Submitted by David LeeOn Friday, October 4, 2019, the Humanities Department held The City Tech Health Communication Symposium. The all-day conference featured 11 different presentations related to communicating in health care and public health. The plenary speaker was Cindy Smalletz, Program Director of the Columbia University Narrative Medicine Program, who spoke about narrative medicine health care. Gary Kreps, University Distinguished Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University, who is a founder of health communication as an academic field, was the next keynote speaker, and he took the audience on a tour of the discipline. The third keynote speaker, Renata Schiavo, Senior Lecturer at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, wrote the book Health Communication from Theory to Practice and she introduced a new paradigm in Health Communication, focused on health equity.
Organizers: David Lee, Zheng Zhu , Denise Scannell
Other topics included: The opioid crisis; collaborations between the arts and sciences; health inequalities; social marketing; language access for Spanish speakers; communication skills training; and video games designed to raise awareness about binge drinking. In addition to scholars from academic institutions across the tri-state area, a number of City Tech scholars shared their work, including Humanities professors Denise Scannell, Sandra Cheng, Zheng Zhu and David Lee, representing the School of Arts and Sciences. Other speakers were from Nursing, Dental Hygiene, Health Sciences and other departments at City Tech.
The event was made possible by an “Advancing the Discipline” grant from the National Communication Association. The grant provided honorariums for the keynote speakers and breakfast and lunch, catered by the cafeteria. The Humanities Department presented a new Health Communication Bachelors of Science program at City Tech, which is the first communication program at CUNY with a health focus.
The symposium was well attended, with each presentation initiating a lively discussion, and the organizers received many positive comments from the presenters and guests. For the organizers, the event was an opportunity to build capacity in the health communication field, connecting with leading experts and addressing important issues related to public health and patient safety. The night before the event, keynote speaker Kreps attended Professor Lee’s class COM 2403 ID Health Communication and spoke at length about communication technologies used in medical care, displaying his enthusiasm for the field.
In his gracious introductory remarks, SoAS Dean Justin Vazquez-Poritz amended the name of the event, referring to it as “the first annual” Health Communication Symposium. While future iterations of the symposium aren’t certain, and are contingent on funding, the Humanities Department appreciates the opportunity bring health communication ideas and scholarship to City Tech.
Alex Sigaras (Weill-Cornell) Photo: Eugenia Giannopoulou
We hosted faculty and researchers from NYC medical research institutions and made the event open to the CUNY community. Our invited speakers were:
Jeffrey Staples, Manager Analysis R&D at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Nicola Robine, Assistant Director, Computational Biology, New York Genome Center
Alex Sigaras, Senior Research Associate in Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine
Yiye Zhang, Assistant Professor in Health Informatics, Weill Cornell Medicine
Professor Giannopoulou and Princesca Dorsaint Photo: Eugenia Giannopoulou
The eight BIB students and trainees of the NIH program “Big Data in Biomedical Informatics” also presented their research performed during their internships at Weill Cornell Medicine. The students were given the opportunity to present their work in a realistic conference-like setting that contributed to their professional development. The symposium had 35 attendees, including Dean Vazquez-Poritz and President Hotzler. Learn more about the Big Data in Biomedical Informatics program at http://bigdata.citytech.cuny.edu The program of the symposium is available at http://bigdata.citytech.cuny.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/BD2BMI_Student_Symposium_Program.pdf
Following the successes of our previous symposia—the first announcing City Tech’s newly acquired Science Fiction Collection and the second featuring an invited talk by the celebrated SF writer Samuel R. Delany, the Third Annual City Tech Science Fiction Symposium focused on the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and its enduring influence. The event welcomed over 100 attendees, and it featured speakers from City College of New York, City Tech, Fordham University, Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai, LaGuardia Community College, and the University of Pennsylvania. Highlights include an interesting panel discussion led by Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences Justin Vazquez-Poritz and featuring City Tech faculty from Biological Sciences, Computer Systems Technology, Emerging Media Technologies, and Philosophy talking about the relationship between their work and SF. Another popular session was Professor A. Lavelle Porter’s student round table discussion of Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower.
The annual symposium is organized around two guiding principles. First, Science Fiction is an interdisciplinary literary and cultural art form that bridges STEM and the humanities to explore the effects of science and technology on society and the individual. A symposium about SF at City Tech is seen as another way to explore how our individual disciplines are informed by and support one another. Second, the City Tech Science Fiction Symposium should be inclusive and representative of our community on campus and the larger community of which City Tech is a part. We want each symposium to include as many faculty and student voices as possible from within City Tech, which we have aimed to do with paper presentations and panel discussions. Also, we deeply value the ideas offered from scholars and professionals who present papers and engage in dialog during each session. This adds much more to the day’s conversations, and it permits us to share our work and ideas with our colleagues elsewhere. Finally, we invite the public to join us for learning from the sessions and sharing their ideas and questions during the on-going conversation.
Interdisciplinary Panel discussing Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Robert MacDougall (Philosophy), Ashwin Satyanarayana (CST), Heidi Boisvert (Emerging Media), Jeremy Seto (Biology) and Dean Justin Vazquez-Poritz (Arts & Sciences). Photo: Jason Ellis
The third symposium was organized by Jill Belli, Jason W. Ellis, Leigh Gold, Lucas Kwong, Robert Lestón, and A. Lavelle Porter. We coordinated with Dean Justin Vazquez-Poritz and Office Assistant Iva Williams to reserve space (in the new Academic Building) and order catering. Julia Jordan and Faculty Commons provided help with posters (designed by Design Intern Julie Bradford), promotion, and symposium materials. We reached out to Editor Trevor Quachri and Associate Editor Emily Hockaday at Analog Science Fiction and Fact, who agreed to donate copies of the magazine, and Nicole Leist, Manager of Education Programs at The Morgan Library & Museum, who agreed to donate passes to their It’s Alive! Frankenstein at 200 exhibit.
Looking toward the future, we hope to continue building bridges between the humanities and STEM through each new symposium. Symposium topics might include SF and Race, Gender, Sexuality, Place/Space/City, Philosophy, Ethics, History, Technoscience, Digital Culture, and Language/Linguistics. We welcome others to join us in planning, participating, and sharing ideas.
Tower of the Nieuwe Kerk on Canal. (CC-BY-NC-SA Jeremy Seto)
The Open Education Global 2018 conference was held in Delft, Netherlands April 24-26 at the Technical University of Delft (TU Delft). A Multidisciplinary group (Amanda Almond – Social Sciences/Psychology, Jill Belli – English, Cailean Cooney – Library & Jeremy Seto – Biology) from City Tech presented on the Open Educational Resources at the College using the OpenLab as the platform for dissemination.
Civil twilight in Delft. (CC-BY-NC-SA Jeremy Seto)
Markt Square as a globe for OE Global (CC-BY-NC-SA Jeremy Seto)
The presenters were asked to reflect on their experiences at the meeting.
What were you expecting of the make-up of the audience and how did your portion of the presentation reflect this? Where these expectations met?
Cailean: I was impressed with the large audience and there seemed to be a good representation of educational technologists, instructors, and librarians. I think each of our contributions offered complementary examples of intentional pedagogy built out of and for the City Tech community. I think for the audience to see the evidence of that at a programmatic, platform, and course level was really unique and invigorating.
Amanda: My expectations of the audience were met: most were educators/instructors/professors. (although there was no way to be certain). I suspect this was the case because my portion of the presentation was well received. Audience members enjoyed the detailed examples of using OERs to achieve interdisciplinary learning objectives as well as outcomes specific to health and disease prevention. My expectations were exceeded. I thought that my in-depth case study about my course would be perceived as an add-on to the OER training and OpenLab portion of our presentation; however, people responded very positively to how OERs enhances student participation, learning and expression, and self-efficacy.
City Hall and the main square of Delft from the top of the New Church. (CC-BY-NC-SA Jeremy Seto)
Jeremy: I wasn’t sure what to expect based on the diversity of titles and topics of other presentations. In the end, I felt there were a lot of Librarians in the audience and not as many instructors. I think the audience liked the different uses of the OpenLab for discipline specific dissemination of course material. I focused on course coordination and standardization of my material as outlined by the National Science Foundation, so I think I provided a perspective to the audience they weren’t necessarily anticipating. Overall, I think the diversity of our panel presentation represented our institution in a good light.
What events, talks or presentations had an impact on you during the conference about the direction of the OER initiative or enhancement of features on the OpenLab?
Amanda: I was most moved by the keynote speaker on the first day. Following the Minister of Education’s quote “we are to ensure that knowledge remains free for all, and not limited to just those with the buying power” was a representative from Kiron. This is a program/platform that serves refugees from war in 5 countries. Their online program affords 2-year degrees, with continuations at other universities, in degrees that are highest in demand (pertaining to the global market), for people displaced by war. This is entirely free and offers ample support, both educationally and socially, towards individual success. As this program grows, folks remain reflexive and keep the benefits of the students at the forefront of new additions and iterations. Combining mentorship and community in addition to advising and online courses with free materials; the Kiron program is aspirational and remains in need of institutional support from colleges around the globe. For me, this put into context the ethical and moral implications of OER initiative and the rapidly-changing world we live in.
Jeremy: I was really moved by the Keynote (Kiron NGO) on the first day. As a free culture proponent, I’ve always looked at the Open Education Resources initiative as being centered behind social justice. Our student body at City Tech is so non-traditional, that access to education has taken a new meaning when I observed students coming to class without materials because they didn’t have their financial aid money yet. I’ve also viewed it the other way in which we can put the responsibility on students to be prepared by removing this financial obstacle. The discussion regarding the UNESCO draft recommendation on OER was also enlightening. This was a great example of the international movement and support behind this social justice issue.Â
How does CUNY’s entry as a sustaining member of the Open Education Consortium impact the goals of Open Educational Resources and Open Pedagogy at City Tech?
Amanda:It showcases the work being done here.  It connects faculty to others with similar orientations to OER and pedagogies for continued support and identification of new materials. It helps to lessen the learning curve for those faculty whose disciplines are not inherently “tech”.  It provides perspective to where City Tech and CUNY fit into the global needs and goals of education for populations negatively impacted current knowledge dissemination driven by capitalist mores; rather than ones of social justice, restoration of people and affected communities, and ensuring success for our students.
Jeremy: The CUNY contingent also met with the new director of the Open Education Consortium. As we discussed our role as a University within this organization, I spoke about the coalescence of the various dialects of “open” that were being discussed during the conference. From the numerous talks, I began to see the limitations of what everyone was doing because Open Source Software, Open Hardware, Open Education, Open Data etc. would have the same desired outcome but unable to integrate fully with each other. As someone in a data driven field, the various talks illustrated to me how these dialects of Open were still partially partitioned from each other and the next step in the educational process would be to have better cross-talk. This is really important considering the new proposed majors that are coming into play at City Tech.
CUNY outside of the the TU Delft Library. Standing: Greg Gosselin (Interim University Dean of Libraries and Information Systems), Jeremy Seto (NYCCT – Biology), Jill Belli (NYCCT – English), Stacy Katz (Lehman – Library), Shawna Brandle (KBCC – History-Philosophy & Political Science), Nicole Williams (BCC – Library), Cailean Cooney (NYCCT – Library). Front: Mari Watanabe-Rose (Director of Undergraduate Education Initiatives and Research), Ann Fiddler (CUNY – Open Education Librarian)
Inside the TU Delft Library. (CC-BY-NC-SA Jeremy Seto)
A 3D printer was purchased through funds from MSEIP GRANT #P120A150063 awarded to the Math Department. Professor Johann Thiel has been printing physical manipulatives for use in various Math courses to illustrate approaches in Calculus to solve various problems.
Contents
Shell Method
Three models that illustrate the use of Shell Integration
These printed models illustrate the Shell Integration method for estimating the volumes of solids of revolution . Professor Thiel uses these when teaching integration in Calculus IIÂ (MAT1575).
Cavalieri’s principle
The following models illustrate Cavalieri’s Principle: any two solids of equal height with identical cross-sectional areas have the same volume. In each image below, all three of the printed shapes have the same volume.
Biological Models
The Ultimaker was borrowed by Professor Seto to explore the various types of models that could be printed for Biology pedagogy.
The first model attempted was a human fibula and tibia combination. This was generated as a comparison for the second model, a fragment of the tibia from the Austolopithecus afarensis called Lucy. The file for printing was provided from eLucy as a result of re-scanning for the Nature paper Perimortem fractures in Lucy suggest mortality from fall out of tall tree (Kappelman et al., 2016). These models were created to illustrate comparative anatomy and evolution and led to the failed printing of Hominini skulls.
Smaller models were inspired by the personal research of Professor Chris Blair, an evolutionary biologist and herpetologist. Professor Seto identified an existing model of a horned lizard and assembled 2 additional models from existing CT-scans.
A multi-part model with assembly required was generated for a T4 bacteriophage for use in Molecular and Cell Biology (BIO3620) to illustrate the parts of the virus and the pivotal role in identifying DNA as the inherited genetic material.
Near Field Communication
Since models already exist in some classes, the idea to enhance the experience of learning through integration of technology was attempted using NFC to re-direct to existing videos or OpenLab sites about the model. In the future, Professor Seto hopes to work with faculty from other departments to augment the manipulatives with more complex interactions.
The 10th Annual City Tech Research Conference will take place on Friday, May 6th in room N-119 from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm.
The event will include a series of talks from faculty members about their research/professional work and short presentations from students involved in advanced research projects mentored by City Tech faculty. In addition, some of the new faculty members will introduce themselves in a dedicated poster session. Breakfast and a light lunch will be served.
We look forward to seeing you on May 6th!
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9:00 am Breakfast and Viewing of New Faculty Posters
9:30 am Welcoming Remarks: President Hotzler and Provost August
9:45 am Phillip Anzalone – Department of Architectural Technology
Rapidly Deployable and Assembled Tensegrity System
10:10 am Tatiana Malyuta, Department of Computer Systems Technology
The state of the Information Technology: Cloud, Big Data and more…
10:35 am Coffee break
11:00 am Elizabeth Schaible, Department of Hospitality Management
Palate and Place ~ The Intersection of Food and Design, Then and Now
11:25 am Zhijian Qian, Department of Humanities
The Running Nude with a Giant Cross on His Shoulder
11:50 am Rachid Moumni, Mechanical Engineering Technology
(advisor Prof. Gaffar Gailani)
Design and fabrication of bionic hand
12:00 am Zianne Cuff, Liberal Arts and Sciences
(advisor Prof. Reneta Lansiquot)
Creating Active Learning Spaces in Virtual Worlds
12:10am Joyce Tam, Mechanical Engineering Technology
(advisor Prof. Ozlem Yasar)
Scaffold Design and Fabrication for Tissue Engineering Applications
12:30 pm Lunch Break
1:45 pm Paul Nembhard, Communication Design
(advisor Prof. Julia Jordan)
Designing the Newsletter with Faculty Commons Design Team
2:00 pm Annette Saddik, Department of English
Sicker than Necessary’: Tennessee Williams’s Theatre of Excess
Dr. Christopher Swift delved into the territory of the artistic representation of more than 400 musical pieces included in the four manuscripts known as Cantigas de Santa MarĂa or Songs of Holy Mary, which belong to the illuminated work of King Alfonso X “El Sabio” (the Wise) during the Middle Ages. The Cantigas are written in Galician-Portuguese, a language spoken in that period, and most of these songs refer to the Marian miracles. Relying on his deep knowledge and research on the said period, Dr. Swift discussed the musical representations of musical performance in the Cantigas, which provided the audience a series of substantiated observations based on the examples of the illuminations and textual pieces contained in the manuscript.
After the brief introduction, Dr. Swift made a description of the four codices of the Cantigas – the codex of Toledo, codex of El Escorial Library, codex of Florence and the codex of the musicians. Dr. Swift discussed that the manuscript contained some generic songs of that time, mixed with the original compositions of King Alfonso X. However, the subject on the authorship of the Cantigas is still heavily discussed. What proves to be clear though in the study of the illuminations showed by the speaker is that these were depictions on how they would take notes in the scrolls while improvising musical pieces in the Court, the existence of troubadours and other musical performances which would take place in the church – mostly evident in the Libro de Devociones – as well as the existence of a theatrical representation suggested by the discovery of a moving sculpture of the Holy Virgin belonging to this period.
Dr. Swift concluded his lecture by stating that the Cantigas were not created to remain neither as a written work of art nor as a piece in a museum exhibit, but to be the base of representations within the Christian community. These pieces chronicled the period with propaganda objectives in order to show the accomplishment of King Alfonso X during the war and in the arts.
The following summarizes an announcement from Professor Tsenova of the Biological Sciences:
Bridges to the Baccalaureate is now soliciting applications for their NIH funded program. This is the second year of the program that provides support to underrepresented students make transitions at a critical stage in their development as scientists. In partnership with Brooklyn College, the program provides a variety of services including intensive academic advisement, peer mentoring and paid authentic research experiences. If a student is currently enrolled in an Associates Degree Program  (LAS, LAA) and they are interested in Biology, Psychology or Chemistry, encourage them to look at the eligibility.
Current Students in the program may serve as models and can be found on the web site.
On March 6, CUNY and the NYC Department of Education hosted Preliminary Round of the New York City Science and Engineering Fair at City College. Numerous faculty from the Mathematics and Biological Sciences Departments of City Tech were present to aid in judging the poster presentations.
On Friday, October 4, 2019, the Humanities Department held The City Tech Health Communication Symposium. The all-day conference featured 11 different presentations related to communicating in health care and public health. The plenary speaker was Cindy Smalletz, Program Director of the Columbia University Narrative Medicine Program, who spoke about narrative medicine health care. Gary Kreps, University Distinguished Professor of Communication and Director of the Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University, who is a founder of health communication as an academic field, was the next keynote speaker, and he took the audience on a tour of the discipline. The third keynote speaker, Renata Schiavo, Senior Lecturer at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, wrote the book Health Communication from Theory to Practice and she introduced a new paradigm in Health Communication, focused on health equity.
