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Daniel Dunaief

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By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

Two-year olds, or, as in the case of our children, three-year olds do it readily.

You ask them for something, like a hand to cross the street, their patience while you finish your breakfast, or a moment of quiet so you can conclude a phone call and the loudest and most insistent word in their vocabulary erupts through their mouths: “Nooooooo!”

It’s one of the defining elements of the Terrible Twos, when the power, the independence, and the assertion of no becomes leverage, a game, and, perhaps, a way to seize a moment or more of control when their parents are making just about every decision for them.

Somewhere along the line, we become socialized and the idea of saying “no” to everything, or even to many things, becomes problematic and potentially ostracizing.

Peer pressure makes the declaration that you have to study instead of going to the beach with all your friends less understandable and acceptable.

Saying “no” can lead to all kinds of questions.

“You seriously think what you’re studying is so important?”

“You think what you’ll learn is going to help you get into a better school?”

“Wouldn’t it be more fun to hang out with us and throw a frisbee on the beach?”

So, the “no” response gets shelved, especially in social circles.

It’s ironic and unfair to parents, of course, that the times we want our children to say “yes,” they are comfortable telling us “no,” but when we want them to say “no,” they suddenly become much more pliable.

Anyway, back to the concept of no. So, many years ago, my wife and I were scanning the movie listings, back in the days when our dates involved going to a film, eating popcorn and then discussing the character, the plot, the theater and the entire outing for hours afterwards.

We decided on one of the many Batman films, and after some back and forth, found a theater with a viewing time that worked for us. I remember sitting through the movie, shaking my head at the plot, shrugging at the action, and wondering when the film would end.

After some discussion, we realized that neither of us wanted to see the movie and we were both going because we thought the other one was interested.

Nowadays, when we’re making decisions, we can cut straight to the chase.

“Wait,” one of us will say, “is this Batman?”

It’s a quick and easy opportunity to share our genuine interest in an optional activity.

We have become so refined at our willingness to share what we think at the risk of disappointing the other person that we give a percentage of Batman. A 50 percent is a shrugging indifference, while a 90 percent is a strong preference to find an alternative.

I’ve heard people these days use the words “or no” at the end of questions when they’re trying to make a decision.

“Do you want to go to a diner after we’re done with this work?” one of them will ask.

When the decision takes too long, someone will say, “so, are we going to the diner or no?”

The “or no” part seems superfluous. The question has two answers: yes or no. Yes, I know, like our Batman discussion, someone could say, kind of or maybe, or 63.49 percent yes, but, generally speaking, yes and no are the likely replies.

Maybe the “or no” phrase is a way of making it socially acceptable to say a word we overused and now, perhaps, underuse: no. By adding “or no,” the questioner encourages a companion to share a genuine opinion about getting a grilled cheese with fries at the diner.

The “or no” option increases the sincerity in the search for an honest answer.

Rarely, of course, does someone say, “do I look good in this, or no?” or “does my new haircut suit me, or no?” Perhaps the context for the use of the or no phrase reflects how confident the speaker is in receiving a negative response.

Hearing the phrase “or no” means the listener hears the word before saying it, making it easier to restart the planning process.

That two-letter word can help people avoid activities that neither of them really want to do in the first place.

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Cast and crew of 'Maybe Happy Ending' at the Tony Awards after party, from left, Peter Hylenski, Hue Park, Ben Stanton, Dane Laffrey, Helen J. Shen, Darren Criss, Michael Arden, Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra and Hunter Arnold. Photo by Connor Macchi (KateMadeMedia)

By Daniel Dunaief

The back story for Maybe Happy Ending, the Tony Award winner for best musical, could in and of itself become its own drama.

The show chronicles an unusual love story between two “Helperbots,” which are humanoid robots that had been personal assistants. The musical wasn’t exactly a smash hit out of the gates, despite a compelling script and, as it turns out, well received performances from its leads Darren Criss of Glee fame and Helen J. Shen.

“It was a situation of, can we get people to come to the musical, because it is an exciting new original musical” that is set in the future, said co-lead Producer and long-time Setauket resident Dr. Pamela Hurst-Della Pietra. “While it doesn’t dwell on technology or futurism, it tells a story of two human-like robots that are living in the not too distant future.”

It was a challenge to introduce Broadway audiences to this story and these characters, when it was competing against legacy shows and revivals.

Amid early concerns about whether Maybe Happy Ending was financially viable, Hurst-Della Pietra said the team “used to call ourselves the little engine that could.”

Indeed, amid positive reviews and with enough support, the show survived its early unsteady beginnings.

“You’ve heard of the expression, ‘It takes a village?’” Hurst-Della Pietra asked rhetorically. “I’m really delighted that people believed in the show. I personally adore the show and really had my heart and soul in it. I can’t be more pleased with the outcome.”

Hurst Della-Pietra, who played Anita in West Side Story at French Woods in the summer when she was growing up, became involved with theater professionally when her daughter Ava started performing. She has been a producer on nine other shows.

Amid the tailwinds of numerous awards, including five other Tonys including one for Best Actor for Darren Criss and for set design, the show is planning to travel around the country and through Europe.

The music in the show deals with themes of loneliness and the search for connection.

The song “How to Not Be Alone,” which Hurst-Della Pietra describes as “very warm” and “poignant,” frames love as a choice, even as it doesn’t guarantee anything.

“I feel like there’s a lot of young people in their 20’s and 30’s that are kind of wanting,” said Hurst-Della Pietra. “They’re not as connected as prior generations.”

The two HelperBots are different from each other, but they are “giving it a go and they’re willing to try for love and they’re not perfect,” she said.

The song is “really about choosing not to be alone as long as you can help it,” said Hurst-Della Pietra.

Darren Criss plays Oliver, is obsessed with his jazz albums and taking care of his plant, while Shen plays Claire, who is affected by the rancor of her previous owner’s unhappy relationship.

Oliver plans to travel to Jeju Island to reconnect with his former owner James. Claire decides to join him to see fireflies, although the two HelperBots aren’t allowed to travel on their own.

To appear human, they develop their own story, which becomes a song called “The Rainy Day We Met.”

Hurst-Della Pietra describes that song as “cute and comical and super well done.”

Every time she’s seen the show, which, at this point is over 20 times, “I shed a tear.”

The title refers to the ambiguity about the ending of the show as well as the ambiguity that occurs throughout the show, the co-lead producer said.

She appreciates that the show addresses how we all deal with the fact that we are going to lose the people we love.

The show explores “the reality we all face,” she said. “I really like that human story.”

Hurst-Della Pietra is thrilled with the team that made this show possible, including Criss and Shen as well as director Michael Arden, scenic designer Dane Laffrey, video and production designer George Reeve, as well as the contributions of the two main lead producers Hunter Arnold and Jeffrey Richards.

“I couldn’t have had better people with whom to do it,” said Hurst-Della Pietra. “It was a joyful experience.”

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This image combines 678 separate images taken by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Combining many images in this way clearly reveals otherwise faint or invisible details, such as the clouds of gas and dust that comprise the Trifid nebula (top) and the Lagoon nebula, which are several thousand light-years away from Earth. Credit: NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile Photo credit: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA/A. Pizarro D
Rubin Observatory sits prominently atop Cerro Pachón against the backdrop of the full moon in this photo from March 24, 2024. The photo was taken around 7:55pm in the vicinity of Andacollo, Chile (about 25km from Rubin) after months of planning and patience. Photo credit: M.Hernández/H.Stockebrand
Ten areas in the sky were selected as “deep fields” that the Dark Energy Camera imaged several times during the survey, providing a glimpse of distant galaxies and helping determine their 3D distribution in the cosmos. The image is teeming with galaxies — in fact, nearly every single object in this image is a galaxy. Some exceptions include a couple of dozen asteroids as well as a few handfuls of foreground stars in our own Milky Way. Photo credit: Dark Energy Survey/DOE/FNAL/DECam/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA

By Daniel Dunaief

Monday, June 23, marked the beginning of a new and exciting frontier. Using the largest digital camera ever built for astronomy, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory shared its first images after a journey from conception to reality that lasted over two decades.

Located in the Cerro Pachón mountaintop in Chile because the area is dry, high and dark, the telescope and camera started its 10-year mission to share images of the sky.

Viewers at over 350 watch parties in the United States and around the world awaited these pictures, including with gatherings at Stony Brook University and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The state-of-the-art camera did not disappoint.

The Rubin Observatory, which can take images with a field of view of the sky that are the equivalent of 40 moons, discovered 2,400 asteroids that no one has ever seen before. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. By the time the Observatory has collected all the data the public can view, the camera is expected to find over five million asteroids.

“Most of the asteroids are too faint to have been found” with previous technology, said Paul O’Connor, senior physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory who has been working on the camera since 2002.

Simon Birrer, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook University, attended a watch event at the university with some 50 to 60 other excited members of the college community.

“Knowing that the instrument is capable and what it was promised to do and seeing it all coming together, sharing the excitement with so many other people is very exciting,” said Birrer.

By looking at the night sky over the course of just a few days, the observatory was able to offer a time lapse view of the movement of these asteroids.

“You can look and see the trail of thousands of things that are completely new,” said Birrer.

Indeed, in addition to seeing asteroids and other objects both near and far, the Rubin Observatory can study dark matter and dark energy, map the Milky Way, and observe transient events.

“We’re entering a golden age of American science,” Harriet Kung, acting director of the DOE’s Office of Science, said in a statement. “NSF-DOE Rubin Observatory reflects what’s possible when the federal government backs world-class engineers and scientists with the tools to lead.”

The first images generated considerable excitement in the scientific community and on campuses around the world.

“It’s a new frontier for sure,” said O’Connor. “We’ve been working on this project for all these years. It was easy to get students interested.”

Anja von der Linden, Associate Professor in Physics and Astronomy at Stony Brook and a member of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration since its inception in 2012, viewed the images from Germany, where she is visiting her parents on vacation with her young daughter.

She works on clusters of galaxies and was delighted to see the Virgo cluster online.

“The image is so large and [viewers] can also see much more distant galaxies,” said von der Linden. Viewers are able to scroll around and zoom in and out to see details in these “beautiful images.”

Von der Linden echoed the sentiment from one of the officials who shared the first images, suggesting that the data and information from the observatory are available for astronomers and scientists, but also for the public, helping them explore the night sky.

“It’s quite remarkable,” she said. “I look forward to seeing how the public engages.”

The Rubin Observatory will see “everything that changes, explodes, and moves,” said von der Linden.

A little bit of pride

In addition to scientists like O’Connor and Anže Slosar, group leader of the Cosmology & Astrophysics Group, BNL recruited close to two dozen interns to help with the work.

“There’s a lot of inherent curiosity about the cosmos,” O’Connor said. “When people hear that they could participate in doing research that could lead to lead to a better understanding of it, we had to turn interns away.”

O’Connor worked with the charge-coupled device modules, which are the digital film of the camera. The Rubin Observatory, with its 3.2 gigapixel focal plane, relies on 189 custom-designed CCD sensors to achieve its resolution.

“I feel a little bit of pride,” said O’Connor, who didn’t expect to be working on astronomical instruments when he came to BNL. “I was a tiny, little part of a giant team that’s worked so long. When you see the final project, it’s a good feeling.”

Seeing the invisible

At the same time that the Rubin Observatory can find asteroids that had previously gone undetected, it can also help detect dark energy and dark matter.

Only five percent of the universe comes from visible matter, with about 70 percent coming from dark energy and 25 percent coming from dark matter.

Dark energy describes why the universe continues to expand after the Big Bang, rather than slowing down, the way a ball thrown into the air does before it falls, von der Linden explained. Researchers study dark matter, meanwhile, by observing the way light from distant galaxies bends when it travels towards Earth, as the gravitational force of the matter affects it on its path.

Von der Linden said she has already started using some of the commissioning data to test Rubin’s capabilities to do weak gravitational lensing. Weak gravitational lensing involves slight shifts in images caused by the gravitational influence of other matter that require many galaxies to detect.

“The work we’re doing now is very much a test case, which we will then take and apply to a much larger data set,” she said.

Inspiring future scientists

The images and the data, which the US, the UK and France will process, has the potential not only to answer scientific questions, but also to encourage and inspire future researchers.

The Rubin Observatory has a “very comprehensive education and public outreach component,” von der Linden said. “From the beginning, it has been built with the intention that the public is suppose to interact with the data and be part of the scientific story.”

If teachers use this in the classroom to show students the beautiful and intriguing night sky, “I would think this will lead some students to consider pursuing” careers in these sciences. “I hope that we’re going to get more junior scientists who will be part of Rubin.”

To see images from the observatory, visit https://rubinobservatory.org.

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Yang with the black dress she recreated from the 1940s vintage original. Photo courtesy of Avery Yang

By Daniel Dunaief

For her in-depth research about the Prime Thimble Factory in Huntington, Smithtown High School East senior Avery Yang has won the Honorable Peter Fox Cohalan Scholarship in American Studies from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation.

In its 10th year, the scholarship provides $10,000 per year for four years to a student who plans to study history in college and who demonstrates a commitment and interest in the subject by focusing on an element of local history on Long Island that reflects New York state and American history.

Yang wearing a period dress she designed and created based on Theodore Gericault’s “Portrait of Lauren Bro” painted in 1818. That project, which involved using silk and cotton, took two months to create. Photo courtesy of Avery Yang

An accomplished student at Smithtown High School East, Yang focused on the factory that produced the small metal pieces that protected the fingers of those who were sewing from 1836 until the 1880’s.

“She did a great job on her research,” said Judge Cohalan, for whom the scholarship is named and who is one of the four trustees of the foundation. “Her English was perfect, there were no mistakes. I’m a nitpicker.”

Yang, who plans to attend the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in the fall, is especially passionate about the history of fashion and its connection to the cultural history of an era.

In her paper, which included 30 references and 47 endnotes, including a photo from her own collection of thimbles, Yang described not only the history of the factory but also the symbolism associated with the thimble.

To continue to receive the scholarship, whose previous winners have attended schools including William & Mary, Dartmouth, the University of Michigan and Marist, Yang must earn a 3.25 grade point average during each semester and contribute to a local historical society through a host of possible eligible activities, including website design and maintenance general research.

Over the course of its operation, the factory, which was owned and operated by Ezra Prime, “reflected changes and conflicts within American society. It echoed the broader shift across industries from artisans to factories, and shaped social debates surrounding women’s rights through its product’s symbolic meaning,” wrote in her winning essay.

Gibson girls

Shaun Minton, who taught Yang last year in an Advanced Placement US History class, was delighted that she won this scholarship.

He described Yang as the “top of the top” among students. 

During class last year, Minton was discussing the flapper style of the 1920’s. He usually compares the flappers to the Gibson Girl.

While some students may have heard of, read about or seen films with flappers, few have any working knowledge of the Gibson Girl, whose archetypal fashion preceded the flappers.

That, however, wasn’t the case for Yang, who was able to “explain the fashion of the Gibson Girls better than I could.”

In an email, Yang described the Gibson Girl, who was described in illustrations by Charles Gibson, as fashionable women who were modern and active and yet conformed to a patriarchal view of femininity.

Minton, who provided a college recommendation for his former student, recalled how she wrote a targeted and accurate response to a document based question.

“She was able to get right to the point and analyze the material in such a concise manner that I photocopied her paper and showed it to the rest of the class,” he said.

Fashion and history

Yang became fascinated with understanding history through fashion in middle school, when she started watching videos on the Internet of people who made historical clothing.

“The tactile aspect drew me into it,” she said. 

To live the connection to history, Yang sews her own clothing that reflects the styles and fashions of the time. She recreated a vintage original dress that took about three weeks to make from the 1930’s and early 1940’s with rayon crepe that she bought from an online fabric store. 

For another ensemble from around 1818, she worked for about two months to recreate a gown from Théodore Géricault’s “Portrait of Laure Bro.” She researched primary sources such as historical sewing guides and garments in digital museum collections.

She enjoys the connection to the people, history and culture when she designs and sews these outfits.

It is a “magical experience to feel like you are participating in the same sorts of practices and rituals as someone from the past,” she said. “When I finally get to put it on, it’s a completely surreal experience.”

Yang has her own Youtube channel and her videos, which include descriptions of old antique machines and the dresses she’s made with them as well as a description of sock plushies.

Yang’s parents Alan and Cherry Yang are happy and proud of the work her daughter, who has also been a Gardiner scholar, did for this scholarship, which is an ongoing part of her passion for history.

Yang surrounds herself with history, as her room has various antiques including a collection of working children’s sewing machines, old irons, advertising pieces and spools of thread, said her mother.

Yang loves antique shops, where “each object there has a story. We bring items home” and her daughter delves into its history, her mother said.

Minton appreciates how Yang, who is successful in math and science classes as well, has chosen to study history in college.

“Kids of her caliber nowadays tend to do STEM,” he said.

Yang’s parents would like their daughter and her older siblings to find their own way. After college, Yang, who also plays alto saxophone in several groups including the pit orchestra and jazz band, would like to go into museum conservation where she can work with historical pieces and help preserve them, giving her the opportunity to paint a picture of cultural and social trends that are often missing from the written record. She would also consider becoming a history teacher.

Yang, who is hoping to participate in the graduate level program in public history at UMass Amherst, sees fashion as a reflection of cultural and social aspects of life.

“I find it really interesting to see changes in fashion and the ways in which things are sewn,” she said.

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A scene from 'The Court Jester'

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

My uncle was mad and probably a bit disappointed with the rest of the family. He had gallantly, I suppose in his mind, volunteered to drive our family from the funeral home to the cemetery where my father was going to be buried.

There my brothers and I were, laughing in the back as if we were on a normal family retreat. No, scratch that, we were probably laughing even more forcefully. It was our coping mechanism, which my uncle, who spent little time with us growing up and, in particular, during my father’s illness, wouldn’t and didn’t understand.

One of the many things that we observed and shared with each other from the back of that vehicle of loss was the impressive collection of fancy cars that were trailing behind us.

Our father was a big fan of test driving cars but not as much of a fan of buying them. We’re pretty sure there were car salesman who went on break immediately as soon as they saw him turn into their lot, desperate to get away from the bearded guy who seemed so earnest and excited about the cars, but almost never did anything other than ask about them, drive them, and return to his aging Buick LeSabre, promising to “think about it.”

We were amazed at the Jaguars, the Mercedes and the host of other cars that people who wanted to pay their respects drove to his funeral.

“Oooh, there’s a BMW,” one of us said. “Wow, dad would love that car, but maybe not in that color.”

My uncle shook his head slightly and frowned at us in the mirror. I guess he wanted us to behave more properly or respectfully during this somber moment.

But laughter is not only the best medicine, as it turned out for us, but has been a way my family connects with each other and with many of the people in our lives.

I must have watched the movie “The Court Jester” starring Danny Kaye at least a dozen times with my father. Each time, I knew when the dialog that made him laugh so hard was coming. His breath came in high pitched squeals as he bent over double trying to get air into lungs that were too busy laughing spasmodically. 

“The pellet with the poison is in the vessel from the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true,” Kaye would say.

Those lines, and the bumbled repetition with nonsense word variations, always hit their mark, forcing him to find a tissue to wipe the tears from his cheeks.

I remember the laughter, and what triggered it, from friends and family members who have either passed or with whom I have had little contact over the years.

Shared laughter, as sitcom producers understand, creates a positive and encouraging atmosphere, telling us that we can return and enjoy these light-hearted and peaceful moments with unseen strangers or with others in the room.

The hit show M*A*S*H combined macabre humor in the midst of a war zone with antics that helped talented but stir crazy doctors manage through difficult circumstances.

My aunt Maxine used to find it both surprisingly annoying and oddly funny when I rolled my sleeves up into strange positions or turned parts of my collar inside out.

“Don’t be silly!” she’d laugh, which, of course, only encouraged me. “What are you doing, Daniel?”

She’d come over and, with the soft small fingers of someone who had Down syndrome, would unfurl the sleeves of my shirt and would adjust my collar.

My grandmother, meanwhile, giggled at the absurdity of her grandchildren.

My brothers and I would sometimes say or do something unusual and, rather than get upset, she would find our behavior so ridiculous as to be laughable. When she giggled, her entire upper body shook, as those quaking motions had an epicenter around her stomach. Her laughter made her seem so much younger.

My wife and I recently attended a live musical show that poked fun at everyone from politicians to sports figures to crazy neighborhood text messages.

The show not only hit home for many, but it also caused people to chuckle so hard that their laughter became a part of the show.

These days, with uncertainty around the world and hovering heat and humidity squeezing sweat out of us like a dish rag, the laughter of those we know or have known can serve as a soothing salve. Life is messy and frustrating and seemingly beyond our ability to control. Laughter may be just what we need, offering the kind of cooling shade that dials down the temperature.

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Dean Wrobel and graduating members of his Dean’s Student Leadership and Advisory Council at a recent celebration of CAS students, faculty and staff. Photo courtesy Conor Harrigan

By Daniel Dunaief

Stony Brook University’s Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences has his own summer homework.

In the next few months, David Wrobel plans to prepare for a meeting with Andrea Goldsmith, the incoming president of the university who will take over the reins on August 1st. 

“That’s my June and July job, to fully articulate everything we’re trying to accomplish in the college,” Wrobel said. That includes the college’s three core strategic goals.

These goals include fostering student success, supporting research and scholarly success and investing in infrastructure and facilities and expanding institutional resources.

Wrobel himself arrived at Stony Brook from the University of Oklahoma in August and has focused on several campus initiatives.

Within two weeks of his tenure, heavy August rains pummeled the Chemistry Building, causing extensive damage.

“Chemistry desperately needs a state of the art building to facilitate research and the massive number of introductory lab courses and lab instruction,” Wrobel said.

Wrobel has been working to pitch to SUNY the idea for a new building, which is a top priority for the university.

“There is good momentum for chemistry to get that support from the state,” he said.

The university could break ground on a new building that could be around 400,000 square feet within two to three years and the project could take another two to three years to construct.

The goal is to create a building that meets New York State building requirements in terms of energy efficiency.

“With a chemistry building of this kind, you have massive HVAC needs because of the nature of some of the labs,” Wrobel said. The building would have significant exhaust needs for fume hoods.

It could be challenging to make a chemistry building that is completely energy neutral, but the “goal is to get as close as possible,” he added.

Wrobel greatly appreciated the support of everyone involved in responding to the immediate needs of the department in the aftermath of the storm.

“The department, the faculty, the graduate students, the maintenance and facility staff have all been incredible” in reacting to the damage, Wrobel added. “We all know that that’s a massively important infrastructure need for the university on the science side.”

To be sure, Wrobel recognized that other disciplines, such as physics, math and life sciences could also use upgraded facilities as well.

Staller Center upgrades

On the arts and humanities side, the celebrated Staller Center, which is home to numerous well-attended campus performances, high profile lectures and annual events such as the Stony Brook Film Festival, is aging and needs a major overhaul.

The university is planning to redo the roof, windows, HVAC, lighting and ceilings.

These needs “have to be addressed for the building to work for the needs of our students, faculty, staff, and for the community members who visit the Staller Center for performances,” Wrobel explained in an email. “The current building is very much on the small side given the growth of the university since it was built.”

Wrobel wishes there were a new building project.

“If anyone would like to help Stony Brook finance an Arts Center to house its excellent departments and programs we would be thrilled,” he wrote in an email.

In the meantime, the university is looking to leverage state funding and donor support for the renovation and beautification of the building.The two major wings of the Staller Center would each empty out for a two year period.

That presents “massive logistical challenges,” he said.

The university will work on how to find places for the departments of music and art as well as with the theater itself, with a lineup of productions.

“This is a really important initiative that speaks to how much of the identity the arts have become at Stony Brook,” Wrobel said. “The institution’s reputation has been made in STEM areas. We have incredibly strong arts and music departments as well as our humanities.”

Part of the philanthropic solicitations could include offering the rights to name individual spaces or rooms after donors.

Fundraising

With Goldsmith starting her tenure as president in August, the campus community is well aware of the potential for a new fundraising campaign initiative aligned with the university’s ongoing needs and priorities.

Even before she arrives, however, donations have been increasing, including from current and former faculty and alumni who have joined other universities or entered the private sector.

In the last year, the university has received about 36 gifts that are for $100,000 or more.

“I think this will be one of the most successful years in fundraising,” Wrobel said.

Stepping up

Amid challenging times with federal funding for research, Stony Brook has lost some training grants that impacted post doctoral students and graduate students in chemistry and a few other core science departments.

A combined effort from Provost Carl Lejuez, Wrobel, VP for Research and Innovation Kevin Gardner and others helped ensure that those students who would have lost their positions can continue to work and contribute to the university.

“It’s our responsibility to make sure they are kept whole, with those training grants,” Wrobel said.

Amid concerns about future federal funding, the university remains committed to its varied departments.

He said he supports the arts and humanities, “just as I support sciences and social and behavioral sciences,” he said.

With 27 departments, a dozen centers, 13,000 students, and 600 faculty, the university has numerous levers it could pull to make a quick gain somewhere.

“You have got to be thinking about these things long term,” Wrobel said. “Our goal is to move up the rankings of the AAU. We’re already part of the most prestigious organization of American Universities. Our goal is not to stay a member. Our goal is to move up the rankings.”

In responding to requests from the Dean Student Leadership and Advisory Committee, Wrobel has worked to enhance the six floors of common spaces at the Social and Behavioral Sciences building.

Students wanted more spaces where they were comfortable working and where they could meet their social and studying needs.

Wrobel is hoping that the university can turn some “drab common spaces” into much more “user friendly and study friendly spaces” this summer. This is a $250,000 to $300,000 project that also involves some new flooring and electrical upgrades.

Additionally, Wrobel is eager to forge connections with students throughout the university. He has made personal calls to students who have won awards.

Despite the hardships that campuses across the nation have been facing amid fiunding pressure and a cavalcade of questions from political leaders, the university is in a “strong place,” said Wrobel. “It’s been a wonderful year for recruiting.”

As for his life on Long Island, Wrobel feels that the community has been incredibly friendly and welcoming, on campus and across local towns.

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Lav Varshney and Nina Kshetry at their family's farm in Urbana, Illinois, which Varshney said has been inspirational for recent research on AI methods for predicting impacts of climate change on agriculture.

By Daniel Dunaief

Lav Varshney has made significant contributions to everything from public policy as a White House Fellow to generating  new recipes through the Chef Watson system he helped build at IBM to working at businesses he helped create.

Lav Varshney. Photo courtesy of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The inaugural director of the Artificial Intelligence Innovation Institute, or AI3, Varshney will arrive at Stony Brook University in August from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he has been a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Varshney “has an international profile” and is at the “center of what’s happening at a political and legislative level,” said SBU Provost Carl Lejuez in an interview.

Varshney’s mandate includes building research hubs, supporting mentorships and having an impact on the community as a part of Stony Brook’s downstate flagship status.

“There are a lot of ways where people at Stony Brook and in the community are going to be able to participate” in the use of artificial intelligence, said Lejuez. 

Among numerous other opportunities, Varshney, who will report to Lejuez, will work with Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Amy Cook to build on the ways the university is using AI in the curriculum.

“We’re supporting an infusion” of AI into classrooms, Lejuez continued.

At this point, AI3 is funded with $10 million over the first five years, with some additional financial support to build out his own research interests.

“Our funding is meant to be a seed over these five years,” said Lejuez. AI3 has a “real capacity to grow and bring in significant funding on its own.”

Stony Brook will also continue to benefit from its role in Empire AI, which is a combination of schools supported by Gov. Kathy Hochul (D), with financial backing from the Simons Foundation. Empire AI involves a consortium of public and private institutions, including the University of Buffalo, Binghampton University and the University at Albany, among others. 

SBU appeal

Varshney believes Stony Brook’s growth and commitment to AI are on a “very upward trajectory,” he said. “There are a lot of interesting initiatives and the new institute will hopefully bring them together.”

He hopes to collaborate with members of the campus from medicine, the arts and sciences, engineering, business, and atmospheric sciences to develop AI-driven solutions that have a positive impact on society.

Lab Varshney with Deputy National Security Advisor Anne Neuberger in 2023.

Varshney explained that it’s clear AI is a general-purpose technology.

“We need to work to make sure it quickly diffuses to nearly all society/ industrial/ scholarly sectors to have appropriate impact,” he explained.

From his position on Long Island, where he will also continue to work with Brookhaven National Laboratory on projects including in quantum information science, Varshney plans to continue to work on AI policy and how to make it safe, secure, accessible and adaptable to people’s needs.

The new inaugural head of AI3 encourages members of the community to work with Stony Brook, engaging with the institute and faculty.

“One of the main goals of AI3 is to get AI out into the world where appropriate, so [I] would very much welcome the community and local industry to engage with AI3 so we can learn what could be helpful,” Varshney said.

He plans to listen to faculty, students and community members to learn what could be helpful.

Borrowing from ‘Ironman’

Varshney recognizes that most people struggle to wade through information overload.

“Rather than a scarcity of information, [people have] too much,” he said. “One of the things I’m hoping we can make progress on” is the use of an AI filter to find and share what’s relevant.

Generative AI, in which a computer system “learns” from patterns and combinations of information, can help. Borrowing from the computer helper in Marvel’s Ironman franchise, Varshney suggested a “Jarvis-like assistant that can give you the right information when you need it.”

Varshney recognizes that governments might use information filters to create surveillance or information manipulation.

Varied backgrounds

As an AI expert, Varshney has worked to support government efforts and initiatives, in a corporate setting and for academic institutions.

He contributed to the executive order on AI that President Joe Biden signed at the end of October 2023.

He also co-founded Kocree with former graduate student Haizi Yu. The company uses artificial intelligence to allow users to cut melodies, rhythms and arrangements from music to create novel pieces.

He used the platform to create music for his sister-in-law’s wedding that combined the backgrounds and interests of the two families.

Born in Syracuse, New York, Varshney traces his roots to India. His great, great grandfather on his mother’s side, Ishwar Varshnei left India in 1904 and studied for a year as a special student in Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Varshnei took a boat from Japan, a train from San Francisco, traveled through St. Louis where he saw the World’s Fair, and ended up in Boston, where he was the second Indian to attend MIT. 

After Varshnei returned to India, he became involved in early efforts in glassmaking, applying the science he learned to society.

Also eager to contribute science to society, Varshney is moving from Illinois with his wife Nina Kshetry, whom he describes as “professionally more accomplished than I am.” Kshetry is the founder and president of Ensaras Inc., which specializes in advanced analytics and artificial intelligence solutions for optimizing wastewater plant operations. She is also the co-founder and VP of Circle H20, which is a company that builds waste-to-value and wastewater treatment plants.

Kshetry plans to engage with Stony Brook through the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem as well as with the Department of Civil Engineering/ School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences.

Impressed with all the ways Varshney has deployed AI, Lejuez hopes to provide ongoing support for the new director’s many interests.

“When someone has proven that they can juggle a lot of things at once, I’m going to help continue to make sure they have what they need,” Lejuez said.

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METRO photo

By Daniel Dunaief

Daniel Dunaief

Amid efforts to revisit budgets and cut federal spending, numerous initiatives have cut, frozen or threatened to reduce contributions to science.

Such approaches, through the Big Beautiful Bill and the Fiscal Year 2026 budget, threaten the future of research.

“Science funding is critical, and paying the full costs of scientific research is important,” explained Kevin Gardner, Vice President for Research and Innovation at Stony Brook University. “We pay the full price for defense contractors and don’t expect them to lose money doing important work for the federal government. Universities are the same.”

Indeed, in the Big Beautiful Bill, cuts to Medicaid threaten health care, which could have implications for the care hospital patients receive as well and the health of local hospitals themselves.

“Cuts to Medicaid indeed are a tremendous threat both to our community and to those that rely on the medicaid program and to the hospitals and academic medical centers that treat patients,” Gardner added. “They threaten the viability of academic medical centers across the country, including Stony Brook.”

Cuts to Medicaid funding may also strain state budgets, which may affect state university funding as well.

Even as senators prepare to review the Big Beautiful Bill, which passed a contested House by a single vote and that has some Republicans expressing buyer’s remorse, Gardner worried about federal research support.

“I remain very concerned about research funding,” Gardner wrote in an email. “I sometimes hear hopeful things, but overall I am not confident at all that the robust research funding that has driven prosperity across the US will continue.”

Gardner and co-author Michael Kinch, Chief Innovation Officer at Stony Brook, wrote an opinion piece in STAT News.

Half of all the drugs approved in the United States from 2020 to 2024 had key patents from academic universities. Most of that work was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), according to their opinion piece.

And yet, the administration has shared a proposed budget for 2026 that cuts National Institutes of Health funding by 43 percent compared with 2025 levels, according to STAT  News.

While spending less might appear beneficial in the short term, it threatens innovation, people’s health and future economic gains that might have otherwise come from research.

In dollars and cents, the return on investment from every dollar of NIH spending on research leads to $2.46 in economic activity overall, according to Bruce Stillman, President and CEO of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL).

Cutting back not only has economic consequences but could affect training opportunities for future researchers.

Investments in basic scientific research, such as the kind done at CSHL “fuels innovation, boosts the economy, and paves the way to key medical advances,” Stillman wrote in the president’s essay.

The messages, policies and words from the Trump administration and some of the members of his cabinet have suggested that they are prepared to cut science funding by as much as 50 percent, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Political leaders from both sides of the aisle generally understand the value and importance of science, said Gardner.

These leaders, regardless of their party, need to stand up for the health and well-being of their constituents and the strength of the economy today and in the future by supporting science.

In the meantime, leaders in other countries have sensed a huge opening and are offering the best and brightest current and future scientists impressive and attractive packages to work in other institutions. These packages have worked for some scientists, who have decided to pursue their research interests on foreign soil, the way so many scientists from earlier decades used to do in the United States.

Our American politicians must stand for more than whatever their parties or their party leaders want or demand, particularly now. Yes, the country needs to make hard choices. Voting for science funding, supporting grants that have already passed through a rigorous screening process, and encouraging the kinds of questions that lead to a better future, should not be one of them.

That includes basic research, which is different from translational research.

“I visited a lab yesterday and was shown a new type of microscope that allowed a new way to observe living cells divide,” Gardner explained. “We don’t know what the new discoveries will be from that work, but we can imagine all the ways cell division contributes to health and disease.”

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Jillian Scully with Bill Hiney (left) and Miller Place head track coach Brian Manghan (right) at Comsewogue High School after she set a discus record with a throw of 184 feet and 2 inches. Photo courtesy Despina Scully

By Daniel Dunaief

At competitions in which she sets new marks for excellence, Jillian Scully surpasses everything but her own expectations.

In the last few weeks of her senior year of high school in Miller Place, Scully, 18, has bested the previous state record for throws in the discus, which held for 33 years, no fewer than three times, and hopes to do so again in her few remaining meets.

On June 5 at Comsewogue High School in the state qualifiers, Scully defied gravity and distance yet again, propelling the discus 10 feet further than her record-shattering throw from just a few weeks earlier. Scully now owns the top three longest throws in the state and has the current top rank in the country in high school discus.

Bill Hiney, who has been working with Scully for four years, recognized that her effort last week had the potential to set another record “as soon as I saw the height and as soon as I saw how fast it came out of her hand.”

Indeed, Hiney shot his arms up in the air while officials scampered to measure the distance.

Officials were “running backwards to put the mark down,” said Hiney, who is the Assistant Track and Field Coach during the winter and spring season at Southold High School.

“I’m thinking, ‘Oh, this is big,’” Hiney said. Hiney yelled to make sure they used steel rather than cloth tape to ensure that they captured the distance accurately. “Steel tape will give you a straighter line.”

So, what does someone who has set a new state record that had stood for over three decades and then reset it twice in the following few weeks do?

Goes back to practicing, as she spent the first weekend after throwing the eighth furthest American high school throw in history working with Hiney.

“I love throwing,” said Scully. “It’s something I excel at. Everyone is so nice. It’s helped me so much to become the person I am.”

An emotional hurdle

Indeed, track and field and, in particular, the discus and the shot put has helped her overcome a generalized anxiety disorder that she’s battled since she was five years old.

“I’ve had difficulty socializing,” said Scully, who recalled the early years when she “kept to myself and was nervous to speak to people or meet new people.”

Scully suggested that her struggles with anxiety peaked during Covid, which added to her desire to self isolate and remove herself from some of her friendships.

Competing in track helped her emerge from a self-imposed social shell.

While larger groups gathered to speak with each other before relays or other events, throwers like Scully were often on their own.

“I thought, ‘Alright, I’m not going to sit in a corner and get on my phone. I’m going to get to know people.’ Throwers are very welcoming and friendly,” she said.

In the past year, Scully has probably only had one moment when she felt her anxiety climb to a level that might affect her performance.

“Once you find peace in yourself and you’re comfortable with who you are, your anxiety practically disintegrates,” she said.

Scully, who plans to join the track team at LSU this fall, is open to new experiences, new food and new opportunities.

When she sees people who are anxious and struggling, she goes up to them to offer encouragement and support.

“With throwers, everyone is checking on each other,” said Scully.

Support system

In addition to her parents James and Despina “Debbie” Scully, Jillian receives ongoing support from her maternal grandparents Helen and Emerson Vidal, who live a few doors away.

Every time she runs over to her support system after she sets a new personal record, which these days is also a state record, Scully receives different types of positive responses from her family members.

Her father, mother, and grandmother are the hugger, kisser and cryer, respectively.

“Dad won’t stop smiling,” Scully said.

Scully has three more competitions in which she can continue to surpass her high school record-breaking throws.

This coming weekend, she is participating in the state finals, while she also has under-20s and nationals.

Scully has set her sights on the US high school record of over 198 feet.

In practice, she’s thrown in the 190s and believes she might be able to hit that target before ending her high school career.

“After she blows us away with a throw, it takes a while to sink in,” said Debbie Scully. “Then, by the next day, it’s, ‘Okay, what’s next?’”

While college awaits in a few months, Scully’s support system recognizes she could represent the country at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics in 2028.

“We don’t put the pressure of the Olympics on her,” said James Scully. “We think about it and are excited about it, but we don’t want her to feel that we’re putting that on her. The next step is college and we’ll see where it goes.”

Everything Scully has done to this point has been amazing” and where she goes next is up to her, he added.

Andy Kokhanovsky, the throwing coach at LSU, has been tracking his future team member’s work and is pleased with her progress.

“She is doing a very, very good job,” said Kokhanovsky. “She’s very gifted. Her family did a great job raising her well. She works very hard and will achieve whatever she wants to achieve.”

Kokhanovsky is looking forward to working with Scully, who plans to major in engineering, on the throwing team. He suggested that she doesn’t have competition right now in the state, as she is outdistancing other competitors by as much as 50 feet or more.

“She’s very talented,” he added. “We want to have people like this.”

He believes her high level of organization will ensure a smooth transition to college. He’s encouraged to see this Long Island athlete sporting a cowboy hat in some of her social media posts, as she transitions to life in Louisiana.

Kokhanovsky, who competed in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, suggested that the athletes who participated in the sport do it for passion and pride, as the work opens doors to other opportunities

Jillian Scully, at a glance

• Number of times she’s broken the 

  state discus record: 3

• Number of remaining competitions: 3

• National High School Discus Rank: 1

• Rank for furthest high school discus

  throw: 8

• Age: 18

• Height: 6’1”

• Weight: 185

• College choice: LSU

• Favorite food: blackened chicken 

  with rice

• Favorite book: “Hidden Pictures” 

  by Jason Rekulak

• Favorite saying: Help yourself

• Favorite indulgence: Trolli gummy   

  worms

• Favorite color: Burgundy

 

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Barbara Palazzo taking the CatchU test.

By Daniel Dunaief

A significant concern for the elderly, falls create health problems that affect the quality of life and generate significant expense.

Stony Brook University’s Jeannette Mahoney, Professor of Neurology and Chief of the Division of Cognitive and Sensorimotor Aging in the Renaissance School of Medicine, has developed a smartphone app called CatchU that is designed to alert patients and their doctors to the potential likelihood of falls.

Jeannette Mahoney with her grandmother Jean Sisinni, who died from a fall and for whom she’s dedicated the work on CatchU.

The National Institute of Aging (NIA) recently named CatchU as one of 21 finalists out of 275 entrants around the country for its Start-Up Challenge. As a finalist, Mahoney received $10,000, recently participated in entrepreneurial training sessions, and is receiving one on one mentorship.

“Falls are a leading cause of injury and death for older adults, including persons living with Alzheimer’s Disease,” Joy Toliver, Program Analyst at the National Institute of Aging explained. CatchU is a “novel approach” that has the potential to “expand access to high-quality, comprehensive fall risk assessments and to improve the health and quality of life of older adults.”

If CatchU is chosen as one of seven winners in the next stage of the challenge, Mahoney, through her company JET Worldwide Enterprises, is also eligible to receive $65,000.

Previous participants in a challenge that is now in its third year have gone on to raise significant equity funding, secure multiple grants and form partnerships with health systems to expand the impact of their solutions, Toliver added.

An ‘honor’

“I’m super stoked — it’s really such an honor to be selected by members of the NIA that believe in you, your science and your product,” Mahoney said.

A photo of the CatchU app courtesy of JET Worldwide Enterprises Inc.

She plans to use the prize money she’s received so far to help with app enhancements, legal fees for review of new service agreements, and exclusive license obligations.

The app links impaired multisensory integration, in which people combine information from visual and other cues, with poor motor outcomes. Mahoney has been working in this field for about a decade. Through a 10-minute health app that monitors reaction time as a person is asked to respond as quickly as possible to targets they can see, feel or see and feel at the same time, CatchU provides a quantitative risk for falls.

Across the country, about three million older Americans require an Emergency Room visit each year as a result of fall-related injuries.

Closer to home, Suffolk County residents from 65 to 74 are hospitalized at the rate of 106 per 10,000, while those number increase with each decade. From 75 to 84, residents require hospitalization at a rate of 311 per 10,000. People in the county who are over 85 visit hospitals after falls at the rate of 821 per 10,000, according to the Suffolk County Community Health Assessment and Improvement Plan.

For seniors over 75 years old in Suffolk County the hospitalization rate from falls exceeded that for the state exclusive of the city by more than 30 percent.

According to research Mahoney has done, older adults with poor multisensory integration are 24 percent more likely to fall than those with intact multisensory integration.

“We believe that results of the CatchU test will likely change over time for better or worse depending on levels of remediation,” she explained. “Our goal is to uncover what type of remediation (whether it is sensory, cognitive, or motor focused or some combination), and what duration/ frequency is most beneficial in subsequent clinical trials.”

Mahoney envisions using CatchU as a new standard of care for predicting fall propensity in adults 65 and over. Depending on performance, people could receive remote testing every six to 12 months.

Possible remediation

While people could download the app today, they wouldn’t be able to take the test without a provider code. Doctors would receive the results of their tests directly and could offer a range of recommended actions. This could include tai chi, physical therapy, core balance, strength training or other exercises.

Mahoney and her colleagues are running a clinical trial in Westchester County. The study attempts to determine whether integration measured on CatchU is comparable to integration measured on the lab apparatus. They submitted this research for publication.

The clinical trial also seeks to determine whether older adults with poor multisensory integration that receive feedback about their CatchU performance would go on to fall less often or have a longer time to fall compared to older adults with poor multisensory integration who did not receive any such specific feedback.

Alzheimer’s assessment

CatchU could provide beneficial information for people who might develop Alzheimer’s Disease.

From what Mahoney and her colleagues can tell, the same simple reaction time test taps into inter-related sensory, motor and cognitive neural circuits that are all affected by aging and/or disease.

Mahoney has shown that an ability to integrate sensory information is associated with higher amyloid burden, which is a known biomarker for Alzheimer’s Disease.

“Our current R01 project work will help us uncover the exact structural and functional neural correlates of impaired multisensory integration, which may shed light on the specific outcome measures that are adversely affected by poor integration,” Mahoney explained.

A returning Seawolf

Mahoney rejoined Stony Brook University in October, over 22 years after she graduated from the downstate flagship SUNY school with a bachelor of arts degree in Psychology and Social Science. She described coming back to campus as a “surreal” experience and appreciates how her colleagues have been“super helpful and supportive.”

Mahoney lives in upstate Stony Point with her husband Timmy, their 14 year-old daughter Kayleigh and 10-year old son Peter.

Mahoney formed the company JET Worldwide Enterprises almost exactly five years ago. It is based in Stony Point and has two employees. The company name, JET, comes from a nickname for Mahoney’s first name. If she is able to secure future funding, she hopes to move JET to incubator space at Stony Brook.

The family enjoys playing board games, including Mahjong. Mahoney learned the tile game from her mother, who learned it from Mahoney’s grandmother Jean Sissini.

Mahoney has dedicated CatchU to her grandmother, who passed away in 2021 after suffering a fall. 

While Sissini is no longer with them, the family knows she is “always with us in spirit,” Mahoney said.

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