Ditch the Car

Bike, walk, carpool or take the bus Friday, for Green Your Commute Day. (Photo by Mark Schmidt)

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 18, 2017) — How are you getting to work or school tomorrow?

How about trying the bus, finding a carpool partner or, if you’re close enough, walking or biking?

Friday, May 19, is officially Green Your Commute Day in New York State, and state agencies – including UAlbany – are encouraging employees to look for more sustainable ways to commute than the typical one care-one person model.

“Green Your Commute Day is a celebration of all forms of transportation other than driving a gasoline-powered, single-occupancy vehicle,” said Cassidy Drasser, UAlbany’s assistant director of sustainability. “Our campus has a variety of forms of sustainable transportation to offer for all UAlbany students, faculty and staff such as free CDTA and UAlbany shuttle buses, a free carpooling service (511NY Rideshare/iPool2), and free electric vehicle charging stations.”

UAlbany students, faculty and staff can ride CDTA buses for free, using their University ID cards as a bus pass.

This is the first year UAlbany is actively participating in Green Your Commute Day, and in a competition among state agencies for the most participants. To register and be included in UAlbany’s tally sign up through surveymonkey and note how you travel to campus.

And once you’ve greened your commute on Friday morning, check in at the University Library on the Uptown Campus or Dewey Library at the Downtown Campus between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. You’ll get a sticker, an invitation to a free lunch, information on alternative transportation at UAlbany, and a chance to have your picture taken with fellow commuters.

Riding the bus or riding a bike? Take a picture of your green commute and post it with the hashtag #GYCD17 and email the picture to [email protected].

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Throwback Thursday: A Noble Head in the Clouds

Schaefer's Boys: Vincent Schaefer, upper left, each year led young ASRC scientists to Yellowstone National Park to conduct field work. Left to right, top row: Larry Proctor, Dale Hartlief, August Aver, Griffith Morgen, John Stockner and Austin Hogan. Seated, left to right: Richard Layton, Charles Robertson, Thomas Henderson, John Hirsch, and Robert Smith Johnson. (Photo courtesy of University Archives)

ALBANY, N.Y. (May 18, 2017) — One of the foremost research centers on weather in the world was begun by a man without a high school diploma.

Vincent Schaefer, a Schenectady native, had his only formal education through a correspondence course at the Davey Institute of Tree Surgery. Family financial woes had forced him to leave high school in 1922, and he journeyed from toolmaker at the G.E. Research Laboratory to a landscape gardener then back to G.E.’s machine shop.

All the while he built up a library on natural history, about which he created community adult education programs by 1933. He made the acquaintance of a devout conservationist at G.E. who introduced him to chemistry Nobel Laureate Irving Langmuir — like Schaefer a skier and lover of the outdoors. Langmuir took to the 26-year-old and moved him from the machine shop into research.

By 1940 Schaefer earned national publicity for his development of a method to make replicas of individual snowflakes using a thin plastic coating called Formvar. By 1943 he was working with Langmuir on precipitation static, aircraft icing, ice nuclei, and cloud physics.

Old ASRC pros, from left Ray Falconer, Vincent Schaefer, Bernard Vonnegut and Duncan Blanchard, get together for a reunion in 1989. They worked together on Project Cirrus in the late 1940s, then all joined at ASRC in the early '60s. (Photo by Roger Cheng)

Then, in 1946, came his major claim to fame: a laboratory method — begun in his home icebox — to seed super-cooled clouds with dry ice. Successful field tests of the seeding of natural clouds were eventually conducted by airplane. This led to his becoming laboratory coordinator of the U.S. military’s Project Cirrus, in which pilots carried out field tests and collected data for use at the G.E. labs.

Schaefer turned after the project’s conclusion in 1953 to private lab work, then to teaching through an American Meteorological Society and National Science Foundation-supported educational film show, “The Atmospheric Sciences Program.”

That work soon attracted the attention of New York State Teachers College science dean Oscar Lanford and President Evan Collins. Their successful invitation in 1960 to have Schaefer teach at the college ultimately led to his founding of the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center (ASRC) in 1961. He became director in 1966, a position he held for ten years before giving control to Volker Mohnen.

His legacy at ASRC is much due to his fame and past contacts that attracted extraordinarily qualified atmospheric science researchers to ASRC. Many he had met through his work at G.E. and other labs, and some, like Bernard Vonnegut, Raymond Falconer and Duncan Blanchard were veterans of Project Cirrus.

Schaefer retired from UAlbany in 1976. He died in Schenectady at 97 in 1993.

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Face Time

NYC Program Brings Students, Alumni Together to Explore Business Opportunities

UAlbany students met with alumni at Mediaocean, an advertising software company, during Winter Break.

ALBANY, N. Y. (March 21, 2017) — As students are thinking about summer or post-graduation internships, some New York City-area students got a step up, meeting with successful alumni in businesses in the metropolitan area.

During both spring and winter breaks, students met with alumni business leaders, got tours and professional development and, in some cases, invitations to send in their resumes.

“Great Danes in NYC,” a program created about a year ago by the Office of Career and Professional Development, connects current students with alumni in New York City who work for international banks, software and marketing companies, film, the internet and a variety of other businesses. The program serves as a career exploration tool for freshman and sophomores and a networking opportunity for students looking to enter careers within the alumni’s industries.

UAlbany students at Deutsche Bank discussing the role of IT in Risk Assessment, with UAlbany Alum Mark Frankel ’04, the regional head for IT Risk.

Since so many UAlbany students hail from the New York City and Long Island regions, visits are scheduled when students are home on breaks.

“We ensure that students go through a professional development session prior to the company tour dates,” said Tibisay Hernandez, a Career and Professional Development representative.

During spring break, students visited Google, Warner Brothers’ Gotham set and Edelman, a global communications and marketing firm. During winter break, groups visited Deutsche Bank and Bank of America, as well as LinkedIn, DoSomething.org, Path Interactive and Mediaocean, an advertising software company.

After the winter visit to Deutsche Bank, bank officers invited two students back to shadow them. Grad student Ayoola Ogunwale called the opportunity “one of the best experiences I ever had with the University. I had the opportunity to shadow both the president and vice president of Information and Resilience Risk Management at Deutsche Bank. Based on my experience and career path, they quizzed me and gave me major tips and resources that I can use to prepare for my full-time job and beyond.”

Also during winter break, one Bank of America alum connected with three students, and invited one to shadow him when he is on business in Albany. All the students who went to DoSomething.org were told to contact the alum when applying for internships so she can make sure their applications are seen by a hiring manager.

Many of the tours resulted in face time with high level professionals and human resource staff members, who debriefed students on employment and internship opportunities.

“Simply the opportunity of meeting senior staff from these companies was amazing, but being surrounded by students who are just as driven to succeed as you are is great as well,” said senior Alberto Marriaga.

Fellow student Maksim Papenkov agreed: “I appreciated that we had a chance to meet with people in different departments, showcasing the diversity of career path options within a single company.”

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Health Care Jobs Grow in New York

Center for Health Workforce Studies finds continued job growth, particularly in home health care and ambulatory care

Between 2000 and 2014, employment in home health care in New York more than doubled, while employment in ambulatory care grew by about one third.

ALBANY, N.Y. (March 2, 2017) --The health care employment sector continues to grow statewide, especially in home health care and ambulatory care, according to the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) recent report: The Health Care Workforce in New York, 2015-2016: Trends in the Supply and Demand for Health Workers.

Between 2000 and 2014, employment in home health care more than doubled (136%) while employment in ambulatory care grew by 30 percent. Overall, health care employment in New York increased by 24 percent during the same time period.

“Despite job growth in the health sector,” said Robert Martiniano, senior program manager at CHWS, “many patients lack access to services in some areas of the state where providers report unmet demand for workers. Workforce recruitment and retention can be problematic for primary care providers and behavioral health providers, resulting in delays in obtaining needed services for patients.”

Other findings from the report include:

• Health care employment accounts for about 12 percent of total employment in the state, and continues to grow faster than employment in all other sectors.
• Many of the fastest growing occupations in the state are in the health sector, including home health aides, personal care aides, nurse practitioners (NPs), and physician assistants (PAs).
• In 2016, hospitals across the state reported the most difficulty recruiting experienced registered nurses (RNs), NPs, PAs, and clinical laboratory technologists.
• Nursing homes in the state reported the most difficulty recruiting and retaining RNs, licensed practical nurses (LPNs), and certified nurse aides in 2016.
• In 2016, the state’s home health agencies reported the greatest difficulty recruiting speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, experienced RNs, and respiratory therapists. Additionally, agencies downstate reported difficulty recruiting home health aides, homemakers, and personal care aides while agencies in many upstate regions reporting difficulty retaining individuals in those same occupations.
• Federally qualified health centers in the state reported the most difficulty recruiting primary care physicians, obstetricians/gynecologists, NPs, dentists, and most categories of behavioral health workers in 2016.
• Between 2014 and 2024, the New York State Department of Labor projects growing demand for direct care workers, including home health aides and personal care aides as well as RNs, social workers, and LPNs.

CHWS Director Jean Moore said, “A key goal of this report is to assist New York’s stakeholders to more effectively target health workforce education, job training and provider incentive resources; to guide health workforce policies, including decisions about the capacity of health professions education programs; and to inform current and prospective students about health care employment prospects and opportunities.”

The full report can be found on the CHWS website.

About the Center for Health Workforce Studies
Established in 1996, CHWS is an academic research organization, based at the School of Public Health, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY). The mission of CHWS is to provide timely, accurate data and conduct policy relevant research about the health workforce. The research conducted by CHWS supports and promotes health workforce planning and policymaking at local, regional, state, and national levels. Today, CHWS has established itself as a national leader in the field of health workforce studies.

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5 Questions with Faculty: Kathryn Walat

Kathryn Walat, left, in rehearsal for a workshop of her play Small Town Values at the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, during the PlayLabs festival last year. (Photo by Anna Min/Min Enterprises)

ALBANY, N.Y. (Jan. 25, 2017) — Playwright Kathryn Walat came to UAlbany in the fall of 2016 as an assistant professor of theatre in the Department of Music and Theatre in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her plays have been produced in all over the United States, including California, New England and New York. She did an artists’ residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs in 2015, where she developed a draft of the play Jack London Was an Oyster Pirate.

Walat received her BA from Brown University, her MFA from the Yale School of Drama and previously taught playwriting at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia.

What are your working on now?

I’m working on two new plays that I’m very excited about. One is Jack London Was an Oyster Pirate, and is inspired by the life of young Jack London, before he became a writer, when he was stealing oysters from railroad tycoons on San Francisco Bay and selling them for cheap to the working class people at the Oakland fish market.

The other I like to call my “sexy-spooky” play. It’s a romance with a ghost story that begins with two strangers in a bar in Savannah, Georgia, where I previously lived. That play is a lot of fun to work on.

What made you decide to pursue your field?

I began writing plays as an undergraduate at Brown University, and since that time it’s what I’ve kept choosing — despite the challenges — at each turn in my life. I love theater people and I love teaching. I feel very lucky that now I get to share my passion for writing and my experience in the professional theater world with my students.

If you weren’t teaching at a university, what would you be doing?

If time machines were invented, I’d be an ace reporter for a big city newspaper in the 1930s. A kind of Lois Lane character, typing up breaking news on a manual typewriter and yelling things like “stop the presses!”

What’s your favorite class to teach?

Playwriting I. It’s really fun getting to guide my students as they write their first plays.

What’s your favorite spot on campus?

Just as you walk out of the Performing Arts Center, there is a beautiful view of the Carillon, which is often illuminated in the afternoon sun. I love to sit on the benches there, and take a moment to enjoy all the activity going on around me.

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Tickets at Your Fingertips

ALBANY. N.Y. (Jan. 23, 2017) — A new online platform for ticket sales is available to student organizations and University departments.

The new site, developed by the Office of Student Involvement, is designed to avoid many of the problems associated with hosting a ticketed event: lost tickets, on-site money collection and questions about whether an event is sold out or canceled.

Student and University groups can add their events to the new online ticketing site.

“Student groups were in need of a platform to provide online tickets to students,” said Michael Jaromin, executive director of campus life. “The site also helps with internal control – organizers can better manage income, which now can go directly into an account.”

UAlbany Event Tickets just went live last week and is available to students, faculty and staff. Visitors to the site must register to add events or buy tickets. University accounts are available to students, faculty and staff, and others can register through a general public account.

Through the Resources tab, users can log on and submit a request to list their own event, filling in information such as time, venue and ticket price. A 50 cent surcharge per ticket goes to the host vendor, a company called University Tickets.

To purchase tickets, users click on the event and fill in the form. Tickets are then sent to a computer for print-out, or a phone for on-site scanning.

“Our students have let us know that they are interested in online ticket sales, and we made sure to incorporate their feedback as we set up this site,” said Jennifer Anderson, associate director of student involvement. “The final product is a site that is easy to navigate and that I believe will promote ticket sales. It may even encourage students to attend events they hadn’t previously considered.”

Dawn Hubert, financial manager for student involvement, said the new site will make it more convenient for event planners, especially student groups. “This prevents the need for a student to sit on site with a money box, and will also prevent the possibility of fraud or counterfeiting tickets,” she said. “And it will be easy for students to see if tickets are still available.”

Jaromin said one of the long-term goals is to develop relations with off-campus venues, such as theaters and local entertainment venues, to negotiate discounts for the campus community.

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An International Campus

Clockwise from upper left: Shin Seunghyun is pictured in South Korea during an NGO-sponsored 600-km walk; Yadi Chen during a summer vacation in San Francisco; Madeeha Khan addresses new students at the 2016 Convocation; and Miao Kuang-Ya in the Studio Theatre at the Performing Arts Center during a play rehearsal.

ALBANY, N.Y. (Nov. 30, 2016) — They come to Albany from around 90 different countries, from Africa, Asia, Latin America. UAlbany’s international students — some 1,770 of them — make up about 10 percent of the overall student body.

The numbers have grown by almost 40 percent between 2009 and 2015. And while the students share some of the same challenges and experiences, each brings a unique perspective to the University, and each has something personal to take away.

Surprised by the Chill

Senior Yadi Chen said she didn’t expect the cold weather when she first arrived at UAlbany in 2013 from China.

While still a freshman, Chen began working in the Middle Earth peer assistance program, where she was the only international student. At first the language barrier was hard, she said, and she felt embarrassed when others couldn’t understand her. But after a year of hard work and improvement, she found she could share her opinions and ideas, and felt more like people were listening to her.

“I told myself I needed to be stronger and better and that I could do it," she said.

Chen says she enjoys the cozy academic atmosphere at UAlbany and the freedom of expression in America, which is so different from China.

Chen is a double major in Psychology and Mathematics and part of the Honors College and the Psychology Honors Program. She works part time in the Advisement Service Center, and is a writing tutor for international students.

And she’s an intern at the Capital District Psychiatry Center, and says the clinical experience is a real benefit since she wants to continue her studies for a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.

One problem she said many international students share is reluctance to ask for help. “Go out and ask,” she advises other students, “but save your time and energy by making sure you go to an experienced person.”

Overcoming Shyness

For Miao Kuang-Ya, a Taiwan native, battling her shy personality made it harder to overcome the language barrier as an exchange student at UAlbany for the fall semester studying theater and sociology.

Kuang-Ya said it takes her time to translate from one language to the other, making it difficult to respond quickly in a conversation.

At the beginning of the semester, she said, she was too shy and nervous to talk much to others. She said in the small Theatre Department she felt at first that she didn’t fit in with more established groups of friends. Acting in the fall production of Water by the Spoonful, however, made her feel both more confident and more a part of the department.

When one of her classmates helped her with language, she realized it’s not that hard to reach out. “I set some goals, such as complimenting my classmates as a way to talk to people,” she said. “It’s important to have confidence and not to put too much pressure on ourselves.”

Kuang-Ya hopes to become a professional actress in the future in Taiwan and is considering applying for an MFA in acting.

Ask and Learn

Language was not an issue for Madeeha Khan, a junior majoring in computer science, who came to UAlbany from India as a freshman in 2014. American culture, however, was something new. Halloween and horror movies were a surprise, for instance.

“I ask my friends, because I’m open to asking people when I don’t understand, and then I learn,” said Khan.

History classes have been a challenge since her education background is from the East. “People assume you know the significance of certain events,” she said. “It’s something I struggle with and I have to read ahead or go over my readings to understand.”

Getting involved in school activities has been a big part of her learning experience. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to be involved. I came here for the education, but I got the opportunity and thought why not?” she said.

Very involved. Khan is director of Intercultural Affairs of the Student Association, is a member of the Honors College, a Purple and Gold ambassador, and a resident assistant on Dutch Quad. She was recently named a student representative on the search committee for a permanent University president.

“Being involved helps you learn about yourself and build your skills, and if you don’t have any then you create them,” she said.

After graduating she wants to travel and work abroad before starting graduate school.

Finding Balance

South Korean student Shin Seunghyum said studying abroad is about more than just the course work. “If you want to come to America and experience something, I say don’t only focus on academics but also the cultural experience,” he said.

Seunghyun, a senior studying English Literature, said he’s at UAlbany to study, but also came for the diversity and to make friends. Some aspects of American culture, however, were surprising. “This was the first time becoming aware of homosexuality, which in my country we don’t expect or admit,” he said. “In South Korea, a homosexual person will be ostracized.”

Seunghyun said some international students struggle to balance academics and school experiences. “If you only focus on studying deeply, there’s fewer opportunities to make friends and less of a cultural experience, and the two should be taken advantage of,” he said.

Seunghyun, part of the English Honors Program, seems to have managed both. He expects to graduate in May 2017, and plans to go back to South Korea after that to work for his family businesses. But he’s also awaiting responses from graduate schools and, if accepted, would to return to America in the fall of 2017.

For more information on international students at UAlbany, visit the Center of International Education and Global Strategy.

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UAlbany Experts Advisory: Cybersecurity and Government Data Breach

ALBANY, N.Y. (July 14, 2015) -- With the personal information of more than 22 million individuals exposed through a massive security breach of the U.S. Government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the resignation of the agency's director Katherine Archuleta, questions remain about what the exposure means to those affected: How do find out if your information was stolen? How could the stolen information be utilized? How is the U.S. Government going to respond to the cyber attack?

The data breach at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management involved private information of more than 22 million individuals.

UAlbany faculty experts are available to discuss a range of issues related to the breach, including hacking, infrastructure protection, critical decision-making and cyber terrorist networks.

UAlbany's cybersecurity experts include:

• Sanjay Goel, associate professor of information technology management at the School of Business. Goel is an expert on information security, hacking, computer forensics, risk analysis, cybersecurity, wireless security, botnets (zombie computers), nanosensor networks, and optimization. He can discuss the fallout from the data breach, the implications for individuals and steps that need to be taken to protect data in the future.
• Rick C. Mathews, director of the National Center for Security and Preparedness. Mathews is an expert on infrastructure protection, homeland security, information sharing, critical decision-making, facility and systems security, and emergency preparedness. He can discuss the threats posed by cyber terrorists and potential responses on the part of the U.S. Government.

For additional topic expertise, visit UAlbany's expansive faculty experts’ database.

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UAlbany Young Scientist Named 2014 Pew Scholar for Stem Cell Research

Prashanth Rangan of the Department of Biological Sciences, named a 2014 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

ALBANY, N.Y. (June 24, 2014) — UAlbany biologist Prashanth Rangan joined 21 other outstanding early-career researchers named today as 2014 Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Rangan was awarded for his investigations into the role of non-coding RNA in the fate of stem cells, whose improper differentiation has been linked to cancer and other degenerative disease.

Since 1985, the Pew’s scholars program has supported top U.S. scientists who, like Rangan, are at the assistant professor level. Honorees receive funding over four years to sow innovation at the start of their research careers. Rangan will receive a four-year grant total of $240,000.

Rangan joined The RNA Institute at UAlbany in 2012, where he continued his investigations into the mechanisms governing the biology of stem cells. He established a new paradigm for the role of RNA in the regulation of gene expression in germ-line stem cells using innovative and quantitative biology.

The germ cell, which Rangan calls the “ultimate stem cell,” is able to develop into any cell type and does not die. His laboratory in The RNA Institute focuses on when, where and how specific messenger RNAs are “read” to produce a protein during germ cell development. While non-coding RNA sequences do not produce proteins, they direct which proteins are made during different stages of this development.

Using a combination of biophysics, genetics, and molecular and structural biology techniques, Rangan’s laboratory will alter these non-coding sequences and assess how RNA regulation plays into a germ cell’s genetic flexibility. The findings may lead to insights into the biology of other stem cells that have the therapeutical potential to fight disease.

“I think this is a wonderful honor and definitely a stepping stone into the research community that will enable Dr. Rangan to participate in larger research projects and funding,” said Paul Agris, director of The RNA Institute.

Rangan and the other 21 researchers named this year join a community of more than 500 Pew Scholars whose ranks include multiple recipients of Nobel Prizes, Lasker Awards, and MacArthur Fellowships. Scholars are selected based on proven creativity by a national advisory committee composed of eminent scientists, including chairman Dr. Craig C. Mello, a 1995 Pew scholar and a 2006 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine.

Rangan, received a doctorate in biophysics from the Johns Hopkins University in 2004, working with Dr. Sarah Woodson. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of former Pew Scholar advisor Dr. Ruth Lehmann at the Skirball Institute of New York University until 2012, when he joined UAlbany’s Department of Biological Sciences.

The Pew Charitable Trusts' press release on the nation's most recently honored outstanding early-career biomedical researchers can be read here.

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John Levato, 70, Assistant Dean of the School of Business

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 19, 2014) -- The University at Albany fondly remembers John Levato, the assistant dean for Alumni Relations & Development and Career Services at the School of Business, who passed away at his home in Albany, Thursday, February 13, 2014.

During his more than 35 years at UAlbany, John was a trusted mentor to thousands of students, a principal career advisor to hundreds of Business School hopefuls, a long-term counselor to scores of Business School alumni, and a respected colleague.

John Levato, assistant dean for Alumni Relations and Development and Career Services at the School of Business. (Photo by Mark Schmidt)

John was a 1961 graduate of East Rochester (NY) High School, and received undergraduate degrees from Monroe Community College and SUNY Cortland, and his graduate degree from the University at Albany.

His lifelong career in higher education spanned more than 40 years, with his most recent position as the assistant dean. He received the University Excellence in Service Award in 1979 and 2004 and the University Excellence in Academic Advisement Award in 1982.

John will be remembered as passionate about his work and student success. Many remember his motto, which was always "students first".

In late April 2014, the School of Business will host a special event in the new School of Business Building to celebrate his legacy. Please look for announcements.

A scholarship has been set up in John's name at the University at Albany, with contributions being accepted at any SEFCU location. You may give on-line (please note "Levato Scholarship" in the comments section.) Checks may be sent to The University at Albany Foundation, UAB 226, 1400 Washington Avenue, Albany, New York 12222. Please note "Levato Scholarship" in the memo portion of the check.

Online condolences may be submitted here.

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