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BOROUGH PRESIDENT CUTS RIBBON AT OPENING OF POLY BUSINESS INCUBATOR
On October 1, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz spoke at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Polytechnic’s Brooklyn Enterprise for Science and Technology (BEST). The incubator will integrate business, research and education with the goal of strengthening Brooklyn’s local economy. “This enterprise will train Polytechnic faculty and students, helping them grow their businesses,” said Markowitz. “Now when students graduate, they won’t have to leave Brooklyn in search of information technology, biotechnology or nanotechnology jobs. Rather, they will be able to find employment in Brooklyn’s own budding technology industry and play a critical role in its development. “Brooklyn is the ultimate incubator of ideas,” continued Markowitz. “Brooklyn today represents what American will look like tomorrow. Brooklyn is the future, so it only makes sense that innovative technology is developed here.” The BEST incubator was established with funding from the Small Business Administration, secured by VP Richard Thorsen, working with Congressman Edolphus Towns. The incubator will be managed by Associate Provost Kalle Levon. It is located in the lower level of Rogers Hall, RH 020. Yolanda Codrington is the office manager. She can be reached at ext. 3581 and ycodring@poly.edu.
HYDROGEN BOMB DESIGNER RICHARD GARWIN TO DISCUSS SPACE WEAPONS
Garwin's lecture is titled “Space Weapons: Good for Us or Bad?” He began his work with nuclear weapons technology in 1950 and has been cientific adviser to several U.S. presidents. In 1996, he received the Enrico Fermi Award and, in 2003, the National Medal of Science. He served on the Scientific Advisory Group to the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff and the 1998 Rumsfeld Commission to assess the ballistic missile threat to the United States. He has written extensively about missile defense; his latest book is Megawatts and Megatons: The Future of Nuclear Power and Nuclear Weapons. To
learn more about Garwin’s views, click on the following links:
WEB SERVICES NOW UNDER LIBRARY Poly’s Web Services, which manages Poly’s website, is now under the administration of Jana Richman, director of library services. “Our first generation web product was outstanding, and the Web Team made terrific accomplishments. We owe a debt of gratitude to Jim St. Lawrence, Chris Hayes and other members of the team,” said Provost Bud Griffis in a statement announcing the restructuring. “However, by having the Web Team report directly to me, they did not receive the attention from me that our important website deserved.” The new Web Team consists of three full-time employees: web designer Sue Yuen Beh and systems administrators Randy Sofia and Michal Kiezik. Jim St. Lawrence has left the University. Chris Hayes will continue to work on a video project begun last year—a history of Poly to be used during the sesquicentennial year. Beh can be reached at ext. 3952 and sbeh@poly.edu; Sofia at ext. 3086 and rsofia@poly.edu; and Kiezik at ext. 4049 and mkiezik@poly.edu. Richman and her new Web Team are charged with implementing a new design of the website that will incorporate the branding initiative, as well as maintaining the timeliness and accuracy of the site’s many pages. A Web Steering Committee, chaired by Richman and comprising faculty and staff, has been created to dictate the direction of the redesign and to work with administration, academic departments and other constituencies to make sure their needs are met.
VICE PRESIDENTS DISCUSS ENROLLMENT AND BUDGET AT TOWN HALL Enrollment and the budget were the main topics at the Town Hall meeting “I can safely say, we have a balanced budget [for fall enrollment],” said Provost and VP Bud Griffis. “We beat our estimates by 58 undergraduates and 37 graduate students. Although the numbers are not official, it looks historic.” The bad news, Griffis continued, “is we’re down in new [undergraduate] students over last year. The good news is retention is up.” He credited the increase in retention to a cultural change to more customer service and more leadership. The Honors College had 96-percent retention; 24 of the 25 students in the inaugural class are now sophomores, and 33 students enrolled this fall as freshmen. The new General Studies program admitted 22 students. Speaking about the University’s goal to balance its budget by end of fiscal year 2004, VP T.C. Westcott said Poly will be “reasonably successful in achieving its goals.” She said that although the University had budgeted for a $1.5 million deficit for FY 2003, it became $2.5 million by the close of the fiscal year, due to, explained Westcott, “items that had already been committed to the budget.” The contract with Lackmann Culinary Services has been renewed to June 30, 2005. Wescott said that Lackmann has made a concerted effort to reduce its prices, and a Food Service Committee has been restarted. Westcott praised staff in Financial Services for their hard work in customer support. She also announced that student financial services work groups are being formed (comprising staff and students) to further improve service. On the topic of employee health care, Wescott said the University is working with Oxford to negotiate its renewal costs (Oxford wants to raise the renewal 30 percent higher than last year). This may mean higher co-pays for office visits and a three-tier prescription cost. Right now, Poly pays 89 percent of employees’ health care, with employees paying the rest. The University has also sought quotes from Aetna and a local company called Horizon. VP Richard Thorsen discussed the ongoing sesquicentennial festivities, explaining they will provide a platform to launch Poly’s new branding campaign, which can be seen on posters displayed throughout campus and on a new website, www.poly.edu/polythinking. Many of the alumni featured on the posters will be invited to give talks at Poly over the course of the anniversary year. The next step of the branding campaign, said Thorsen, is to find resources, through fundraising, to launch it externally. Thorsen also announced that the University has received $2.5 million from the Kleiner family to endow a chair in mechanical engineering. (Eugene Kleiner, who died in November 2003, was a Poly alumnus who co-founded Fairchild Semiconductor and the venture-capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. A full obituary can be found in the winter 2004 issue of Cable, available online.)
Questions asked during the meeting: Why
is retention better? What
are the guidelines for using the name Brooklyn Poly in connection
with branding? “Please be conscious of the budget,” were Westcott’s closing directive as the meeting ended.
On Thursday, October 7, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., in JB 358, the Counseling Center is offering free, confidential screening interviews to assess depression. All Poly students, faculty and staff are eligible to participate in this National Depression Screening Day event. Interested participants can complete a brief questionnaire that assesses symptoms of depression. A Counseling Center psychologist will provide feedback about depression and discuss ways of coping, methods of treatment, and places to obtain help (on- and off-campus). Poly community members may also stop by to ask questions or to obtain brochures about depression and related concerns. Participants who prefer to complete an anonymous online screening can visit the Ulifeline website, then use the Self E-valuator. Participants may print out the feedback sheet generated by this software and bring it to the Counseling Center to get assistance. For more information, contact the Counseling Center at ext. 3456.
Want to learn the four basic strokes, improve your technique or just get in shape? Poly Athletics has established a Swim Club for faculty, staff and students. Members will work out in the pool at St. Francis College (180 Remsen Street, off Court Street). Interested swimmers can sign up for the club at noon on Wednesday, October 13, in the Gymnasium Skybox (2nd floor of JAB). For more information, contact Maureen Braziel at ext. 3458 or mbraziel@poly.edu. Like to swim solo? You can still swim at the St. Francis pool without joining the Poly club. Bring your own lock and be sure to have your ID card with you. St. Francis
College pool hours:
CALLING ALL SHUTTERBUGS: POLY PHOTO CONTEST
You can submit your photo either in digital or hard copy form. Either e-mail your photo to PolyPhotoClub@aol.com (Subject: photo contest), or enclose it in a designated envelope and take it to the mailroom. Designated envelopes are available in the Kane Dinning Room (near the utensils station), the Student Cultural Center on the lower level of Rogers Hall and the Student Leadership Center in JB 158. Deadline for submissions is October 15 for mailed entries; October 17 for e-mail entries. For questions, contact Peter Drys at pdrys01@utopia.poly.edu or Yabei (Betty) Liu at yliu11@utopia.poly.edu. The contest is co-sponsored by the Programming Advisory Board.
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PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS HUMANITIES
AND SOCIAL SCIENCES INTRODUCTORY
DESIGN AND SCIENCE PACKARD
CENTER
Computer and Information Science has received two news grant, totaling more than $1M, from the National Science Foundation to support its research and education programs in computer security. The first, a three-year, $750,000 award, will fund the design and implementation of a network forensics system to capture and mine data traffic in computer networks. Principal investigator is Nasir Memon, who—with co-PI’s Hervé Brönnimann and Joel Wein—will collaborate on the grant with colleagues from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Memon is also the principal investigator of the second award, a two-year $275,000 grant to fund the development of a Virtual Network Security Laboratory, which will allow students from other institutions to remotely conduct experiments on information assurance over the Internet. Co-principal investigators are Phyllis Frankl and Gleb Naumovich. Other recent grants include the following from Electrical and Computer Engineering: Elza
Erkip and Yao Wang, “Cooperative
Source and Channel Coding,” National Science Foundation, $350,000
The following positions are currently open:
I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability. Poet, playwright and wit Oscar Wilde, born in Dublin, Ireland, on October 16, 1854 Quaker William
Penn establishes colony in New World; plans to call it “New
Wales” or “Sylvania,” but King Charles II suggests
“Pennsylvania” (1682) . . . Henry Dunant establishes
International Committee for Relief to the Wounded (precursor to
International Red Cross) in Geneva, Switzerland (1863) . . . 15th
and last Tokugawa Shogun resigns in Japan (1867) . . . 25,000 women
march in NYC, demanding right to vote (1915) . . . Republic of Turkey
is proclaimed (1923) . . . "Black Tuesday," Stock Market
crash triggers Great Depression (1929) . . . Chuck Yeager in Bell
XS-1 makes first supersonic flight (1947) . . . first video recording
on magnetic tape televised coast-to-coast (1956) . . . Cassius Clay
(aka Muhammad Ali) beats Tunney Hunsaker in six rounds in first
professional fight (1960) . . . Debbie Boone’s “You
Light Up My Life,” #1 on pop charts (1977) . . . Clarence
Thomas confirmed as Supreme Court Justice by vote 52-48 (1991) |
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Borough president cuts ribbon at opening of Poly business incubator
