The Statesman informing stony brook university for more than 50 years
Volume LVI, Issue 23
Monday, April 1, 2013
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Hospital receiving $1.5 million for cardio imaging By Brandon Bennet Staff Writer
team and had to pass playing for a semester to pursue the internship. “When I first met Connor as a freshman, I asked him what he wanted to be when he got older, and without hesitation he said an astronaut,” Danny Yarusso, head coach of the Stony Brook University men's rugby team, said. “I was truly happy for him. But then I thought how was the team going to do without him in the fall 2012 season!”
Stony Brook Medicine is set to receive a total of $1.5 million in donations for Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging. The funds will be used to attract an accomplished, research-orientated scientist and clinician who is dedicated to finding new methods of diagnosis and treatment. After this person is chosen, he or she will serve as a leader in advanced cardiovascular imaging. The money will also allow scientists to work with the clinical population as well as conduct research using imaging tools. Charles A. Gargano, the former U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago and committed Stony Brook University donor, has spearheaded this philanthropic project by offering a Chair in his name. Although Gargano did not graduate from Stony Brook, he has supported the university for many years. More than 25 years ago , he founded a Chair and a Center for Italian Studies . “I lived on Long Island for many years, and my professional career was on Long Island before I went into the world of politics,” Gargano explained. “I have always thought of Stony Brook as an important institution. Recently, I have been impressed with the work of Stony Brook’s Dr. Michael Poon, who inspired me to make my latest gift.” The Simons Foundation Challenge and Jim and Marilyn Simons followed suit by matching Gargano’s donation of $750,000. Dr. Michael Poon became the Director of Advanced Cardiovascular Imaging at Stony Brook University in 2009. He is also a professor of Radiology and Medicine at Stony Brook University School of Medicine. Poon is also responsible for developing CT imaging technologies to “photograph” the heart in motion. Due to his developments, Emergency Room doctors are now able to accurately diagnose the causes of chest pain much quicker and as a result, ER protocol was shifted towards advanced cardiac imaging. “I saw that Dr. Poon’s work
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NINA LIN / THE STATESMAN
Max Brooks signs Matt Rigoli's, a senior electrical engineering major, NERF gun. Brooks visited Stony Brook University on Thursday, March 28., and is the author of "World War Z" and "The Zombie Survival Guide."
Sharing soccer f ields comes to conclusion
Junior rugby player returns from internship at NASA
Assistant Photo Editor
Staff Writer
By Yoon Seo Nam
Stony Brook University and the Three Village Soccer Club reached an agreement for the use of the field space next to the South P Lot, allowing the university students to use the fields. “We believe this agreement is very responsive to our students’ expressed needs and at the same time responsive to the community,” Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. said in the press release issued on March 11. With the agreement, the university students will use three fields of the space, and Three Village Soccer Club will take up the rest spaces. Both sides also can
use each field space when their use has not been scheduled. Mitch Pally, president of Three Village Soccer Club, said that he was satisfied with the new agreement, which would benefit both students and community. “This will give everybody to mix together and to accommodate each other,” he said. “I look at it as very very positive step in community and school relation.” The university’s sports clubs were also satisfied, after struggling to have practices and games in the limited space on campus. As per the agreement, they are able to practice in these new spaces. “I am very happy that university Continued on page 5
MIKE CUSANELLI / THE STATESMAN
The Three Village Soccer Club uses field space next to the South P Lot, which it now shares with sports clubs.
By Jessica Suarez As a mechanical engineering major at Stony Brook University, Connor Beierle is one step closer to achieving “the childhood dream he never let go of ”—the dream of one day becoming an astronaut in hopes of venturing into space—after participating in an internship with National Aeronautics and Space Association. After researching internships, Beierle applied to be an intern at the aeromechanics branch of NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in California. A few weeks before the fall semester began, Beierle was notified that he had been accepted for the internship. The moment he received the good news, Beierle booked his flight to California. Upon accepting the internship, Beierle had to take the fall semester of his junior year off. This meant falling behind on a semester of work. “Taking off a semester had some complications just due to the nature of the mechanical engineering major, the courses are very sequential and if you miss one, it is a prerequisite to a class that may only be offered in the fall,” Beierle said. He is also a member of Stony Brook University’s rugby
PHOTO CREDIT: SBU
Connor Beierle, a junior mechanical engineering major, interned at NASA last fall in California.