Senior Robert Becker is only the 5th athlete in the history of the IC4A Championships to win the mile race three different times. Photo from Stony Brook Athletics
The Stony Brook University men’s track and field team finished day two of the IC4A Championships in ninth-place overall out of 42 teams on Sunday at Boston University.
Senior Robert Becker added another IC4A title to his collection as he became only the 5th athlete in the history of the IC4A Championships (101 years) to win the mile race three different times.
In 2020, Becker earned his first IC4A title with a final time of 4:02.45. Last season, the graduate student crossed the finish line at 4:01.67. At the championship race today, Becker earned his triple title after finishing at 4:02.18.
Also in the mile race was senior Aiden Smyth. Smyth finished right-behind Becker in third-place, as he crossed the finish line at 4:04.30.
Stony Brook had another student-athlete who created history for the program. Senior Shane Henderson became the first athlete to get under the 8:00 minute barrier in the 3000m, as the Connecticut native crossed the finish line at 7:59.30, giving himself the new program record.
Becker earned a first-place finish in the mile with his final time of 4:02.18, securing his third career IC4A win. The fastest pace Becker ran at was at the end of the race, as he tallied 29.19 and 27.52 to finish at 4:02.18.
Smyth avenged his 4:09.12 finish that earned him ninth-place overall last season at the IC4A Championships with the time of 4:04.30.
Senior Colin Ross earned a 19th-place finish in the 3000 meter by finishing at 8:18.92.
“We are really happy with how everyone competed today. It was a great performance by Becker and Henderson in their last indoor meet as Seawolves. Extremely proud of the way our guys performed,” said head coach Andy Ronan.
The Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team (2-2) secured its second consecutive victory within three days as it defeated Sacred Heart (0-4), 15-12, at Kenneth P. LaValle Stadium on Feb. 26. The Seawolves also defeated Air Force, 15-8, on the Island on Feb. 24.
Not only did graduate attacker Jonathan Huber record the first goal of the contest to give Stony Brook a 1-0 lead, but he also added two more goals throughout the game, tallying his 100th career goal with his second make. Huber found the back of the cage off an assist from graduate midfielder Matt Anderson to give the Seawolves a 12-7 lead with 2:36 left to play in the third quarter.
Senior attacker Dylan Pallonetti added four more goals to his stellar weekend. The Stony Brook native also registered a career-high tying six goals against Air Force on Friday. Senior attacker Blake Behlen and junior midfielder Noah Armitage followed behind Pallonetti, recording three goals and two goals, respectively.
The Seawolves jumped ahead early, recording the first goal of the contest. However, the Pioneers would answer back with two more. Sacred Heart took a hold of the lead, 2-1, courtesy of back-to-back goals from Carson Spooner and Jake Garb. Stony Brook would fall behind two more times in the first quarter and two more times the squad battled its way back.
The Seawolves took sole possession of the lead, 4-3, with 2:16 remaining in the first quarter when Armitage found the back of the cage off a helper from senior attacker Will Button. Stony Brook would not look back as it would control the lead for the remainder of the game and ultimately take the 15-12 victory.
“It’s pretty exhilarating and I am happy to do it as a Seawolf as well,” said graduate attacker Jonathan Huber on scoring his 100th career goal. “We are all playing to our strengths and playing well together and getting into a flow on offense,” said Huber.
“Men’s lacrosse is a very physical game, and we have a lot of guys banged up and when you play a quick turnaround game like this it is just about finding a way. I think we made enough plays there in the first half, specifically, to guide us through here. We knew it was going to be tough and I think these guys have to continue to have the mindset of this is what it is going to be like at the end of the year; we have to play good lacrosse,” said head coach Anthony Gilardi.
#8 Alyssa Costella scored a three-run home run during last Sunday's game. Photo from Stony Brook Athletics
The Stony Brook softball team (4-4, 0-0 CAA) slugged its way past the Central Connecticut State Blue Devils, 8-3, on Feb. 26 in the final day of the Battle at the Bay in Norfolk, VA.
The Seawolves hit two home runs, for a combined five runs, to roll past the Blue Devils. Senior catcher Corinne Badger started the scoring for Stony Brook by slugging her second home run of the weekend. In the top of the first inning, Badger blasted a two-run shot, which drove home junior shortstop Kyra McFarland to make it 2-0.
Stony Brook poured onto its lead in the top of the third inning. Junior center fielder Alicia Orosco led off the inning with bunt single. McFarland followed with a four-pitch walk and the Seawolves had runners on first and second base with no outs. Sophomore left fielder Alyssa Costello stepped up to the plate and smashed a three-run home run to right center to extend the lead to 5-0.
The Seawolves continued their success offensively in the top of the fourth. Senior right fielder Shauna Nuss led off the inning with a walk and Orosco dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Nuss into scoring position. Then, McFarland came up and singled through the right side, driving in Nuss to extend the Seawolves’ lead to 6-0.
Central Connecticut State scored three-straight runs to cut the Stony Brook lead to three runs, but the Seawolves would tack on insurance in the top of the seventh. Costello scored on a wild pitch and senior third baseman Brooke Dye drew a walk to drive in Badger. Stony Brook led 8-3, and the score would hold. The Seawolves went 2-1 in the Battle at the Bay.
“I’m proud of our team for our effort today … We played well in all facets of our game and competed. It’s a good team win as we continue our progress,” said head coach Megan T. Bryant.
James Lattimer, distinguished professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences at Stony Brook University, has been selected as a 2023 Fellow of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).
AAS Fellows are recognized for their contributions to the Society and its overarching mission – advancing the science that informs humanity’s understanding of the universe. For his part, Professor Lattimer has made formative discoveries about the structure and evolution of neutron stars.
Professor Lattimer has collaborated with other scientists to develop pioneering simulations of proto-neutron stars and their neutrino emissions, and he also helped enable the use of high-performance numerical simulations by creating the first open-source equation-of-state code and tables suitable for their application.
Professor Lattimer is the first Stony Brook faculty member selected as an AAS fellow since the inaugural class of 2019. He is also a fellow of the J.S. Guggenheim Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the American Physical Society (APS).
“I am delighted that Jim has been recognized by the recently established AAS fellowship program,”said Chang Kee Jung, PhD, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy.“Jim is an internationally renowned nuclear astrophysicist and has already received the prestigious Hans Bethe Prize given by the APS for truly outstanding work in the areas of astrophysics, nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, or closely related fields.”
Free event to highlight kid compositions and musical surprises
By Melissa Arnold
Music has a way of moving us both physically and emotionally. Regardless of culture, language or age, the right song can make just about anyone smile.
For more than 20 years, the Stony Brook University Symphony Orchestra, an all-student ensemble featuring undergraduate and graduate music majors as well as qualified non-music majors, has put on a special Family Orchestra Concert, aiming to instill an excitement for music in children while bringing generations together. The free event returns to the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University on Tuesday, Feb. 28.
Featured soloist violinist Elvina Liu will perform the opening movement of Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4.
Conductor Susan Deaver works hard each year to dream up a fun and creative theme for the performance. Some are obvious — recent concerts have focused on contrasts or weather, to name a few — but others are more subtle.
This year’s theme, “Musical Surprises,” will challenge the audience to listen for something unexpected in each piece.
“Everybody likes surprises, right?” joked Deaver, who’s been with the university since 2000. “There are a few ways we’ve included surprises in this show. For example, we have two [portions] from Sir Edward Elgar’s ‘Enigma Variations,’ which offer surprising changes in mood and tempo. There’s also ‘Thunder and Lightning’ [by Johann Strauss II], which reflects the surprise of being caught in a sudden thunderstorm.”
The concert includes both recognizable and lesser-known pieces, but the majority are short to provide as much variety as possible. And the program is just an hour long, helping to keep the littlest concertgoers happy while getting everyone home at a decent time. It is a school night, after all.
A surprising new addition to the program this year are mini-melodies composed by young orchestra students in the community.
Elementary school musicians from the Hauppauge Public School District have attended the concert for the past several years as a nighttime field trip. Interest in the concert continues to grow, and this year, Deaver approached music teacher Timerie Gatto with an exciting idea.
“There are three elementary schools in Hauppauge, and each one has an orchestra. We started with each child bringing one parent to the concert, so that they could all see what a future in music can look like if they work at it. Now we are also involving younger siblings,” Gatto said.
“Susan Deaver is fantastic, she interacts with the audience and does whatever she can to help the kids develop a greater appreciation for music. This year, she asked if my students would make up melodies for the orchestra to play!”
With the help of classroom iPads, students were able to compose, hear and perform their own one-line melodies.
“It’s been an impressive experience for me, watching them develop their own titles and musical ideas. Some kids even put groups of notes into chords and developed more complex syncopated rhythms,” Gatto said.
The orchestra is comprised of about 75 university students from diverse backgrounds and fields of study. Among them is 20-year-old Elvina Liu, a senior music major from Auckland, New Zealand. Liu is also the orchestra’s concertmistress — a lead violinist who serves as liaison between the orchestra and conductor.
Liu will perform a solo from Mozart’s “Concerto No. 4 in D Major,” which she said can be surprising in its own way.
“I think classical works, such as this Mozart concerto, are commonly perceived as pieces that don’t allow for a lot of freedom in interpretation. A lot of teachers and musicians believe that there are certain elements that have one “correct” way of being played, which is a pretty outdated way of tackling these pieces in my opinion,” Liu explained. “I do make a great effort to respect Mozart’s writing and stylistic ideas, though I admit that I enjoy testing the limits and boundaries when I play. Sometimes I surprise myself in the moment as well!”
Liu and Gatto agreed that music provides children opportunities for development, self-expression and community in a way little else can.
“Music is one of those things where it doesn’t matter how bright, strong or fast you are. It’s accessible to all kinds of people regardless of their ability, and it offers the chance to connect with others in a nonverbal way,” Gatto said.
Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts, 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook will host the annual Stony Brook Family Orchestra Concert on the Main Stage on Tuesday, Feb. 28from 7:30 to 8:30p.m. Admission is free and tickets are not required. Children of all ages are welcome. For more information, call 631-632-7330 or visit at www.stonybrook.edu/music.
When they can’t stand the heat, bay scallops can’t get out of the proverbial kitchen.
A key commercial shellfish with landings data putting them in the top five fisheries in New York, particularly in the Peconic Bay, bay scallops populations have declined precipitously during a combination of warmer waters and low oxygen.
In a study published in the journal Global Change Biology, Christopher Gobler, Stony Brook University Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation and Stephen Tomasetti, a former Stony Brook graduate student, along with several other researchers, showed through lab and field experiments as well as remote sensing and long-term monitoring data analysis how these environmental changes threaten the survival of bay scallops.
Stephen Tomasetti. Photo by Nancy L. Ford/ Hamilton College
Bay scallops are “quite sensitive to different stressors in the environment,” said Tomasetti, who completed his PhD last spring and is currently Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Of the regional shellfish, bay scallops are the most sensitive to environmental stress.
Indeed, since 2019, bay scallops have declined by between 95 and 99 percent amid overall warming temperatures and extended heat waves. These declines have led to the declaration of a federal fishery disaster in the Empire State.
Tomasetti used satellite data to characterize daily summer temperatures from 2003 to 2020, which showed significant warming across most of the bay scallop range from New York to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He monitored four sites with sensors in the water in addition to satellite data during a field deployment with scallops.
At the warmest site, which was in Flanders Bay, New York, the temperature was above the 90th percentile of its long term average during an eight-day period that overlapped with the scallop deployment. The bay scallops in Flanders Bay were “all dead by the end of the heat wave event,” Tomasetti said.
At the same time, low levels of oxygen hurt the bay scallops which, like numerous other shellfish, feed on phytoplankton. Oxygen levels are declining in some of these bays as nitrogen from fertilizers and septic systems enter these waterways. High nitrogen levels encourage the growth of algae. When the algae die, they decay, which uses up oxygen and releases carbon dioxide into the water.
Field and lab studies
In the field, Tomasetti measured the heartbeat of bay scallops in East Harbor, Massachusetts by putting optical infrared sensors on them that took heartbeat readings every 15 minutes for a month.
Stephen Tomasetti conducts field work in East Harbor during the summer of 2020.
When the average daily temperature increased, their average heart rate climbed, which the scientists used as a proxy for their respiration rate. A higher respiration rate meant that the scallop was expending energy more rapidly, potentially leading to reductions of energy reserves.
Additionally, Tomasetti measured how quickly the scallops fed on algae in the lab under warm temperatures and low oxygen.These conditions caused the scallops to stop feeding or to feed slowly. Tomasetti interpreted this as a sign that they were waiting out the stress.
In the lab, bay scallops in the same conditions as the bays from Long Island to Massachusetts had the same reactions.
While a collection of fish and invertebrates feed on bay scallops, the effect of their die off on the food web wasn’t likely severe.
“I think there are other prey items that are likely redundant with scallops that cushion the impact,” Gobler explained in an email.
Solutions
Stephen Tomasetti with his wife Kate Rubenstein in East Harbor during the summer of 2020.
As for solutions, global warming, while an important effort for countries across the planet, requires coordination, cooperation and compliance to reduce greenhouse gases and lower the world’s carbon footprint.
On a more local and immediate scale, people on Long Island can help with the health of the local ecosystem and the shellfish population by reducing and controlling the chemicals that run off into local waters.
Waste management practices that limit nutrients are “super helpful,” Tomasetti said. “Supporting restoration (like the clam sanctuaries across Long Island that are increasing the filtration capacities of bays) is good.”
Gobler is encouraged by county, state and federal official responses to problems such as the decline in bay scallops, including the declaration of a federal disaster.
Long Island experience
A graduate student at Stony Brook for five years, Tomasetti was pleasantly surprised with the environment.
He had lived in New York City, where he taught high school biology for five years, before starting his PhD.
His perception was that Long Island was “a giant suburb” of New York. That perspective changed when he moved to Riverhead and enjoyed the pine forest, among other natural resources.
He and his wife Kate Rubenstein, whom he met while teaching, enjoyed sitting in their backyard and watching wild turkeys walking through their property, while deer grazed on their plant life.
Initially interested in literature at the University of Central Florida, Tomasetti took a biology course that was a prerequisite for another class he wanted to take. After completing these two biology classes, he changed his college and career plans.
Teaching high school brought him into contact with researchers, where he saw science in action and decided to contribute to the field.
At Hamilton College, Tomasetti has started teaching and is putting together his research plan, which will likely involve examining trends in water quality and temperature. He will move to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in Princess Anne, MD this fall, where he will be an assistant professor in coastal environmental science.
As for his work with bay scallops and other shellfish on Long Island, Tomasetti looked at the dynamics of coastal systems and impacts of extreme events on economically important shellfish in the area.
Tomasetti is not just a scientist; he is also a consumer of shellfish.His favorite is sea scallops, which he eats a host of ways, although he’s particularly fond of the pan seared option.
Scene from last Sunday's game. Photo from Stony Brook Athletics
The Stony Brook women’s basketball team (16-9, 10-4 CAA) dominated the UNCW Seahawks (4-21, 1-13 CAA), 64-46, in Wilmington, NC on Feb. 19.
The Seawolves were led by three student-athletes who scored in double digits. Senior guard Gigi Gonzalez led the way with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the floor and 4-of-6 shooting from three-point range.
Sophomore forward Sherese Pittman dropped 18 points and tied a team-high with nine rebounds on the afternoon. Pittman shot 6-of-15 from the field and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line.
Graduate guard Annastasia Warren added 11 points and four rebounds. She shot an efficient 4-of-8 from the field in the win.
It took Stony Brook a little more than a quarter to find its groove. UNCW held a 14-11 lead after the first frame, but the Seawolves exploded for a 21-point second quarter as a team.
With about 8:30 remaining in the first half, Gonzalez drove down the right side of the lane and dished off to Pittman, who fought through contact and finished a tough layup to give Stony Brook a 15-14 lead.
The Seawolves began to control the remainder of the game, after outscoring UNCW, 21-8, in the second frame. The squad led 32-22 at the break.
Stony Brook came out strong to start the second half, going on a 11-0 run. About 1:30 into the third quarter, graduate guard Daishai Almond dumped off a no-look bounce pass to Pittman who finished the layup. The play gave the Seawolves a 14-point lead.
After trailing going into the second quarter, the Seawolves dominated for the remainder of the game and picked up their third-straight win and a season sweep of the Seahawks.
“Proud of our team for closing out the weekend with another win. I thought we executed defensively and rebounded the ball well. Wins are hard in February and especially on the road. Glad to be going home 2-0,” said head coach Ashley Langford.
The team will return to Island Federal Arena to take on the Hampton Pirates on Friday, Feb. 24. Tip-off is set for 6:31 p.m. and the game will be broadcast
Following a competitive national search, Andrew Singer, PhD has been appointed Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) at Stony Brook University, effective July 3, 2023. Singer will come to Stony Brook from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. While there, he has held a number of administrative and service positions, with activities focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, capital building projects, new degree development, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“Stony Brook’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences has quickly become one of the most exciting drivers of innovation and entrepreneurship across the state. Andy’s compelling leadership experiences and vision are a perfect combination to accelerate the trajectory of growth and excellence of CEAS,” said Stony Brook University President Maurie McInnis.
“Andy’s experience is an ideal match for CEAS at Stony Brook. Throughout our search process, he demonstrated a deep understanding of the opportunities and needs for CEAS to grow as a nationally renowned hub of excellence and innovation,” said Carl Lejuez, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “I look forward to partnering with him and our extremely talented faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the college to implement his vision.”
Currently, Singer serves as Associate Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. In this role, he oversees activities of the college’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, including the Technology Entrepreneur Center, Innovation Living Learning Center, and the cross-disciplinary Innovation, Leadership, and Engineering Entrepreneurship (ILEE) degree program. He also advises the dean on matters related to innovation, translational research, and entrepreneurship. Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering enrolls more than 16,500 students, with more than 600 faculty members, and 40 degree programs ranked in the top 10.
Singer has led large-scale administrative and research efforts, including serving as Co-PI and associate director for the Systems on Nanoscale Information Fabrics, a $35 million research center across 10 universities and 10 sponsors. He also played a leadership role in securing a $50 million gift for the Siebel Center for Design at Illinois, and oversaw the development and construction of the center as chair of a campus faculty committee. He has worked extensively to broaden participation across Illinois’ innovation ecosystem, including development of the Advancing Women And under-Represented Entrepreneurs (AWARE) program, which helps launch Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) teams led by women and researchers underrepresented in the university’s ecosystem.
He is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of statistical signal processing and communication systems, having won numerous awards for his research and is a fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). An accomplished entrepreneur, he co-founded two companies in the areas of optical communications and underwater acoustic communication systems, and he has served frequently as a consultant and expert witness for the communications, audio, and sensing industries. Singer holds the Fox Family Professorship, one of only 18 university and campus-wide endowed positions on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.
“I’m excited by the opportunity to serve as Dean and to lead in the expansion of the educational, research, and innovation activities of another great institution and flagship university. This is a momentous time in history, with the state of New York and the nation investing deeply in our future,” Singer said. “As a leader in social mobility, Stony Brook University has had a tremendous impact on the lives of the students and the economy in the region and will continue to lead in developing the diverse and inclusive engineering teams and leaders needed for this next exciting chapter of American engineering innovation.”
Singer earned a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Singer will succeed Jon Longtin, PhD, who has been serving as interim dean since June 2021. Longtin has led several endeavors for the college, including launching a new graduate program in Data Science, increasing overall research expenditures and research expenditures per faculty in CEAS by 40%, partnering to secure funding for a $100 million multi-disciplinary engineering building, and leading CEAS’s contributions to Stony Brook’s bid for the Governors Island Center for Climate Solutions.
Dr. Bettina Fries. Photo by Jeanne Neville/Stony Brook Medicine
Bettina Fries, MD, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Professor of Medicine, and Molecular Genetics and Microbiology in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, has been named a 2022 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
The AAAS is dedicated to elevating the quality of science and technology across the world for the benefit of humankind, and its fellows represent members of the association who have made exceptional contributions to that mission.
Dr. Fries is a nationally recognized physician-scientist who specializes in mycology and also conducts research of antibodies in relation tovaccine development. Under her leadership, the Division of Infectious Diseases at Stony Brook has greatly expanded and rose to combat the COVID-19 Pandemic and lead clinical care and research throughout the pandemic and its changing circumstances.
From expanding clinical and basic research and improving patient care to allocating essential resources and protecting health care providers, Dr. Fries’ work in healthcare and infectious disease researchhas impacted both Stony Brook and other institutions.
In addition to her appointment as an AAAS fellow, the East Setauket resident is also a fellow of the Academy of Microbiology of America, a fellow of the Infectious Disease Society, and a fellow of the American College of Physicians. She has served as President of the Medical Mycological Society of the Americas, and the Infectious Diseases Society of New York.
Dr Fries’ work spans a wide range of disciplines, but her research chiefly investigates the pathogenesis of chronic fungal infections and the development of monoclonal antibodies against multidrug-resistant bacteria.
Editor’s Note: Dr. Bettina Fries was one of TBR News Media’s 2022 People of the Year.
#32 Keenan Fitzmorris helped lead his team to victory on Saturday. Photo from Stony Brook Athletics
The Stony Brook men’s basketball team (9-17, 5-8 CAA) secured a 69-59 come from behind victory over North Carolina A&T (12-15, 7-7 CAA) on Feb. 11 in front of the faithful at Island Federal Arena.
Stony Brook’s offense was paced by four student-athletes who tallied double figures for the team. Leading the way for the Seawolves were graduate center Keenan Fitzmorris and senior guard Tyler Stephenson-Moore scoring 14 points each. Graduate forward Frankie Policelli scored 12 points and hauled in a team-high 11 rebounds. He tallied his team-leading tenth double-double of the season. Junior Tanahj Pettway contributed 12 points and grabbed six rebounds in the victory for Stony Brook.
After falling behind, 23-10, with just over nine minutes left in the first half, the Seawolves stormed back on a 13-2 run over the next five minutes to cut the deficit to just two points. The Stony Brook big men led the charge for the team, as Fitzmorris and freshman Leon Nahar combined for eight of the 13 points.
Following an Aggie three pointer that gave North Carolina A&T a five point lead with 5:15 left in the half, the Seawolves went on an 11-3 run to end the half and give the squad a 34-31 lead. Pettway provided the energy for the squad after a block on the defensive end that led to a Fitzmorris dunk which tied the contest at 28-28 with 2:52 left. Freshman guard Toby Onyekonwu and sophomore guard Kaine Roberts drilled back-to-back three pointers, giving Stony Brook the three point lead heading into the break.
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