[The Stute] November 3, 2023 (Issue 9, Volume CXXI)

The student newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology, and creator of Attila the Duck. www.thestute.com TikTok @thestute Instagram @thestute facebook.com/stevensthestute

Happy November!

Countdown to Thanksgiving starts now...

We write Stevens history VOLUME CXXI No. 9

HOBOKEN, NJ | NOVEMBER 3, 2023

NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904

Stevens’ latest mania: Fizz

Howe center no longer 24/7 ADVAIT DANTULURI, STAFF WRITER According to Stevens Police, The Howe Center, which was previously open 24/7, has now shifted into only being open during the operational hours of Pierce Dining Hall, as well as select additional hours past when Pierce closes early, such as on weekends. Why did this change occur, and what consequences does this change bring?

Howe is no longer available due to the removal of the 24/7 security desk in the Howe lobby. The Stute has discussed this in a previous article written by Matthew Kearny, which goes into some detail over why this change occurred, mainly taking note on how Howe was not intended to be a place to maintain policing and security, as well as noting how removing the security desk helped increase flow throughout the first floor of the building. With the security desk removed, there was no explicit reason for why Howe needed to stay open 24/7.

Howe-ever (pun intended), there are consequences that come with not keeping Howe open 24/7. Commuter student Takekuni Tanemori stated that with

SEE HOWE PAGE 2

ARTHUR SERRA, STAFF WRITER

Once the signature collection portion of the election process ends, the closed voting begins. Any candidates with less than 75 signatures are removed from the ballot, while those who meet the threshold are put on a ballot specific to their school. Students can only vote on the candidates in their respective schools, although they are

Social media is incredibly far-reaching in our society. The origins of mass social media exist partially in Facebook, which was originally created just for Harvard students and its alumni. While Facebook is now a global site, the idea of social media designated for a college campus has come back in the form of an app called “Fizz.”

Fizz is a fully anonymous social media platform.

Only those with an email registered with the certain school’s domain can access that school’s server. What a Stevens student posts on Fizz will only be seen by other Stevens students.

Everything posted is seen on everyone else’s feed, unlike Instagram or Facebook, where you generally see a curated collection of people you follow. Instead of likes, there is “karma,” a feedback system originally used by Reddit. Karma allows Fizzers to either like or dislike a post; Posts with higher karma get seen by more people, and there are leaderboards for who has the most Karma. The intention is to allow students to

SEE SGA PAGE 2

SEE FIZZ PAGE 2

ISABELLA ZIV FOR THE STUTE

The process of becoming an SGA Senator

BY SHANE MITCHELL, STAFF WRITER The Student Government Association, or SGA as it is commonly referred to around campus, is the governing body of the Stevens undergraduate student population. The SGA Senate is the legislative portion of this body, with Senators each representing 100 students from the school their major belongs to. The Senate allocates roughly two million dollars every year to student organizations and has the ability to pass resolutions

that impact the lives of every undergraduate student.

While SGA plays a prominent role in student affairs, the process of becoming an SGA senator is less immediately apparent. As such, it’s worth asking: How does a student become an SGA Senator?

The Senator election process begins with multiple informational meetings. This year, these meetings were led by the current SGA Secretary and Election Committee Chair, Carly Teitelbaum. In these meetings, interested students have an opportunity to

learn more about the SGA’s structure, the steps in the Senate election process, and approved methods of campaigning. Any students who choose to continue with the process then declare their intent to run, and each provides a headshot and a short bio to be included on the ballot. Following their intent to run, all prospective candidates are required to collect a minimum of 75 signatures from their peers, who can provide their signatures regardless of the school they belong to. This portion of the process is run via open

voting, meaning prospective candidates can see the number of signatures they have at any point in time.

Breaking the red zone: Summit to foster a safer Stevens

SES Edge Computing Challenge to inspire first-year engineers

Hoboken announces water main repairs, will water be shut off?

EVAN PAPAGEORGE, OPINION EDITOR

EVAN PAPAGEORGE, OPINION EDITOR

TANYA AVADIA, BUSINESS MANAGER

Take Back the Night, the Office of Student Culture and Belonging, and other campus organizations have embarked on a mission to combat sexual assault on campus, holding a Sexaul Assault Prevention Summit to get the campus community involved. Hosted on October 26, the event aimed to raise awareness about sexual assault and intervene during the “red zone.”

The term “red zone” refers to a critical period during the academic year, extending from orientation through winter break, when students on campus are most vulnerable to sexual assault. The event, taking place in the UCC Tech Flex, aimed to empower and educate community members, with the goal of making Stevens a safe and supportive environment for everyone.

The objectives of this summit were two-fold.

First and foremost, it serves as a platform for Stevens community members to gain a comprehensive understanding of the resources available on campus for reporting and preventing NEWS (2-3)

What’s up with Fizz?

Read about the impact this viral app has had on the Stevens community and how the administration has responded to cyberbullying.

FEATURE (4)

Recovering from midterms: How to deal with getting a bad grade and why you shouldn’t compare yourself to others.

sexual assault. Furthermore, it aims to shed light on the crucial post-assault care resources that can aid survivors on their journey to recovery. Education is the first step in bringing about change, and the summit promises to be an enlightening experience for all who participate.

The second key objective of the summit is to foster solidarity and support among the Stevens community. When tackling an issue as severe and pervasive as sexual assault, we must come together as a united front. By standing together, we can create a safer and more inclusive campus environment that enables everyone to thrive without fear.

The summit featured a keynote speech by Joy Hoover, a women’s safety activist, inventor, public speaker, and co-founder of Esoes Cosmetics. Additional features of the event included raffles, food, and bystander intervention training.

During the event, participants heard from survivors, advocates, and professionals in the field who shared their experiences,

SEE SAFE PAGE 2 SCIENCE (6)

Dinosaur bone heist?

Oldest human footprints?

Metal asteroid and NASA? Learn more 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 crossword puzzle and sudoku.

For Engineering majors here at Stevens, Design I is the start of a journey that lasts a lifetime — all in 14 weeks. To expand access to engineering experience to younger students, the Schaefer School of Engineering and Science (SES) is launching a new program where students can use their Design I projects in a competition that furthers their background in engineering beyond Design I. Promising opportunities to learn, find new interests, and potentially win cash prizes, Edge Computing Challenge will be a great opportunity as Stevens remains a beacon of engineering innovation.

The current curriculum for SES students pursuing a Bachelor of Engineering degree, whether it be for biomedical to civil engineering to optical to computer engineering, is the first experience students get that is part of Stevens’ innovative design spine.

The design spine is the core curriculum that gives Stevens students the skills and experience to take on the world in many disciplines. However, one issue

that students, faculty, and administration agree upon is the length of the course.

There is not enough time for in-depth explorations of all the different aspects introduced to students by Design I. The Edge Computing Challenge for Plant Watering System, led by Louis Oh and Dakota Van Deursen of SES, will use students’ projects from their Design I course — automated plant watering systems. The competition will focus on the reliability of the systems, the ability to water the plants the exact amount they need, and maintaining a consistent soil humidity level. By competing in the challenge, students will gain knowledge of system integration, learn how to gather and process data, practice computer-system optimization, and develop environmental predictive analysis skills.

Between December 22 and January 19, students participating in the competition will place their systems in SES’s Integration Space in Edwin A. Stevens Hall. From there, between January 22 and

SEE EDGE PAGE 2

In an aged city like Hoboken, repairs are necessary in order to keep infrastructure up and running, and the current set of repairs revolve around the water main replacement.

The work for this started on Monday, October 23, 2023 in the southwest part of Hoboken according to an email sent out by Councilman Ruben Ramos Jr. of the 4th Ward.

The replacement work happened on Jefferson Street in between Newark Street and 1st Street. For this reason, access to water was temporarily shut down on Jefferson Street in between Newark and 1st Street, and on 1st Street in between Adams Street and Madison Street. While this was certainly an inconvenience, this shutdown of water would last only from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

The contractor, J. Fletcher Creamer, working with the city of Hoboken’s Engineering Department, had already informed all affected properties on the shutdown sites. The purpose of this replacement work is so that the new water main system can be connected

to the already existing system on 1st Street.

Regarding traffic and safety, many precautions were already accounted for. Traffic detours were mapped out due to the closing of several streets.

Additionally, the Hoboken Police Department was onsite to help facilitate the traffic flow at all nearby intersections during the time period for the construction. Lastly, it announced ahead of time that parking would not be available within the construction sites for the duration of the replacement work.

This work should not impact the Stevens community directly as water on-campus is still accessible and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

Hopefully, the work being done will ensure that no further disruptions regarding water main happen — especially not to the degree that the Stevens community dealt with last semester. In terms of passing by construction sites, any students driving around or walking near the construction areas should be aware and cautious of the work being done there.

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Friday, November 3

News Masthead Volume CXX No. 9 Executive Board EDITOR-IN-CHIEF......................................ISABELLA ZIV ‘25 BUSINESS MANAGER............................TANYA AVADIA ‘26 MANAGING EDITOR.......................................AVA WANG ‘25 LAYOUT EDITOR................................NICOLE GIARDINO ‘25 OUTREACH CHAIR..........................KAYDEN CANNILLA ‘24 DIGITAL MANAGER................................RAFAEL LEE LI ‘25 SECRETARY.............................................CLAIRE HANNAN ‘24 HEAD COPY EDITOR..............................KEENAN YATES ‘24

Editorial Board

NEWS EDITOR.........................................BEN KNOBLOCH ‘25 SCIENCE EDITOR.........................................ERIN MCGEE ‘25 OPINION EDITOR............................EVAN PAPAGEORGE ‘26 SPORTS EDITOR........................................CHRISTA RUIZ ‘25 FEATURES EDITOR................................TASHA KHOSLA ‘25 PULSE EDITOR........................................MIA PETROLINO ‘25

Operations Board HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER......................OLOF PERSSON ‘25 ARCHIVES LIAISON.......................KEVIN CASTNER JR. ‘24

Staff & Contributors Arthur Serra Shane Mitchell Advait Dantuluri Meghana Mamadapur Douglas Sousa Katelyn Chiurri Riyana Phadke Abby Jacobs Justin Lema Victoria Yashcuk Zoe Hack Charles Beall

Itai Geller Anna Dabrowski Liz Sepulveda Stephen Pachucki Jack Scherban Jiya Jaisinghani

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The Editorial Board reserves the right to choose whether or not to publish a submitted Letter to the Editor based on a majority rule vote, and additionally reserves the right to edit letters for clarity or request authors to revise. Provided that the author approves the final version, The Stute reserves the right to edit letters according to our copy editing procedures, defined in our policies.

Policy on Op-Eds

All members of the Stevens community are able to submit a standalone opinion piece (otherwise known as an Op-Ed) to be published in The Stute. Op-Eds must be between 400 – 800 words, but longer submissions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. To submit an OpEd please email eboard@thestute.com with your name and title (when applicable) or using our Google form (tinyurl.com/submit-t0-stute). For writers who wish to write an Op-Ed anonymously, please see our policy on anonymity.

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HOWE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Howe closed, it negatively affects commuter students who are seeking a place to wait during the early and late hours of the day. They use the lobby specifically as a place to sit, eat, or take naps as they wait

SGA

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 allowed to vote for as many candidates as they would like within their school, provided they don’t vote for any candidate more than once. This portion of the election process is not visible to candidates at any point in time.

After all the votes have been tallied and the election period officially ends, senators are notified via email if they have won a spot in the SGA Senate. In cases where there are fewer candidates than there are open seats, candidates

FIZZ

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 share their honest thoughts, and have a good laugh in an open forum with their peers.

There are, however, some issues. The anonymity of the site has created issues with students sharing offensive posts and comments that target other community members. According to an email sent to Stevens students from Vice President of Student Affairs Sarah Klein, the school is deeply concerned by some of the posts on Fizz. These unacceptable posts include “allegations of sexual misconduct, hate speech against members of our community, and individuals and organizations being identified and spoken about in very hurtful and offensive ways.”

This raises an interesting parallel to most social networking.

SAFE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 insights, and knowledge. The summit also provided practical information on accessing campus resources and support services.

Understanding the reporting process, prevention measures and the availability of post-assault

EDGE

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 February 2, students will monitor their systems via cloud software. Next, students will use edge software to update and adapt their systems from February 5 to February 9. Finally, the judging segment of the competition will begin around 10 a.m. on February 12 and last until February 16. During this period, systems will dispense 200mL of water, transmit data in 100-second intervals, and execute smart functions on the microcontroller.

The competition will use three aspects of the system to evaluate the teams: constructive value measurement, residual water amount accuracy, and variation evaluation. The constructive value measurement will consist of 100 seconds or more sets of data-sending periods, with 50 points available.

for their next classes or clubs before having to head home later. In addition, the Howe building was also a place where students could work on projects late into the night in peace and quiet. Though the UCC lounges and study rooms are good places to study, it is restricted to residents of the UCC dorms. Currently, Tanemori is in contact with the Dean of Stu-

dents Kenneth Nilsen in hopes for a potential solution for commuter students. Originally, Howe was the only building that could offer this 24/7 amenity to commuter students, being a place to go at any time. With Howe’s changing hours, now the latest public indoor space available to any student is the library, which closes at 2am on weeknights.

must simply get more votes than the “reopen nominations” option.

In addition to the school-specific seats that students may run for, there are also “at-large” seats that are voted on roughly a month after the school-specific elections.

These seats are open to students of any school, and once filled, they operate almost exactly the same as a school-specific seat would.

While the Senate elections may end here, the process for new Senators has only just begun.

New Senators go on to serve on committees, attend weekly meetings, and pass resolutions for the betterment of the student body.

Senators are expected to act in

the best interest of the students they represent, and the SGA is continuously working on improving the lives of Stevens students wherever possible.

If you’re looking to make a change on campus, consider reaching out to one of your SGA Senators; or, if you’re interested, run to be a Senator yourself! For the Spring semester, there are 21 at-large seats available and the Intent to Run form will open on Tuesday, November 28 at midnight. The election process will be the same as regular elections except candidates will only need 50 nomination signatures to move onto the election. Good luck!

Social media touches every part of our lives, and it has fundamentally changed how humans interact with each other. On the one hand, humans are more connected than ever, with information racing around the globe at a scale never before seen together, and a new universal internet culture has formed. On the other hand, social media has a lot of drawbacks. It emphasizes fakeness, breeds disinformation, and the anonymity the internet offers leads us to be far more cruel and mean online.

In the real world, most limits on what people can and can’t say on social media are based on the developers and administrators of the app, not the government. In this case, however, the Stevens Administration has no control over what people say on the app, and no way to punish the people who cross the line; And although the Fizz development team has community guidelines against

hate speech, sexual harassment, and bullying, there appear to be insufficient measures to regulate these violations if they are becoming big enough to be picked up by the Stevens Adminstration.

In the same vein, we can find truly terrible things on social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit.

This raises the question: Are we willing to allow bad things to happen on social media—on apps like Fizz—in order for the vast majority of us to have a good time with it, or is it better to shut the whole thing down? Fizz may be more likely to have bad things be posted on it because of the anonymity of the site, but at the end of the day, it is social media in the same vein as all of us have on our phones. While Fizz is likely not going to go away anytime soon, as the student body seems to really enjoy it, students should remember to never cross a line you wouldn’t cross in person.

care can make all the difference in creating a safe and supportive environment on campus.

Take Back the Night Planning has helped Stevens take a significant step forward in the fight against sexual assault. By uniting in the face of adversity, we can foster a campus culture that is intolerant of sexual assault. The summit represents a critical step towards achieving this shared vi-

sion.

Take Back the Night and this summit is an ongoing effort, and remaining vigilant and dedicated to making lasting change are the best ways to continue. By supporting programs on campus and actively participating in events like the summit, we can create a brighter and safer future for all members of the Stevens community.

For residual water amount accuracy, the systems will deposit 220ml to 20 ml over five days for 30 points. Point deduction will occur for leaking systems, an incorrect amount of water deposited, or empty water reservoirs.

The final segment, variation evaluation, will award points if the recorded values are within 5% of the target values.

At the end of the competition, the top three teams will receive cash prizes: the first place team will receive $750, second place will receive $450, and third place will receive $300 — with each team splitting the awards equally amongst their three members. Beyond monetary awards, Oh and Van Deursen hope the competition will allow motivated students to continue learning engineering, collaboration, and communication skills.

Oh and Van Deursen stated they have yet to finalize all the competition details, but one note they would like to make sure is clear: this is optional

for students who want to push themselves and will be purely extracurricular. Students not in the engineering department — like those from biology or computer science — might be able to participate, but the team will release more information as the competition gets closer. The competition is only open to firstyear students to ensure a fair and equal playing field — a team of first-years competing against 5/5 students in senior design would contradict the competition’s mission. For those interested, more information will be provided in the coming months.

The Edge Computing Challenge offers an exciting opportunity for first-years to further their engineering skills. By utilizing their Design I projects, students will gain valuable experience and knowledge in system integration, data processing, and optimization — promising an exploration of interests and continuing learning beyond the classroom.

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Friday, November 3

News

NATIONAL NEWS Mike Johnson takes charge of House speakership ARTHUR SERRA, STAFF WRITER After three weeks in limbo, the U.S. House of Representatives has elected Mike Johnson of Louisiana as its speaker, filling the vacancy created when Kevin McCarthy was ousted in a historic vote last month.

Never had a Speaker of the House of Representatives been ousted from power, until when a small group of Republican congressmen rebelled against Kevin McCarthy and ejected him from the speakership. These congressmen form the right wing of the GOP, and were angered by their belief that McCarthy had not maintained certain promises they alleged were made when he was elected speaker. In particular, they focused on how an agreement was made to pass a 45-day funding bill to keep the government running until a more comprehensive bill could pass the House and Senate. Since then, the House has been aimless, unable to pass legislation, or work on the full funding bill, until a new speaker was elected.

Several Republican candidates stepped up to attempt to mount the dais, but all fell short of a majority of the House until Mike Johnson was able to pull together a majority of members.

The reason that this took three weeks is simple: The Republican Party is fractured, and nowhere is

this seen more than in the House.

To say a few, the Republicans are a coalition of the Christian right, libertarians, conservatives, and more recently, Trumpist populists. The Speaker of the House is elected by a majority of those present, and with the GOP’s relatively slim majority in the chamber, candidates had to win the support of almost all in their party to receive the gavel. The three speaker candidates before Mike Johnson: Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Tom Emmer, were more prominent members of the party, but did not find this universal support. Mike Johnson, who was previously considered a relatively unknown member of the GOP conference, found wide support and rode it to the dais.

Mike Johnson was able to find this universal support because he represents different parts of the Republican Party very well. Johnson is a social conservative that is strong opposed to both gay marriage and abortion. Johnson has been noted for his efficiency and his affability, forming good relationships with other lawmakers, and although he has only been in Congress for four terms, has held several leadership positions such as Vice Chair of the House Republican Committee, and Deputy Majority Whip. Most importantly, Mike Johnson has a very close relationship with President Donald Trump, being a leader in the attempt to overturn the 2020

election; The New York Times called him “The most important architect of the Electoral College objections.”

Although he does have connections all across the GOP, it is only under extraordinary circumstances that Johnson has been elected. Normally, the speakership would be entrusted upon a congressman with more time spent in government. However, the need for a speaker now to pass more budget bills, and the need to please Mark Gaetz’s right wing, has formed the perfect opportunity for now-Speaker Johnson to take power.

The Speaker’s first and currently most important job to undertake is to fix the issue of the budget. The reason that a new speaker was needed in the first place was the 45-day spending bill McCarthy passed with the help of Democrats. These 45 days end on November 17, and starting at 11:59 p.m. that night, the US government will shut down.

There is no definitive account of how much money each department has left over, but even crucial government affairs may run out of money soon thereafter.

In the meantime, Johnson has informed the public that he will attempt to pass a second stopgap bill, funding the government until January or April, in order to give him and his colleagues more time to put together a more comprehensive budget bill.

PHOTO COURTESY OF HOUSE.GOV

Top companies give free college admissions counseling MEGHANA MAMADAPUR, STAFF WRITER Many companies in the U.S. have added an additional benefit for their employees: free college admissions counseling. The counseling is equivalent to around $140 an hour and assists families with feeling less stressed when it comes to college applications. Among the companies offering this perk are JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, EY, and Johnson & Johnson.

Shannon Vasconcelos is the senior director for college finance at College Coach, a company that works with families that receive the perk. Her services are free to those who receive it from their employers. As a former assistant director of financial aid at Tufts University, she is experienced in recognizing what colleges seek in applicants.

An increasing number of venture capital and private equity firms are offering free admissions counseling services to recruit and maintain workers in a tight labor market. Furthermore, it helps keep employees productive by preventing additional stress regarding the college admissions process.

Laura Lemmons, the managing director for benefits at Goodwin, commented, “We’re trying to put resources in place to support parents throughout their whole journey of parenthood, and this is just one of these important pieces.”

However, many critics believe this benefit is another advantage for wealthy families. Anthony Abraham Jack, associate professor of higher education leadership

at Boston University, expressed, “They’re giving resources for free to individuals not only who could afford it, but who actually don’t need it.” This benefit causes further controversy due to the current state of complication in the college admissions process, including the Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, the protests against legacy admissions, and the changing standardized testing requirements.

According to MetLife, worker satisfaction fell to its lowest level in two decades last year. To combat this, companies have also started offering extended maternity and paternity leave and assistance with student loan repayments. Many families are taking advantage of free college admissions counseling, as it can be extremely stressful. In a survey conducted by Empowerly, another private college admissions company, 25% of employees said they spend six to 15 hours a week helping their children plan for college.

More than 3,300 employees out of 170,000 have used the benefit at Bank of America. As more families start to go through the college admissions process, the question of transparency becomes prevalent: How do universities determine their admissions policies? Allen Koh, the CEO of Cardinal Education, another company that offers admissions counseling to top companies, spoke to how every country in the world has more transparent admissions systems than the U.S. With the rise of private college counseling, the practices underpinning college admissions have been called into question more than ever.

OLOF PERSSON FOR THE STUTE

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Friday, November 3

Feature

RECOVERING FROM MIDTERMS Comparing yourself to others; feedback and see where you went everyone does it

BY DOUGLAS SOUSA, wrong. Do your best to understand CONTRIBUTOR and improve on those areas. Think but why you shouldn’t Let me start this off by saying about how you prepared and con-

It’s just an exam!

EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT IS CRUCIAL FOR STUDENTS TO BALANCE THEIR ACADEMIC, PERSONAL, AND PROFESSIONAL LIVES. WITHOUT IT, ESSENTIAL TASKS AND LONG-TERM PROJECTS CAN BECOME DEMOBILIZING, DRASTICALLY MAKING YOUR LIFE MORE DIFFICULT”

something important: I am not a good student. I’ve failed more exams than I care to remember, and I struggle every week to figure out what in the world is going on in my classes. Yet I’m still here! I’m still alive! I’m still breathing! And so are you.

Midterms just wrapped up, and I’m sure you and everyone you know got slammed with exams, homeworks, and projects that all seemed to be due in the same week, if not on the same day. It was a tough time, let’s be honest. But it’s over! On to the next week. But what if the exam didn’t go well? Maybe you forgot that one formula on your notes sheet, or maybe your friend did a problem a different way than you, or maybe you were just having an off day! After all the exams are over and the smoke has cleared, it’s almost tradition to start stressing about the results. It’s a vicious cycle that we all get stuck in, but consider this — it’s just an exam!

That’s the motto that Professor Mishah Salman repeats before, during, and after every exam in his classes. It’s a simple phrase, but it carries a lot of meaning behind it.

It IS just an exam! It doesn’t define you as a person, it doesn’t make you a bad student, and it absolutely will not ruin your chances of graduating or landing that dream job.

Salman and I both can promise you that.

So let’s say you do get a bad grade on an exam. You get that silly little Canvas notification and it’s not exactly the grade you expected or wanted. It happens! One of the first things you should do is to take a breath and remember — it’s just one assignment. There will be others, and this will just be a percentage of your final grade. It isn’t the end of the world and you can recover! There are a few key steps to getting back on track.

The first step is to reflect. Take a few minutes to look through the

sider if there are other, more effective ways to study. Some people study best in groups, doing practice problems and bouncing ideas off of each other. Others retain information better if they study alone, going through notes, lecture slides, and textbooks. And some others like a mix of both. See what works best for you, and do that for the next exam.

The next step is to prepare.

Stevens offers a whole slew of academic support, including one-onone tutoring from the Academic Student Center, office hours with professors or TAs, and many clubs that can be great networks to connect with someone that has already taken that class and is willing to help out. Take advantage of these resources (you’re paying for them, might as well use them!) to clear up any concepts that may be confusing or to get some help with upcoming assignments and exams.

Finally, make a plan and stick to it. Deciding which methods for studying work best for you and following through on them is important. Finding a study buddy is a great way to keep each other accountable. Another option is taking more time to review the material after each class to make sure everything makes sense. If something isn’t clear and you can’t figure it out, reach out to a friend, the professor, or your TA for help. Figuring out a way to prioritize each class’s workload also helps by making the work more manageable and show you where you need to allocate your time and efforts.

No matter how much it may suck to have to buckle down and focus more on your classes, I can assure you it’ll suck less than getting back another bad grade and going through all this again. So don’t beat yourself up, just make sure to reflect, prepare, and make a plan for the rest of the class. And remember — it’s just an exam!

Now that the chronological midpoint of the semester has passed, there is a brief moment where students can catch their breath before bracing for finals.

The back-to-back deadlines and intense studying for midterms cause stress, and students need to take time separate from academics to feel fulfilled. Here are some local activities, campus resources, and practices that can help you recover from a heavy workload.

After the dismissal of the PE requirement, students may find it difficult to fit regular exercise into their schedules. While high-intensity exercise, defined as at least 60% of the maximum heart rate, promotes a variety of physical and mental benefits, low-intensity exercise can be similarly beneficial. Maximum heart rate can be simply approximated by subtracting your age from 220, and training in both high-intensity and low-intensity ranges is beneficial. Both endorphins, the body’s naturally produced painkillers and mood elevators, and cortisol, the primary hormone involved in stress regulation, increase during high-intensity exercise. Resting after high-intensity exercise helps the body return to normal cortisol levels and maintain a good mood.

Low-intensity exercise decreases cortisol, so even just out for a walk is scientifically proven to decrease stress.

The good thing about the unseasonably warm temperatures due to climate change is that it is still comfortable in November

to take a walk around the city.

Hoboken has many options for scenic walks: the Waterfront Walkway connects nine municipalities with 18.5 linear miles of city-maintained path, accessible for free 24 hours a day. Hoboken also has “35 parks, totaling 53 acres of open space.” The Hoboken Events Calendar lists all the events happening in public spaces, including farmer’s markets, Little League Games, block parties, 5K events, and more.

On campus, there are a variety of resources to connect with the community and decrease stress. The Lore-El Center, Black Student Union, and National Society of Black Engineers collaborate to host The Black Girl Safe Space, a community event where students of color can vent and share how their recent stressors have been impacting their mental health.

Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and Lore-El also host sessions biweekly to support women’s mental health with their upcoming events on family conflict and managing stress and self-care. This semester, CAPS provided access to UWill, a free online therapy service to address student needs and limited in-person therapy options. Students can sign up and book an appointment within 24 hours, and try different options for therapists that best fit their conversation style. If you’ve never tried therapy before, it can be extremely helpful to have dedicated time to express your emotions and know that the person listening is professionally obligated to provide support. Mindfulness and

Time management is a must, whether due to rigorous courses, piles of homework, classes on top of internships, or attempting to have a social life and get enough sleep. However, keeping up with a student’s responsibilities can often take work. Here are some tips on how to effectively manage your time.

The most effective time management skill is setting goals and organizing priorities. When faced with 10 homework assignments, four exams, six club meetings, your friend’s birthday, and 30 voicemails from your parents, it is essential to realize that some tasks may not be as important as others.

While it may be difficult, it will make life significantly easier.

Tell your club you might need to skip a meeting, plan to hang out with your friends over the weekend, or tell your parents you’ll call them over the weekend (but make sure you do).

Another excellent method of time management is minimizing distractions. Whether turning on do-not-disturb, noise-canceling earplugs, or closing the blinds, limiting the number of distractions in your workspace helps you get more done but also helps to train your brain.

By having an excellent place to focus, over time, you will train your brain that this area is for work and increase your stamina without feeling like you need to check your phone.

In a more literal manner, one time management method is — managing your time. Whether through Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, iCloud Calendar, Notion, or old-fashioned color-coded paper, making a

schedule is essential in managing your time. Setting time aside to study, go outside, have lunch, or go to bed and see it adjacent to your classes, different meetings, and when assignments are due is a great way to stay on top of long-term goals and plan your day.

Above all of the different time management techniques— priorities, scheduling, distractions—one has the potential to make or break all the others: maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Suppose you do not have a healthy lifestyle. In that case, it will be harder to stick to a sleep schedule, you will lose focus, and many basic tasks will go from being cleanly organized on your schedule to taking up most of your mental energy. Eating healthy, getting enough sleep, maintaining hygiene, getting a good amount of exercise, and maintaining good mental health will significantly improve your time management.

Effective time management is crucial for students to balance their academic, personal, and professional lives. Without it, essential tasks and long-term projects can become demobilizing, drastically making your life more difficult. Time management tips like prioritizing tasks, minimizing distractions, creating a schedule, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle can help you stay on top of your school work, job, social life, and mental health. With these tips, you can achieve your goals, reduce stress, and enjoy your college experience fully. Time is valuable: managing it well is the key to success. So don’t be afraid to sit in a nice quiet space with your neatly color-coded schedule, and stay on top of your time management skills.

RAFAEL LEE LI FOR THE STUTE

Reminder: touch some grass

BY KAYDEN CANNILLA, OUTREACH CHAIR

BY TANYA AVADIA , BUSINESS MANAGER

meditation events and apps like Calm or Headspace can guide you through deep breathing, which is also proven to reduce cortisol levels.

The Academic Support Center connects students with oneon-one tutors and hosts drop-in tutoring hours in the library.

Having a peer mentor who can quickly answer questions as they come up can make managing a tough course much easier. Dedicating separate time in your week from the lecture content to hear the material in a different way will improve your understanding, and you may find yourself moving through the assignments quicker and with less frustration if you break them up into smaller sections. Planning spare time for when assignments take longer than anticipated reduces stress in a busy week, though it is easier said than done. Making a list of all of the tasks you need to complete and a generous estimate of how long it will take to complete them can help you plan your week more efficiently.

While you may find yourself overwhelmed by coursework during the adjustment period and high-volume weeks like midterms and finals, being a student should not take up all of your time. The necessities: sleep, diet, and exercise are crucial for your success, and it is impossible to maintain your academic work while neglecting your physical well-being. It is tempting to put them on the back burner during periods of high stress, though you will be able to stay more motivated and happier if you prioritize yourself first.

5

Friday, November 3

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVENSDUCKS.COM (SHOT BY MIKE MCLAUGHLIN)

Sports

This past weekend, the men and women’s fencing teams attended the Rangers Fall Invitational at Drew University, posting impressive results and setting the tone for their upcoming season. The men’s team went 5-2, with junior sabreur John Morreale leading the team with 11 victories. The women’s team boasted a perfect 6-0 record, with junior sabreuse Arianna Daringa making her season debut with 12 victories.

She was matched by graduate student Claire McNeill (epee) who also led with 12 victories.

The men’s team saw impressive performances from all three weapons throughout the invitational.

Senior Christopher Stone (sabre)

and sophomore Andrew Yurovchak (epee) each posted 10 victories.

First-year Noah Tumibay won nine times in his collegiate debut for Stevens. The men’s team has won at least five duals in each of their three appearances at Drew’s season-opening event.

As a whole, the Ducks defeated Lafayette 14-13 and scored backto-back wins over Yeshiva and Clemson 24-3. Stevens’ victory over Lafayette set the precedent for the rest of the day, as the Leopards had defeated the Ducks 14-13 last year.

The team fell to NJIT in a 16-11 decision and a 17-10 result to Drew.

Unnerved, the Ducks responded with wins over Vassar at 15-12 and Rutgers at 16-10 by the end of the day. The win over Vassar marked the Ducks’ fourth straight win over

the Brewers.

The Invitational saw many new faces from the men’s team this year. In addition to Tumibay, firstyears Liam Thomas (foil), Cyrus Erachshaw (sabre), Tyler Kometani (sabre), Kyle Stamis (sabre) and Riley Parker (epee) all made their collegiate debuts.

The women’s team had a very successful season-opener as they made their way through the day’s events. Junior Alyssa Ip (sabre) and sophomore Emily Zgombic (foil) each came out victorious ten times for Stevens. Women’s fencing completed Drew’s annual event with a perfect record for the second time in the last three seasons.

Together, the team defeated Lafayette 17-10 and NJIT and Drew 15-12. The women posted a deci-

sive 26-1 victory over Clemson followed by a 27-0 win over Yeshiva.

The group defeated Rutgers 17-10 to close out the event. Overall, the performance was one to watch, as the women’s team posted their second win over NJIT, a Division I school.

The Invitational also saw new faces from the Stevens’ Women’s team. In addition to Daringa, the event saw a notable debut from junior Nerissa Lundquist.

Sophomore Amber Muzone and first-years Akemi Rodriguez and Zoya Duarte-Garcia, joined seniors Victoria Beke and Megha Jain, in picking up their first wins of the season.

Both teams will be attending the Temple Open on November 4 and November 5, 2023 at Temple University to continue their streaks.

Women’s Volleyball procures Player of the Week two weeks in a row blocks, causing a major impact on the team’s 0.252 hitting percentage.

While the team lost the first set 19-25, they took back the match, winning the next three sets 25-10, 25-10, and 25-14 respectively. Not only did the team secure a 3-1 victory in this conference match, but also the #1 seed in the MAC Freedom Tournament, as well as a position in the postseason playoffs.

Their next match brought less success, with a 0-3 loss to Stockton University on Saturday, October 28.

Despite Shannon’s 13 kills and one block, the team fell 22-25, 24-26,

and 21-25 in the three sets played, with a 0.172 hitting percentage.

This is the second of the last three non-conference games the team has faced and lost to.

Today, Friday, November 3, the Ducks will face NYU at NYU at 7 p.m., before heading to Madison, NJ, tomorrow, Saturday, November 4, where they will compete in the Drew Tri-Match against Drew University and Rowan University.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVENSDUCKS.COM

On Monday, October 16, senior Madison Sappia was named a MAC Freedom Player of the Week, and just a week later, on Monday, October 23, the league announced her continuation of the title.

The first award of the title came following Women’s Volleyball’s four wins against Lebanon Valley College, Denison University, Ithaca College, and Rochester Institute of Technology. During this time, Sappia averaged 5.47 digs per set and 17 digs per match. Additionally, she reached a career-high of 31 through the team’s game against Ithaca College throughout the five sets played. The game ended with Sappia totaling six aces and 14 assists.

The next week started with a 3-0 conference win over King’s College during the team’s Mental Health Awareness Game on Wednesday, October 18, before the team fought in the Scranton Tri-Match on Saturday, October 21. The day started with a tough loss of 1-3 against No.1 Juniata College, though the Ducks ended

the day with a 3-1 victory against the University of Scranton.

Over this time, Sappia averaged 5.64 digs per set, totaling 62 digs and eight aces. These stats led to her being named MAC Freedom Player of the Week for the second week in a row, along with graduate Rachel Rouse of Women’s Soccer.

Following the Scranton TriMatch, the Ducks took on Arcadia University on Tuesday, October 24, as the Duck Country Game. Both sophomore Vivian Lisboa and junior Cleo Shannon had 11 kills throughout the game, Lisboa also contributed four

SHOT BY SHOT BY DAVE JANOSZ

BY ABBY JACOBS, SPORTS WRITER

FRI, NOV 3 WOMEN’S AND MEN’S SWIMMING New York University–Day 1 New York, NY 5 p.m.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL New York University New York, NY 7 p.m.

SAT, NOV 4

Stevens Fencing takes on Rangers Fall Invitational

BY RIYANA PHADKE, SCIENCE WRITER

ON DECK IN SPORTS

FIELD HOCKEY MAC Freedom Championship Final Location and Time TBA WOMEN’S AND MEN’S SOCCER MAC Freedom Championship Final Location and Time TBA WRESTLING Ned McGinley Invitational Wilkes-Barre, PA 9 a.m.

WOMEN’S AND MEN’S SWIMMING New York University–Day 2 New York, NY 10 a.m.

WOMEN’S FENCING Temple Open Philadelphia, PA 10 a.m.

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL Drew University Rowan University Madison, NJ 12 p.m./2 p.m.

SUN, NOV 5 MEN’S FENCING Temple Open Philadelphia, PA 10 a.m.

WED, NOV 8 WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL MAC Freedom Championship Semifinal Hoboken, NJ Time TBA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Kean University Union, NJ 5:30 p.m.

THU, NOV 9 WRESTLING University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire La Crosse, WI 8 p.m.

STEVENS SCOREBOARD DATE

TEAM

WED, OCT 25 FIELD HOCKEY WOMEN'S SOCCER SAT, OCT 28 WOMEN'S CROSS COUNTRY MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY WOMEN'S SWIMMING WOMEN'S SOCCER FIELD HOCKEY WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL MEN'S SOCCER SUN, OCT 29 WOMEN'S FENCING MEN'S FENCING WRESTLING TUE, OCT 31 WOMEN'S SOCCER

OPPONENT

FDU-FLORHAM DELAWARE VALLEY UNIVERSITY MAC CHAMPIONSHIP MAC CHAMPIONSHIP KEAN UNIVERSITY LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE DESALES UNIVERSITY STCOKTON UNIVERSITY LEBANON VALLEY COLLEGE RANGERS FALL INVITATIONAL - PART I RANGERS FALL INVITATIONAL - PART I WRESTLE-OFFS NO. 3 ARCADIA UNIVERSITY–MAC SEMIFINAL

LOCATION

HOME AWAY AWAY AWAY HOME HOME AWAY AWAY HOME AWAY AWAY HOME AWAY

SCORE

W (8-1) W (7-1) 7TH OF 16 6TH OF 16 L (99-163) W (4-0) W (3-0) L (0-3) T (0-0) 3 WINS, 2 LOSSES 6 WINS, 0 LOSSES COMPLETED W (2-0)

6

Friday, November 3

Science Human footprints in North America date back more than 20,000 years

BY RIYANA PHADKE, SCIENCE WRITER

stratigraphic evidence, but we knew that independent chronologic control was critical.”

For their follow-up study done this year, researchers focused on radiocarbon dating of conifer pollen rather than Ruppia cirrhosa because it comes from plants on land. This eliminated issues that arose with the aquatic plants used during the initial dating of the footprints. The researchers used approximately 75,000 pollen grains for each sample they dated, picking them from the same layer that the samples of Ruppia cirrhosa were found in to ensure consistency.

In addition to the radiocarbon dating with pollen samples, the research team also used a type of dating method called optically stimulated luminescence.

This is a technique used to date fossils in sediments through ionized radiation to determine the last time a mineral was exposed to sunlight. Using this method, they found that quartz samples collected within the layers that the footprints came from had a minimum age of 21,500 years, providing further support to the radiocarbon results.

With 3 separate studies providing evidence supporting the same approximate age, scientists concluded that it was highly unlikely that they were all incorrect, and settled on the 21,000 to 23,000 year age range for the White Sands footprints.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE

In a new update regarding footprints found in White Sands National Park, New Mexico in September 2021, it has been determined that the humans were on the North American continent thousands of years before what was previously thought.

In 2021, the US Geological Survey researchers and scientists drew the conclusion that the ancient human footprints discovered in New Mexico were between 21,000 and 23,000 years old.

This discovery dispelled previous records, and pushed the known date of human presence in North America back by thousands of years, implying that early inhabitants co-existed with megafauna, many of which are now extinct due to the Pleistocene extinction event.

In a follow-up study published in Science on October 5, 2023, researchers analyzed the date of the footprints using two new independent approaches. The results confirmed what many scientists suspected; the footprints date back to the same age range as the original estimate.

While the results were truly remarkable, the 2021 results began a global conversation among the scientific community regarding the accuracy of scientific dating of the ages.

“The immediate reaction in

some circles of the archeological community was that the accuracy of our dating was insufficient to make the extraordinary claim that humans were present in North America during the Last Glacial Maximum. But our targeted methodology in this current research really paid off,” said Jeff Pigati, USGS research geologist and co-lead author of a newly published study that confirms the age of the White Sands footprints.

The argument was centered on the accuracy of the original ages found in 2021, as they were obtained by radiocarbon dating.

Radiocarbon dating is a method for determining the age of an object containing a radioactive isotope of carbon. The age of the White Sands footprints was initially determined by comparing the sample to the common aquatic plant Ruppia cirrhosa. However, these aquatic plants acquire carbon from dissolved carbon atoms in the water rather than air, which many scientists argue could potentially cause the measured ages to be too old.

“Even as the original work was being published, we were forging ahead to test our results with multiple lines of evidence,” said Kathleen Springer, USGS research geologist and co-lead author on the current Science paper. “We were confident in our original ages, as well as the strong geologic, hydrologic, and

Psyche: NASA’s mission to a metal asteroid

BY DOUGLAS SOUSA, CONTRIBUTOR On October 13, 2023, NASA successfully launched a mission to intercept, study, and understand a metal asteroid named Psyche. This particular asteroid is of interest because research suggests that it could be a planet’s core very similar in composition to Earth’s. Launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket earlier this month, the Psyche spacecraft has a six-year journey ahead of it before we can expect any scientific data or results. This mission is led by Arizona State University, with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) responsible for mission management.

The launch itself was a success, with JPL finding a suitable launch window despite unfavorable weather conditions surrounding the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This mission marks the first NASA mission to be launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket. Both side boosters from the Falcon Heavy successfully landed and will be refurbished and reused, each completing their fourth successful launches to date.

The core booster of the Falcon Heavy was not recovered, but rather used its full fuel load to ensure Psyche was on the nominal trajectory for its mission. It fell into the Atlantic Ocean with no plans of future recovery.

The Psyche asteroid was first discovered in 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, but it was not until the 1960s that studies showed it may be something much more interesting than another asteroid made of rock and ice. Psyche’s color resembled that of iron asteroids that had previously fallen to Earth, indicating that it was of a metallic makeup. Radar pulses bounced off of Psyche provided further evidence that it was not a typical asteroid, as they were reflected with much more intensity than expected. Further evidence of Psyche appearing to be metal-based was found when its trajectory was deflected in certain ways when passing larger worlds that indicated it was much denser than rock or ice. These observations led scientists to hypothesize that Psy-

che was the remaining core of a planetesimal, which is a term for young planets that reach temperatures high enough for metals to melt and collect at their centers. If Psyche truly is the core of a planet, it could provide significant insight into the inner workings and formation of our home planet.

This mission has many science goals, the most important being to understand what Psyche truly is, whether it is a planet’s core or unmelted planetary material. This mission potentially provides a first-hand look into how the cores of terrestrial planets, like Earth, are formed.

It also presents the opportunity to explore a celestial object made of metal as opposed to rock and ice. Some of the science objectives of Psyche are to determine the age of the regions of the Psyche asteroid, analyze the composition of the asteroid, and characterize the conditions under which Psyche was formed. Finally, the spacecraft has a new laser communication technology called Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) that NASA will test. DSOC utilizes photons at near-infrared wavelengths as opposed to radio waves to communicate, allowing the spacecraft to send data at a much higher rate than previously possible.

Stevens Alumnus Jamie Tubungbanua, B.E. Computer Engineering ‘22, is a current Testbed Engineer working on the Psyche mission at JPL’s Mission Control Center in Pasadena, California. In an interview during NASA’s official launch broadcast, Tubungbanua tells about Psyche’s “Testing Twin,” which is hardware located at JPL and mimics every system on the Psyche spacecraft. This testbed allows the JPL team, including Tubungbanua, to confirm that the commands sent to Psyche will have the intended responses on the actual spacecraft. The commands are sent to the testbed and the simulated response is analyzed before sending them to the spacecraft.

The Psyche team expects to begin getting data from Psyche in August of 2029, when the spacecraft will orbit the asteroid for at least 26 months.

Digging up the dirt on the fossil heist

BY KATELYN CHIURRI, CONTRIBUTOR On October 13, 2023, NASA successfully launched a mission to intercept, study, and understand a metal asteroid named Psyche. This particular asteroid is of interest because research suggests that it could be a planet’s core very similar in composition to Earth’s. Launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket earlier this month, the Psyche spacecraft has a six-year journey ahead of it before we can expect any scientific data or results. This mission is led by Arizona State University, with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) responsible for mission management.

The launch itself was a success, with JPL finding a suitable launch window despite unfavorable weather conditions surrounding the Kennedy Space

Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. This mission marks the first NASA mission to be launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket. Both side boosters from the Falcon Heavy successfully landed and will be refurbished and reused, each completing their fourth successful launches to date.

The core booster of the Falcon Heavy was not recovered, but rather used its full fuel load to ensure Psyche was on the nominal trajectory for its mission. It fell into the Atlantic Ocean with no plans of future recovery.

The Psyche asteroid was first discovered in 1852 by Italian astronomer Annibale de Gasparis, but it was not until the 1960s that studies showed it may be something much more interesting than another asteroid made of rock and ice. Psyche’s color resembled that of iron asteroids that had previously fallen to Earth, indicating that it was of a

metallic makeup. Radar pulses bounced off of Psyche provided further evidence that it was not a typical asteroid, as they were reflected with much more intensity than expected. Further evidence of Psyche appearing to be metal-based was found when its trajectory was deflected in certain ways when passing larger worlds that indicated it was much denser than rock or ice. These observations led scientists to hypothesize that Psyche was the remaining core of a planetesimal, which is a term for young planets that reach temperatures high enough for metals to melt and collect at their centers. If Psyche truly is the core of a planet, it could provide significant insight into the inner workings and formation of our home planet.

This mission has many science goals, the most important being to understand what Psy-

che truly is, whether it is a planet’s core or unmelted planetary material. This mission potentially provides a first-hand look into how the cores of terrestrial planets, like Earth, are formed.

It also presents the opportunity to explore a celestial object made of metal as opposed to rock and ice. Some of the science objectives of Psyche are to determine the age of the regions of the Psyche asteroid, analyze the composition of the asteroid, and characterize the conditions under which Psyche was formed. Finally, the spacecraft has a new laser communication technology called Deep Space Optical Communication (DSOC) that NASA will test. DSOC utilizes photons at near-infrared wavelengths as opposed to radio waves to communicate, allowing the spacecraft to send data at a much higher rate than previously possible.

Stevens Alumnus Jamie Tubungbanua, B.E. Computer Engineering ‘22, is a current Testbed Engineer working on the Psyche mission at JPL’s Mission Control Center in Pasadena, California. In an interview during NASA’s official launch broadcast, Tubungbanua tells about Psyche’s “Testing Twin,” which is hardware located at JPL and mimics every system on the Psyche spacecraft. This testbed allows the JPL team, including Tubungbanua, to confirm that the commands sent to Psyche will have the intended responses on the actual spacecraft. The commands are sent to the testbed and the simulated response is analyzed before sending them to the spacecraft.

The Psyche team expects to begin getting data from Psyche in August of 2029, when the spacecraft will orbit the asteroid for at least 26 months.

INTERESTED IN SCIENCE JOURNALISM?Join our Science writing team!

Reach out to Erin McGee, Science Editor (emcgee@stevens.edu) for more information – No experience necessary to write • thestute.com/category/science –

7

Friday, November 3

Opinion MIND OF A FRESHMAN

A commuter’s commute

BY JUSTIN LEMA ‘27 Commuting cannot be as bad as traversing the seven seas on a small canoe with a broken paddle, right? Okay, maybe not as bad as I make it seem, but commuting can be enjoyable and productive if you make use of the time.

Now, we all have differ-

ent times as commuters, with some people being 30 minutes to one hour or more away from campus by public transport. Many of you commute by car, in which case traffic may be a big issue provoking you to plan in schedule for those delays. I will go over my experience of commuting to Stevens for the first two months and if I still have the energy to commute for the following years.

My commute would take no more than an hour and 15 minutes on bad days, and although I have this time carved out, I always plan to add another 15 minutes to account for any delays. That said,

of course, my classes are not completely early in the morning as I want to leave some time for me to wake up later than usual. One of my best helpers is the app that I have on my phone for the scheduled times for the path trains. It is useful because it helps me decide if I need to sprint to get to the next train or if I should take my time. I also realized how crazy it was for me to commute to my high school without cross-referencing the MTA schedule. I kind of just went inside the train station hoping the train would be arriving in one minute, but this is something that I learned to avoid weeks

into college.

One of the biggest challenges as a commuter is the impact that unpredictable weather can have.

On September 29, we had possibly one of the worst storms ever with an abundant amount of rain causing f loods on roads and in underground transportation systems. The conditions got worse until Stevens switched to a fully remote schedule. For those of us who did not commute until we got the alert, we were able to stay snug at our house and participate in our class virtually. Apps like the Guardian app at Stevens are good to have as they provide instant

alerts to keep commuters up to date.

While the time it takes to commute may eat up a chunk of your day, it helps to stay on top of your schoolwork. I like to listen to music on the train ride, and that is when it would hit me that a reading for one class was not completed. Usually, this happens when my other schoolwork takes me a long time to do the day before, but luckily, I can complete my leftover homework during my commute.

Commuting really does have its benefits because it can be a relaxing time for those of us stressed with schoolwork. If your

commute leaves you at the Hoboken terminal, then you have the freedom to walk along Sinatra Drive, and let me tell you how beautiful the view is. The sunlight’s ref lection along the water just gives magical vibes especially as you listen to your favorite music. As a commuter myself, I love the walk every day to campus despite it being 10 minutes away from the terminal. Of course, you can always take the Citi bikes to quickly get to campus, but I think that is an option I may choose after. As of right now, I am satisfied with taking in the view of NYC one step at a time every morning.

cation, we have human minds to do human thinking, and computational intelligence to aid us. Over the summer, I created a Python program to solve an inverse finite element problem. I had never coded in Python before, but ChatGPT was able to help me take what I knew about the problem at hand and the approach to solve it in C++ and create a program that ultimately won the undergraduate research award. It’s a method of triangulation: I know what the final result should look like and the gaps in my knowledge, and ChatGPT fills in the statistically most likely response. If I give it feedback that its first try didn’t work, it’s able to keep iterating until we reach a suitable solution.

ChatGPT helps with my creative work, too. I input my finished Stute article and ask it to tell me which points are worded confusingly or need more expansion. I don’t take all of its suggestions, but it helps me read my work differently, especially after I’ve grown so used to my wording after working on it for a while. The most difficult part of the writing process for me is the conclusion, so I hit my word count and ask ChatGPT for a conclusion paragraph. It can summarize very well, and though it can’t mimic my writing voice it helps me identify the key points so that I can rephrase it.

It’s much easier for me to read something and think of how I would change it to make it better than to come up with it from scratch. AI

has the potential to revolutionize personal tutoring for students, but the commercial applications have shaky grounds.

There are a variety of ethical issues that need to be addressed concerning AI and large-language models. President Biden recently issued an executive order to address the major concerns about AI, including protecting consumers’ privacy, preventing discrimination, and requiring companies to share their safety test results with the government.

This order does not create any plans for achieving those goals, as that overreaches the federal government’s power, and instead calls on the extremely divided Congress to take action. Americans are already concerned

about fake or extremely biased news, and AI-generated content can make it even more difficult to distinguish credible sources. On a local scale, if AI is used to write sections of a report, is it ethical to be attributed to you, or should it be credited as its own contributor? If it generates false content, it could take the liability off of the individual, but then who can be held accountable? Tech companies were eager to volunteer their technology to independent security testing, which might enable them to deflect responsibility, that they have no responsibility if they pass testing.

It’s dangerous, uncharted territory; how do you test a system for its potential hazards if we are only just discovering its capability?

SENIORITIS

Thoughts on Bots

BY KAYDEN CANNILLA ‘24 Last week, I spoke on a panel for the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) department conference Thoughts on Bots, to discuss how AI will impact higher education. I showed faculty how I, as a student, use ChatGPT as a tool to enhance my learning. Many expressed concerns about how students use it to avoid doing the thinking

for themselves and to fake engagement. I came across this in an online summer course, where weekly discussion posts were required and it became very clear that one person’s contributions were always formulaic, and always restated earlier points using odd synonyms. Philip Sutherland, a student panelist and Visual Arts student, described how this behavior was due to a lack of alignment between the course goals and the student goals: the professor wants you to learn something and the student just wants to pass the class.

Artificial intelligence is, currently, no replacement for human intelligence, though in specific circumstances it does a good job mimicking it. This is not its most useful appli-

Sudoku

COMIC CORNER

BY JOSIE STRANO

8

Friday, November 3

Opinion BOOK OF THE WEEK

A Court of Thorns and Roses: the collision of two worlds

UNMASKING: AN AUTISM STORY

How to explain normal: an autistic perspective depending on Feyre’s capa- animal, but wears a mask of bilities. Feyre’s father lost that animal every waking on an autistic brain all will to survive, spend- moment.

BY VICTORIA YASHCHUK ‘26 Usually, I gravitate towards all different kinds of thrillers and mysteries. The first time I laid eyes on A Court of Thorns and Roses

by Sarah J. Maas, I did not think much of it. My initial reaction to seeing this book in stores was nonchalant, but then I noticed it started getting popular on social media. I started seeing it more and more, until one day I decided to see if it was worth all the attention.

The book begins by introducing us to Feyre and her family. Feyre is her family’s savior, as they suffered a tragic loss: once a wealthy family, Feyre’s father was known as the “prince of merchants,” and her mother, an extravagant party planner. Feyre’s childhood was shared with her two sisters: Nesta and Elaine.

Unlike Nesta and Elain, Feyre does not remember much of her childhood because her family fell into debt when she was a little girl, causing the family’s home to be raided and her father purposely injured by the men who raided their home. Shortly after, Feyre’s mother passed away. What Feyre has known for most of her life was poverty and being the only one persistent enough to keep her family together. Elaine and Nesta refused to help, completely

ing his days inside the tenebrous imaginings of his mind.

Feyre lives in a town bordering a magical continent by the name of Prythian, which is made of seven courts, all different from each other: the Summer Court, Spring Court, Autumn Court, Winter Court, Night Court, Day Court, and Dawn Court. Prythian is filled with (mostly) human-like creatures, the Fae. Fae and humans despise each other due to a brutal history of humans being slaves to the Fae, until a grotesque war led to their separation. A magical border lies between the human world and Prythian, but it does not stop occasional Fae appearances. One particular appearance changed the course of Feyre’s life forever.

On another one of her hunting adventures, Feyre spots a wolf in the woods.

Tension building, Feyre manages to slay the wolf.

She sells its fur and is now calm about managing through the rest of the winter — until a Fae in the form of a giant golden wolf takes her away to his lands in the Spring Court as punishment for killing his friend,the wolf from the woods.

For the rest of her days, Feyre is meant to live with the creature who took her away. This creature, as it turns out, is a High Lord (High Fae) by the name of Tamlin of the Spring Court, and has the ability to turn from a human into a beast.

As each day passes, Feyre notices the unusualness of the court — every Fae is not only associated with an

As time passes further, Feyre grows close with Tamlin as he shows her the castle and lands. Feyre also learns that every Fae of the Spring Court wears a mask because they are cursed and physically incapable to take the mask off. Amarantha, the empress of all seven courts, is a High Fae who, in attempt to have Tamlin as her betrothed, cursed his court until he decided to marry her. The alternative, however, was to break the curse by having a human, who hates the Fae, fall in love with him. If Tamlin did not succeed in this alternative after 49 years from the day his court was cursed, he was bound to Amarantha forever.

Feyre finds out that she had met Tamlin right at the end of his 49-year sentence. In an attempt to save him and his court, Feyre faces Amarantha in three life-threatening challenges, in which Feyre succeeds with the help of her new acquaintance: Rhysand, High Fae of the Night Court.

Little did she know, Feyre would become the savior of the Spring Court, and turned into a High Fae.

Random news

BY OFF CENTER PHOTO COURTESY OF IMDB.COM

Mary Cain, Allie Ostrander, and why we should listen to women

BY CLAIRE HANNAN ‘24 In 2014, Mary Cain was one of the fastest female runners in the world at the age of 17. After struggling with multiple injuries though, Cain had to stop running professionally.

Similarly, Allie Ostrander was another young runner who won the NCAA D1 steeplechase three years in a row. In 2021, Ostrander stepped away from professional running, shocking everyone who expected her to head to the Olympics.

Both of these women were at the top of their field and expected to make it to the Olympics, but both of their careers were cut short by the same unfortunate condition, RED-S. RED-S, or relative energy deficiency in sport syndrome, is related to disordered eating while participating in intense sports and leads to reduced bone density, menstrual disorders, and lifelong health consequences.

Female runners are partic-

Before writing this edition of our exploration into unmasking the mysteries of autism, I talked with some classmates who raised an interesting question: how?

Backing up a little bit — “how?” is probably the most vague question imaginable. While working together on a report, we discussed what to write about, and someone rambled off two possible ideas, to which I said, “I got it!” I then proceeded to write a paragraph. For me, it was normal. I have an idea, my brain puts together all the words, and my fingers type it out without stopping or thinking about what to write — my brain has already figured it out.

Turns out that is not normal.

I wouldn’t have thought about it, but just a few hours prior, I had a similar conversation with entirely different people about a

finding how individuals with autism see it.

So, here I am, an individual with autism — saying how I see it: it is challenging. Beyond any social or emotional challenges I may have (there are plenty), it is always hard to talk about grades with my peers, explain what clubs I am a part of, or schedule a time to study — and then have to explain that I don’t really study.

Now, as I write this, I know it sounds conceited: “Oh no, it is so hard to get good grades without studying.” But the problem is, when it is just me, it’s typical (probably that lack of social skills).

I don’t think it is impressive because this is always how it has been for me. I was proud in fifth grade to list all of the American presidents in order (I still can, though I sometimes forget to add Trump and Biden because they had yet to happen when I learned).

When people ask me, “how?” I usually answer: “I don’t know.” How do you explain the inner workings of your brain without needing hours of backstory (or two months of newspaper articles)?

Perhaps that will be the next question we explore as we unmask the mysteries of autism.

OFF THE PRESS

GIRL(ISH) TALK

ularly prone to this condition due to the widespread culture in running that encourages and sometimes forces female athletes to be at dangerously low body weights in order to be as fast as possible.

Ostrander and Cain both fell victim to the same culture, but their stories are different. Right after an outstanding performance at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics, Cain joined the Nike Oregon Project. The coaches at this project forced an outrageously low weight they wanted Cain to achieve, shaming her if she didn’t meet it. A few years after starting this regime, Cain had suffered five bone fractures and wasn’t been able to replicate her past success from 2014.

On the other hand, no one had forced Ostrander to lose weight. Rather, she was inf luenced by the culture around her.

As girls go through puberty, they naturally gain fat that is necessary for healthy development. Ostrander, along with many other young runners, believed that by delaying this weight gain, she could avoid the slump in performance that is usually seen in female runners at this age. This worked, but only temporarily. Eventually, Ostrander was plagued by

BY EVAN PAPAGEORGE ‘26

completely different topic (I could recall a story of a member of the Stevens family from the mid1800s). Again, it was just a regular act for me, but those I was with looked at me like I had just done a backf lip. When I asked, they responded simply by asking: “How?” As I have explored autism for most of my life, as well as for this column, it has become clear that individuals with autism can do some crazy mental gymnastics. For me, it is just expected to be able to recite obscure historical facts, write an entire essay in an hour while reading a book or watching the score of symphony, or pursue a double degree on top of a double minor — not including extracurriculars, socializing, exploring New York City, and keeping up with my favorite TV shows.

The consensus of all of the professionals I can find is individuals with autism have increased mental capacities for memory, processing of information, and sensory details but, in return, lose social skills and have a decreased ability to empathize (or a heightened ability to empathize to the point of where it is hard to function, but that is a topic for another article).

However, I have trouble

injuries and poor mental health that ultimately hurt her career.

Now, both women have recovered from the disordered eating that took away their athletic careers and are vocal about the changes that need to be made to protect other girls in the sport.

This issue runs deeper than a bad sport practice.

Rather than prioritize an athlete’s long-term health, the culture prioritizes temporary success. Women’s and men’s bodies are incredibly different, both medically and athletically, and need different methods of training. Male runners have less trouble maintaining and improving their performance while going through puberty, but expecting girls to adhere to this is damaging the lives of female runners and the sport as a whole. Female long distance runners peak in their mid to late 30’s, so there’s no reason not to allow a small backslide in favor of future success. But more importantly, girls shouldn’t be pressured to damage their bodies for athletic success. It’s time to get rid of this practice and start listening to Mary Cain, Allie Ostrander, and every other woman about what’s right for their bodies.

-SatireRecently, on December 22, 2023, there has been a new law proclaiming that all students in New Jersey must obtain a dog. The reason that this law came to be was to increase empathy and responsibility with students through a dog that could help them develop and reinforce these basic human emotions. No substitutes like a cat, bird, fish, hamster, rabbit, and other kinds of pets are allowed, only dogs. Students must get a new canine companion starting on January 1, 1000. Failure to comply with this new law will result in complete expulsion from the academic institution that the student is currently studying in.

In addition, the UCC has opened a new restaurant that is now selling fresh, organic garbage in order to provide alternatives to the edible food already available. This change has come due to people that like to eat inedible items complaining about the lack of inedible items in the UCC menu, claiming that eating junk food could provide a new palate that would really wow the students that try it. There are people that

are against serving garbage for the fear of health complications to those that attempt to ingest it, but it has been decided to be looked at as a myth unless it can be proven otherwise.

To combat the cold, Stevens is recommending to students living on campus to create live campfires in order to increase warmth and avoid any hypothermia. To those worried about any potential consequences that may result from this innovative new idea of gathering warmth, the TRBOI (Totally Real Board of Information) says not to worry as people getting burns are only urban legends by people who want to increase the probability of everyone in the world getting a frostbite. So, go out to the woods and try to get some logs for a nice, wholesome fire.

In addition, to get students from all over the world to come to Stevens, it has been decided to transform the entire campus into a large ship that will travel all around the world. It will make stops at many major cities at the coast of many countries and undiscovered islands.

It will also give students a chance to celebrate the diversity of the world by exploring the new cultures

of the countries that the new Stevens ship is visiting. The ship will also contain a water park, a movie theater, and an arcade as extra amenities for you to have fun as you travel around the world.

Finally, the most important news of all: Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Did you get that? That was very important.

TINYURL.COM/STUTESUBMIT

9

Friday, November 3

Opinion FOR MATH’S SAKE

The joy of conferences

BY CHARLES BEALL B.S. ‘23 & PHD STUDENT In a shift back to personal math stories after the recent columns on national and global (tangentially) math-related events, I attended my first conference a couple weekends ago. In fact, the conference itself was a first: it was the premiere meeting of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics’ New York–New

Jersey–Pennsylvania (SIAM-NNP) Section, hosted nearby at New Jersey Institute of Technology.

The conference featured students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty members, and industry professionals mainly from the three states in the name of the section, and some from even farther regions of the United States. Stevens itself was well-featured at the event — I first want to give shoutouts to fellow PhD student Shima Jalalian, as well as Professors Ramos and Bozdog, for presenting talks throughout the weekend.

The event was structured to have several “minisymposia” which featured four to five 20 minute research presentations (or “talks”) in a specific subfield of mathematics research. Many of you may be surprised to learn that a con-

ference attendee could choose from 20 or so subfields, ranging from machine learning to high-performance computing, from mathematical physics to mathematical biology, and from more theoretical math to math tailored for large-scale industrial applications. I think the only downside to the conference was that the talks were run in parallel by subfield, so as much as I would’ve liked, I couldn’t attend all of them!

The ones I did attend were in subfields most related to my research in computational methods for partial differential equations (an aside: at some point soon, I plan to write an article describing this research more!). There was a lot to learn in these talks, and it was really nice getting to listen to people present their work. I also attended a few talks by presenters I knew

LIFESTYLE HACKS

previously or whom I’d met during the conference, to catch up and share new ideas. I tried to ask a question after every talk I listened to, and I appreciate the presenters for always giving a great answer — those researchers really know their stuff!

In between the talks were coffee breaks and lunches, where I got to socialize a bit more and have some fun not-necessarily-math-related conversations with other attendees. I knew generally how the conference was structured before the weekend, but I was filled with joy in the moments of actually attending and connecting with fellow researchers and math enthusiasts.

My major takeaway from this event is that academia really got it right when coming up with conferences. They are a wonderful way to bring

a large group of people with common interests and a lot of novel ideas together, and provide loads of excitement and new lines of research and collaboration for the attendees.

Of course, it takes a lot of work organizing such events, so a big shoutout to the organizing committee of this event as well (you can find all their names on the SIAM-NNP website link above).

For me, I’m looking forward to attending hopefully many more conferences in the future, and preparing presentations for them. I should also note that these conferences generally provide funding for travel or lodging for the attendees who are traveling longer distances to make the event — I hope that in the future, conferences continue to be able to provide funding to those long-distance trekkers,

as well as researchers from underrepresented groups whose ideas are making more and more inroads into academic circles.

And lastly, I look forward to seeing Stevens host more conferences in the future. Just this past weekend, HASS hosted a Thoughts on Bots conference, and in a week from today, the LeadHERShip Conference, which has an outstanding group of keynote speakers and a series of workshops that will no doubt inspire and motivate conference attendees, will take place. For both undergraduates and graduates, I hope you all get the chance to attend a conference at least once in your career, and I encourage you to make the most of it by talking as much as you can with new people, and being unafraid to share your ideas and perspectives.

THAT’S A RED FLAG!

Staying on top of your assignments Should I change my major?

BY ZOE HACK ‘24 With Halloween having just ended and Thanksgiving and winter holidays coming up soon, it can be difficult to stay on top of your assignments with all of the upcoming excitement.

I know, at least for me, my motivation drops right at this time in the semester because it feels like the end (or at least a break) is almost within reach. However, while it can be easy to slip up and let loose of the reins a little bit, it can be even more rewarding to successfully sail through the rest of the semester with great grades.

Even though we’ve only just finished midterms, it sometimes feels like we’ve already hit the burnout limit for the entire semester. Instead of letting midterms overtake us like that, we should use the difficulty of midterms to our advantage — be proud of yourself!

You have managed to learn so much content thus far this semester, and there are new things that you now are knowledgeable about that

you probably didn’t even know existed last year at this time. While I know you’re probably not thrilled to have learned things from all of your classes this semester, trying to take a positive spin on things can help relieve burnout.

During this weird period between midterms and Thanksgiving, I have to think of creative ways to keep myself motivated. For me, Thanksgiving is a slower-paced, more relaxing time to spend with my family, but it also comes with plenty of free time for when everyone at home is busy. So with that free time, there are so many different things that I would love to do with it. When I am feeling particularly burned out at this point in the semester, I will set a timer for 5 minutes and write down all non-curricular things that I would like to do in my free time, especially things that I can look forward to doing over Thanksgiving break.

Giving myself this five minute brain-break allows me to reset and go back to my work with a more focused mind while also having specific things to look forward to in the near future.

It’s also the point in the semester when it can get easier and easier to push off assignments until the last minute. While I know it can be super tempting to do this in order to spend time doing other things and

spending time with people, think about how much more rewarding it can be to go out without a looming assignment deadline or a bunch of Canvas notifications for your to-do list on your phone?

When it gets increasingly difficult to maintain motivation to finish assignments, I try to be extra cognisant of how I am spending my time.

Mostly, trying to stay away from doom scrolling. By reminding myself how great it feels to have fun and see people without having the dread of multiple deadlines hanging over my head, it becomes easier to focus on getting as much work done well ahead of time that I can. It is still so important to enjoy yourself and spend time doing things other than schoolwork, so why wouldn’t we want to make these experiences better by not having to think about upcoming assignments?

While we head into the somewhat beginning of the final stretch of the semester, it is important to take care of yourself! Give yourself breaks when you need them and remember to prioritize your mental health just as much as your physical health. You’ve already made it so far this semester, and a break is coming up soon (in less than a month) — yay!

Remember to try to stay focused on getting things done early while still having plenty of time to yourself!

BY ANNA DABROWSKI ‘26 With spring registration coming up fast, many first and second-year students are faced with an important question: Should I change my major? Most students doubt what they are studying, and stress about their futures within a certain degree. At such an engineering/computer science focused school, there is immense pressure to stay within these high ranking degrees. However, life has many pathways, and a lot of times engineers and computer science majors don’t even end up in fields directly relevant to their degrees. This is why it is important to assess your passions, what career you want to pursue, and what you actually have to do to get there.

During my first semester at Stevens, I was an engineering major, and I ended the semester with a 3.8 GPA. This is seen as pretty good, but throughout the semester, I encountered many red flags that alerted me to the fact that engineering was not a good fit for me. For one, I didn’t areally

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

BY ITAI GELLER ‘26 Behind a cluster of bushes, a mysterious lady bathes in a pond as her friends enjoy lunch on the grass, looking onward — a confusing scenario, especially for my younger self. What I didn’t know while frequently intruding on this scene as a child was that I was actually walking inside of a painting. You may be asking yourself how exactly that is possible. Well, here’s the answer: When I was younger, my parents would frequently take me to the Ground for Sculpture in Hamilton, New

The social science background gives me the proper base to fully understand the social, political, and psychological implications of all forms of decision making. HASS degrees get made fun of for being easy, but I take the same calculus as everyone else, multiple computer science classes, statistics, and data science courses.

As far as careers go, I can do anything involving data and strategy, which encompasses a large proportion of careers.

The most important thing is that I am far happier now.

Previously, every day felt like a fight to get to the weekend, and now I am studying something that I am extremely passionate about. If I had not listened to my gut in the first semester, and identified my personal red flags with engineering, then I would not be living the enriched life I am living today.

I am a research assistant in a field I love (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and I am working towards securing an internship somewhere in the political field for the summer.

I will STILL MAKE MONEY — the preconceived notion that any HASS major will be poor and destitute for the rest of their lives is extremely outdated, especially since all of the degrees at Stevens are technologically integrated.

The moral of the story is: don’t remain stagnant and unhappy to satisfy other people or the norm, and seek out passion and happiness with your college studies.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GROUNDSFORSCULPTURE.ORG

John Seward Johnson II Jersey, for weekend day trips.

To this day, I still retain many core memories from visiting this enchanting park in North Jersey.

What truly makes Ground for Sculpture a unique location is its curious assortment of life-like sculptures scattered about the park, interacting nearly seamlessly with the landscape. These sculptures are the contribution of none other than the famous Seward Johnson, an American sculptor best known for his painted bronze statues, which he commonly produced based on his observations of everyday human interactions. One of Johnson’s main purposes in creating his sculptures was to create accessible art that could be enjoyed by the public in an informal and accessible manner. This was one of the main reasons he actually founded Grounds for Sculpture, which also features an array of artworks and sculptures from

look forward to any particular class, every day was a drag, and I wasn’t super interested in the content. Additionally, the classes caused immense mental stress, and most of my life revolved around this week’s design lab or next week’s chemistry test. This is not to say that you should give up when the curriculum gets hard, but rather that if nothing excites you, it may be time to reassess. I know so many students at Stevens who hate their engineering major and don’t even want to be engineers, but are experiencing immense pressure from family or peers to stick it out because eventually it gets “easier.” The truth: nothing gets easier if you don’t like what you are doing.

Stevens has a ton of interdisciplinary majors with applied tech focuses. As a student population, we tend to make fun of business and HASS majors, however these programs receive a far more well-rounded education than a lot of the more traditional majors here at Stevens. The Business and Technology major has many concentrations, including Information Systems or Data Analytics, both very valuable in today’s workforce. After my first semester at Stevens, I switched into Quantitative Social Science (QSS), an integrated computer science, data science, statistics, and social science degree.

In this curriculum, I learn how to use computational thinking to solve real world problems.

artists of varying cultures and backgrounds.

As humans, our perception of reality is dependent on how we use our five senses to interact with our environment. For example, I know that I am sitting in my dorm writing this article right now because I can see the living area, feel the couch I am sitting on, the pressure of the keys I am typing with on my fingers, the smell of the food my roommate is making on our electric stove, and I, unfortunately, don’t really taste anything but I should change that and steal some of the food my roommate is making.

To understand where, what, when, why, and how, we as humans need to use nearly all of our five senses. That is why I believe that when an individual goes to visit an art museum, their understanding of how art can seamlessly interact with the fabric of our reality is impeded. At a

museum, you stand behind a rope looking at some really expensive painting while a security guard eagerly stares you down. I can see the painting, but I cannot feel it, smell it, taste it, or hear it. Realistically, I wouldn’t want to do at least three of those things.

I’ll let you guess which ones.

However, the point that I am trying to make is that a museum truly is a terrible way to interact with art because it lacks the intimacy that art like Johnson’s sculptures retains.

In addition, artwork is reduced to its material value in a museum. It no longer serves any cultural importance because it isn’t fully accessible.

Viewers are also provided with limited perspective and are not encouraged to search their emotions, hoping for a better understanding of a piece.

I think that this is where the importance of Johnson’s work lies. He managed to cre-

ate accessible artwork that had sensory value and provided an entirely new perspective on how art interacts with our reality. My favorite series of sculptures from Johnson is his Beyond the Frame collection, many of which are featured at the Gardens for Sculpture (you can go see them for yourself!). An excellent example is Johnson’s “Were You Invited,” based directly on Auguste Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party,” an impressionist piece featuring a collection of Renoir’s friends enjoying a meal and

conversation on a balcony overlooking the Seine River in France. Having the ability to walk amongst the sculptures is an unrivaled experience.

You get to see parts of the painting which previously had no dimension. You can see the folds of their clothes, each side of their face, the food at the table, and even the guy whose head is cropped off in the back in the original painting. On an emotional level, it is a lot more memorable of an artistic experience and a fantastic way to enjoy a piece represented in the impressionist style.

10

Friday, November 3

Campus Pulse

Praneeth Vanguru ‘27

Liz Patterson ‘24

“Probably Skittles.They trick you into thinking they’re M&M’s.”

Liz Pederson ‘27

“Easy. Whoppers. They should stop making those.”

“Reeses I also hate when Molly Harris eats them and then blows it in my face.”

ROVING REPORTER

By Rafael Lee Li and Mia Petrolino

Sabrina Trestin ‘26 “Milk Duds. Milk Duds are disgusting.”

What’s your least favorite Halloween candy?

“Strawberry and chocolate is awful.”

Jessie Domo Ibea ‘27

Emiliano Sierra Herandez ‘27

Aditya Bhangale ‘24 “Hot Tamales. I don’t like cinnamon.”

“It has to be anything with peanuts. I can’t deal with peanuts at all.”

Star Battle ǡ ǡ ǡ Ǥ ǡ Ǥ

“I think marshmallows. They’re not sweet enough.”

Hidden Links

Crossword by Jack Scherban ACROSS ͳǤ Ǥ ͶǤ ͹Ǥ ͺǤ

ͻǤ ͳͳǤ ͳ͵Ǥ ̵

ͳͶǤ ͳǦ ǡ

Zhenhan Chen ‘25

DOWN ͳǤ ̶ ̵ ̶ ʹǤ ȋ Ȍ ͵Ǥ ͳǦ

ͶǤ ǡ ͷǤ Ǧ ǫ ͸Ǥ ͳͲǤ

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Only Connectǡ Ǥ ǡ ǡ ǡ Ǥ “nouns”. “places”, etc. What do the following have in common?

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