On November 30, SUNY Old Westbury announced the fellows for the new STEAM initiative.
“The STEAM initiative was created because we realized how important science and technology-oriented programs are to our students,” said Mike Kavic, Assistant Provost for Research and Strategic Academic Initiatives. Kavic says that he pushed for an interactive room in the new Natural Sciences Building that is currently being built.
The main goal of the initiative is to give students an interactive way of learning compared to traditional classrooms, and help students be successful by stepping into the science and technology field confident because they have had a special experience. Kavic states a research-oriented experience enhances the way students retain information and helps improve their attitude to learning.
This year is the development, which starts with the finding of the fellows. A diverse range of faculty applied to be part of the team. According to an announcement sent to the OW community, since “all applications met a high standard of excellence,” all who applied were offered the fellowship position.
The initiative is going to be starting next academic year. Kavic and his team encourage students to look into the STEAM program, as it’s open to all students regardless of science or technology experiences.
The fellows are:
- Erik Benau (Psychology)
- Jessica Curran (English)
- David Ecker (Management, Marketing, & Finance)
- Eric Hagan (Visual Arts)
- Svetlana Jović (Psychology)
- Mohamed Khalefa (Mathematics, Computer & Information Science)
- Manya Mascareno (Biology)
- Patricia McLaughlin (Visual Arts)
- Basabi (Runi) Mukherji (Psychology)
- Jillian Nissen (Biology)
- Lorenz Neuwirth (Psychology)
- Christos Noutsos (Biology)
- Andrew O’Bannon (Chemistry/Physics)
- Kinning Poon (Biology)
- Bianca Rivera (Public Health)
