Stony Brook University SUNY Korea

  T. Simeon Ananou has been named Stony Brook University’s Vice President for the Division of Information Technology (DoIT) and Chief Information Officer (CIO), effective August 14, 2023. The announcement was made July 7 by Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Jed Shivers. Ananou emerged from a highly competitive pool of candidates after an extensive national search. "With over 20 years of IT leadership at several higher education institutions, Dr. Ananou has remained passionate throughout his career about the role that Information Technology has in transforming education, research and learning for students,” Shiver said. “He has also served as an advocate and champion for building IT teams and environments that are responsive, efficient, and focused on customer service to support the changing needs of faculty, staff and students, University-wide.” Click here to read the original article.

  Beginning this fall, the Stony Brook School of Communication and Journalism (SoCJ) will offer a new academic program: a bachelor of arts in communication. The program will offer undergraduate students a chance to explore and understand how communication shapes culture and community, with a particular emphasis on how communication impacts systemic inequalities, discrimination and injustice. Click here to read the original article.

  SUNY Korea Research and Business Foundation (R&BF) made a Memorandum of Understanding agreement with Seoul Fashion Hub Bae Um Tteul (배움뜰) on Wednesday, July 5th, 2023. The areas of cooperation include 1.) Comprehensive cooperative activities for education support.  2.) Network establishment and experience sharing for employment support. 3.) Joint marketing cooperation for the development and revitalization of local communities. Both parties will cooperate with each other to promote the development of both organizations for collaboration in vitalizing education services and employment support through information exchange, such as new knowledge and technology related to fashion.   

  Fashion Design MFA students, in consultation with world-renowned designer Bart Hess, designed a garment that will be part of his Unwearable Collection, a collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The collection interprets the devastating impact and unpredictability of a rare skin disease, generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP), through fashion. The new piece brings to life one of the most common experiences of people with GPP: the emotional uncertainty of how it will impact their life each day, and how others will perceive them. GPP is a potentially life-threatening disease characterized by widespread eruptions of painful pustules across the body. Patients say the pain is equivalent to “10,000 papercuts.” Flares can greatly affect a person’s quality of life both physically and emotionally, and in severe cases, lead to complications including heart failure, renal failure, sepsis, and death. Click here to read the original article.

  15 students from the Fashion Institute of Technology Fashion Design Department travelled to Tokyo, Japan for a field trip to get a hands-on global experience of the fashion industry. Mark-Evan Blackman, Chair of the Fashion Design Department, led the 15 students, in their 2nd or 4th semester in the Fashion Design major, on this international field trip from Tuesday, June 20 to Friday, June 23. Prior to this trip, the students were required to conduct a professional analysis of the Seoul Fashion Market to provide them with meaningful insight before traveling to Tokyo. This analysis helped the students to compare and contrast the differences between the Korean and Japanese fashion markets when visiting the 15 assigned retail units. During this three night and four-day trip, the students also visited 2 museums and 2 galleries, and met up with the Japanese apparel Design Director. This wonderful opportunity to communicate with the designer allowed the students to understand how designers articulate their intelligence into their design. While visiting all the assigned retail units, museums, and galleries, the students were able to review and analyze the clothing assortments and displays, as well as study the unique designs of the garments.                    

  A research article by Mechanical Engineering Department Professor Yang and postdoctoral researcher Park, along with several co-workers – “Structural Color Generation on Transparent and Flexible Substrates by Nanosecond Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures” – was selected as the cover picture of the journal Advanced Materials Technologies, published on May 24, 2023. Being selected as the cover picture of a journal article has the significance of being regarded as a representative feature of the journal and promotes advertisement through various media to attract the public. Professors Yang and Park’s research is about: “Laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) fabricated by a nanosecond pulse laser patterning on metal-organic thin films. The photothermal effects, such as thermocapillary flow inducing the material reorganization, are mainly responsible for the controlled LIPSS formation. The LIPSS patterns exhibit iridescent structural coloration while illuminated with white light, distinguishing the color spectrum from red to blue.   After that, the LIPSS patterned substrates serve as a mold, and the nanostructures are successfully transferrable to the poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS), showing the mirror symmetry iridescent structural coloration. These results reveal that the solution-based LIPSS pattern formation from metal-organic thin film-coated substrates can effectively be extended for various optical applications and micro/nanostructure transferring tools for flexible/stretchable electronics.” Arthanari, S., Park, J.-E., Bose, S., Kang, H.W., Kim, S., Yang, M., Lee, H. and Hwang, J.S. (2023), Structural Color Generation on Transparent and Flexible Substrates by Nanosecond Laser Induced Periodic Surface Structures (Adv. Mater. Technol. 10/2023). Adv. Mater. Technol., 8: 2370044. https://doi.org/10.1002/admt.202370044 Professor Min Yang Yang is a leading professor in SUNY Korea. Yang received his BS and MS from Seoul National University and his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research areas are nanobiotechnology, sensor fabrication, and precision engineering. Professor Jong Eun Park received his BS and PhD degrees in Mechanical Engineering from KAIST. Park has served as the postdoctoral researcher in Mechanical Engineering at SUNY Korea since March 2021, and also the adjunct professor since September 2022. His research interests are laser material processing and spectral sensing.        

  Practice Greenhealth has once again recognized Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH) as a national leader in environmental sustainability. As a result of SBUH’s leadership, ingenuity and hard work through its sustainability efforts and initiatives, the hospital has earned this year’s Greenhealth Emerald Award. This award recognizes the hospital, as part of the top 20 percent, for its ongoing commitment to improving its environmental performance and efforts to build sustainability and resiliency into the operations and culture of the institution. Click here to read the original article.

Fashion exhibitions have become an increasingly popular mainstay at museums—nearly 1.7 million people visited The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2018 show Heavenly Bodies, for example, making it the most-visited exhibition in the museum’s history. At the same time, major fashion brands such as Prada and LVMH have started foundations for displaying art. The work of Andy Warhol in particular prefigured many of these developments, says Natasha Degen, professor and chair of FIT’s Art Market Studies MA program. Her new book, Merchants of Style: Art and Fashion After Warhol, examines the convergence of art and fashion, and teases out some of its troubling implications. She answered a few questions on the subject for FIT Chief Storyteller Alex Joseph. Click here to read the original article.

  Five Stony Brook University faculty members — promoted to the rank of Distinguished Faculty at the April 11 State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees meeting — were recognized at the Distinguished Academy dinner and induction ceremony, held June 20 at the Crowne Plaza in Albany. The honored faculty members were appointed to the rank of Distinguished Professor, a prestigious honor bestowed upon professionals of the highest caliber. Click here to read the original article.

SUNY Korea Spring 2023 Commencement Ceremony and FIT AAS Exhibition * 2023 Spring Commencement Ceremony at the IGC Auditorium   The State University of New York, Korea hosted its Spring 2023 Commencement Ceremony on Friday, June 16 in Songdo, Incheon. A total of 68 students from the Applied Mathematics & Statistics, Business Management, Computer Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Technological Systems Management majors of Stony Brook University, and 85 students from the Fashion Design and Fashion Business Management majors of the Fashion Institute of Technology, graduated on this day. Arthur H. Lee, the president of SUNY Korea, noted in his congratulatory speech the 12 nationalities of the graduating students, including the United States, Canada, China, Ethiopia, Hong Kong, Iran, Kenya, Korea, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Taiwan; and congratulated the graduates one by one. He also emphasized the successes of recent SUNY graduates’, who attained employment at Google, Microsoft, Meta, Amazon, Deloitte, Naver, Kookmin Bank, KB Bank, KPMG, and KOTRA; and additionally, those who went on to prestigious graduate schools such as Stanford and Cornell University. His advice to the graduates: “Put what you have learned into action, execute what you have planned, and share what is beneficial with those around you.” Dr. Carl Lejuez, Chair of the Board of Managers of SUNY Korea, LLC, also gave congratulatory remarks to the graduating students: “I hope that graduates will not miss out on various opportunities after graduation and pioneer your lives to grow into global leaders. As a SUNY Korea alumnus, be a mentor to the fellow students still in college and help them in terms of their careers.” In addition, he mentioned that “Stony Brook University ranked the number one public university in the State of New York, and Fashion Institute of Technology is a world-known premier institution for education students in the fashion industry; we look forward to continually develop our relationship, and through cooperation with various partners, to provide the best education possible for the students.” On the same day, the FIT’s Fashion Design AAS Exhibition was held at the SUNY Korea Museum of Modern Costume. The theme of this year’s Fashion Design AAS Exhibition was “The 60’s.” Garments from the 1960s were conceptualized, designed, and hand sewn by our talented 2nd year students. Mark-Evan Blackman, the chair of the Fashion Design Department, stated that “[The students’] internationally recognized degree has provided them with an assortment of world-class skills, and their draping, flat-pattern, and hand-finishing sewing details will all be on full display.”         * FIT Fashion Design Department AAS Exhibition

The Simons Foundation’s contribution is the largest unrestricted endowment gift to a higher education institution in American history The Simons Foundation, a philanthropy working to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences, today announced a historic $500 million endowment gift to Stony Brook University during a news conference at the foundation’s Manhattan headquarters. This monumental gift — the combined largesse of the Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International — is the largest unrestricted donation to an institution of higher education in U.S. history. The extraordinary gift is also expected to grow by up to $1 billion in contributions for Stony Brook University’s endowment by capitalizing on New York State’s 1:2 endowment matching program and other philanthropy inspired by this gift. This transformative donation will cement Stony Brook’s place as New York’s flagship research institution and provide the means to invest in areas most urgent and necessary to help sustain the university’s commitment to educational excellence, research innovation and community support. Investments stemming from this gift will have a direct and positive impact on perpetual funding for student scholarships, endowed professorships, innovative research, and excellent clinical care. Click here to read the original article.

  Professor Seung-Bok Choi (MEC) has received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 18th International Conference on Electrorheological Fluids and Magnetorheological Suspensions (ERMR2023), held in Chongqing, China from June 9 to 12 2023. He started his research from 1985 and is still actively working on design and control sectors utilizing ERF and MRS such controllable automotive suspension system. At this conference he delivered a plenary lecture entitled, “Design of a new rotary MR damper for suspension system of purpose-built vehicles”.   Professor Choi received his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Inha University, and MS and PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University. He has served as the leading professor at SUNY Korea since March 2021.         

  College Students’ Mental Health; a crisis Mental health of college students is a global problem that requires serious attention by university administrators. According to a 2022 survey by Best Colleges, in the United States more that 77% of college students experienced moderate to severe psychological distress. This included anxiety (35%), depression (27%) as well as trauma, eating disorder and bipolar and substance use disorders. Another 2020–2021 Healthy Minds Study, which collects data from 373 campuses nationwide found more than 60% of college students met the criteria for at least one mental health problem.  The situation in Korea is similar. A 2022 published study by Daejeon University conducted on 260 Korean Female College Students in 2018 (Pre-COVID-19) found that 51.9% experience light to sever depression. The rate increased to 69.1% in 2020 (Post-COVID-19). Overall in 2020, South Korea's suicide rate was 25.7 which is more than double the OECD average of 11 per 100,000 population. Although lower than the rate for the elderly (101.4 per 100,000 population) grade school and college students in Korea have a higher than average suicide rate. Factors that affect suicide and suicide ideation are combinations of individual, family, and school factors. University education in Korea is very competitive. Students are constantly worried about their academic performance, grades, class rankings, etc. School-related influencing factors includes stress related to finding a job.  Several studies have suggested that critical communication by parents is an important family-related risk factor for suicidal ideation in Korean university students. Korean parents maintain a major influence on their children even after they are grown up. As a result, students who experience considerable critical communication from their parents that reduces their self-esteem, experience more suicidal ideation.  Dealing with mental health issues on university campuses requires a multifaced approach which includes university administrators, professors, students and students’ families.  Universities must ensure that students have access to high quality mental health care including psychological crisis intervention resources. The mental health care system in Korea can be hard to access and overwhelming for a student in crisis. A combination of on campus resources plus designated outside specialty clinics can help provide needed access.  Designing and implementing realistic programs tailored to students' academic majors to enhance their self-esteem and provide practical knowledge in dealing with academic stress will help students obtain a healthier school life emotionally as well as academically. For young adults, college can offer self-discovery, lifelong friendships, and a better understanding of the world. However, college life may also bring enormous social and emotional pressures. Being away from family and friends, unfamiliar environments can cause intense levels of loneliness.  Universities can help students navigate through these challenges by having programs that engages inspires and build friendly communities that students can feel safe and welcomed. Studies have also suggested that lack of physical exercise and adequate sleep are important factors for depression among students. Promoting a healthy life style should be an important part of student services programs.  Faculty paly a significant role in addressing mental health issues on University campuses. Universities must make sure faculty are adequately trained on how to identify students in distress and how to respond and refer them to mental health professionals. A study by Boston University School of public Health found that only 51 % have a good idea of how to recognize a student is in mental distress, with a mortify (61%) support mandatory training for faculty.  Finally, the role of families, particularly parents in student’s mental health is significant but more difficult to address by the universities. Education programs tailored to parents and families, such as brochures maybe effective methods for such communications.  Click here to read the article

  Briefly introduce yourself. Hello, my name is Chaeeun Lee and I am from Korea. I graduated from SUNY Korea FIT in May 2019, and after completing the AAS program I transferred to FIT in New York. I majored in Fashion Design and specialized in Knitwear. Why did you decide to study at SUNY Korea FIT? The main reason I started the AAS program at SUNY Korea FIT was because of the language and environment. If I had gone directly to New York, I would have had to spend time adjusting to the language and environment, which might have affected my focus on school. However, at SUNY Korea, I was able to fully concentrate on my schoolwork with the help from the Korean faculty. What made you decide to go to FIT New York Campus? Of course, I learned and experienced a lot at SUNY Korea FIT, but I believed that there were certain things that could only be learned at the New York campus. Firstly, as everyone knows, New York is renowned for its fashion industry, so the range of inspiration that can be seen and felt in both school and daily life is much broader. Additionally, I wanted to meet a more diverse group of students and professors at the New York campus to learn on a wider scale. I wanted to take classes not only with fashion design students but also with students from other majors and expand my opportunities to interact with them. Without hesitation, I applied to FIT's New York Campus. Could you explain the award you received and the Fashion Design BFA Program? In the Fashion Design BFA Program at FIT's New York campus, each year the graduating students' thesis works are evaluated, and one winner is chosen from each specialization class. During the final thesis course, a panel of critics, who have been working closely with us throughout the semester, evaluates our work. These critics are responsible for selecting one winner among us. The winners of the Critic's Award automatically get the opportunity to showcase their designs in a fashion show and have a separate exhibition. This year I was awarded the Critic Award from the knitwear category by the senior design director of knitwear at Coach, Stacey Tester. To briefly explain the Fashion Design BFA Program semester by semester, in the first semester of the third year, students are exposed to all specializations within the fashion design department. This allows us to explore and determine which specialization suits us best. Courses cover sportswear, knitwear, intimate wear, special occasion and children’s wear. This is a time for us to reassess and discover our preferences. Starting from the second semester of the third year, we take specialized courses based on the specialization we have chosen. During this semester, we receive fundamental lessons specific to our chosen specialization. In the first semester of the fourth year, we go deeper into advanced courses related to our specialization and begin to develop our thesis topics and portfolios. Finally, in the last semester, we focus on further developing our thesis, applying everything we have learned throughout the program, and creating our own designs. To view Chaeeun Lee's Workbook click here --> Naver Blog

  FIT is known globally for its world-class faculty of practitioners and scholars. The 2023 Faculty Recognition Celebration, held May 22 in the Haft Theater, honored the college’s esteemed faculty for their dedication to their students and research. President Joyce F. Brown and Yasemin Jones, acting vice president of Academic Affairs, presented SUNY and FIT awards. The FIT Faculty Excellence Award went to Sarah Blazer, interim director of the Writing and Speaking Studio; Todd Blumenthal, assistant professor of Fashion Business Management; Susanne Goetz, associate professor of Textile/Surface Design; Delphine Horvath, associate professor of Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing; and Brendan Leach, associate chair of the Illustration MFA program. Click here to read the original article.