Kanika Khanna '13

Brown University awaits the College of Staten Island’s Kanika Khanna ’13, who has gained acceptance to the Taubman Center for Public Policy.

“I’m very excited about going to Brown,” said the Brooklyn-born Political Science major, recently selected to participate in Harvard University’s Latino Leadership Initiative at the Kennedy School of Government, and a guiding force behind mentoring Latino students at John Jay College. Fueled by her interest in journal¬ism, Kanika also started the Macaulay Messenger, a prize-winning electronic newsletter and website that took second place in the 2012 National Collegiate Honors Council’s contest for best student-run e-newsletter.

Kanika began problem-solving for New York while still an undergrad, working to provide supportive housing to the homeless through A. Larovere Consulting, where she’s been employed for the last two years. In addition to a roof over one’s head, the group arranges job training, edu¬cation, counseling, health care and other services. “Mentally ill adults need help making the transition to lead a stable life,” she remarks. “And the places where we build housing need services. There are neighborhoods that don’t even have a supermarket to go to, and they don’t have effective small businesses.” The group delivers an assortment of resources, including education. “Education is so transformative,” notes Kanika, who has witnessed how homeless people’s lives improve when they gain access to classes and teachers. “If you have it in places that are overlooked, it would be so much better.” Increasing access to education in underserved areas is a passion, and residents of New York are already benefiting from Kanika’s remarkable dedication.

“From exploring the Renaissance in Florence to immersing myself in the realm of public policy, my experience as a Macaulay Honors student has offered me more opportunities that I could have imagined,” added Kanika. “Before Macaulay, I didn’t know I would find a community of students and faculty that fostered my personal growth and success so close to home.”

The College of Staten Island reopens and resumes its regular operating scheduling Saturday, January 4, 2014.

G.I. Jobs magazine named the College of Staten Island a Top Military-Friendly School in the country based upon the college’s commitment to serving the needs of students with military experience and its wide array of services designed for student veterans.

This is the fifth year in a row in which CSI was ranked in the top 20 percent of military-friendly colleges, universities, and trade schools in the nation.

Student veterans who enroll at CSI can take full advantage of the services and programs offered by the Veterans Educational Transition Services (VETS), located in the Office of the Registrar, and Veteran’s Support Services (VSS), located in the Campus Center, to facilitate a smooth transition from military to student life for veterans and their families. VETS and VSS provide a strong support system and offer centralized, “vet-friendly” services on campus.

“Vets attending CSI can take advantage of many of our services that aim to fit the specific needs of a military veteran,” said Ann Treadaway, VSS Director. She went on to discuss how CSI and her staff are well equipped to understand and help veterans who attend CSI. “I am a combat veteran myself as is most of my staff. We understand what our veteran students are going through and what they will need to succeed.”

What makes CSI such a military friendly school is not only the knowledgeable and sympathetic staff, but it also honors and cares for veterans while they are on campus. CSI offers the most transferred college credits to veterans than any other school—up to 90 depending on the student’s military training.

Beyond the credits, all incoming veterans and dependents are offered CORE100, a General Education course that satisfies a requirement as well as creates a learning community to assist in their transition. The course provides a platform for veterans to speak out about their experiences while discussing U.S. government, history and economics.

Mrs. Treadaway’s office offers free tutoring for all student veterans and their dependents as well as the ‘vet to vet’ mentoring program, a program that takes advantage of the experiences that vets may have shared to make incoming vets feel more at home. VSS offers numerous services and resources for student veterans and their dependents from translating their military jobs into civilian terms on resumes to helping them navigate the Department of Veterans Affairs to obtain the benefits they have earned.

“We also offer job training and internships,” added Mrs. Treadaway. “Our goal is to have the transition be as smooth as possible.”

Mrs. Treadaway also offered many other little known statistics, underscoring the importance of ensuring CSI remains vet friendly. “Vets are more likely to have a high school diploma but are less likely to have a college degree than the general population,” she began.

“The veteran unemployment rate is also higher than the national average.  CSI is in unique position to help veterans, a population that has doubled on the campus over the last three years and looks to increase even more as New York City is expecting about 6,000 returning vets in the upcoming year,” Mrs. Treadaway added, emphasizing that CSI has done much to “take care of our vets after they have sacrificed so much.”

The CSI VSS and VETS sponsor a number of events each semester. For information about such events, visit http://www.csi.cuny.edu/vets/.

In what was their highest point-total scored in over two decades, the College of Staten Island men’s basketball squad scored early and often, coasting by the Medgar Evers College Cougars by a 113-79 count at the Cougar Cave in Brooklyn, NY, tonight as part of CUNYAC play.  The win, the 9th-straight for CSI, lifted the team to 10-2 overall and 5-0 in the CUNYAC, while the Cougars dropped to 1-12, 0-6.

The College of Staten Island women’s basketball squad won for the fourth-straight time, not letting a long road trip phase them, by taking an 85-58 win over Gallaudet University in a non-conference test played at Gallaudet’s Field House Arena in Washington, DC.  The win improved the squad to 10-3, while GU dipped to 6-7.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbpiZ7dqaVU[/youtube]College of Staten Island students have showcased their talent for a few years now at the annual CSI’s Got Talent competition. This has left some faculty and staff yearning for a creative outlet of their own.

It was a mild September evening at Killmeyer’s Old Bavaria Inn when two CSI-fueled bands, DNR and Tony and the Teckees, played in the restaurant’s outdoor Beer Garden to a sold out crowd enjoying music, food, and each others company. “It was a great way to start the fall semester after a tough year of rebuilding after Hurricane Sandy,” noted drummer Antonio Gallego of the Tony and the Teckees.

The bands played individually and together to a Standing-Room-Only crowd of co-workers, family and friends, including Deans and Vice Presidents. CSI President William J. Fritz and wife Bonnie were in the audience, and the band dedicated the Grateful Dead song “Franklin’s Tower” to them.

The highlight of the evening was when the bands did an all-out jam together as the evening’s third set, and members of the audience joined in for some impromptu vocal styling.

“It was great to see all my CSI family out here enjoying themselves… this was something Donna and I talked about doing for years, and I am so glad it finally came to fruition,” noted Gallego, whose band name the Teckees has a Monkees-inspired spelling. “We are hoping to bring this excitement and talent to our campus in the future with a CSI’s Got Talent, Faculty and Staff Edition as a fundraiser, and a way to spotlight the many talented faculty and staff we have at the college.”

DNR the band members include Donna Scimeca (drums/vocals), Russ Morisi (guitar/vocals), Danny Johnson (Bass), David Immiti (Keyboards), and special guest back-up singer, Laura Devine from Public Safety. DNR played a variety of blues and classic rock songs.

Tony and the Teckees band members include Mike McInerney (lead guitar/vocals), George Herman (lead Vocals), Danny Johnson (bass/vocals), Johnny Gallego Jr. (rhythm guitar), David Immiti (keyboards/vocals), and Tony Gallego (drums).  Mark White, a finalist at CSI’s Got Talent, joined the Teckees as lead vocalist for two songs, one being an original that he wrote. Nicole Trapani (daughter of Media Services’ Denise Trapani) sang her version of “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift. Sam Setteducato, a CSI alumnus, sang her version of “Medicine” by Grace Potter.

Danny Johnson and David Immiti are members of both bands.

The College of Staten Island men’s and women’s basketball teams are riding some impressive highs, and the teams are celebrating with another pair of honors this week.  Senior standout Katelyn Hepworth took home the CUNYAC’s Player of the Week honor, while freshman standout Frankie Schettino on the men’s side earning Rookie of the Week honors from the conference.

A group of students from the College of Staten Island’s School of Business advanced to the final round of the MikesBikes business simulation World Championship. The team, Luxury Bertels, is comprised of Mohammad Chugtai, Javad Ali, Usman Ahmed, and Catherine Jeanbart who, over the course of last semester, have competed not only against classmates but against thousands of other student teams across the globe.

The students, part of Professor Heidi Bertels’ Management 416 call “Decision Making in Business” is a capstone management course which tasks senior business students with analyzing the problems that face all business managers. The students run a simulated bicycle manufacturing company and deal with everything from sales forecasting to marketing, production planning, personnel, pricing, and finance.

Smartsims, the company that runs MikesBikes, keeps track of all the data from all of the teams worldwide. They invite those teams that were top performers while playing against their classmates to compete for a spot in the world championship. 85 of the best teams from universities and colleges around the world competed in the qualifying round. The top eight teams of the qualifying round, including a team composed of CSI students, and then advanced to the actual world championship. Cash prizes are awarded to the first and second place winners and the championship players will also be featured on the Smartsims’ website and awarded a Championship Certificate.

The reason Professor Bertels uses MikesBikes for her class business simulation is fairly straight forward. The manufacturing industry is, according to Professor Bertels, “fairly typical and as general as possible.” So business management students of all stripes can learn from working with the simulation. She is also a big believer in getting students’ “noses out of the books” and actually having them apply the business concepts they have learned throughout their careers as CSI business students.

“The competencies required to perform well in MikesBikes are an understanding of all areas of business on the one hand and persistence and dedication on the other,” said Professor Bertels of the challenges her MGT 416 students face. “The simulation is involved as the students need to make decisions based on financial statements and reports that take into consideration manufacturing efficiency, market sensitivities to advertising and delivery performance, competitor performance and shareholder value. Every time the simulation advances a year, the students need to study the updated reports and make informed decisions based on the changing market and competitive situation. Students that do not work diligently on doing this every week will not perform well in the simulation.”

Dr. Susan Holak, Founding Dean of the School of Business (Interim) and Professor of Marketing at CSI, is very proud of Professor Bertels’ students. “This is a tremendous accomplishment for our students under Professor Bertels’ terrific leadership and guidance.”

“MikesBikes! A name that normally scares students in MGT 416,” exclaimed Javad Ali, one of Luxury Bertels’ team members. “Through hours and hours of trial and error, online, offline this game just doesn’t stop.”

Another member of Luxury Bertels had this to say about the MikesBikes simulation, “This simulation game is perhaps the greatest and most effective tools in learning how to run and manage a full scale business.”

Thomas Chin, who graduated from CSI in1980 with an associate’s degree in Electronics Engineering, was an ideal candidate to speak at last June’s induction Ceremony of Phi Beta Delta, the honor society for international scholars, as he is currently the Vice President of infrastructure operations, Latin America and Canada, for JPmorgan Chase. Chin is responsible for the day-to-day technology operations in multiple countries and major cities in the region.

Discussing his often challenging role, Chin explains, “my job is very dynamic and my day can sometimes be very unpredictable. My duty is to manage our region’s technology infrastructure to support our users’ business functions. I never know what and when an incident can strike, but when it does, it is my job to manage the situation and get the problem fixed as quickly as possible so the users can go back to their Business as Usual operations. And that is the fun and challenging part of my job—always being ready to tackle different problems and situations. You sometimes feel like you are sitting behind a race car on the starting line waiting for the flag to drop.”

Looking back on his college and life experiences, Chin notes that CSI laid the foundation for his success, while simply living life in our complex world helps him to grow professionally. “I personally don’t think you will be able to learn everything from school, as there is so much to learn in this world of ours. There are new technologies and apps by the hours or minutes. But i know CSI gave me the good start I needed—my baseline knowledge, how to think logically, and the technology concepts. after CSI, I still need to expand my knowledge and continue my learning skills from my industry peers and colleagues on the job.”

Chin was happy to have the opportunity to return to his alma mater last June. “It was great coming back to CSI after 33 years! CSI looks great—from the moment I came through the gate and got lost looking for the right parking lot—it is so big. The campus buildings are beautiful and I would have loved to have time to check out the tech labs. Even though it is not the same campus I graduated from, I still got chills stepping into the auditorium and speaking in front of the Phi Beta Delta honor society members and their families.”

He also had a positive experience meeting CSI’s international scholars at the induction Ceremony. “When I talked to the students about my job and my career and saw that they were so interested, it really made me feel good. I loved speaking to young people as I do with many of the young entry-level members of my staff. I enjoyed passing on my work experience to them and sharing with them the different situations that I have faced, how I would handle situations, and what my thinking was behind taking certain actions.”

”Fortunately, this visit went so well that the future might hold more trips to campus for Chin. “I enjoy being a mentor,” he says, “and would love to provide any assistance to my fellow CSI students.”

The College of Staten Island is now selling official CSI Dolphins merchandise available now through its flash store.

The CSI Flash Store is an online marketplace where you can buy limited edition Dolphins gear at just a fraction of the retail price shipped right to your door.

The store includes shirts, jackets, hats, backpacks and more and is available here or by visiting us online at:  http://team-shop.lidsteamsports.com/form/show/COLLEGESTATISLANDATH.

You have to hurry though!  CSI’s Flash Store is only open from Friday, January 24 till Monday, February 3.  Quantity is limited and once the Flash Store is closed, the opportunity for purchase is over, so don’t delay!

Make a Splash in a Flash with CSI’s Flash Store and show your Dolphins Pride!

The College of Staten Island men’s swimming and diving team won their first CUNYAC Postseason Championship in nearly a decade today, taking home the conference’s championship final on the final day of competition at Lehman College this afternoon.  CSI scored 971 points, 79.5 more than second-place Lehman College for the championship victory.  The CSI women placed third on their side of the ledger, scoring 607 points as Baruch College took top honors with 973 points.

Winning the postseason championship meet has proved difficult for the Dolphins in the past, despite winning four Regular Season titles and appearing in six NCAA Division III National Championships since their last postseason title, but the Dolphins made good today, and led wire-to-wire at this year’s championship, which began Thursday at Lehman.

It was a fitting end for the Dolphins, as true to form, they took home every first-place finish today.  First to the finish line was Timur Rakhimov, who earned the first of three gold medals for him today in the 1,650-yard Freestyle, cruising in at a time of 18:31.53, almost 23 seconds faster than the rest of the pack.  Freshman Stephen O’Driscoll earned valuable points as well, finishing fourth, just missing a medal of his own.

Next up for CSI was another winner of three gold medals today, junior Danila Novikov, who punched through a time of 1:59.38 in the 200-yard Backstroke to win that event.  Chris Pinto placed fourth in the event with a great personal time of 2:13.75, while Sergio Miranda placed right behind in fifth place.  One event later, Novikov made it two-for-two, winning the 100-yard Freestyle with a time of 48.29.  Freshman Derek Villa placed fourth in the same race, earning valuable points.

CSI wasn’t done there.  Rakhimov then won his second gold with a 2:13.20 faring in the 200-yard Breaststroke, winning by over seven seconds, and in the men’s next event, Yury Zimarev posted an over 11-second win in the 200-yard Butterfly with a time of 2:03.00, as O’Driscoll came in fifth in the same heat.

Finally, with the meet in hand, CSI ended things fittingly with a first place run in the 400-yard Freestyle Relay, raced by Zimarev, Rakhimov, Novikov, and freshman Tim Sweeney.  For CSI it was their 19th first-pace finish out of 20 meet events.

CSI Head Coach Michael Ackalitis, who took over the squad midway through the 2011-12 season, was awestruck by his team’s performance today, and was incredibly proud of his team after the meet.

“We knew it would be a close race going in, but our goal was on consistency and hard work,” he said.  ”We knew we could do something special and do something that this program hasn’t done in some time.  We did exactly what we needed to do and it’s a testament to the hard work and determination of our guys.  They didn’t just deserve it, but they earned it out there.”

CSI posted 971 total points.  Lehman took the silver, scoring 891.5 points, while Baruch finished third with 711 points.  Brooklyn College finished fourth at 549 points, followed by York College with 293.5 markers.

For the Dolphins, the Championship win is their fifth in program history but their first since 2005, back when they won four Championships in a row.  Now, with the Regular Season and Postseason Championships unified, CSI will focus on the Metropolitan Swim Championships in two weeks.

***

Over on the women’s side, the team had plenty to cheer about.  The Dolphins earned a medal in the 200-yard Breaststroke, where sophomore Dakota Dawkins earned silver with a 2:35.65 performance.  Freshman Samantha Escobedo narrowly missed medaling, placing fourth in the heavily-contested 100-yard Freestyle, coming in at 1:00.52.

Distance swimmer Kelly Walsh placed fifth in the 1,650-yard Freestyle, with Hunter Dawkins placing eighth and Caitlin McLoughlin 10th.  Walsh was also tops for CSI in the 200-yard Backstroke, placing seventh overall with a time of 2:45.90.  Lauren Overeem placed 9th there as well.

Overeem finished eighth and Jessica Pifalo 9th in 200-yard Butterfly competition before CSI finalized with a seventh and eighth place showing in the 400-yard Freestyle Relay event, the final one of the day.

Baruch won the event outright with a total of 973 points.  Hunter College took second place with 881 points, followed by CSI (607), Brooklyn (452), John Jay (356), Lehman (269) and York (14).

STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE — Tuesday marks the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy’s devastating attack on our portion of the East Coast. The storm was a wake-up call to the entire New York metropolitan area — but especially to Staten Island, the Rockaways, Breezy Point and other low-lying coastal areas.

We can only prevent future calamities by learning from the past, and using that knowledge to guide us in the future.

I would like to emphasize the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to formulating a response to natural disasters. Throughout my career, when I have worked on natural disasters, scientists made predictions and no one listened. This is because, for the message to be received, we as scientists need to include politicians, business leaders, social scientists, economists, humanists and community leaders. This “serious conversation” needs to be a team approach, as the frequency and severity of tropical storms are likely to increase.

In June 2012, five months before Sandy, most people did not think of New York as lying within the hurricane belt, although powerful storms have impacted our city before.

In 1932 there was a hurricane of unknown strength with a 15-plus foot surge (based on our analysis of newspaper photos) and in 1938 an unnamed Category 3 hurricane, sometimes referred to as the Long Island Express, that produced a surge in the neighborhood of 20 feet. These storms went somewhat unnoticed, at least on Staten Island, because the surges rolled across undeveloped marshland.

Sandy’s maximal wind speed along actual hurricane’s track. Generated by the CUNY High Performance Computing Center at the College of Staten Island.

UNIQUE STORMS

Each storm is different; strength, eye track, tides and other weather systems all play a factor. The surge starts as a low-pressure bulge in the ocean in the eye of the storm (think of water rising into a vacuum cleaner). Winds pile water on top of the bulge and tide then lifts the water to an even higher level. The New York Metropolitan area sits at a particularly vulnerable area.

The right angle of the shoreline created by the intersection of the New Jersey shore and Long Island and counterclockwise rotation drives wind and water against Staten Island and up New York Harbor. This surge water is then trapped by wind driving water westward along Long Island Sound.

Within the New York metropolitan area, Staten Island is particularly vulnerable. The narrowing passage created by the Long Island and New Jersey shores, in conjunction with a shallowing sea floor ramp, pressurizes the water and focuses it against the South Shore, greatly increasing the surge’s height and intensity.

Rising sea levels only complicate a surge situation, and higher sea levels should be viewed as the new normal. Sea level has been rising at about a foot a century for the past 5,000 years and that rate is likely to increase — maybe to as much as two to five feet per century. This has been masked because we have been developing shore areas faster than the sea level rise. However, this is not sustainable.

Barrier islands, marshes, coastal dune fields, estuaries and bays are nature’s sponges that absorb the energy of a storm surge and store water that mitigates damage and flooding — and, through overdevelopment, we have hardscaped our sponges, leaving these areas extremely vulnerable to flood damage.

FIVE-POINT PLAN

In light of the fact that Sandy was a relatively minor event with a 14-foot storm surge, and there is scientific speculation that the area could encounter surges of 30, and perhaps even 38 feet, I offer a five-point plan to guide the “serious conversation:”

1. Protect our existing dunes, marshes, wetlands and barriers whenever possible.

2. Rebuild and restore coastal dune fields and marshes.

3. Consider rezoning high-risk areas for day use and recreational purposes. Even within the flood zone, some areas are more vulnerable than others.

4. Consider appropriate use of seawalls, floodgates, and other engineering solutions, and understand that engineering solutions almost always protect one area at the expense of another.

5. Above all, we need to educate people, that in storm surges when the water starts to rise, it is too late to escape. Climb to safety! Never take shelter in a basement that could fill with water and trap victims in seconds, but head to high ground.

Evacuation orders must be taken seriously in order to avoid loss of life, and government officials should be mindful of evacuation plans for people with disabilities, the ill, the elderly, and people in hospice and home care.

Education can also guide appropriate building codes and construction styles when decisions are made to rebuild. Appropriate low-cost ADA-compliant signage should guide residents to high ground, and let residents know the vulnerability of their location.

Local officials should also designate areas on high ground where residents can move their vehicles to protect them from the storm.

I am confident that if we continue to have this “serious conversation,” we have many options and a bright future. Although we are extremely vulnerable, we are much more fortunate than many coastal cities in that we have a lot of high safe ground. Let’s use it wisely.

Written by Dr. William J. Fritz, Interim President, College of Staten Island

William J. Fritz, PhD, is the interim president of the College of Staten Island, Willowbrook. He is also a professor of geology and a member of the earth and environmental sciences doctoral faculty at the CUNY Graduate Center. Dr. Fritz has authored “Roadside Geology of Yellowstone Country,” “Basics of Physical Stratigraphy and Sedimentology” and more than 50 scholarly publications. He presented “Storm Surge Model for New York, Connecticut, and Northern Waters of New Jersey with Special Emphasis on New York Harbor” at the 2012 Geological Society of America’s annual meeting and exposition in Charlotte, N.C., a report written in June 2012 and presented the week after Sandy hit New York City. He also hosted the forum “Superstorm Sandy: A Serious Conversation About the Future of Staten Island” at the College of Staten Island, where a diverse group of professionals provided members of the CSI and Staten Island communities with information on the superstorm and how to prepare for future severe weather events.

 This story originally appeared in the Staten Island Advance October 27, 2013 and is © 2013 SILive.com and reprinted here with permission.

Fiorenza in the telescope operator’s seat

Stephanie Fiorenza presented at the 223^rd American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in Washington D.C. earlier this year.

Ms. Fiorenza, an Astrophysics graduate student at the College of Staten Island, presented her dissertation “The Starburst-AGN Connection in Luminous and Ultra-luminous Infrared Galaxies” which focused on the evolutionary connection between nuclear starbursts and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in luminous infrared galaxies and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies.

Fiorenza stands next to the 4M telescope to put its immense size into perspective.

Her dissertation, which will be defended this spring, is the result of years of hard work collecting data as well as collaboration with distinguished mentors in the field of astronomy, most notably CSI’s own Dr. Charles Liu and Dr. Tsutomu Takeuchi from Nagoya University in Japan.

The meeting, held in a different city every six months, is an opportunity for the country’s astronomers to meet and discuss new findings in their respective fields of study. It is also a place where students such as Stephanie can have an opportunity to rub elbows with Nobel Prize winning scientists. It is a “one stop shop,” according to CSI Assistant Professor of Engineering and Physics Dr. Emily Rice, who also presented her research, titled “Photometric and Spectral Analysis of Blue and Red L Dwarfs”,

Upon being awarded the National Science Foundation (NSF) East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute Fellowship this past summer, Ms. Fiorenza was able to accomplish much of her research at Nagoya University in Japan under her research mentor, Dr. Tsutomu Takeuchi.

“I find this work to be particularly interesting because these galaxies are more complex than normal galaxies. Not only are they typically mergers between two or more galaxies, they are very dusty, making what’s going on in their nuclear regions more mysterious,” said Ms. Fiorenza about studying the evolution of infrared-bright galaxies.

A view of the Kitt Peak National Observatory

Another big step in her ability to research these galaxies was when she was awarded time on the 4-meter Mayall telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in the Arizona-Sonoran desert. The telescope, one of the largest in the world, is well-known among astronomers for being very difficult to access due to its popularity. However, Ms. Fiorenza was awarded time on the telescope in May of 2013 based on the strength of her written proposal. Stephanie was then able to use the data to look at the rate of star formation in these galaxies, among other properties.

Ms. Fiorenza that she was very excited to share her results from the data she collected by speaking at the AAS meeting. She is planning on working as a post doc in the fall and hopes to extend her promising research.

Like any good researcher, Ms. Fiorenza is obviously very passionate about their research and chosen fields of study. Ms. Fiorenza put it succinctly when she said, “in order to truly understand things within the universe, you need to understand the universe itself.”

The College of Staten Island (CSI) has launched the Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering as a new degree offering by the department of Engineering Science and Physics as of the spring 2014 semester.

CSI is the only school on Staten Island to offer this degree, the second institution within the City University of New York (CUNY) and one of only a handful in the greater metropolitan area offering the prestigious degree.

Students who earn their Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering are likely to earn excellent job placements in careers that are growing as our national economy continues to struggle.

Photo of Xhevair Jaskuli courtesy of LinkedIn.

Xhevair Maskuli, an Electrical Engineering graduate from CSI in 2010, credits much of his success to CSI’s ability to get him “prepared to take my place in the industry I was interested in.”

Mr. Maskuli, who is currently an Associate for Booz Allen Hamilton, contracted to the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that “the CSI courses were focused on preparing me for the career and pushed us to get internships and get us ready to move to the job market as soon as we graduated.”

He, along with hundreds of other CSI success stories are the reason CSI’s Engineering program has garnered the reputation for preparing its students for careers beyond the classroom.

This is “one of the classic and perhaps most prestigious of all engineering degrees,” said CSI Professor of Engineering Science and Physics and Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness Dr. Syed Rivzi. He added that “the high-tech field of Electrical Engineering has historically exhibited steady growth and has been the breeding ground for modern advances in telecommunications, automation and networking among other technologies.”

The opportunities for jobs that require a BS in Electrical Engineering include positions with Con Edison, the Mass Transit Authority, National Grid, PSE&G, Verizon, IBM, General Electric and the entire telecommunications industry.

The BS in Electrical Engineering also opens up a great path for CSI students planning on applying to graduate school.

Approximately 100 of CSI’s current Bachelor of Science in Engineering Science students have joined the new BS in Electrical Engineering program. Many of those students will be able to graduate this June 2014 with a double major of Engineering Science and Electrical Engineering due to the fact that the College’s BS in Engineering Science with a specialization in Electrical Engineering was commensurate with Electrical Engineering degrees at other colleges and universities. The move to provide CSI students with this degree is part of a multi-year plan to help streamline the post-graduation phase for its engineering students.

The BS in Electrical Engineering is the first of what CSI Professor and Chairman of the department of Engineering and Physics Alfred Levine calls “spin off” degrees from the BS in Engineering Science. The next planned degree for the department of Engineering and Physics will be that of BS in Mechanical Engineering.

As a new program, the BS in Electrical Engineering will seek accreditation from the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Until the new program is accredited by ABET, the graduates of this program will not be eligible to take the Professional Engineering Examination, which is needed for practice as a professional engineer. However, most jobs do not require a PE license; this would not be an issue for most of BS in Electrical Engineering graduates.

Student interested in pursuing a PE license would have an option to major in both the BS in Electrical Engineering and Engineering Science (double major). Since the BS in Engineering Science is an ABET accredited program, those students will the double major will be eligible to take the PE examination for obtaining the PE license.

Students requiring more information about the new program should contact the department of Engineering Science and Physics at the College of Staten Island at (718)982-2825 or the deputy chairman of the department Professor Neo Antoniades at (718)982-3291, or contact him by email at neo.antonides@csi.cuny.edu.

In a season that many would say was the finest ever at the College of Staten Island, the men’s basketball program ended it in style, scoring a come-from-behind, 74-71, win over Kean University at the Sports & Recreation Center, clinching the 2014 ECAC Metro NY/NJ Postseason Basketball Championship.  For the Dolphins it caps a tremendous 28-3 season, and marks the College’s first ECAC title since 1986 and it’s second of all-time.  The most memorable night of the season also marked a bit of history along the way.  Senior guard Bloochy Magloire eclipsed the school’s all-time career scoring record, and Head Coach Tony Petosa scored his 400th career win.

“Everyone wants to win their last game and it feels good,” said Petosa after the game.  ”I think we proved something to a lot of people this year, and I think we proved a lot to ourselves.  We’re good.  We are a very good basketball team, and it’s a nice feeling to win.”

The win was hardly easy.  Down by as many as 11 points in the second half the Dolphins worked in a feverish comeback to take a late lead, then held on after a frenzied last-minute rally from the visitors, making for what was a great Final at CSI.

Neither team led by more than eight points in the initial stanza, and the teams traded the lead a total of five times.  CSI got on the board first with a Jonathan Chadwick-Myers three but Xavier Fuller and Tommy Soulias countered for Kean to give the Cougars the lead, and that set a pretty good stage for the remaining 38 minutes.

CSI was first to act quickly, going on an 8-0 run aided by five-straight Kevin King markers to give CSI an 11-4 edge with just 3:36 gone by in the game.  The Cougars roared back, working up a 14-5 run over the next five minutes take an 18-16 lead.  Fuller powered Kean for a couple of transition baskets, and Ali Mix capped the run with a three to enter the score sheet.  After tying the game a pair of times, CSI mustered back a thin, 23-22, edge on a Magloire jumper, but from there, beginning at the 9:26 mark of the frame, the Cougars worked in a 9-1 run, ended with two Mix jumpers to give Kean their biggest edge, 32-25, with 4:31 to go in the stanza.

After CSI worked KU’s lead down to three, the Cougars went ahead by eight points, 37-29, with 2:22 to go on a Mike Summerer lay-in, before CSI closed to within 39-33 at intermission.

Both teams started the second half relatively hot, but the Cougars managed to keep the Dolphins at bay, and a pair of Soulias baskets, the second of which was converted into a three-point play gave Kean the game’s first double–digit lead, 54-44, with 13:16 to play.  After a Dylan Bulger jumper cut the Kean lead, Fuller followed with a long-range bomb that extended Kean to 11, 57-46.  Magloire then hit a crucial three-pointer, his only one of the game, to counter, nut a J.J. Hladik three-ball the other way put Kean back up again by 11, 60-49, with 11:06, ending the back-and-forth assault.

CSI did not ask for a timeout, but was able to resituate itself and started amping up the defensive pressure.  That’s when CSI made its move/.  The Dolphins would score on its next five possessions, holding Kean scoreless to close the gap to just 62-61 with 7:20 left.  Will Fonseca delivered a crushing blow, blocking a Fuller shot and then going the other way for the lay-up for a big point-swing.  Mix broke up the run for KU, but CSI was still on fire and another Fonseca jumper put CSI down again by one.

With the clock inside of five minutes to play, and after a series of misses, Chadwick-Myers stepped up next for the Dolphins.  The senior unleashed a three that crashed hard off of the rim bounced straight up in the air and then landed in the hoop for the fortunate three, giving CSI a crucial, 66-64, lead with 4:26 left, and CSI never trailed again.

With full momentum, Fonseca secured a pair of free throws before the Dolphins forced a Fuller miss and Fonseca scored again to give CSI its biggest lead since the early stages of the first half, 70-64, with 2:57 to go.  The teams traded baskets and CSI entered the final two minutes up by the same six points.  A wild finish ensued, beginning with a Fuller three at 1:42 that cut the lead to three.  The teams traded turnovers from there, until a Soulias lay-up with 11 ticks left cut CSI’s lead to a digit, 72-71.  Kean promptly fouled, but Magloire calmly sank both ends of his one-and-one free-throw attempts to give CSI back the three point edge.  Down to one final attempt, a Michael Burton three missed its mark with two seconds left, and CSI fell on the loose ball as time expired.

The Dolphins rejoiced in the victory, but Petosa noted that the team was a bit subdued in its post-game celebration, still feeling the stings of not being selected to the NCAA Division III Tournament which also started this weekend.

“It’s a bit of an empty feeling inside,” said Petosa.  ”Everyone is very happy but we are all a little hungry for more.  The NCAA did the wrong thing by us and it’s unfortunate because we deserved to be there.  I think our kids were very emotional after the win for a variety of reasons, and that was certainly one of them.”

Still, history hasn’t been kind to the Dolphins in the ECAC Tournament.  Tonight marks only the second Championship for the Dolphins in 17 trips to the tournament, and is the first or the Dolphins in Petosa’s 24 years of coaching.  It made for a special 400th for the coach, and he noted the exceptional feat by Magloire as also being a nice backdrop to the season.

“Bloochy has always been one of the best offensive players we have ever had here, and he certainly deserves the record on talent alone,” Petosa said.  ”As far as winning 400 games, I try not to look backwards a lot but it certainly does mean something to me, and I’m sure when my career comes to an end it will certainly mean a lot more.  More than anything it has been a rewarding year.  Winning the ECAC’s is hard to do but it came together for us and I’m proud of it.”

Magloire was named the Tournament’s Most Valuable Player, scoring 15 points in the Dolphins’ balanced attack.  Chadwick-Myers finished with a team-high 16 points, with Cox adding 13 and a team-high seven rebounds.  Kevin King and Fonseca also finished in double-digits, with 11 and 10 points, respectively.  Fuller led all scorers for Kean with 18 points, while Burton added 12.  Kyle Latorre finished with seven points and a team-high 9 rebounds.

For the Dolphins, Petosa contends that the ECAC Championship is a gratifying finish, but the season will always have the backdrop of what could have been.

“These type of seasons don’t happen often so I am sure we will always look back on what might have been,” he said.  ”It doesn’t take away from what we’ve accomplished, however, and this team made so many great things happen, including tonight.”

One thing is for certain, the season will go down as one of, if not the best ever in CSI history.  The team set records for wins (28), record (28-3), and longest win streak (24 games).  The 2013-14 Dolphins tied a school record for field goal percentage (50.2%) and its 84.3 points per game average were second-most in team history.  The Dolphins improved their all-time ECAC record to 14-15, and improved to 2-4 all-time in the Championship game.

Margaret Ricciardi, the College of Staten Island’s (CSI) oldest active alumna will celebrate her 100^th birthday this month with a retrospective solo exhibition of her painting and sculpture at the National Arts Club in Manhattan. The exhibition, organized and curated by Marianne Weil, Assistant Professor of Sculpture at The City University of New York’s College of Staten Island, will run from March 31 to April 12, 2014.

Margaret Ricciardi was born in Brooklyn on March 8, 1914 to Guiseppe Della Badia and Filomena Maffucci, both immigrants from Calitri, Italy. Together with her husband Frank, they established a shoe service business that became a landmark to thousands of daily commuters in the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Margaret showcased her artistic flair when, as business expanded, she sold designer shoes, handbags, and accessories.

At the age of 67, Margaret enrolled in classes at CSI. After Frank passed away in 1983, she attended the College’s Studio Art program full-time. She received her Bachelor’s degree in 1986. Her passion for art and sculpture classes at CSI has continued for the past 32 years, and she has earned the distinction of the College’s longest continuous student.

During this time, with her passion and artistic skill reaching new heights, she studied at the Lorenzo de Medici Art Institute in Florence, Italy. At the age of 84, she returned to Florence for another six-week course.

Honoring her Italian heritage and her husband, Margaret established the Margaret and Frank Riccciardi Scholarship fund at CSI. With her support, students travel to Florence Italy, experiencing international education as she did years before. Margaret also provides an annual award to a graduating Studio Art major.

“Ricciardi combines classical elements with an expressionist’s palette,” notes Professor Weil when discussing the exhibit. “Figurative marble pieces sit alongside canvases bright with vitality and movement. Evocative of Bonnard, these paintings convey Ricciardi’s deep study of art history.”

A reception for the artist at the National Arts Club’s Gregg Gallery, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC, is planned for Tuesday April 1 from 5:00 to 7;00 p.m. The exhibition includes over a dozen Ricciardi oil paintings and seven stone carvings created over a period of 30 years.

The exhibit is open Monday through Friday, March 31 to April 12, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and by appointment by calling the National Arts Club at (212) 475-3424.

For more information about the artist and to view Ricciardi’s work online, visit www.ricciardigallery.com.

Mr. Luke Nasta, MPA, CASAC, has been providing substance abuse disorder treatment on Staten Island for the past 38 years. As the executive director of Camelot Counseling Centers, he knows first hand about the history of the current opiate epidemic on the Island. He knows how people become addicted, the debilitating effects on their lives, and the devastation brought upon their families.

On March 31, the College of Staten Island will present Mr. Nasta’s talk “Staten Island Drug Abuse Epidemic: A Town in Crisis” in the Center for the Arts from 2:45-4:00p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Mr. Nasta will be joined by persons currently in treatment at Camelot of Staten Island who will speak about their drug histories and how they ended up at the counseling facility that services adults, adolescents, children, and families whose lives have been affected by drug or alcohol use.

Dr. David Goode, Professor of Sociology, arranged for Mr. Nasta to be a guest lecturer in his Psychosocial Aspects of Disability class earlier this year.

“His message was so relevant, so poignant, and so critically important to our borough that we decided to bring him back to campus in a public forum to help our community grapple with this growing problem,” commented Dr. Goode.

“America is the wealthiest and most technologically advanced country in history of the world,” notes Mr. Nasta. “If we would dedicate all of our resources to this public health crisis, I believe we could control it and conquer it.”

This is an important issue for the community,” commented Dr. Nan Sussman, Dean of the Humanities and Social Sciences at CSI, “and I hope this important event will reach the families in need and help raise the public’s awareness about a very serious issue that affects many lives.”

“Staten Island Drug Abuse Epidemic: A Town in Crisis” is free and open to the public. It will be held Monday May 31, 2014, from 2:45-4:00p.m. at the College of Staten Island Center for the Arts at 2800 Victory Boulevard in the Willowbrook section of Staten Island. This important discussion is presented by the CSI department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work and sponsored by the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may have been able to avoid the whole Bridgegate mess if the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had listened to the College of Staten Island (CSI).

The college in 2012 offered to work with the Port Authority on a computer traffic-modeling project that would simulate traffic flow at the authority’s bridges and tunnels, said Jonathan Peters, finance professor and chair of CSI’s Accounting and Finance Department.

The program simulates how lane closures due to construction, accidents or other disruptions will affect traffic flow. It eliminates the need to physically shut lanes down in order to study outcomes.

Christie administration officials are accused of closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge in September in a bid to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, who would not endorse Christie for re-election.

As the Bridgegate scandal mushroomed, the Port Authority said the lanes were closed in order to conduct a traffic safety study.

“The software is out there,” said Peters. “You shouldn’t have to close bridges to do modeling. Do it on the computer.”

Peters said that CSI approached the Port Authority about computer modeling after one of the Island’s own traffic disasters: The infamous 2011 Easter nightmare, when a paucity of open toll booths caused gridlock at the Outerbridge Crossing.

Peters said that CSI had already developed simulations for the Island’s three Port Authority bridges — the Outerbridge Crossing and the Goethals and Bayonne bridges — and said that other facilities, including the George Washington, could have easily been included.

Peters said the computer modeling program can also be used for other purposes, such as event planning for things like the recent Super Bowl.

The price, according to Peters: Between $50,000 and $100,000.

But after two meetings with CSI in July 2012, the Port Authority said thanks but no thanks, Peters said.

“We got a very cold shoulder,” he said. “It speaks to the agency’s arrogance. They didn’t need our help.”

Peters said CSI was told that the Port Authority had its own internal computer modeling systems in place.

If that’s the case, Peters said he “can’t fathom” why the Port Authority would close lanes for a traffic study.

“Why would you disrupt people’s daily lives and commuting when you can do it on a computer?” he said.

He added, “So it makes you question their motivations if they could have done it with computer simulation.”

Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said authority planning staff took the proposal to the Traffic Engineering staff “and was told that we already had similar simulation models and capabilities in-house for toll plazas where there was a need for such modeling.”

This story is © 2014 SILive.com and first appeared in the Staten Island Advance on February 10, 2014.  It is reprinted here with permission.  All rights reserved.

The College of Staten Island’s 2014 spring semester Dean’s Symposium began last month with “Trouble on the Border: How Drugs and Violence Have Shaped Place,” the first of three thought-provoking symposia.

The upcoming Dean’s Symposium, “Living with Animals—Meet Meat: Three Angles on What We Eat and Its Effects on Land, Community, and Self,” will be held in the CSI Center for the Arts (1P) Recital Hall at 2:30pm on March 27. The discussion is suited for everyone, and is free and open to the public.

Last month’s panel included moderator and Associate Professor of World Languages and Literatures Oswaldo Zavala, Assistant Professor of Performing and Creative Arts Miguel A. Aragon, and Assistant Professor of Political Science and Global Affairs Aaron Gilbreath. Together they explored the many challenges of the drug trade on the U.S./Mexico border.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usx46EMqhss[/youtube] Professor Aragon, teaches printmaking at CSI and has been creating art based on the Mexican war on drugs since he first moved away from Juarez as a young man. His art attempts to bring the violence of the drug trade to the forefront. His technique involves using a laser engraver to burn images of dead cartel members he has gotten Juarez newspapers and online blogs onto cardboard, which then leaves a layer of soot that he transfers to paper.

Professor Gilbreath met Professor Aragon during new faculty orientation and realized they were studying the same subject through different lenses.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94MapBIQ87Y[/youtube] Professor Gilbreath studies the evolution of drug trafficking in Mexico by studying the regionalism of the methamphetamine trade—87 percent of which comes from Mexico. He discusses how the drug trade has evolved and changed in response to public policies, and how it affects those who live there, as well as those who die there because of it.

In contrast to Professor Aragon’s artist’s view of how people experience the drug trade, Professor Gilbreath focuses on the geography.

“Living with Animals—Meet Meat: Three Angles on What We Eat and Its Effects on Land, Community, and Self” will feature a discussion by Dr. William Fritz,  CSI Interim President; Dr. Deborah Popper, Geography Professor and Faculty Fellow, Office of the Dean of Humanities and Social Sciences; and Dr. Jean Halley, Associate Professor of Social Work.

The speakers bring personal experience to the topic: Dr. Fritz grew up on a cattle ranch and now has a herd of Pineywoods heritage cattle, Dr. Halley is from a cattle ranching family, and Dr. Popper has advocated for bison restoration.

Together they will reflect on the organization of meat production with a focus on different aspects of the beef cattle-to-food process from the lenses of their own personal experiences.

The panel will explore the way that the agricultural shift to large-scale beef production has affected both the animals and communities–rapidly shrinking the communities while equally rapidly bulking up the animals–and how thinking about the patterns of a native species like bison provides lessons that can help both the communities and animals lead better lives.

Data Gathered After Sandy An Invaluable Tool, Researchers Say

Dr. William J. Fritz recently, Interim President of the College of Staten Island, recently stopped by the NY1 studios to discuss with Anthony Pascale the new data in the wake of Hurricane Sandy that is expected to help city officials prepare for the future.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5u_qMhaIoo[/youtube]