Go visit the innovation expo and support the seniors!
We write Stevens history VOLUME CXXI No. 26
HOBOKEN, NJ |April 26, 2024
The student newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology, and creator of Attila the Duck. www.thestute.com TikTok @thestute Instagram @thestute facebook.com/stevensthestute NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904
New organizations: what is the process? JEREMIAH CHINWENDU, STAFF WRITER
PHOTO COURTESY OF KOJO ASUMADU ADDO
Techfest with Neon Trees rocks River Lot SEAN ANDERSON, STAFF WRITER Last Sunday, the River Lot was transformed into a music festival ground for the annual Techfest hosted by the Entertainment Committee (EC). Each year, musicians at and outside of Stevens come together to perform for the campus community, and this year, Techfest hosted rock band Neon Trees as the main performance. The event was entirely free to Stevens undergraduate and graduate students and offered a night of fun activities, music, and gift giveaways. For such an event to occur, a great deal of planning is involved. The Stute talked with Mollie Good, Techfest
director and student at Stevens, in order to understand what was involved in preparing for the event. Back in the Fall 2023 semester, a survey was sent out to the entire student body, allowing students to vote for a number of performers from a list of individuals and groups. From this survey, Good discovered that Neon Trees was a popular choice among those who voted. The process began to see if they could come to the campus for the event. Good reported on the process of making this choice a reality and stated that “there was back and forth with the agent, agreeing on the final contract” until it could become possible. A major part of the process was balanc-
Stevens makes their ASME Trebuchet Competition debut AVA WANG, OUTREACH CHAIR This past Friday, April 19, Stevens Institute of Technology made its debut at the annual American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Trebuchet Competition. Trebuchet team members Daniel Ahn, Francisco Arroyo Cruzat, Konnor Getz, Noah Golan, Logan Hickey, Cooper Kinsley, Krishna Mansukhani, Ryan Musantry, Cole Spitzner, Adrien Susino, and Thomas Wohlbruck made the trip to Hackensack, NJ to compete with Fairleigh Dickinson University team on their home turf. Planning for the competition, formation of this 11-person team, and construction began back in the Fall 2023 semester. The team’s hard work during biweekly Monday and Thursday meetings, with some additional hours and love thrown in during the final weeks, produced Stevens’ very first trebuchet. When asked about his thoughts on the competition, Getz aptly shared, “It’s a medieval war machine, what’s not to love?” For those not in the know, a trebuchet is a form of catapult utilized in ancient and medieval warfare characterized by a rotating arm with NEWS (2)
Techfest with Neon Trees rocks River Lot New organizations: what is the process? FEATURE (4-5)
Innovation Expo 2024! Learn about this years event, including senior projects, the Ansary competition, first-year robot competition, HASS concert, and the visiting lecture series.
a sling attached to the end. Trebuchets were the top choice of artillery prior to the advent of gunpowder in the 9th century CE. There are multiple styles of trebuchets, but for the 2024 competition, the Stevens team opted for a whipper-inspired style characterized by the placement of the counterweight on top of the arm. When cocked, the arm of a whipper trebuchet is traditionally pointed in the direction the projectile will be launched in. Wohlbruck and Getz both mentioned that this type of design could be disconcerting to the onlooker. Getz shared, “It wasn’t something new, but it was something different. You would look at it and be like, ‘are you sure that’s right?’” Wohlbruck recalled thinking, “We gotta turn that around. We gotta do a 180.” Day of the competition, the Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) team had similar concerns. Getz recalled reaffirming the trebuchet was facing the correct direction. When asked about the design, Getz informed that many of the calculations were based on design requirements outlined by the competition rules and regulations document, such as the
SEE ASME PAGE 2 SCIENCE (6)
First AI software engineer? The DIANA technique? Peter Higgs? Read about what’s going on in the world of science. PULSE (10)
Read answers from the Stevens community to our weekly Roving Reporter, plus solve our weekly puzzle and sudoku.
ing the desire for a popular prominent performer with the limited budget of the EC. In addition to this, important decisions were made regarding the venue late in the planning process. Usually, the event is held in Canavan Arena and on Schaefer Lawn. However, because of the success of the Men’s Volleyball Team and with Canavan being the location of the next stage of the NCAA DIII Men’s Volleyball Championships on the same day as Techfest, changes had to be made in order to adapt to the situation. To solve this issue, Good and the rest of the EC worked with University Events and the Production manager to relocate. River Lot became the choice
for Techfest’s next location, and after days of setting up for the venue in the prior week, Techfest was able to be kicked off. To start the night, the Duck Market, or the area outside the main tent, was opened at 5 p.m. for people to stroll around. Activities around the market included a photo area, an on-theme bounce house shaped like a boombox, a raffle area with a variety of baskets, a bracelet-making station, and a few tables with merchandise. Lining the outside was also a food area with ice cream, pretzels, corn dogs, and popcorn for attendees of the event. At the entrance, stu-
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School clubs and organizations allow people to form communities with each other built on a foundation of shared interest in unique activities or pursuits. The activities on display showcase the strength of school spirit and allow students to connect with people whom they would not know otherwise. The process it takes for a new organization to go from an idea to a reality is a long process that is impacted by a variety of internal and external factors. Tanishka Kapoor, Vice President of Student Interests (VPSI) of the Student Government Association (SGA), speaks on the process of getting new organizations approved and what new organizations are going to be available to students as early as next semester. There are four steps students need to take to create a new organization. As stated by Kapoor, the first step is the application. This application opens “for one week, also known as the Interest Period, at the beginning of every semester after a school wide email is sent out.” Kapoor hosts three informational sessions before this period opens to highlight the steps needed to proceed in the new organization process. When this period closes, the VPSI and a representative from the Office of
Student Life go over the applications and make a choice about which organizations to move on to the next step. If an organization is approved, “they proceed into the New Org Process, and if it is denied, then [those in charge] are given detailed feedback on their application as well as why they were denied,” said Kapoor. With a record-high number of new organizations being proposed, it is unlikely that everyone who wants to start a new organization will get to do so. After application approval, organization leaders begin the Starting RSO Period. This is the step in which organization leaders are tasked with assigning members of their executive board and “[thinking] of purpose-relevant events, [drafting] a constitution, [establishing] a rough budget, and [quantifying] student body interest,” states Kapoor. These tasks culminate in a video presentation that leaders have to present to the Committee of Student Interests (CSI), where a majority vote will move them to the next step. In this step, called Training RSO, each organization receives $200 that can be spent on events each semester. During this step, organizations must finalize their E-Board and its members, hold a minimum of two interest meetings—which col-
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Stevens receives nearly $1 million for flooding research JEREMIAH CHINWENDU, STAFF WRITER Heavy rainfall and other coastal events that lead to flooding of streets and neighborhoods are common in New Jersey, New York, and neighboring states due to their coastal geography and waterfront. This negatively affects the livelihoods of those who call these places home, as it damages homes, schools, parks, and sometimes entire communities. Recently, Stevens has acquired a grant to fund research meant to predict future floods and weather events and create innovations to mitigate their effects on Hoboken and neighboring cities in New Jersey. Information about this research
is provided by Muhammad Hajj, the director of Stevens’s Davidson Lab, which leads environmental and naval research. He spoke to Stevens news writers about the funding and how the research being done will impact communities of New Jersey and states close by. Stevens received $900,000 in government funding to address the constant flooding of Hoboken. As reported by Stevens News, the funding allocation is “part of the Fiscal Year 2024 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill signed into law by U.S. President Joe Biden earlier [last] month”. Those who were influential in this effort include “U.S. Congressman Robert Menendez (NJ-08)
and Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ)”. These funds will go directly to Davidson Lab as they work to address the trends of flooding in the city and make the community safer. Muhammad Hajj spoke to Stevens News about how his lab intended to use the funding and what specific components had emphasized the importance. As reported, he stated that “The funding will be used to acquire equipment and sensors that will collect data aimed at benefiting New Jersey communities [...] by helping predict coastal storm impacts, validating the accuracy of models, assessing damage after storms and—importantly—developing best-practice
mitigation strategies for future hazards to New Jersey’s coastal regions, including significant regional population centers such as Hoboken, Jersey City and Bayonne.” With this money, Hajj and his team hope to collaborate to produce a very unique and effective “‘multi-platform, rapidly deployable, coastal extreme event- observing system.’” They work to collect data before, during, and after extreme coastal events in order to improve the accuracy of their weather-tracking technologies and bring about new methods people can use to keep themselves and loved ones safe during these disasters. This past month marks the
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Visual Arts and Technology holds Senior Capstone Exhibition: Motus Mentis LIZ SEPULVEDA, COMIC ARTIST From April 11 to 14, Stevens’s Visual Arts and Technology (VAT) major held its 2024 Senior Capstone Exhibition at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City. The event, which was hosted with support from the Monira Foundation, gave graduating seniors a chance to showcase senior capstone pieces, the culmination of two semesters of research and work. This year’s presenting artists
were seniors Daphne AngKalkanis, James Barra, Sierra Doss, Ashwin Ghera, Steve Huashuayo, Isabelle Hunt, Geordan LaManna, Sydney Linford, Timothy Paczesniak, and Anya Speck-McMorris. This year’s theme “Motus Mentis,” Latin for “movement of the mind,” was chosen by the senior students after investigating commonalities their projects had. The featured projects covered many topics, ranging from grief to mental health, in
both digital and physical media, including short films and animations, video games, virtual reality (VR) experiences, installations, and more. Presenting senior artists are responsible not only for creating their projects but for all the elements of installation and publicity that go into creating an exhibition, including press releases, theme consideration, and setup. “One thing students have to learn in the process of creating an exhibition is that
even though they’re working on their individual artwork, it is a collaborative effort,” VAT Capstone Advisor and Professor Allyson Packer commented on the process. “I think they did a good job at negotiating with each other and finding the right space and context for everybody’s work.” Motus Mentis’s opening ceremony was a success. This year’s capstone projects, as well as previous years, can be viewed at visualartandtech. net.