temporomandibular joint movements. The textbook emphasizes the process of “thinking as a manual therapist,” rather than functioning as a technician, providing clinically useful treatment techniques while being mindful of the scientific literature related to the practice of spinal manual therapy.

Leila Hayes (M.S. ’05)
Courage for Today and Hope for Tomorrow: Surviving Three Strokes

In 2016, Hayes suffered a stroke. Consequently, in the following months, she experienced an onslaught of health challenges. Though shaken, she remained strong in her faith and will to persevere. In this new personal narrative, Hayes shares her experiences so readers may benefit from and find inspiration in her journey from hospital to health.

Alessandro Melis, Ph.D., Professor, Architecture; Director, M.S. Programs, Architecture
Architectural Exaptation: When Function Follows Form

Winner of the Gerd Albers Award 2024 for best book contribution in the field of urban planning, for his latest book, Melis collaborates with experts from Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand and the University of Padua in Italy to define the significance of and the originality of the study of exaptation (biologically: a trait’s shift in function during evolution). The textbook recasts the definition of exaptation to mean a functional shift of a structure that already had a prior but different function, and it offers readers different manners of thinking about current and future architectural designs.

Evan Shieh, M.AUD., Teaching Assistant Professor, Architecture
Autonomous Urbanism: Towards a New Transitopia

With autonomous vehicles (AVs) appearing on American roads, the next technological disruption to mobility systems is already upon us. In his new book, Shieh argues that AVs offer a critical opportunity to reevaluate cities’ built environments, but not without profound implications on urban life. While Shieh examines AVs’ negative effects on auto-based urbanism, he also proposes a driverless mobility paradigm shift that moves cities toward automated mass transit and mobility-as-a-service.

To read these faculty and alumni’s latest publications, check New York Tech’s library for available copies.