The Stony Brook University women’s soccer team scored five goals en route to a shutout victory over Le Moyne on Sept. 9 at LaValle Stadium. Four different Seawolves tallied a goal, with Reilly Rich scoring twice to help Stony Brook improve to 3-0 this season at home.
Stony Brook opened the scoring when Rich scored her first goal of the season in the seventh minute, assisted by Sammy Hannwacker on a set-piece from the far corner. The Seawolves added another score on a goal from Luciana Setteducatein the 18th minute, assisted by Linn Beck and Mercy Sabuni Soderling. Stony Brook carried a 2-0 lead into the halftime break.
Stony Brook padded the lead to three goals on Beck’s 58th-minute goal, her first of the season. Setteducate and Rich assisted the goal. The Seawolves added another tally on a 65th-minute goal from Rich, her second of the contest. Hannah Maracina got in on the action, adding a goal in the 76th minute with an assist from Leah Rifas. The goal was Stony Brook’s fifth of the afternoon and the score would hold as the clock hit zeros at LaValle Stadium.
“The performance from the team today was very good, as I expected,” head coach Tobias Bischof noted postgame. “Today was a game where we could show what we can do offensively, and we did that. I was happy with the overall performance, both offensively and defensively.”
The team is back in action on Sept. 12 when they visit UMass Lowell. The game will streamlive at 5 p.m. on ESPN+.
Teammates celebrate their victory on Saturday. Photos courtesy of Stony Brook Athletics
Coach Billy Cosh earns first career victory
The Stony Brook football team earned its first victory in nearly 700 days, defeating Stonehill 37-10 on Sept. 7 at LaValle Stadium.
The Seawolves were led by redshirt senior Roland Dempster, who helped the Seawolves score their most points since 2019. Dempster tallied a career-high three touchdowns and matched a career best with 160 yards on 19 carries. Dempster ignited the Stony Brook offense by tallying two of his three touchdowns in the first five minutes of the game on touchdown runs of 15 and 17 yards. He tallied his third score in the third quarter; his three-yard run put the Seawolves ahead 30-3.
Freshman Malachi Marshall made his first start for the Seawolves under center and shined, throwing for 161 yards (9-for-16 passing) with a touchdown. Marshall added 10 yards on six carries. The freshman from Rock Hill, South Carolina connected with redshirt senior Cole Bunicci on a 63-yard touchdown late in the second quarter. The score represented the first of Marshall and Bunicci’s collegiate careers.
Stony Brook saw six different players record a reception, while eight different players tallied a carry in the victory. Bunicci paced the Seawolves’ receivers with a team-high 63 yards. Graduate student RJ Lamarre finished with 30 yards and classmate Cal Redman secured a team-best three catches totaling 24 yards.
Dempster led the way in the backfield with his 160 yards. Redshirt sophomore Johnny Martin and sophomore Brandon Boria combined for 72 yards on 19 carries, while redshirt junior Shakhi Carson had 34 all-purpose yards (20 receiving and 14 rushing).
Stony Brook’s defense was tenacious, forcing two interceptions, a fumble, eight punts and posting six points in the victory. Leading the way for the Stony Brook defense was seniors Rudy Silvera, AJ Roberts, Shamoun Duncan-Niusulu, redshirt junior Rodney Faulk as well as freshmen Jaxson Witherspoon and Sebastian Regis.
Silvera tallied his first interception as a Seawolf and added two pass breakups. Roberts and Duncan-Niusulu paced the team with nine and six tackles, respectively. Faulk wreaked havoc, recording six tackles and a quarterback hit. Witherspoon ended the game with his first career interception as time expired. Regis, the East Islip product, scooped up a fumble and rumbled 69 yards down the field and into the endzone for Stony Brook’s first defensive touchdown under defensive coordinator Scott Lewis.
Stony Brook’s special teams unit continued to shine, seeing Enda Kirby knock through a career-best 40-yard field goal in the first quarter. Junior Clayton Taylor punted six times for 287 yards, downing two inside the 20-yard line and booming three that were 50 or more yards.
“Obviously proud of our players. They did a great job preparing. If you prepare right, you’re going to play well. I’m excited for the team. They deserve all the credit,” said head coach Billy Cosh after the game.
“The last two years have been hard. We were working but we weren’t seeing results. We’re just happy to have Coach Cosh here and we have a whole new energy,” said Roland Dempster.
“The main focus going into this game was discipline. I think we executed that very well,” added Rudy Silvera.
The team returns to the road on Sept. 14, heading to the Bronx to take on Fordham at 1 p.m. The game will stream live on ESPN+.
Stony Brook University MAT Program serves a key role in graduating future physics teachers
For the seventh time in nine years, Stony Brook University (SBU) has been recognized by the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) as a member of the Physics Teacher Education Coalition (PhysTEC) 5+ Club for its outstanding work in graduating nine physics teachers in the 2022-2023 academic year.
From left, Muxi Liu (Graduate Teaching Assistant in the Department of Physics), Dr. Gillian Winters (Lecturer, MAT Program in Physics), and Daniel Treu (MAT Graduate). Photo by David Genik
This significant feat was achieved through the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program, which is part of the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Physics and Astronomy and administered by the Institute for STEM Education and the School of Professional Development.
“In this science and technology driven modern society, early physics education is increasingly important. In recent years, the Department of Physics and Astronomy has been a national leader in producing well qualified high school teachers through its MAT program, now directed by Professor Angela Kelly,” said Chang Kee Jung, distinguished professor and chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. “We have received the 5+ Club recognition seven out of the past nine years, and in Academic Year 2022-23, we graduated nine new physics teachers, which is an historic record for our MAT program. As the chair of the Department I challenge the program to become a member of the 10+ Club, which is yet to be established. We are very close to the Chair’s challenge goal and I am very proud of our MAT program.”
“The SBU Department of Physics has a long history of excellence in physics teacher preparation, which grew under the stewardship of Dr. Robert McCarthy for many years,” said Angela Kelly, professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Institute for STEM Education and director of the MAT Program. “We plan on redoubling our recruitment efforts to reach the Chair’s goal of 10 physics teachers per year to serve secondary students on Long Island and beyond.”
According to the APS and AAPT, graduating more than five physics teachers in an academic year puts SBU in the 99th percentile of all US colleges and universities. With a shortage of qualified physics teachers in the United States, SBU’s MAT program serves as a driver in remediating this shortage. Further, the MAT program was previously identified as a thriving physics teacher education program in the 2018 PhysTEC study of eight exemplary programs in the United States.
As the air begins to chill, Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts is ready to warm up audiences with a variety of exciting performances with its Fall 2024 season.
Alan Inkles, Staller Center director, said planning a season is similar to putting together a puzzle when deciding who to include and working with the artists’ schedules. He added he and his team like to create a season that is a mixture of newcomers and well-known names, which he feels both challenges and entertains audiences.
Record breaking artist Jackie Evancho heads to Stony Brook University on November 23. Photo courtesy of Staller Center
“What I’ve begun the last couple years is to mix the stars in with what I call discovery shows,” he said. “We’ve got to keep going back to bringing in shows with great, talented people that maybe you might remember them from America’s Got Talent or you may have seen them somewhere. That’s the joy of going to an arts center.”
Among those who have appeared on America’s Got Talent scheduled to perform at the Staller Center are Malevo on Oct. 26 and Jackie Evancho on Nov. 23.
Inkles described Malevo’s show as “high energy.” The dance group from Argentina was a semi-finalist on AGT in 2016. The dancers will perform zapateo, similar to tap dancing, using a type of weapon called boleadora.
Evancho is known for competing as an opera singer and coming in second on AGT in 2010 at the age of 10. Inkles said the artist, now known for singing pop, has created a show that will include opera, pop and Broadway tunes.
“That will be a fun night,” Inkles said. “That’s something different that I like to bring in.”
Among those appearing at the Staller Center this season will be comedian Wanda Sykes (sold out), Tony Award winner Renée Elise Goldsberry, musician John Pizzarelli and Cirque Kalabanté: Afrique en Cirque.
The season will kick off on Sept. 15 with the Emerson Legacy Concert Presents the Han-Setzer-Finckel Trio performing the music of Haydn, Beethoven and Dvorak. The trio continues the tradition of the Emerson String Quartet with former members Phil Setzer on violin and David Finckel playing cello, with the addition of pianist Wu Han.
Entertainers perform on the main stage or recital hall depending on the performance. Inkles said on Nov. 13, “It’s going to be a really cool night at the recital hall.” The night will feature viral star Stella Cole, Postmodern Jukebox’s Benny Benack III and tap dancer Jabu Graybeal for Some Enchanted Evening with Stella Cole. The trio will perform Jazz-inspired selections of Broadway hits spanning the decades.
The Peridance Contemporary Dance Company will take on the Staller Main Stage on Nov. 16. “If you like modern dance … if you want to see amazing movement, if you’re taking dance class, there is ballet, there is tap dancing in it,” Inkles said.
Last year, the Staller Center debuted a new concept showing a children’s movie. At the same time, a live orchestra performed along to the songs with Disney’s Coco. This year, the arts center will show Disney’s Encanto on Oct. 14, with a Latin band playing the musical score. After the viewing, attendees can meet the band members.
“It gives the kids the opportunity to see a live band as well as a movie,” he said.
Changes through the years
For this year’s fall season, like most performance periods, Inkles and his team began planning two years ago when he started traveling around the country to attend shows featuring various artists to see who would be a good fit for the arts center.
After the COVID-19 shutdowns and venues began to open again, Inkles said a decision was made to have a fall and spring season instead of one long performance period due to people tending to go out less after the pandemic. “People aren’t buying in advance as much or as many shows,” he said.
Regarding post-pandemic, Inkles said that out of the other State University of New York campuses with arts centers, the Staller Center is doing better than others audience-wise, and things are returning to normal. “We’re thriving in a time when a lot of our centers have either closed their doors or are doing much, much less,” he said.
Inkles said it’s vital to have such an arts center on campus grounds. For every show, the center makes at least 100 free tickets available to SBU students who wish to attend a performance. “We want to give these students culture and entertainment that they’ve not seen before,” he said. “It’s growth of the future. If we don’t do this, in 20 years there won’t be art centers. People will just be watching on their phones.”
Inkles added he and his team aim to create shows that are good not just for Long Island but also in general.
“When you come to see a show at the Staller Center, in my mind, it is as good, if not better, because the acoustics are great in the recital hall, or our sound system is better than most theaters on Broadway,” he said. “You need to walk out thinking it’s as good, if not better than something you could see in New York City, and that’s sort of my rule of thumb. I’m not looking for something that is pretty good, I’m looking for something that’s really great.”
Calendar of Event
9/15 — Emerson Legacy Concert at 5 p.m. (RH)
9/21 — Renée Elise Goldsberry at 8 p.m. (MS)
9/28 — John Pizzarelli: Stage & Screen at 8 p.m. (RH)
10/14 — Disney’s ‘Encanto’ Sing-Along at 4 p.m. (MS)
10/18 — Wanda Sykes at 8 p.m. (MS) *Sold out
10/26 — Malevo at 8 p.m. (MS)
10/9 — Cirque Kalabané: Afrique en Cirque at 7 p.m. (MS)
11/13 — Some Enchanted Evening with Stella Cole at 7 p.m. (RH)
11/16 — Peridance Contemporary Dance Company at 8 p.m. (MS)
11/21 — Starry Nights at 7 p.m. (RH)
11/23 — An Evening with Jackie Evancho at 8 p.m. (RH)
11/24 — ‘Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus’ at 3 p.m. (MS)
12/6 — Anthony Nunziata: A Broadway Italian Christmas at 8 p.m. (RH)
12/14 — Caroline Campbell with guest Chloe Flower at 8 p.m. (RH)
RH: Recital Hall
MS: Main Stage
Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts is located at 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook. To order tickets, call the box office at 631-632-2787 or visit stallercenter.com.
Reenactors on the grounds of the Three Village Historical Society during Culper Spy Day on Sept. 10. Photo by Joseph Cali
By Heidi Sutton
Mark your calendars! On Saturday, Sept. 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Three Village Historical Society and Tri-Spy Tours will host a Revolutionary event — Culper Spy Day. Made possible by title sponsor Heritage Spy Ring Golf Club, it’s the event that every history buff looks forward to.
Now in its 10th year, the annual event is the brainchild of Margo Arceri, who first heard about Washington’s Setauket spies (including her favorite spy Anna Smith Strong) from her Strong’s Neck neighbor and local historian, Kate W. Strong, in the early 1970s.
Meet Big Bill the Tory at the Sherwood-Jayne Farm on Sept. 7 from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Photo courtesy of Preservation Long Island
“My love of history grew from there,” said Arceri who today runs Tri-Spy Tours offering walking, bike and kayak tours of the Setauket area. “Everywhere you turn in the Three Villages you are looking at an artifact, and as the historical society believes, the community is our museum and I would really love to put that on the forefront of people’s minds. History is constantly evolving and new information is being discovered everyday. We don’t know what is waiting to be unearthed next and that fills me with excitement.”
The day of spy-related tours and activities was named for the Culper Spy Ring founded by Benjamin Tallmadge of Setauket, which provided General George Washington the information he needed to turn the tide of the American Revolution.
On Culper Spy Day, you will have the chance to visit the places where history was made and visit with area groups to learn about the patriots who risked their lives.
Visitors can enjoy docent-led tours of historic homes, churches and cemeteries; Colonial cooking demonstrations; Anna Smith Strong’s famed clothesline; and a Revolutionary War encampment and musket firing drills by several militia groups.
There are plenty of children’s activities too including a children’s story hour, a potato sack race, an epic scavenger hunt, invisible ink demonstrations decoding spy names, sending wax sealed letters, making colonial crafts, and building a scale model timber frame house alongside Abraham Woodhull.
In addition, Revolutionary War artifacts, including George Washington’s original letters to members of his spy ring will be on display in the Stony Brook University Library Special Collections. View a rare surviving letter dated November 8, 1779, between Benjamin Tallmadge and Robert Townsend at the Long Island Museum and explore theirworld-famous carriage collection, with ties to Long Island’s Revolutionary War history
Visitors will have a chance to meet Abraham Woodhull, Big Bill the Tory and Anna Smith Strong as well.
See history come to life with this self-guided interactive tour spanning the Three Villages and beyond! Start your adventure at the Three Village Historical Society, 93 North Country Road, Setauket and then visit participating locations including the Sherwood-Jayne Farm, Drowned Meadow Cottage Museum, The Long Island Museum, Emma S. Clark Memorial Library, Caroline Episcopal Church, Setauket Presbyterian Church, Setauket Neighborhood House, Patriots Rock, and Stony Brook University. The Setauket Elementary School’s auditorium will also be open for a special viewing of the Vance Locke murals depicting the founding of the Town of Brookhaven.
All events are free with the exception of the Sherwood-Jayne Farm house tour ($5 adults, free for ages 17 and under) and the award-winning Spies! exhibit at the Three Village Historical Society. Build your own Revolutionary War story and see history come to life at this fun-filled event. For more information, call 631-751-3730 or visit www.tvhs.org for a full schedule of events.
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*New this year will be a Culper5K Race/Walk on Sunday, Sept. 8 at 9 a.m. Presented by Strong Island Running Club and sponsored by the Three Village Dads Foundation, the event will support the Dominick-Crawford Barn History & Education Center. Racers can trace the footsteps of the spies starting at the TVHS Headquarters, through the Old Setauket Historic District, up through battle fields and farmlands, around the churches, past pre-Revolutionary homes, and back to the Museum. Tickets are $30 adults, $10 kids fun run. Sign up at tvhs.org/5k.
Collegno, tomb 143. Iron 'multiple' belt elements with silver and brass inlay.
Photo by Caterina Giostra
Stony Brook Ecology & Evolution professor and an international team complete DNA analysis that provides insight to how communities formed after the collapse of the Roman Empire
A new study of ancientDNA by a team of international researchers and co-led by Krishna R. Veeramah, PhD, of Stony Brook University, provides insight into the development and social structures of European rural communities following the fall of the Roman Empire. The findings, published in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggest that early medieval elites, or those of higher social status, were initially made up of multiple families with distinct genetic ancestries. However, over time these families intermarried and also the local communities integrated genetically diverse newcomers from a variety of different social and cultural backgrounds.
Collegno, tomb no. 150. End element of belt for weapon suspension in iron with silver and brass inlay. Photo by Caterina Giostra
The research team combined paleogenomic, archaeological, and isotopic data to shed light on the community that used a cemetery in Collegno, Italy, as a burial site during the 6th to 8th centuries CE. Researchers sequenced and analyzed the genomes of 28 individuals from the cemetery and incorporated data from 24 previously published genomes. They also studied individuals’ patterns of social mobility, burial patterns, and diet.
“When the Roman Empire collapsed, we did not really know much about how new communities formed, yet many of these communities would go on to be the basis for modern European countries,” explains Veeramah, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology & Evolution in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Director of The Veeramah Lab, which is dedicated the study of evolutionary genomics. “Our study reveals that these elites were genetically surprisingly diverse, and in the process of creating new European communities in the medieval era, families with diverse genetic ancestry would come together to form ruling groups.”
“In 2018, our team published a paper that demonstrated genomic and cultural similarities between Collegno and Szólád, a village in modern Hungary that showed a significant correspondence between individuals with a northern European ancestry in both,” adds Patrick Geary, PhD, of the Institute for Advanced Study. “Our new study follows the transformation of this Italian community over a century, and shows how new groups moved into and merged with the existing inhabitants.”
The researchers discovered that the Collegno community was initially established by and organized around a network of closely related individuals, likely from several elite families. But over time, they evolved into a single extended lineage spanning at least five generations.
Veeramah and colleagues believe individuals from this lineage had a higher ranking in society based on their richer diets and heavily detailed, and likely more expensively made items they were buried with, such as weapons and elaborate belts [see attached photos].
The findings also show that while the Collegno community was initially established by these elite families, a majority that came from northern Europe, the community later incorporated individuals from other origins and genetic backgrounds into it, including surrounding locals.
It was a victorious opening weekend for the Stony Brook volleyball team as they secured a five-set win over James Madison University in Harrisburg, PA on Aug. 31.The Seawolves were led by double-doubles from Quinn Anderson, who had 15 kills and 13 digs and Leoni Kunz, who had 12 kills and 16 digs. The win improved the Seawolves’ overall record to 3-0 on the season, their first 3-0 start since the 2006 season.
Offensively, Kunz recorded her 16th double-double of her career while Anderson tallied her first in just her third collegiate outing. Kali Moore also added 16 kills to help the offense. Torri Henry dished out 48 assists to bring her invitational total to 139. On the defensive end, Julia Patsos chipped in with 19 digs to go with six blocks from Ayanna Pierre Louis.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1 | The Seawolves found themselves in an early deficit, dropping a tough first set 25-12. Stony Brook trailed by as many as 13 points as JMU never surrendered the lead in a set that didn’t have a single tie before the Dukes took control.
SET 2 | Stony Brook rallied after dropping the first set to take the second set 25-21, evening the match at one set apiece. The Seawolves grabbed control of the set lead early on, at 6-5, and held the lead the rest of the way. Stony Brook led by as many as six points at 21-15 before closing out the set, totaling 16 kills while only notching two attack errors in the process. Stony Brook’s front row had a solid defensive performance, blocking four JMU attacks in the stanza.
SET 3 | JMU took a 2-1 match lead after taking down the Seawolves in the third set by a score of 25-20. JMU grabbed the advantage for good at 15-14 in a set that was tied up 10 times before the Dukes took over in the second half.
SET 4 | Stony Brook then responded to secure set four 25-23 to force a fifth set. A strong performance on the attacking side led the Seawolves to victory in the set. Stony Brook put together a .378 attack percentage with 17 kills in the set win. After the lead changed hands five times, the Seawolves took control for good at 24-23 and rode that advantage to victory. Stony Brook got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked five JMU attacks.
SET 5 | Down two sets to one, Stony Brook fought back to win sets four and five, culminating in a 15-9 fifth-set victory, to take the match 3-2. The Seawolves took control of the set-five lead at 3-2 and never looked back. Stony Brook ended strong, opening its biggest lead of six points, to finish off the set.
STATS AND NOTES
This marked the second time in program history that the Seawolves and Dukes met, and the first time since August 30, 2019. Stony Brook improved to 1-1 all-time against JMU.
Freshman outside hitter Quinn Anderson and graduate student outside hitter Leoni Kunz each registered double-doubles in the win.
Junior outside hitter Kali Moore had a team-high 16 kills for Stony Brook.
Graduate student setter Torri Henry recorded 48 assists in the victory, adding 14 digs, four kills, four blocks, and one ace.
Graduate student libero Julia Patsos led the Seawolves with 19 digs.
Sophomore middle blocker Ayanna Pierre Louis tied her career-high with six blocks.
With the win, the Seawolves start their season at 3-0 overall; the first time since the 2006 season.
“The fight in our group this weekend was incredible,” stated head coach Kristin Belzung postgame. “Today was a cat and mouse match and we made adjustments throughout both offensively and defensively. I’m so proud of our team for competing throughout and taking care of each other.”The team returns to action next weekend as they travel upstate to take on Buffalo, UConn, and Colgate in the Ellis Rowland Memorial Tournament. Friday’s match will begin at 4 p.m. with coverage available on ESPN+. Saturday and Sunday both have first serve scheduled for 2 p.m.
They bother us, particularly in the summer, but they don’t need us.
The 23 species of Borrelia bacteria, which cause Lyme disease, have been around for millions of years, dating back to when the continents were all linked together like pieces of a puzzle in Pangea. The bacteria likely infected early mammals in those days.
In a recent paper in the journal mBIO, researchers from over 12 institutions put together the genetic sequence of these bacteria, which include 47 strains.
The scope of the work “was enormous and we were lucky” to have so many dedicated investigators, said Ben Luft, Edmund D. Pellegrino Professor of Medicine at the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, including lead senior author Weigang Qiu, Professor of Biology at Hunter College of the City University of New York.
The work, which took about a decade to complete, could provide a valuable resource to researchers and doctors today and in the future. The genetic information could lead to advances in diagnostics, treatment and prevention of Lyme disease.
Scientist could use the database to compare the genomes of different species and variations that cause different symptoms to help diagnose the likely severity of an infection as well as to search for specific pathways that lead to the virulence of an infection.
Some infections can lead to fever, headaches, fatigue and a skin rash. Starting with the bite of an intermediate host such as a tick, these infections, when left untreated, can lead to problems in the joints, heart, and nervous system.
The number of new cases of Lyme disease each year has been climbing, reaching close to 500,000 per year in the United States.
Researchers added that creating a genetic catalog of the different bacterial species can also help current and future scientists and doctors manage new threats from strains of bacteria that move into new areas amid climate change.
These species haven’t interacted with each other in the past, but climate change may create opportunities for bacteria to create recombinant genes, presenting new threats to human health.
“You may start seeing things that you didn’t see before,” said Luft. “We don’t know what’s going to happen” amid climate change. “There might be new forms” of Lyme disease.
The challenge with Lyme is not necessarily what happens in 2024, but how it might change in 20 years, when organisms develop a new pathogenicity.
Lyme on four continents
An international team of researchers sequenced the genomes of many species of Borrelia, the cause of Lyme disease. By comparing these genomes, the researchers reconstructed the evolutionary history of Lyme disease bacteria. The map shows many of the global regions where the team sequenced a species. Borrelia burgdorferi, the most common cause of disease, is indicated in red. Other species are indicated by different colors. Image created by Saymon Akther
In addition to generating a database of the Lyme disease bacterial genome, the researchers wanted to develop an understanding of its phylogenetic history.
“The goal really was to show how genetically diverse Borelia is throughout the world,” said Luft.
The researchers gathered genetic data from this bacteria, which was sampled in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.
By collecting the genetic information in each of these locations, the scientists were able to recreate the history of a bacteria that’s lasted considerably longer than many other organisms that have since become extinct.
“The genetic make up (genes and plasmids) hasn’t changed very much since the last common ancestor on Pangea (otherwise we would see different sets of genes and plasmids from different continents),” explained Qiu.
An extensive collaboration
Qiu and Luft were grateful for all the work scientists around the world did to contribute to this study.
On Long Island, Lyme disease is transmitted mainly by the bite of an infected deer tick, also is known as the black-legged tick.
The team of Claire Fraser and Emmanuel Mongodin at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Richard G. Morgan of New England Biolabs helped use next generation sequencing to determine the bacterial genome.
Indeed, Fraser was the first to map the complete genetic code of a free-living organisms. She worked with the Haemophilus influenza, which causes respiratory infections and meningitis in infants and young children, according to the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
Qiu, who earned his Phd from Stony Brook in 1999, suggested that the effort required regular, ongoing work. He supervised Dr. Saymon Akther for her thesis work, which was the basis of the paper. He also performed additional evolutionary analysis.
“For the past two years, we have been having weekly meetings on zoom,” said Qiu. “It’s a big relief” that the researchers published the study and shared the information with the scientific community.
Qiu credited Luft with being a consistent coordinator of the sequencing effort and diversity study for over 20 years.
The next steps
At this point, Luft and his colleagues are eager to share the information with the broader scientific community.
The researchers hope experts in artificial intelligence, bioinformatics and computer programming can use the data to understand more about the genome and develop potential therapeutic targets.
Luft is eager to see “how smart people take advantage of a decade’s worth of work that has been very carefully done, to move it all forward,” he said. “We have certain ideas that we are doing” to fill in the gaps.
Qiu has some existing grants he’s using to work on diagnostics and vaccine development.
Qiu, along with chemistry-department colleague Brian Zeglis, and Lyme diagnostic/ vaccine researcher Maria Gomes-Solecki, has a joint NIH/ NIAID grant to develop a novel PET-based technology to detect Lyme pathogens in vivo. They have also proposed a new Lyme vaccine design strategy.
Additional sequencing of the variable plasmid, which is not a part of the chromosomal DNA but can replicate independently, would continue to help determine what genetic codes contribute to the level of virulence for each strain or species.
“That’s like the last mile for the communication network,” said Qiu. The challenges include annotating the genomes, providing comparative analysis and using informatics development to share the genome variability with the research community.
Stony Brook University Assistant Professor Jian Li, from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Computer Science, was recently awarded a U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Early CAREER award for his project, “CAREER: Structured Learning and Optimization for Efficient Management in the Wireless Edge Cloud: Theory and Algorithms.”
“This project aims to bridge the gap between prevailing graph-based job services and wireless edge cloud designs via advocating structured learning and optimization solutions with provable performance guarantees,” said Professor Li. “The results will enhance the performance of wireless edge networks for distributed computing loads. At the same time this project develops fundamental theories that pertain to the area of machine learning, specially to reinforcement learning and distributed learning.”
According to the National Science Foundation, NSF CAREER Awards support early-career faculty with the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization.
“These awards are extremely competitive and are selectively given to the nation’s most promising researchers. We are very proud of Jian,” said Professor Joe Mitchell, chair of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics. “Professor Li’s project seeks to improve our fundamental understanding in areas of reinforcement learning, optimization, and scheduling, with potential broader impacts in the performance and responsiveness of edge and cloud computing, which is a core technology we all rely upon, especially for the ever-expanding suite of AI tools that have become an integral part of our daily lives.”
Li earned his doctorate in computer engineering from Texas A&M University in 2016 and his bachelor of engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2012. He was a postdoc with the College of Information and Computer Sciences, University of Massachusetts Amherst from 2017 to 2019 and an assistant professor at Binghamton University before joining Stony Brook in 2023.
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours Mill Dam storm damage in Stony Brook. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours SUNY Stony Brook storm damage. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours SUNY Stony Brook storm damage. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours SUNY Stony Brook storm damage. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
August 27, 2024 — Stony Brook, NY —
Governor Kathy Hochul tours SUNY Stony Brook storm damage. (Susan Watts/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
Extensive water damage at the Gitto Group’s properties. Photo by Rob Gitto
Extensive water damage at the Gitto Group’s properties. Photo by Rob Gitto
Extensive water damage at the Gitto Group’s properties. Photo by Rob Gitto
Extensive water damage at the Gitto Group’s properties. Photo by Rob Gitto
Extensive water damage at the Gitto Group’s properties. Photo by Rob Gitto
Extensive water damage at the Gitto Group’s properties. Photo by Rob Gitto
By Toni-Elena Gallo
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R) and Town of Brookhaven Supervisor Dan Panico (R), declared a State of Emergency, following the Aug. 18-19 devastating storm.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) responded by procuring President Joe Biden’s (D) approval for a federal Emergency Declaration. This allows for federal resources and assistance to be provided for the necessary repairs, prevalent in hard-hit western and middle Suffolk. FEMA will provide emergency protective measures, such as the protection of critical infrastructure facilities. According to the state’s website, “with this Emergency Declaration secured, New York’s disaster recovery experts are continuing to work with local and federal partners, to determine the state’s ability to also request a federal Major Disaster Declaration and low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.”
Hochul toured the damage of both Stony Brook University and the site of the Mill Pond dam collapse. At the event, Hochul said, “In the wake of unprecedented rainfall, we continue to support Suffolk County to ensure those impacted can get back to life as usual as quickly as possible. … But seeing the people of Long Island come together to rebuild, shows the true strength of New York.”
Over in Port Jefferson, the toll of the extreme weather event is still being felt.
Rob Gitto, of the Gitto Group in Port Jefferson village, was blindsided by the severity of the storm.
“We were watching the storm closely, as we do with other major storms. I went to bed at 11;30 p.m. We checked our cameras, watched our radars and it looked like everything was going to stop in an hour,” Gitto said.
“But, this was a unique storm, where it apparently came from the North to the South, so it was a different situation. In fact, one of my employees was on standby, and went down to both [our] buildings, at around 12:30 p.m., and everything seemed fine. But, I just happened to wake up at 1:30 a.m., and whenever I can see the floors of one of the lobbies glistening, I know it’s water,” he added.
Gitto went down to the area immediately, and walked into a disaster area.
“Unfortunately, there was nowhere to pump water at that point. This particular area is taking on quite a bit of the village’s stormwater. You can see it in video footage, coming down the hill, and hitting the CVS, Barnum property, first, and then it seeped into The Brookport property.”
He said that Brookport, on Barnum Avenue, was made with the “latest and greatest” drainage requirements, but the almost-11 inches overwhelmed the system. Flood doors were on some of the water entry points, but those were, also, quickly overcome. The properties do have flood insurance.
Gitto said his main priority in the coming months will be to replace the cardio equipment in the two gyms, rip up the carpets, take out the damp sheetrock and repainting.
Rocky Point is not faring much better. Hagerman Landing Road, a dead end street, had five homes severely flooded.
In the coming weeks, more information will become available about updated financial aid disbursements.
For all the latest coverage, go to our website at tbrnewsmedia.com.
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