[The Stute] March 23, 2018 (Issue 20, Volume CXV)

STUTE THE

Featured in this Issue: Stevens student wins RPI competition, Snow Day at Stevens, SGA Senator requirements, Spa Diner, Stephen Hawking, RedTalk: Realism in Art, The Oscars, Emme Scharmann

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Vol. CXV

Issue 20

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Friday, March 23, 2018

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Established 1904

Third annual DuckHacks this weekend

by MARYIA SPIRYDONAVA Editor-In-Chief

Penelope Halkiadakis and Tracy Levi seated at the Amnesty International table. | Alexander Louderback

Amnesty International and Lore-El Center host International Women’s Day Symposium

by AUDREY DSOUZA Managing Editor

The second annual International Women’s Day Symposium helped raise awareness for issues facing women in modern-day society. The event was sponsored by Amnesty International and the Lore-El Center for

Women’s Leadership with over 10 additional student organizations participating in the event.

Originally planned for March 8, the International Women’s Day Symposium had to be postponed to Thursday, March 22 due to inclement weather conditions.

“International Women’s Day has been celebrated on March 8th since 1975 to reflect on ad-

vancements in women’s rights, gender parity, and to celebrate women around the world,” explained Penelope Halkiadakis, President of Amnesty International’s Stevens chapter. The theme for this year’s symposium was #PressforProgress, and presentations by different student organizations at the symposium addressed serious

inequalities women face that restrict their everyday lives.

The organizations included sororities Delta Phi Epsilon, Sigma Delta Tau, Omega Phi Beta, Alpha Phi, and Theta Phi Alpha, as well as fraternities Kappa Sigma and Sigma

see WOMEN • Page 2

On Saturday, March 24, students in the Software Engineering Department will present Stevens’ third annual DuckHacks. This annual event was Stevens’ first hackathon.

A hackathon is a gathering of creative minds with a focus on problem-solving through programming and design.

Participants are provided a theme, and are given 24 hours to create a novel idea and impress judges at the event.

While projects can be developed solo, most are produced by groups of up to four. Those who would like to work with a group but whose coding buddies are all unavailable during the hackathon will have the option of the DuckHacks staff to place them into a group during registration.

The event will begin at 12 p.m. on Saturday, and will proceed until the ending ceremony at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

All workshops and activities will take place in the Edwin A. Stevens Building, including

continued on thestute.com

Stevens unveils Quantum Communications network

by OLIVIA SCHREIBER Staff Writer

As we accelerate even deeper into the virtual world, who we are is reduced to our credit card purchases, social media platforms, health information, and Google searches. Thus, the need for better methods of cybersecurity has never been more paramount, considering the 1052% increase in internet usage worldwide between 2000 and the end of 2017.

The Age of the Internet has been the best of times, with FaceTime connecting long-distance lovers, Amazon alleviating holiday shopping stress, and electronic medical records relaying patient information between health care providers.

It has also been the worst of times, with infamous cybersecurity meltdowns that have exposed billions of users. Yahoo, E-Bay, Target, Equifax, the CIA — all of these data giants have been compromised,

leaving social security numbers, credit card information, and birth dates accessible to the devious, ill-hearted trolls of the internet.

The reach of these cyber attacks is disturbing, but to dismantle the internet is sheer blasphemy.

International professionals are seeking counsel from physicists to help with recent security issues.

This issue of security has remained one of the most vexing questions for everyday citizens and members of the scientific community, like Dr. Yuping Huang, a physics professor at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Now, as leader of the Quantum Enhanced Systems and Technology (QuEST) Lab, he and his team have just unveiled a quantum communication system that might, as Huang put it, “revolutionize our society just like smartphones did.”

Communication comes in many forms, whether textual or numerical. Getting from Point A to Point B requires what is called a commu-

nication link. The link allows one party to send information across a distance without being intercepted (perhaps Tom Brady would have benefited greatly from this lesson).

Before your “Hello!” reaches your best friend or your credit card is charged for those overpriced jeans, the message is encrypted by an algorithm that jumbles the message.

When the information arrives at its intended location, the message is decrypted, or solved, into its original form by another algorithm.

Lac Nguyen, a physics and electrical engineering PhD candidate and member of Huang’s team, explained that the current encryption and decryption methods are vulnerable. “These algorithms are created by a mathematical algorithm,” said Nguyen. “Right now, it might take a normal computer 100 years to solve the algorithm

see QUANTUM • Page 2

Stevens physics department faculty featured in front of Quantum Corner. | stevens.edu

Delta Tau Delta celebrating their victory. | Photo Courtesy of Alpha Phi

For more pictures, see Stevens Alpha Phi’s social media pages.

Alpha Phi holds first major event,“Cardiac Arrest”

by SARAH HOOGENBOOM Staff Writer

Alpha Phi held its first largescale event on March 2 since the colonization of the chapter on campus in 2017. Alpha Phi Cardiac Arrest was a great success, raising around $28,000 in total. Donations were originally meant for the Alpha Phi Foundation, which supports women’s heart health; however, in Aileen Quinn’s honor, all proceeds were donated to Amnesty International.

As the final event of Love Your Heart Week, the Cardiac Arrest event was held in the Schaefer gymnasium. Participating organizations each had three representatives that participated in “Minute to Win It” challenges, such as blindfolded tic-tac-toe

and the game “elephant trunk.”

The aim was to win challenges to score points to “release” the presidents of participating organizations from “jail.”

The participating Greek organizations were fraternities Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Sigma, Beta Theta Pi, Alpha Sigma Phi, Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Sigma Nu, Theta Xi, and Phi Sigma Kappa, and sororities Phi Sigma Sigma, Sigma Delta Tau, and Theta Phi Alpha.

Delta Tau Delta won first place in the competition, and Kappa Sigma collected the most donations through ticket and shirt purchases. President of Alpha Phi Nadia Hoellrigl thanked all those that showed support at the events during the week and looks forward to hosting the same event next year.

News Continued Quantum

Continued from front page

but with a quantum computer, it can be solved in minutes.” Cracking the code, or “key” as it is known by cybersecurity experts, on either the encrypting or decrypting end is dangerous because users are not aware that a hacking attempt has been made until after the fact. Rather than work within the limits of current communication links, Huang’s team is fighting fire with fire with their quantum communication system.

Quantum communications might seem complicated, but according to physics PhD candidate Patrick Rehain, the system “takes advantage of two fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics. Everything is probabilistic in nature and inherently random.”

Harnessing the somewhat mystical but very real principles of light energy and quantum entanglement, the group has devised a method that provides for ultrasecure communication first through a quantum channel and then through the classical channel—the internet.

Here’s how the system works: light is generated via an optical pulse and sent to a waveguide, which effectively splits one photon into two twin photons.

Like monozygotic twins, these photons share certain properties when observed, regardless the distance be-

tween them. “Now the messages [with our system] are encrypted with keys generated by photons detections,” said Nguyen. Instead of deterministic keys generated by an algorithm that can be hacked, the randomness and probabilistic nature of light provide for truly random encryption keys. Any attempt to “steal” or measure one of the twin photons is known by the other, making the system, as the team calls it, “bulletproof” to hackers. “If someone intercepts the message in the classical channel, they will only read garbage data because they do not know how to decode the transformed message,” said Rehain.

Huang’s team has since taken its technology out of the lab and given Stevens Institute of Technology the nation’s first campus hybrid quantum communication network. The network is comprised of three nodes: the photon switch located in the Burchard Building on the lower end of campus and two links to both a kiosk desk on the first floor of the Samuel C. Williams Library and the Hanlon 2 Financial Lab across the street in the Babbio Center.

The Burchard and library nodes are connected via an underground fiber-optic cable while the quantum link to Babbio is through free space, or air. “Generating single entangled photon keys via both free

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 2

Women

Continued from front page

Nu, Stevens’ Panhellenic Council, SAVE, Society of Women Engineers, Indian Undergraduate Association, and Women’s Club Volleyball.

“This is Amnesty’s second year hosting [the event],” explained Dhivya Shankar, seated at the table for Lore-El. “We love seeing the clubs come out and educate the Stevens community of the issues that women around the world face.”

Issues tackled at the sym-

posium included cardiac health, gender-based violence, child marriage, menstruation awareness, women in STEM, poverty and homelessness, body positivity, anorexia nervosa and associated disorders, minority women in higher education, rape culture in India, genital

mutilation, women and climate refugees, online violence, the Mexico City policy, gender punishment, and indigenous women’s rights.

Next week is Lore-El Programs’ Week of Women.

Check out the schedule for their events on their Facebook page.

BMES networks with alumni at dinner

continued on thestute.com

Stevens student places second in RPI Design Competition

by MARYIA SPIRYDONAVA Editor-In-Chief

Sankee Maringanti, a junior Mechanical Engineering major, placed second in Rennselear Polytechnic Institute’s (RPI) first annual Engineering Innovation for Society student design competition.

This year’s inaugural competition included 31 students from colleges and universities in the Northeast, including Stevens Institute of Technology, Columbia, George Washington University, Parsons School of Design, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States Military Academy, University of Buffalo, University of Connecticut, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of New Hampshire, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Yale University, and York College of Pennsylvania.

Engineers apply the principles of science and mathematics to develop economical solutions to technical problems. Their work is the link between scientific discoveries and solutions that meet societal and consumer needs.

Rennselear Polytechnic Institute (RPI) encourages their students to

address a problem and find solutions to create a positive change in the world. Now, RPI has launched the Engineering Innovation for Society Undergraduate Student Competition (EIS), to promote undergraduate students from other institutions to explore innovative technological solutions.

Funded in memory of RPI’s beloved engineering professor, Professor Burt Swersey, “...way of teaching the next generation of innovators how to identify problems and seek creative solutions so that they can have a positive impact on people’s lives.”

Students were placed in teams with students of other colleges, and worked on various projects for individuals with disabilities, provided by the Center for Disability Services (CDS) of Albany, NY. Some projects included developing a dental stability device, designing a Parkinson’s writing assistant, improving a feeding tube device, and creating a canopy to protect patients who use wheelchairs from the elements during transfer to a vehicle.

continued on thestute.com

BMES members seated enjoy a discussion with BMES Alumnus. | Cole Yarbrough

by MARK KRUPINSKI Business Manager

On Tuesday, March 22, members of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) networked with Stevens alumni who work in the biomedical engineering industry while enjoying traditional Irish food.

Hosted in Jacobus Lounge, the event allowed club members to cycle between tables where they could talk to alumni, and members of the club were encouraged to ask questions. Topics upon which questions were based in-

cluded what the alum do at their job, advice for a Stevens student, and how to get an internship in the industry. Alumni represented numerous biomedical engineering companies, including Getinge, Stryker, Becton Dickinson, and Arthrex.

“These alumni really want to help you. The biomedical industry is very small, so you should take any chance to build a new professional relationship,” said Matthew Kandl, president of BMES, who sent a follow-up email to all attendees giving networking tips. Each

alumnus in attendance was given a small gift from the Stevens Alumni Office. “This is the third alumni event of this type we have done, and it was our most successful,” said Kandl.

Aside from networking, members of BMES were able to enjoy Irish and comfort food in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, including mac and cheese, potato pancakes, mashed potatoes, chicken, veggies, and dessert.

Members of BMES found the event useful. Fariha Choudhury, a 5/5 BME, stated, “Well, for me, this

event was beneficial because it provided me with the different opportunities available to people graduating with Biomedical Engineering degrees.

As a biomedical engineer, it’s often difficult to navigate what jobs can be offered to a person with a Biomedical Engineering degree because biomedical engineers often feel that their options are limited in the career field.”

Twenty members of BMES attended the event.

BMES’s next event is CPR and First Aid Training on March 28 at 1 p.m. in Pierce 116.

Cole Yarbrough

News Continued

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 3

RedShift gets real with “Realism in Art” WISO hosts Potluck event in Jacobus

This was also RedShift’s first event since its revival.

Staff Writer “We came up with the idea “REDTalk: Realism in for our REDTalks because Art,” a seminar organized we want to showcase the

by RedShift, featured a pre- immense talent we know sentation by Erika Bulger, hides under the surface here a Visual Arts and Technol- at Stevens. We also want to ogy freshman and Red- create a space for students to Shift Contributor. While share the wealth of knowlsnacking on vegan sushi, edge that they’ve gained students were able to ap- through their respective ply techniques to their journeys as creatives and own charcoal drawings. to learn and connect with In her talk, Bulger showed each other,” commented famous artwork and how RedShift Editor-in-Chief Juthe works exemplified the lian Remy Hernandez. Anyconcepts of realism, as well one who is interested in as how she applies realism leading their own REDTalk to her own art. She spoke of should fill out the REDTalk how capturing true dimen- Application form on Redsions is the key to realism. In Shift’s DuckLink portal. her demonstration, Bulger Hernandez is in his juused a photograph of well- nior year studying Muknown pop singer Lorde as sic and Technology. The a prompt for attendees to status of RedShift is now draw and practice apply- “Probationary RSO” since ing accurate dimensions. Julian Remy Hernandez, The event was the first part Nasir Montalvo, Kathleen of a series of REDTalks McGrath, Maria Agnese, which, according to the Emily Anodide, and Serevent description on Duck- gio Scardigno decided to Link, are “interactive semi- start the New Organizanars rooted in creativity.” tion Process under the SGA

by LISA MENGOTTO

in the Fall 2017 semester.

Previously, RedShift was an active Recognized Student Organization (RSO) under the Student Government Association (SGA). It was dissolved in Spring 2015 due to the lack of interest once its core leadership graduated. RedShift used to print a creative magazine each semester with submissions from members of the Stevens community including poetry, short stories, comics, photography, and original art. The new group is focusing more on hosting a successful websitebased publication that will be a platform to showcase submissions year-round.

Hernandez hopes RedShift can continue to work towards its ultimate goal of creating a space for creatives of all disciplines at Stevens to come together and form a community of support for each other. The next REDTalk is expected to happen in April. RedShift’s general body meets weekly on Thursdays in Pierce 220.

Left: students sketching with charcoal; Above: Erika sketching a face.| Nasir Montalvo

Snow Day!

Students enjoyed three school days off this semester: March 7, 8, and 21 due to inclement weather conditions. Gifted with a snow day, bolder students explored campus and Hoboken while others stayed cooped up inside.

Left: Alexander Louderback, Above: Cole Yarbrough

Campus Pulse

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 4

Roving Reporter How do you feel about having class on a Saturday?

“What the hell, I didn’t know that.”

PJ Lobello

“I guess the school has the power to do that, so I feel bad for anyone who has classes that day.“ Matthew Killeen

“I think it makes sense to have them, but I don’t think professors should expect anyone to show up.“

“As far as I know, my professors won’t actually be doing it so I don’t care.“

“I feel like that’s the school’s fault for cancelling when they really didn’t need to.“

“I think it’s whack. W-H-A-C-K.“

Peter Gallagher

Andrew Achyuthuni

Ava Tartaglia

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STEVENS STUDENT SPECIALS 2 PLAIN SLICES + SODA - $7 2 SPECIALITY SLICES + SODA - $7.90 10% DISCOUNT FOR STEVENS STUDENTS

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Opinion

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 5

SGA Roundup

Some senators want to STEP up, but most want to SIT down.

by MARK KRUPINSKI

Sophomore Computational Science Major

Senators and Oversight Committee members Matthew Cunningham and Lisa Mengotto proposed Resolution S-18S-007, the Senator Terms and Expectations for Productive and Useful People Act, or STEP UP Act for short. This resolution was created to set some new guidelines for senators to follow, and, frankly, with the exception of one, most of them were exactly the same as the previous guidelines. The primary new guideline? A Senator must work individually on an initiative... [that] shall be defined as a goal that benefits the student body.”

In other words, Cunningham and Mengotto want all senators to actually do something, not just a select

few. This is a fabulous idea.

Surely, some senators would have opposition to actually doing something, right?

That would be correct! Initially, some senators had a problem with removing Senate appeal for sending a mandatory email mandated by the Public Relations committee. Sending out emails of important information would require senators to put in more effort to represent their students and communicate with them. In order to represent them, at a minimum they would need to communicate with them.

By not sending emails, they are not communicating with their constituents. Do some senators not care about their job, to represent the student body, the very principle upon which they were elected? Senators should be in communication with their constituents and keep them in the loop. While the appeal is a check on the Public Relations committee, this could easily be abused by senators who are feeling lazy. They can easily ap-

peal to try to keep the student body in the dark and prevent them from doing any work and being held accountable as a senator.

However, that was a short discussion, and the next discussion focused on event attendance. Currently, each senator must attend five SGA-funded events per semester. Cunningham and Mengotto changed their requirement to one event per month – essentially equaling the same amount of events per semester. This would make senators actively attend events throughout the semester, as opposed to piling them all in at the end of the semester, which Speaker of the Senate Nic Nuilla says “has been a problem in the past.” Additionally, even senators with no intent of reelection would have to fulfill their event requirements to maintain their seat during the Spring semester, as mentioned by Mengotto.

President Lucas Gallo was in support of this change: “it adds intermittent accountability. Having the one per

month allows the Speaker to see that they did not do it this month.” After discussion, it was changed back to five per semester with a minimum of one event per month. A fair compromise.

But the discussion didn’t stop there — now some senators are concerned with what defines a month. After a riveting discussion, the Senate defined a month in this instance as a “full month of the academic calendar” despite the words “month,” “day,” and “week” being used elsewhere in the constitution without definition. Seems like a reason just to raise problems with the resolution.

And then Senator Matthew Cunningham explicitly acknowledged the elephant in the room: Point 6, making senators actually do something by having an initiative each month. Out of all the senators who ultimately voted no, only one senator spoke about any issues they had with the bill. Senator Ben Reydel stated, “I think these are vague requirements. I do

not feel comfortable with this. In two years nobody will be able to answer these questions.” However, Senator Cunningham said that in order to pass the Initiative Status update, senators simply should “Just document what [they] are doing,” even if it is just going to meetings. Nothing difficult, but it would actually require senators to do something, which is apparently a lot to ask for – asking an elected official to do something.

Now, the bill failed with a 12-15 vote. Due to the SGA not voting by roll call, I was only able to identify some of the senators that voted no. I demand that the following senators that voted no without voicing a concern during discussion STEP down immediately: Allen Best, Isabella Biesty, Jake Catalano, Lauren Chen, Evan Kainer, Austin Luo, Julia Meyn, Mira Mikhael, Jesse Priest, Alex Reina, Harrup Singh, Nathan Smith, and Ryan Tom. None of these senators want to be held to any standards and serve the student

“I demand that the following senators that voted no without voicing a concern prior to voting STEP down immediately: Allen Best, Isabella Biesty, Jake Catalano, Lauren Chen, Evan Kainer, Austin Luo, Julia Meyn, Mira Mikhael, Jesse Priest, Alex Reina, Harrup Singh, Nathan Smith, and Ryan Tom.”

body. They must submit their resignation, effective immediately. And no, stating your reason after the bill failed does not count; you didn’t let anyone try to address your concerns.

Additionally, none of these senators reached out to Cunningham or Mengotto before the meeting, which leads me to believe that they (and many other senators) do not even read the docket prior to each meeting. They are not staying informed and thus not doing their basic job as senators.

How can you inform the student body if you don’t stay informed yourself? Disgusting.

However, on a positive note, props to everyone who spoke on behalf of the resolution and wanted to hold senators to an actual standard. This includes Senators Jimmy Sweeny, Jonathan Darlak, Melanie Caba, Matthew Cunningham, and Lisa Mengotto, as well as President Lucas Gallo.

Stay tuned for next week, when I’ll formally be joining the Senate for its discussion of what defines a month and a riveting debate about American Society of Quality’s constitution.

SGA Insider

PR nightmare

by ELINA TUDER Freshman Business and Technology Major

As Chair of the Public Relations (PR) Committee of the Student Government Association (SGA), one of my primary responsibilities is making posters. Although that may seem like a relatively simple task, you’d be surprised by how much time and thought it takes to craft the perfect poster. I often ask myself, Do these colors go together?, Is the font legible?, Is this too cheesy?, Is this centered?, and so on. Then, after staring at

my poster for 30 minutes and losing the capacity to properly assess its visual and textual elements, I proceed to ask others if my poster draft is presentable.

I have made so many posters at this point that my Canva account has several pages of posters. To be fair, I have made posters for other clubs, but 95% of my creations are for the SGA. Recently, however, I have been facing some postermaking difficulties. Particularly, I have been facing a creative crisis in regard to designing a poster for the SGA’s Committee on Academic Rights (CAR).

Throughout the semester, CAR has worked diligently to create an Academic Concern Form through which students can address serious academic concerns that they have not been able to resolve independently. The form would then allow for students to collaborate with the Office of Undergraduate Academics and solve their issue. For instance, if

you ask a professor about something and they give you a hard time and won’t work with you, you can then fill out the Academic Concern Form and coordinate the best course of action with guidance from Undergraduate Academics.

Essentially, the form aims to provide students with more channels of communication and to serve as a team approach to solving problems on campus.

Now, how on earth am I supposed to fit all of that intricate verbiage onto a poster? I decided to try to advertise this useful resource and ended up concocting three different versions of an Academic Concern Form poster. There was a common theme throughout my posters: where to find the form (on my.stevens. edu) and examples of when to fill out the form.

However, my original word choice made the Academic Concern Form seem like it existed as a catch-all and blamed any non-stu-

dent party. Needless to say, those posters were never printed. The posters were so aesthetically pleasing, but they sit in my Canva account as the text and message of each one is debated. I am living in a selfinflicted PR nightmare as I struggle to find the right words, words that will be accurate, not too complex and long-winded, and will make everyone happy.

Hopefully, my new set of posters for the Academic Concern Form will be approved so that an achievement of SGA’s Committee on Academic Rights can be properly promoted and used to help the student body. Then, perhaps, I can wake up from my nightmare just in time to make the third TEDx poster for whenever the talk and concurrent SGA live streaming is rescheduled. But that whole perpetual date change is a different PR hurdle.

Despite the occasional craziness, I love being PR Chair

Senator Elina Tuder’s most recent poster creation.

for the SGA, and I don’t know who I’d be without my poster-making hobby.

Because let’s be real, even if

you don’t know me personally, you’ve probably seen one of my posters, and that means I’m doing my job.

Stars of Stevens

Emme the Star!

by MIA HILDEBRANDT Junior Civil Engineering

Emme Scharmann is the principal cellist in the Stevens Orchestra and is a founding member of the

Stevens String Ensemble.

She is a 3/5 Mechanical Engineering major, the Vice President of Art Club, and is currently starting a badminton club on campus. She usually spends her downtime knitting, cooking, or crafting. “If I’m not doing any of those things, I’m probably playing Arcadia Quest or watching anime,” she says.

Emme’s musical beginnings took root in the third grade with violin. “It was required that everyone play the violin for music class,” Emme explains. “This opened my eyes to stringed instru-

ments.” The following year, she began playing cello and continued to play throughout middle and high school in the school orchestra and in the Monmouth Conservatory of Music’s orchestra, all while taking private lessons.

“Music is a huge stress relief for me,” Emme states.

“After a particularly stressful day of school, I have never doubted the ability of my cello to ground me. There is something so amazing about making something beautiful, and I do that through the cello.”

Over the years, Emme has

looked up to Yo-Yo Ma and Mischa Maisky, both incredible cellists, and has grown to appreciate artists like 2Cellos (Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic) and Takenobu who play modern cello music and write original compositions. Emme adds, “I also take inspiration from the musicians around me. Nothing inspires me more than seeing some of my friends putting their heart and soul into [playing] their instruments.”

continued on thestute.com

Photo Courtesy of Mia Hildebrant

STUTE THE

Opinion Continued The Stute Editorial

Accept the critiques

WE WRITE STEVENS HISTORY

Executive Board

Editor-in-Chief ..........................Maryia Spirydonava Business Manager .............................Mark Krupinski Managing Editor ..............................Audrey D’Souza Outreach Chair ....................................Alex Murtagh Webmaster .............................Matthew Cunningham

Editiorial Board Copy Editor ...................................Angelina Zaccaria Head Photographer .........................Cole Yarbrough

Staff & Contributors Anthony LaBonte Brad Tylutki Christian Bonavita Daniel Kang Elina Tuder John Horgan Koby Garcia Lisa Mengotto Marko Djapic

Mary Ruane Mathew Green Matthew Doto Mia Hildebrandt Nick Burns Olivia Schreiber Rachel Stern Sarah Hoogenboom

It’s only human to want to please everyone and to get upset when people disagree with what you do. I have been in these situations many times and have been disappointed, and I’ve also seen others be stressed out over other people’s criticism. In the past, it would feel personal, discourage me from trying again in the future, and make me feel like I failed. It would be the worst feeling, pouring your heart and soul into doing something and then people responding in a negative way.

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Corrections & Clarifications For corrections and clarifications regarding any of our issues, please email eboard@thestute.com !

Whether it’s because your work goes against someone else’s opinion or because another person thought the work could have been done better, you will never be able to please everyone.

As soon as you realize that pleasing everyone is impossible, you will be 100% happier. The important thing is that you are proud of the work that you accomplished and that it represents your best efforts.

If people don’t agree with it, then it is their right, and it is your right to defend what

you did.

Now, I just want to clarify — I am not referring to when your supervisor points out mistakes in your work.

I mean the kind of critique that one receives from people on the internet or other similar outlets. Sure, you want everyone to like what you have done, but that will never be possible! Someone will always get offended by a particular view or point out mistakes that you made, and that is totally fine.

You can’t let life’s challenges get you down. In-

stead, you have to learn to take them into consideration and just brush them off. Feedback from others might be hurtful, but first you need to accept that not everyone will agree and just get better.

Maryia Spirydonava Editor-in-Chief

Senioritis

It’s called a job hunt for a reason

Contact Us Office Phone Email Office Location General Body Meetings Advertising Inquiries Mailing Address

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 6

by OLIVIA SCHREIBER Senior Chemical Biology Major

Let me begin with the wise words of The Rolling Stones: “You can’t always get what you want.”

Even old man Sigmund Freud—you know, the penis-envy and Oedipal complex guy—hinted at this universal truth. The id, explained to me as the bubbling cauldron of our wants and needs, has kept in check by the superseding ego, operating on what is dubbed the “reality principle.” In other words… you can’t always get what you want.

No fact has been more glaringly clear than this one, especially as I approach graduation, impending student loan debt, and life beyond college. Acquiring a job is not a mere wishupon-a-star—no people, I need a job. I need a job really f*cking badly.

I applied to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health As-

sociates Program—PHAP for short—this past January, and it was everything I could have wanted in a position: the possibility to work anywhere in the country, a rich learning environment in the field of public health, and at a high-profile government agency. I sent in my application the first day it was released, and harassed the Registrar to make sure my enrollment verification form was faxed to the correct number. While I knew it was a very competitive program, I thought I hit all of the requirements.

Good grades, a keen interest in public health, experience in qualitative research methods, openness to relocation, good references, no criminal background (to my knowledge)—check, check, and check.

After three months of anxious waiting, talking up the position to peers, family, and mentors, I was saddened to see “sorry, you were not among the best-qualified candidates and have not been referred for consideration” when I looked on the USA Jobs portal. My initial thought: Sh*t! My second thought: What do I tell everyone?

Here at Stevens, we’re all about return-on-investment, finalizing outcomes prior to graduation, and average starting salary. These are important numbers to

know, and I am even more proud to go to a school that helps students achieve success at stellar rates. But to be frank, sometimes I feel like I am feeding off the success of the school as I boast these numbers to prospective students on my tours.

73% of our graduates from 2016 had finalized outcomes prior to graduation!

I’ll announce to a group of excited high-school students and their families, But don’t be fooled! I’m not one of them.

I know I am speaking prematurely—this is the first of many rejections I’ll inevitably see in my lifetime and it’s only March 23; however, I would be lying to you if I said it didn’t hurt. Ever walk clumsily into a table and stub your toe so badly that all other thoughts in your consciousness are suspended as you grapple to the floor, cursing whomever placed the table in that specific location? That is essentially how I felt. The acute pain slowly subsided into a pulsing, but ever-sopresent throb that continues to persist no matter how hard I try to forget about it. Even if I wanted to suppress my disappointment, I can’t, because I have a big mouth and told everyone about this position. I had to relive the rejection as I told my parents, my siblings, my close friends, my advisor,

my mentors… the list goes on. Even worse, when we’re labeled as unfit for a position or “not among the bestqualified candidates” as the government so loquaciously informed me, it’s embarrassing to say it aloud. Eyebrows are raised, the tension builds, and you might feel even more judged than by the company that just rejected you in the first place!

But I think there is consolation in all of this. As my sister’s boyfriend Zach simply put it, “They call it a ‘job hunt’ for a reason.” While there may be a general course of action to improve one’s chances of employment, I have been reminded that there are factors beyond our control. Even if all the boxes are checked, victory might not be ours for the day. However, the success will come when we learn how to convert the disappointment associated with defeat into fuel for the next application, job interview, or promotion opportunity.

To my fellow seniors who feel like they are in a similar situation to me, we must not forget that this school has given us the methods of mass production. Lean on your faculty advisors, consult with recently-graduated friends who have found their niche, and do not, I repeat, do not go gentle into that job fight.

Mind of a Freshman

The one about snow days

by MARY RUANE

Freshman Business and Technology Major

Over spring break, I was in Lisbon, Portugal, having the time of my life. A beautiful country, decent weather (despite the constant raining and windy days), and five days with a bunch of other Stevens students distracted me from all of my responsibilities back in New Jersey. While I was in Portugal, I learned that it had snowed in New Jersey just

like it had the week before spring break, and I was silently thanking the universe for keeping me away from it. Now that I’m back in New Jersey, I am faced with the reality of the weather not being quite as beautiful as it had been in Lisbon. With all the recent snow days, students have been stuck in their rooms and homes.

Snow is usually beautiful, but lately the conditions outside have been quite dangerous.

Because of these harsh conditions, I thought it would be a good idea to make a “snow day survival guide.”

This guide will be specific to dorm rooms because of the on-campus atmosphere at Stevens.

The first essential to a snow day at Stevens is a list of all the movies and/or television shows that you have wanted to binge all semester.

You have most of the day to do whatever you want, so a Netflix or Hulu subscription should go a long way. At the top of my list for the next few snow days include (re) watching Clueless, finishing Everything Sucks and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and possibly catching up on How to Get Away With Murder. All shows previously mentioned are a great way to pass time, and I am excited to do so.

Pierce is not the best food in the world, so snow days are not necessarily the best when Stevens closes the satellite restaurants on campus.

So, if you have notice before the snowstorm, it is a good idea to pick up some snacks and other food to make sure you don’t have to leave your residence hall during the storm. Personally, I think that popcorn, pizza bagels, and hot chocolate are nec-

essary when facing a snowstorm.

Last and certainly the least fun, using your snow day to catch up on/get ahead on work is the most strategically intelligent idea. After all, we are Stevens students who have a lot of work. Spending the extra time to make it easier for you later on in the week is responsible and wise.

But if you aren’t in the mood, catching up on the sleep you have been missing is so important. So, I hope that you do something to help and/or treat yourself this snow day.

Put on your favorite pair of pajamas, snuggle up underneath your blankets, and have a great, relaxed snow day. Just pray that we do not have many more because no one wants to extend the year even further than it already has been. Stay warm and stay safe!

Opinion Continued

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 7

Campus Conservative

Campus Liberal

Don’t discount the blue-collar worker

Will America choose people or guns?

by ALEX MURTAGH Sophomore Civil Engineering Major

Just two months ago, the Brookings Institution published one of the most comprehensive studies on student debt that has ever been conducted. To say the least, the findings were terrifying.

As of right now, there are over 44 million Americans with a collective loan debt of 1.48 trillion dollars or roughly 32,000 dollars per person. To help put this into perspective, that’s roughly 15% of the entire U.S. population. Of that 15%, 40% are defaulting on their federal student loans. This figure doesn’t even include private loans. Clearly something needs to be done here, and, in my opinion, there are a few critical steps that need to be taken.

The first step is to go back to the start of the student loan crisis and analyze what caused this massive amount of debt. The first realization that we come to is that tuition rates have skyrocketed. According to Market-

Watch, the cost of college has increased by 161% since 1987 (adjusted for inflation). In addition to that figure, the cost of tuition, fees, and housing here at Stevens has increased by 101% for a grand total of a $123,000 increase for a four-year education, according to MarketWatch. That number is absolutely insane, and the fact that it only continues to rise is even worse.

What has allowed colleges to get away with charging so much over this time period?

Part of the issue is increased access to private and public student loans. This increased access caused an increased demand amongst the general population, but there was a very limited supply increase from colleges. Also, a large portion of college students is obtaining degrees in worthless fields where not a single job exists. Basically, we are giving loans to people who we know can’t pay them back! If that line rings a bell, this is exactly what happened when the housing market crashed in 2008 because people got mortgages on homes they couldn’t afford.

It’s also important to note the rise of the administrative monster. Over the past 30 or so years, new regulations have forced places of higher education to hire more people to just keep up with all of the paperwork and useless programs. In many colleges, including the Ivy Leagues, they actually decreased the number of faculty members

and exponentially increased the number of administrators. All of these new salaries mean more revenue the college must bring in, especially if those people are going to get raises over time.

So what can we do as individuals and as a country to fix this problem? First, we remove the stigma that people who work with their hands in blue-collar jobs are stupid and end up going nowhere with their lives. The truth of the matter is that these people can easily out-earn anyone with a liberal arts degree and keep pace with those who have a degree in a STEM field. If a blue-collar worker decides to open up their own business, they can do better than people with college degrees. Second, we need to increase access to vocational training and make the public aware of its many advantages. Vocational school is both shorter and cheaper in the majority of cases. There are instant savings right away, and you get to start working earlier. On average, these workers get to retire earlier compared to their white-collar counterparts. On top of that, those who are fortunate enough to go into one of these fields can take care of a multitude of home maintenance issues without having to pay someone $150 just to walk through the front door and figure out what the issue is.

The average age of the blue-collar worker is increasing at a rapid pace because no one wants to

take on these jobs. For example, the average age of a machinist is 55 years old!

Sooner or later there is going to be a huge deficit of workers and there will be a crisis in the manufacturing sector as well as any sector requiring blue-collar workers.

We need to take down the administrative monster.

How exactly we can do this is beyond me. However, at the very least, we should be able to review the role of every administrator and find out if there are any duplicates to attempt to simplify the process.

I guess everything in here boils down to the age-old concepts of supply and demand. If we are going to fix the rising cost of college, without an illogical Bernie Sanders free-college-for-everyone plan, we need to increase the supply of professors to teach and decrease the number of people going to college by instead guiding them to rewarding professions in vocational fields.

And I know this is ironic coming from a college student. But I really enjoy engineering, and it is a very lucrative field to get into. I have the option to remain an engineer for my entire career, but I could also work my way into management, take a job as a financial consultant, go into patent law, open my own firm, and so much more. The situation would be different if everyone was in STEM, but that’s simply not the case.

Scientific Curmudgeon .

The time I carried Stephen Hawking in my arms

by JOHN HORGAN CAL Professor

In 1990, on assignment for Scientific American, I had a close encounter with Stephen Hawking, who just died at the age of 76. I had bulled my way into a symposium, sponsored by the Nobel Foundation, on “The Birth and Early Evolution of Our Universe.” Thirty of the world’s top physicists and cosmologists, including Hawking, had gathered in a rustic, isolated resort in northern Sweden to ponder the origin of the cosmos.

I arrived late on the first day of the meeting, just as everyone was heading outside for a cocktail party. Hawking, already paralyzed by amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, led the procession in his motorized wheelchair. We were within sight of picnic tables bearing reindeer jerky and a potent local brew called wolf’s blood when Hawking’s wheelchair jammed in

a rut. His nurse, Elaine Mason (whom Hawking later married), tried to budge the wheelchair, without success.

Fixing her eyes on me, she asked if I would carry “Stephen” the rest of the way.

Hawking, when I scooped him up, was disconcertingly light and stiff, like a bundle of sticks. I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and found him eyeing me suspiciously. I was uneasy too, even more so moments later when Hawking’s body shuddered violently. His face contorted into an agonized grimace and he emitted a terrible gargling noise. I froze, thinking, Stephen Hawking is dying in my arms!

Mason, noticing Hawking’s distress, and mine, hustled up to us. “Don’t worry,” she said briskly, gathering Hawking into her arms.

“This happens to him all the time. He’ll be all right.”

Hawking suffered several other seizures during the symposium. Each time I was sure that this was the end.

Hawking not only survived.

He was a powerful presence at the meeting. He exuded, somehow, a mysterious, mischievous charisma. He seemed more amused than distressed by his plight. His Mick Jagger mouth often curled up at one corner in a grin. He communicated with his left forefinger, laboriously selecting letters, words, or sentences from a menu on

his computer screen. Many of his utterances were jokes, which a voice synthesizer delivered in an incongruously deep, authoritative voice.

He liked responding to colleagues’ cosmic conjectures with one word: “Trivial.”

A high point of the symposium was Hawking’s lecture on quantum cosmology, a field he helped create.

Quantum cosmology assumes that at very small scales, quantum uncertainty causes not only matter and energy but the fabric of space and time to flicker between different states. These space-time fluctuations might give rise to wormholes, which could link one region of space-time with another one very far away.

Hawking had stored the hour-long speech in his computer. He had merely to tap a key to prompt his voice synthesizer to read it, sentence by sentence. In his eerie cyber-voice, Hawking discussed whether we might someday be able to slip into a wormhole in our galaxy and pop out the other end in a galaxy far, far away. Probably not, he concluded, because quantum effects would scramble our constituent particles beyond recognition. He wrapped up with speculation that our three-dimensional world is embedded in an “infinite-dimensional superspace.” This ending

choked me up. Trapped in a crippled body, Hawking’s imagination could still fly through realities with infinite degrees of freedom.

Toward the end of the symposium, everyone piled into a bus and drove to a nearby village to hear a concert in a Lutheran church.

When the scientists entered the church, it was already packed. The orchestra, a motley assortment of blondhaired youths and wizened, bald elders clutching violins, clarinets, and other instruments, was seated at the front of the church.

Their neighbors jammed the balconies and seats at the rear of the building.

The scientists filed down the center aisle to pews reserved for them at the front of the church, Hawking leading the way. The townspeople started to clap, tentatively at first, then passionately. These religious folk seemed to be encouraging the scientists, and especially Hawking, to solve the mystery of existence. In his mega-bestseller A Brief History of Time, Hawking famously declared that physics might help us “know the mind of God.” He was a man of immense imagination, courage and ambition. Science will be

continued on thestute.com

by MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM Freshman Computer Science Major

I was born 27 days before Columbine, one of the most devastating school shootings in modern American history. I remember first hearing about it in kindergarten when my teacher explained to the class why she had to lock the door and cover the windows each morning.

In seventh grade, I remember my teacher turning on the news, and my class watched the reports of the Sandy Hook school shooting. We sat and listened as the reporter listed off the names of 20 children who had been shot and killed.

Just last month, Stoneman Douglas lost 17 people because of a school shooting. It was at a high school similar to the one I went to last year.

This culture of school shootings, this culture of being gunned down for no reason, of having active shooter drills, of hiding underneath bulletproof desks, of purchasing bulletproof backpacks, of wondering, “would a shooter kill me if I pretended to play dead?” — it’s all I’ve ever known. It’s all that most of us have ever known.

It upsets me that this culture exists in a country like America, that our nation has come to accept “thoughts and prayers” as a valid response to mass shootings. It’s upsetting that the United States is one of the most advanced nations on earth, but we do not have sufficient, common sense, gun-safety laws, even in the face of repeated mass killings. If we look at the number of Americans killed by terrorism since 9/11,

it’s less than 100. If we look at the number of Americans killed by gun violence, it’s in the tens of thousands. Not being able to resolve this issue is something for which America should be ashamed.

One thing that concerns me, in regard to the solutions to gun violence, is Trump’s suggestion for solving school shootings. He believes the best way to deter someone from shooting up a school is by arming “20% of teachers [so that they could] immediately fire back if a savage sicko came to a school with bad intentions.”

It’s hard to explain why this idea is so horrible and why this idea would inevitably lead to nothing but more devastation in schools.

But let me try: first of all, in the United States, there are about 3.5 million elementary and secondary school teachers in public and private institutions.

Arming 20% of these teachers would mean giving a Glock or some other type of firearm to around 700,000 people, creating an armed force half as large as America’s real armed forces on active duty. Teachers, without the intense and constant training that our military undergoes to possess firearms, are not qualified to be the front-of-theline defense. (And considering that the American education system barely receives funding as it is, I don’t know how Trump expects this suggestion to be funded.)

Most other ideas suggested by Republicans and the Trump administration deflect the issue away from guns and attribute school shootings solely to mental health.

It is so dangerous that Republicans are willing to shield themselves from the basic fact that guns are the reason behind mass killings, willing to do anything to keep dangerous firearms available to them.

I hate that a culture of loving guns exists in this country, and it disappoints me that America may never see meaningful gun reform any time soon.

A poster at a demonstration organized by Teens for Gun Reform in wake of the Florida shooting.|Lorie Shaull

Opinion Continued

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 8

Cuisine Corner .

Late night relaxing at the Spa: Diner

by MARKO DJAPIC

Junior Chemical Biology Major

While it’s true that my options for places to go in Hoboken have exploded since I turned 21, pub/ tavern food is all very classic. Burgers, fries, and other deep-fried comfort foods dominate the menus and while I’m sure someone is wondering which bar has the best triple-decker cheese slammer burger, that’s not a question I think needs answering. So, in light of my lack of imagination and going out way too late to go anywhere else, I found myself at the Spa Diner, right behind CVS on Hudson Street.

Diners are probably the only good thing to come out of the 1950s. Just the word itself brings to mind 3 a.m. food runs af-

ter a long night of adventuring. Reliable, usually cheap, and always meeting a basic standard of satiation, diners have that late-night-dive charm seamlessly mixed with family friendliness. In addition, through some diner Illuminati agreement, all diners have the same set-up even as far as the layout of the menus is concerned; that said, Spa Diner’s designated color is blue.

Looking at the menu, I was surprised to see how cheap the prices actually were. A deluxe burger for $6.75?? I was overcome by the realization I was being shammed by my hometown diner.

Looking on through my disappointment, my sadness was compounded by the lack of INCREDIBLY BOUJEE SEAFOOD ENTREES. I know no one has (hopefully) ever ordered octopus at a diner, but to just entirely leave it off the menu? They technically had jumbo shrimp, but they were reasonably priced so I didn’t count it. Once I came to, my iconic ChemBio™ colleague and I settled on the Philadelphia cheese steak, the California de-

CONTACT & INFO Spa Diner 74 Hudson St. (201) 653-6617

Open 24 Hours Service: Food: Location:

Marko Djapic

luxe burger, the macaroni cheese wedges, a strawberry milkshake, and a interesting drink called “decaffeinated Sanka.”

After I received what seemed like a sad cup of coffee, I googled what Sanka was really was, and to everyone who already knows what Sanka is, yes I felt clownish; Sanka is a brand of decaffeinated instant powder coffee. There is no such thing as caffeinated Sanka. Fortunately, the macaroni cheese wedges

were to-die-for and their triangle shapes were the closest I was getting to a dinosaur chicken nugget on this excursion. The milkshake was also great; it was incredibly thick with added little chunks of strawberry in it. After the opening round, the main entrees came out, and while the presentation may have been a little on the weak side, it all got the job done. The burger was exactly what I expected of bottomline satisfaction, the fries

were pretty good, and any shortcomings were easily overcome by a liberal amount of ketchup.

The Philly cheese steak also exceeded my expectations, in that the beef itself wasn’t rubbery or tasteless. The seasonings and sauteed onions brought it all together, in spite of the fact that the “cheese” part was a lonely kraft single. I… actually highly recommend everything.

Like the paper towel you accidentally ended

Price: $ up writing your notes on, there’s nothing glorious about the Spa Diner and your parents will probably be a little disappointed in you if you tell them about this. If you wanted a presentation, a five-star meal, or really anything above the bare minimum, don’t come here. That said, if you know what you’re about, there’s no better place in Hoboken to eat a lot and on the cheap. The best part? They’re open until 3 a.m.!

Passion for Fashion

Pharrell and Adidas Set for Another Hot Year

by DANIEL KANG

Freshman Biomedical Engineering Major

Pharrell Williams has done it again — another collaboration with Adidas that is sure to inspire sneakerheads everywhere.

Adidas recently overtook Jordan Brand as the second-most profitable sneaker company in North America, behind only Nike.

Pharrell surely contributed to its massive growth.

Pharrell already has his own fashion brand called Billionaire Boys Club (BBC), which was created in 2005 in partnership with NIGO, founder of the famed streetwear brand A Bathing Ape. BBC is known for its Spaceman logo, intended to represent the idea that money is not its only inspiration despite the conspicuous brand name. Pharrell also founded ICECREAM,

BBC’s sister brand, in 2012.

He has collaborated with Adidas multiple times for the past few years, starting with a rainbow-colored lineup of Adidas Superstar shoes in 2014 and more recently collaborating on Hu NMDs. He is well known for incorporating all over prints and bright colors. In 2015, he released 50 new colorways for the Adidas Superstar, and they sold out instantly. They are collectively known as the Adidas Heritage Styles. Adding to his fashion bona fides, Pharrell was awarded the Fashion Icon Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2015 by none other than Kanye West.

The Hu NMDs were first released in 2016 and steadily re-released in a variety of new colorways.

Pharrell set out with the goal to “explore humanity and celebrate diversity around the world.” The low-top sneakers usually feature a black cage overlay, a white BOOST sole, and English phrases such as “human” or “race” emblazoned across the upper.

At ComplexCon 2017, the now three-year-old

convention for style, music, art, and sneakers, Pharrell debuted an exclusive N.E.R.D. Hu NMD, with resell values reaching $3,000. This particular sneaker pays tribute to N.E.R.D., the pop band with which Pharrell is associated and crossed genres in the 2000s and recently released a comeback album after a hiatus of seven years. The sneaker was part of a workout gear capsule collection by Adidas Originals.

In November of last year, Pharrell released another Hu NMD exclusively through Billionaire Boys Club. This sneaker was a more subtle version, with soft shades of pink, gray, and blue, instantly branded with the name “Cotton Candy.” Sold out instantly online and in stores, the shoe has become an instant classic among sneakerheads. Resell values peaked around $2,000 and have since stabilized.

Four additional versions (tan, black, multicolor, and blue) of the NMD part of a “Statement Hiking” collection were also released that same weekend but were widely available. Shortly after, Adidas gave out deluxe Friends and Family packages containing the black NMD and essential hiking gear to a select few.

The epic three-way collaboration Hu NMD with Pharrell, Adidas, and Chanel rounded out his runaway success. This time, the highlight sneaker was limited to only 500 pairs and they were only sold in Paris, France with no

worldwide shipping. The sneaker collaboration marked his first joint design with the fashion house although Pharrell was the first male model for the Gabrielle handbag, walked in its runway shows, and even appeared in a short film directed by Karl Lagerfeld, the legendary creative director of Chanel. The shoe retailed for around $1,000, but resell values have shot up to $10,000 — undoubtedly an eye-watering amount for a pair of sneakers. He also tapped Colette, the renowned Paris concept store, to host the event.

This was especially significant since it was Colette’s final year in business. An astonishing 120,000 people signed up for a chance to get the shoes. These have been rightfully called one of the world’s most exclusive sneakers. A bailiff selected 500 lucky winners.

Earlier this year, Pharrell debuted a new type of sneaker with Adidas, only available at the brand’s twoday 747 Warehouse Street event in February in Los Angeles to mark the 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend and celebrate the sport of basketball and its culture. He introduced the Crazy Boost You Wear shoe, with bright yellow, red, and green colors. The construction of the shoe is designed to enhance comfort and be breathable.

The upper branding reads “Ambition,” fitting given that the Crazy BYW is Pharrell’s first foray into basketball. This will probably not be seeing a general release, although you can head to the secondary market to

pick up one for $1,200.

For the next iteration of the Hu NMD, Pharrell and Adidas kicked off the celebrations in 2018 with the “Blank Canvas” variations, which released on Feb. 23.

One in a white, blank slate, the other has a black upper, with a bit of core-purple in the laces. The Pharrell Williams x adidas Originals NMD Hu Trail “Holi Festival” shoes are designed to celebrate Holi, a Hindu spiritual festival in India where people are sprayed with colors imbued with positivity and forgiveness.

The three terrain-treated models releasing next weekend are splashed in tie-dye motifs alongside tonal black and white ac-

Photos courtesy of Adidas

cents. They also feature Devanagari text-embroidered uppers accented by bold mid-foot cage lacing systems. A rigid rubber outsole and full-length BOOST mid-sole finish up the design of the shoes. Priced at $250 USD, the Pharrell Williams x adidas Originals NMD Hu Trail “Holi Festival” pack arrived early in India on March 2, with a full release at select adidas Originals retailers on Friday, March 16.

In addition to the NMD sneakers, they teamed up for another capsule collection inspired by the Hindu

continued on thestute.com

Opinion Continued

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 9

The Stute Music Review

My Favorite Scores from 2017 Films thing that could not be. and I am so happy to have In 2017, directors showed had the chance to see each expertise in holding the of these films in theaters. hearts of the viewers in Dunkirk, which won Ostheir hands using music. cars for both sound editBoth Once and La La ing and sound mixing, was Land were quite explicit faced with the challenge about their usage of music of incorporating music in each story’s structure, into an at times loud and as they were both outright action-packed war story. musicals. Conversely, mu- It excelled at using musical magic can be brought sic to add to the suspense to a film just as effectively and devastation of the

by CHRISTIAN BONAVITA through a great score; film, and the score never Freshman this was seen through- feels like it is competing Chemical Engineering Major out 2017’s best films. My with the war-sound elefavorite scores were in ments. One technique Think about the last time Phantom Thread and used by Hans Zimmer, the you were at the movies Dunkirk. Each film blew composer of Dunkirk, to and your heart truly flut- me away with the way mu- build the suspense that is tered, sank, or just ached. sic worked for each film, so key to Dunkirk’s story The best movies evoke intense emotions in viewers through stunning visuals, great acting performances, and meaningful scripts.

However, movies are just as much about listening as they are about watching, and the perfect score or soundtrack choice can influence moviegoers’ emotions just as easily.

The past two years in film have not only been enjoyable for those who go to the movies to see their favorite actors or franchises; it has also been remarkable for music enthusiasts.

Past standout musical moments in film include my favorite film, Once, from 2006, and, of course, 2016’s La La Land. Both films use music to tell the story of a relationship, taking viewers through playful first meetings, the best moments of each relationship, and eventually (spoilers), the longing for somePhoto courtesy of Focus Features

is the use of the Shepard Tones, which is a cycle of three parallel ascending tones that seem to be rising endlessly, constantly building up the tension. It may be hard to realize the cycle of lower notes fading in and highest notes fading out, giving the feeling of endless ascension without an actual rise in pitch over time. Basically, Shepard Tones are an audio illusion that have appeared famously in everything from The Dark Knight to Super Mario 64. They are just a tiny reason why the Dunkirk score is so successful.

Phantom Thread blew me away with the score’s elegance, instrumentation, and the ease with which it was intertwined with the plot. Scored by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, original music played from nearly the first second of Phantom Thread through to the end with hardly a break in between. Several scenes were tied together by one song and a sparse narration by Alma, one of the film’s central characters. The score is at times lush and full, showing the hopes and passions of the characters, while at times of uneasiness and argument, the music can sometimes feel like it is spinning out of control. The use of music in this film was simply masterful and chill-inducing; it feels like Greenwood considered every note and instrumentation, resulting in an immersive experience.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

Another film that featured music to enhance its emotional impact was Call Me

by Your Name. I can’t rave enough about this film, but that’s beside the point. Set in early 1980s northern Italy and about the first love of 17-year-old Elio, who spends his summer reading and transposing music, this movie has a score that is a creative mix of 1980s European hits and classical piano music played by Elio throughout the movie.

While the 1980s songs set the scene and add spontaneity, the classical music brings unparalleled beauty to the film, especially during key moments. In one

scene where Elio is telling his love interest about his feelings, the piano becomes prominent and literally sounds like the butterflies in his stomach. In addition, original songs

by Sufjan Stevens add poignancy and emotion to the film, as the lyrics of each song address Elio’s positive and negative viewpoints on his summer romance as he looks back after the summer has ended.

The year 2017 was the first time I began to grow my interest in film, and, as someone who loves music, I was not disappointed by the diversity of music I heard in the year’s best films.

in Best Picture. After seeing it a second time, I still stand by my personal pick of Three Billboards for best picture, but I understand why The Shape of Water took the win.

I wish I could have covered some of the other Oscar-nominated films in a Spoiler Alert entry, like Call Me by Your Name, I, Tonya, Dunkirk, Get Out, and Coco. The only category outcome I was personally upset about was Film Editing; I thought the editing in Baby Driver provided an extra layer of entertainment that was both im-

pressive and humorous.

The cuts and sound effects of the entire movie are on beat with whatever song is playing through Baby’s headphones. Well-deserving of Oscars, Dunkirk was the film that won in the Film Editing category.

Overall, I was immensely satisfied with the results of this year’s Oscar nominees and winners. Hopefully, this next year of films will break the mold of normal filmmaking and provide audiences with as much entertainment and art as the films of 2017 did; we’re off to a great start with Black Panther.

Spoiler Alert

The 2018 Oscars

by KOBY GARCIA

Junior Visual Arts and Technology Major

The day I have been waiting for finally came: The Oscars took place on March 4! I’d like to take this week’s entry to reflect on the films I covered as part of the Spoiler Alert column The Post: I was wrong.

Despite writing an entire column entry on how Steven Spielberg’s The Post was pure “Oscar bait,” it was only nominated in two categories (Best Picture and Leading Actress for Meryl Streep’s performance) and did not even win in either of those categories. I did, however, predict that another extraordinary woman in the Lead Actress category would win the Oscar rather than Streep. I was hoping Sally Hawkins would take this for her blissful performance in The Shape of Water, but Frances McDormand was triumphant and delivered a mov-

ing acceptance speech on diversity in film.

Three Billboards: I was right! Although Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri was the film I was hoping would win Best Picture, I predicted Guillermo Del Toro’s The Shape of Water would come out on top. I had my preferences for winners in each category, but the person I desperately wanted to win in their category was Sam Rockwell for his incredible performance as Officer Dixon. Fortunately, the night started with the Supporting Actor category in which Sam Rockwell walked away with the win. My entire entry on Three Billboards was about Rockwell’s character, so I’m sure you can imagine how elated I was with his win.

Blade Runner 2049: I was pleasantly surprised with the success of Blade Runner 2049 at this year’s Oscars; the Blade Runner team walked away with an Oscar for Visual Effects and another for Cinematography. I would have loved if (unpopular opinion incoming) Blade Runner 2049 was nominated for Best Picture. Although I did not explicitly discuss its Oscar contention in the Spoiler Alert

entry all the way back in November, it was one of my favorite films of the year, and I am glad it received recognition in the shape of five Oscar nominations and two wins.

Lady Bird: I was right, unfortunately! I was hoping a film as charming and unique as Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird would have won in one of the five categories in which it was nominated, but it did not. I successfully made this prediction in the Spoiler Alert entry of Lady Bird, but I’m glad it did get some recognition in the form of

a couple Golden Globe wins earlier in the year.

The Shape of Water: Ok so, I was right here, too. The Shape of Water walked away with four wins of its thirteen nominations (Best Picture, Director, Score, and Production Design). I did mention “keeping an ear out” for the Golden Globe-winning score by Alexandre Desplat, who ended up winning the Oscar, as well as Guillermo Del Toro’s notable writing and directing skills. At the end of that entry, you will find my prediction of its victory

Photo courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter

Sports

Friday, March 23, 2018 • Page 10

Weeks and Dello Russo named Empire 8 Athletes of the Year

ON DECK IN SPORTS

Friday WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD

@ Monmouth Season Opener 9:45 a.m.

West Long Branch, NJ

n

MEN’S TRACK & FIELD

Stevens Sports Information

SSI Katie Weeks and Gina Dello Russo of the Stevens Institute of Technology women’s track & field program were named the Empire 8 Indoor Athletes of the Year, and the Duck coaches were named Coaching Staff of the Year following Stevens’ title-winning season.

The Ducks won their first Empire 8 Championship in 2018.

Sophomore Gina Dello Russo was voted the Track Athlete of the Year. She capped off an outstanding indoor campaign by earning a pair of All-America accolades. She took fifth in the 400 meters with a time of 55.52 at the NCAA and placed seventh in the 200 meters (25.17).

She set the Empire 8 conference record and Stevens school record in both events at the

national championship during the preliminary heats as she clocked a 55.39 in the 400 and a 24.83 in the 200.

At the Empire 8 Championship meet, Dello Russo set a new conference meet record en route to a first-place finish in the 200 meters with a time of 25.27.

She also placed first in the 400 meters (58.51), fifth in the 60 meters and anchored the 4x400 meter relay with a split time of 55.28. As a result of her outstanding performance she was named the Track Athlete of the Meet.

Junior Katie Weeks was voted co-Field Athlete of the Year, along with Nazareth College junior Alycia Eaton.

Weeks won Empire 8 titles in both the shot put (13.98m) and weight throw (16.82m). Her shot-put mark set a new

facility, school and meet record.

Weeks went on to qualify for the NCAA’s for the first time in her career and was seeded seventh in the shot put and 16th in the weight throw. She earned AllAmerican honors in both events with marks of 13.77 meters for seventh in the shot-put and a school record mark of 17.27 meters for seventh-place in the weight throw.

“Being named Empire 8 co-Field Athlete of the Year is a nice recognition, and is another driver to keep working hard to accomplish my goals during outdoor,” said Weeks as she heads into the spring season.

It is the fourth time a Stevens athlete has earned the Field Athlete of the Year honors.

The Stevens coaching staff, namely head

coach Justin Wood and assistants Veronica Montrose, Samella Koroma and Chris Sandoli, has been voted the Women’s Indoor Track and Field Coaching Staff of the Year for the first time.

In addition to their first league title, the Ducks also finished ninth at the All-Atlantic Regional Championship and placed 20th at the NCAA Championship.

The coaching staff guided three women to USTFCCCA all-region honors, had two individuals qualify for the NCAA Championships, and had four All-American performances.

“The Empire 8 Women’s Coaching Staff of the Year honor is really exciting for our program,” said Wood. “All of the coaches worked extremely hard to prepare the athletes to reach their goals. One of

those goals has been to win an Empire 8 team title and this group finally achieved that. A special thank you to Samella, Veronica and Chris for their incredible work this winter!”

In addition, one member of each team was named that institution’s representative on the 2017-18 Women’s Indoor Track and Field Sportswoman of the Year Team. Empire 8 emphasizes that “Competing with Honor and Integrity” is an essential component of a studentathlete’s experience in conjunction with an institution’s educational mission. These honorees have distinguished themselves and consistently exhibit the critical traits as outstanding sportswomen.

Sammi Pearson was the Ducks’ representative on the team.

Shirley Slams Two Homers as Softball Earns Opening Day Victory SSI The Stevens Institute of Technology softball team earned an exciting 7-6 victory in its 2018 debut against Dubuque College in Arizona. Senior Lauren Shirley returned from last year’s season-ending injury to hit a home run in both games on Tuesday. The Ducks also fell to Case Western Reserve University 6-2 in the nightcap.

It marked the collegiate head coaching debut of Stevens’ Emily Kaczmarek, who earned the victory in her first game at the head of the program.

Stevens fell behind 1-0 against Dubuque early on, though pitcher Christine LaRochelle was able to limit the damage to

keep the Ducks within striking distance.

Corinne Loncar and Shirley started the Ducks’ first rally with back-to-back walks in the fourth, and an RBI single by Olivia Gemma tied the game at one. An error and a stolen base by pinch-runner Kaelyn Lavin helped plate two more Stevens runs to give the Ducks a 3-1 lead.

Shirley popped a solo homer in the fifth to make the count 4-1.

After the Spartans scored five in the top half of the sixth to take a 6-4 lead, Jessica Masur came into the jam and slammed the door with 1 and 1/3 inning of scoreless relief to set up the game-winning rally.

In the home half of the sixth, Stevens staged a textbook display of clutch hitting.

Ada Heinze, Marissa Barnes, Melissa Alfonso, Farryl Groder, Loncar and Shirley all knocked singles in the frame to score three runs and flip the lead back to Stevens, 7-6.

Masur did not allow a hit to clinch the win in her first-ever collegiate appearance.

Tuesday also marked the first college action for Heinze and Lavin, Madison Gemma and Amanda Delorme.

In the second game of the day, the Spartans of Case Western avenged their Spartan sisters with a 6-2 victory. Shirley lifted a homer to left-center and Samantha Schattin

@ Monmouth Season Opener 9:45 a.m.

West Long Branch, NJ

WOMEN’S SWIMMING

VS 100-Yard Breaststroke 10 a.m. | 6 p.m.

Indianapolis, IN

Saturday WOMEN’S TENNIS

@ University of Rochester 10 a.m.

Rochester, NY

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL @ St. Joseph’s College 12 p.m.

Patchogue, NY

MEN’S LACROSSE

VS Nazareth College 1 p.m.

BASEBALL

@ Ithaca College 1 p.m.

Ithaca, NY

SOFTBALL VS Stockton University 1 p.m.

Ithaca, NY

Senior Lauren Shirley at bat during a recent softball game. Shirley hit a home run in both games against Dubuque University and Case Western University.

Stevens Sports Information

posted an RBI single to highlight the Stevens offense in game two.

The Ducks will return to Tucson tomorrow for

two games against the University of WisconsinLa Crosse and Augsburg University beginning at 2 p.m.

Duck Country Scoreboard Date

Stevens

Opponent/Event

Score

Result

3/17 3/17 3/17 3/17 3/18 3/18

Women's Lacrosse Men's Volleyball Men's Lacrosse Baseball Baseball Men's Volleyball

VS Wellesley College VS The Sages College VS Haverford College VS Middlebury College VS New Jersey City University VS New Paltz

18-3 3-0 18-5 11-4 5-4 0-3

W W W W W L

Stevens Sports Information

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

VS Nazareth College 1 p.m.

Rochester, NY

FOR MORE INFORMATION, HEAD TO: STEVENSDUCKS.COM STEVENSREC.COM