2016

Faculty from the Department of Political Science took center stage in the 2016 presidential election: Their insights were widely covered by national and international news outlets, such as  CNN , Fox Business News, BBC , The New York Times, USA Today and  The Washington Post. The impact was far reaching —mention of Stony Brook faculty cropped up in unexpected places, including a monologue on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and on Donald Trump’s social channels, where the president-elect shared a  New York Post report that cited a Stony Brook expert.  

Stony Brook University’s Global Health Institute, the University’s Centre ValBio and drone partner Vayu Inc. have teamed up to improve delivery of care in communities hampered by poor or non-existent roads. With the use of self-guided drones, lab samples are being transported from rural villages to the Centre ValBio research station. In August 2016, the Associated Press broke the story and shared it with national and international audiences. In November 2016, an international crew for ABC’s Nightline and World News Tonight traveled to Madagascar to report on Stony Brook’s work with drones. The team also covered Centre ValBio founder Patricia’s Wright’s involvement with protecting lemurs and conserving the environment, as well as the 25 ^th anniversary celebration of Ranomafana National Park, also founded by Wright.

In September 2016, Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. attended UN Women’s HeForShe second anniversary events, which kicked off with the launch of the first HeForShe IMPACT 10x10x10 University Parity progress report.  Afterward, President Stanley co-hosted a reception at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City that was attended by world leaders, activists and celebrities. In March 2017, President Stanley and two students on the HeForShe steering committee will present a case study at the SXSWedu Conference in Austin, Texas. They will outline the University’s experience with the UN  HeForShe initiative, which is aligned with Stony Brook’s Plan for Equity, Inclusion and Diversity.

The Seawolves earned their first trip to the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship Tournament, showing grit and determination in an 80-74 comeback win over a tough Vermont squad. Stony Brook survived a hair-raising challenge from the Catamounts, trailing by as many as 15 points before battling back late in the second half. Jameel Warney, America East’s most dominant player, poured in 43 points and kept the Seawolves afloat during cold stretches that threatened to disrupt Stony Brook’s chance to join March Madness. Advancing to play Kentucky, the Seawolves lost to the Wildcats but demonstrated incredible toughness, tenacity and athletic excellence.

After an attack by a group of chimpanzees that left his face severely disfigured, then 6-year-old Dunia Sibomana had become the subject of ridicule from peers in his village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. World-renowned paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, professor and chair of the Turkana Basin Institute at Stony Brook University, heard about the attack and offered to help the boy. He contacted Stony Brook plastic surgeon Alexander Dagum, MD, who performs volunteer reconstructive surgery. Dunia underwent surgery at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital in January 2016, and news of the successful operation generated robust international coverage. In November 2016, the Associated Press released an exclusive follow-up story that included a look at how well Dunia is doing postsurgery and the role Stony Brook is playing in helping him to rebuild his life.

Experts from the Division of Infectious Disease at Stony Brook Medicine paid close attention to updates from the World Health Organization during the 2016 Zika virus outbreak, noting the seriousness of the international public health emergency. They kept the public well informed through national and local news coverage on the potential threat of Zika and increase in microcephaly in children born to women who had contracted the infection during pregnancy. Stony Brook Medicine experts were featured in outlets such as Fox News Channel , The New York Times, The Washington Post, Forbes, Associated Press, ABC News, CNBC , Fox News Latino, amNewYork, Newsday, WSHU (NPR Radio).

Stony Brook University faculty are nationally renowned as expert resources in the areas of water quality, marine biology, conservation and estuary care. They were widely cited in news coverage, ranging from the Flint, Michigan, water crisis and brown tide to the Fire Island breach caused by Superstorm Sandy. Outlets included Associated Press, The New York Times, NPR, CNN , Buzzfeed, Business Insider , Forbes, The Huffington Post, Newsday, Slate Magazine and Detroit Free Press.

Stony Brook Medicine and the Mount Sinai Health System entered into an affiliation agreement that includes collaboration on research, academic programs and clinical care initiatives, effective immediately. The institutions launched the partnership to heighten academic and research synergies and to promote discovery, provide expanded clinical trials for both institutions, and achieve breakthroughs in understanding and treating disease.

Established with two gifts totaling $13.75 million, the Kavita and Lalit Bahl Center for Metabolomics and Imaging is Stony Brook University Cancer Center’s newest translational research resource. Offering enhanced technologies and imaging tools that can precisely map tumors, the new center will help researchers understand the metabolism of cancer at its most complicated cellular levels, while breaking new ground in cancer research and care.

A Stony Brook-led research team has found declining levels of mercury in North Atlantic bluefin tuna during the past decade. A national study led by Nicholas Fisher, a professor in Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, revealed that while tissue concentrations of mercury are higher in tuna than in most other fish species, there has been a consistent decline in mercury in these fish over time, regardless of their age. The rate of decline parallels decreases in mercury emissions as measured in air and seawater during the same time period. The findings were published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.