[The Stute] February 16, 2018 (Issue 16, Volume CXV)

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Volume CXV

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Issue 16

WRITE

STEVENS

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Featured:

• Mardi Gras Celebration • • Valentine’s Day Special • • Supreme SS18 • Lady Bird Review • • RA Appreciation Week •

HISTORY

@TheStute

Friday, Februrary 16, 2018

Staff Writer

On Sunday, Feb. 11, the Student Government Association (SGA) passed Resolution S-18S-004 Spinoff Entertainment Committee Act (SECA) which struck Section 7.10 The Entertainment Committee (EC) from the SGA bylaws. According to Lisa Mengotto, the Senior Senator who proposed the resolution, Entertainment Committee is not similar to the other standing committees of the SGA. There is little overlap between SGA senators and Entertainment Committee members, and many other colleges have a “campus activities board” separate from their student government. “I don’t think the SGA should be running events,” stated Mengotto.

One of the SGA’s prominent responsibilities was to provide funding to EC. In the Bylaws, The Entertainment Committee was guaranteed a minimum

Chinese New Year • P6

Cuisine Corner • P10

Taste of Duckbills • P7

Stevens’ Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers hosts first regional conference Managing Editor

The Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE) Stevens chapter, established in 2012, hosted its first Regional Conference on Feb. 10, 2018 at The Westin in Jersey City. SASE is a professional organization open to all students, dedicated to the advancement of Asian scientists and engineers, in order to achieve their full career potential, and enrich the communities in which they live. Marketing Director and Network Administrator Jenna Wong called the event “an exciting milestone” for SASE Stevens’ legacy.

The Northeast Regional Conference (NERC) is one of six SASE regional conferences held annually in the Spring. Over 500

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Established 1904

Entertainment Committee splits from the Student Government Association

by DYLAN MOON

by AUDREY DSOUZA

The Stute The official campus newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology since 1904, and creator of the Stevens mascot, Atilla the Duck.

people attended this year, including 425 collegiates, 72 professionals, and 18 high school students from 34 chapters. Seventeen companies were present at the company mixer, including new tech startups, government agencies like the CIA, Army Medical, and the Marines, and industry powerhouses like Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and UTC Aerospace.

Collegiates, professionals, and high school students could attend workshops, speeches, networking events, and a job recruitment fair that attendees from all backgrounds and demographics could benefit from. “[NERC] is one of the few times each year that every chapter in our region gets together in one place. It’s an opportunity to experience how

large and impactful SASE is as a professional society. Students learn inspiring lessons from the workshops, form connections with recruiters, and build friendships with SASE members across the whole region,” said Phoebe Lai, Conference Chair.

The conference featured multiple panels and breakout sessions, with workshop leaders including Mukesh Patel, Thein (Tim) Win, Alex Chen, Linda Zheng, Leigh Ann Soltysiak, Jonathan Crombie, unnamed CIA officers, Nasir Uddin, Seth Kirshner, Wilson Tsao, Cecily Kovatch, Brendan Lowe, Wayne DeFeo, Steve Yang, Cindy Chin, Cerille Avetria, Patty Torres, Francine Nieva, Deonne Francisco,

see NERC • Page 7

Photo courtesy of SASE Stevens

of 16% of the Student Activity Fee (SAF) as a line item, and therefore EC did not have to budget in the same manner as Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). In order to move funds to different items in their budget, RSOs have to submit a reallocation request to the the SGA, which may be approved or denied by the budget committee of the SGA, whereas EC moves all of its funds internally from event to event. With the removal of Section 7.10 from the bylaws, the Entertainment Committee is no longer guaranteed their funding by the SGA and will instead receive 16% of the SAF via an off-the-top request from Student Life.

According to Greg Klesaris, President of EC, former senator, and sponsor of the resolution, oversight powers would be more appropriately held by the Office of Student Life. Klesaris said, “In my eyes, EC oversight needs to be able to do two main things. 1. Step

Logo courtesy of the Entertainment Committee

in during an emergency or in the event that an officer cannot perform their duties and 2. Be qualified in providing event planning knowledge and resources. Student Life fulfills both of these qualifications, whereas SGA does not.”

Klesaris gave the EC ski trip last Sunday as an example. At this offcampus event, Student Life would be held liable in the event of an emergency, while the SGA would not. “Throughout the whole ski trip, we were in constant communication with Student Life, worrying about students’ whereabouts, financial transactions, and student safety. All three of those concerns could not have been ful-

filled by SGA oversight.”

A majority of SGA senators supported the resolution removing Section 7.10 The Entertainment Committee from the bylaws, but some are concerned that the bill was preemptive.

Matthew Cunningham, a Freshman Senator, is among those who abstained from voting on the bill and later opposed it. “This change seemed very preemptive,” says Cunningham.

He added, “The SGA definitely needs to restructure some of the organizations and committees underneath it, including Entertainment Committee. But the Senate should have seen a

see EC • Page 6

Heartfelt Condolences

On February 14, 2018 the Stevens community experienced a tragic loss of a member of the Stevens family, Aileen Quinn. Aileen was an active member of the Stevens community and a member of Hoboken Grace Church. Aileen’s family has asked for privacy during their time of grief.

For those wishing to extend condolences or contact Aileen’s family, please contact Dean Nilsen in the Division of Student Affairs via email at knilsen@stevens.edu.

Dean Nilsen will provide information about funeral services when available.

On January 30, 2018, first year graduate student, Luhan Guo, passed while at home. This is a heartbreaking loss for the Stevens community and we offer her family and friends our sincere condolences.

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Opinion The Stute Editorial

A special thank you

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The student-run newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology since 1904

115th Volume

Executive Board Editor-in-Chief Business Manager Managing Editor Systems Administrator Outreach Chair

Maryia Spirydonava Mark Krupinski Audrey D’Souza Matthew Doto Alex Murtagh

Editiorial Board Copy Editor Head Photographer

Angelina Zaccaria Cole Yarbrough

Staff & Contributors Brad Tylutki Charles Zwicker Daniel Kang Dylan Moon Elina Tuder John Horgan Koby Garcia Matthew Cunningham

Mary Ruane Mia Hildebrandt Namankita Rana Nick Burns Olivia Schreiber Phil Fishbein Rachel Stern Tracy Wong

I’m sure you are all aware that germs are making their way through campus. You can constantly hear people coughing in class, people on the streets saying, “my throat feels a little itchy...,” etc. I was one of the victims of this wave of sickness. It started off with a small irritation in my throat, and then the next thing I know, I am confined to bed with a fever.

Now, when most people are sick, they forget about all their responsibilities. I, on the other hand, felt bombarded with thoughts of all the things I have to do, how

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Corrections & Clarifications

until we are reminded how much we need someone that we remember to say thank you.

So this week I wanted to remind you all to look at the people in your lives and to tell them thank you. Tell them thank you for helping you with homework, thank you for making you tea, thank you for listening when you needed to vent. These people are such an important part of our lives and yet we so easily forget that.

Yes, Valentine’s Day has passed, and maybe you didn’t have a date, but you definitely have loved ones and it’s time you

show them a little appreciation. So call your mom and ask her about her day, bring food to a friend who’s stressed out studying (you know they would do the same), and just say thank you. After all, next time you are in need of help, they will always be there for you.

Maryia Spirydonava Editor-in-Chief

Lukic, we meet again

(201) 216-3404

Letter to the Editor Policies

this sickness couldn’t have come at a worse time, and how behind I’m going to be on everything. The fever only fueled my anxiety of not being able to catch up. Combine that with a general feeling of weakness, and I am not really sure how I was able to get anything done.

Well, that’s a lie. I know exactly how I was able to get through this week. It was due to the support and care of my loved ones. Their help and guidance helped keep me sane. This week reminded me how easy it is to take someone for granted and that it isn’t

Senioritis

Contact Us Office Phone

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 2

by OLIVIA SCHREIBER Senior Chemical Biology Major

On Tuesday, my Seminar in Science Writing professor and fellow Stute columnist John Horgan invited Professor Vladimir Lukic into class.

I remember the day that I met Professor Lukic. He walked into our first Mechanics lecture—this is going back to the Spring of 2015—with slightly

wind-blown hair, donning black jeans and a dark T-shirt. He sat his bag on the table in an overcrowded EAS classroom and jumped into the lecture. While his accent intrigued me—Russian, perhaps?—it was his enthusiasm towards his field that captured my attention. It was like he weaved the kinematic equations into prose, a kind of “physics for poets,” if I may so myself.

Fast forward to this past week, and Professor Lukic has not changed. He entered the Richardson Room in Morton with the same wind-blown hair, black jeans, and a navy “Got physics?”

T-shirt under a dark zip-up jacket. Professor Horgan invited him so we could practice pro-

filing a scientific individual from an in-person interview. Instead of jumping right into astronomy, quantum mechanics, or the existence of a unified theory, Lukic began with the story of his childhood in Yugoslavia, a war-zone at the time. He mapped his own educational journey: his physics-heavy curriculum in primary and secondary school, a change of major from EE to physics after a strange bout of amnesia following a car accident, and translocation to Illinois for graduate work.

For an hour, my classmates, Professor Horgan, and I asked him a great variety of questions, ranging from “Are we at an end of science?” to “What was

the last thing that you read about that rocked your world?” Hands clasped behind his head, Lukic responded to all questions in the same excited and slightlyrushed tone—it seemed as though every moment he had to speak to students was not one to be wasted.

Professor Lukic is an interesting character teaching an even stranger subject (strange to me, at least), but in all the strangeness, parts of his own experience, his outlook on life, and his methods of continuous learning resonated with me. There’s a lot to learn about a person if you just take the time to sit down with them, something I wish we could all do more frequently.

Mind of a Freshman

The One About Leadership

For corrections and clarifications regarding any of our issues, please email eboard@thestute.com ! + The text from Mind of a Freshman was actually from Senioritis

by MARY RUANE

Freshman Business and Technology Major

Last semester, I was part of a fantastic program on campus called Emerging LEADs. It is the first session of seminars in a series on leadership and diversity education conducted here at Stevens. Having completed the first semester’s program, I was able to sign up to be part of the second session: Advancing LEADs. Emerging LEADs had a particular focus on the self, your individual beliefs, who you are, and how society influences who you are. Advancing LEADs has a more grouporiented approach, fo-

cusing on how you operate in group settings, your positions in groups, and how to make groups run more effectively.

The thing that is particularly interesting about Advancing LEADs is that right off the bat, our first assignment incorporated what we learned about ourselves in the past session. We were supposed to create a PowerPoint outlining our ‘personal brand’ to effectively get across what kind of asset we are to a group.

Immediately, my first thought was to include how I am family-oriented. Talk about how my experiences as the second child of six are unique and how they have helped me to develop my leadership skills.

However, something kept telling me that though it is a nice thought and it could help show that I am able to manage people I have known their entire lives, it might be difficult to convey I am perfectly capable of collaborating

with strangers.

As a writer, I have learned to express myself differently to get my point across correctly. Instead of saying that I am an older sister and that it helps me be a leader, I can use it to say that I spend countless hours a week negotiating and debating with individuals to come up with a compromise we can all agree on. My classmates do not need to know that my negotiations are usually with a nine-year-old over a bedtime and that the debates I have are over whether or not the three-year-old is allowed to wear his dirty shirt as opposed to the clean one I had laid out for him. I can say that I am creative, that I have learned to bring all ideas together to create one good result that people are happy with. I have told stories about Power Rangers fighting Luke Skywalker and ultimately helping him and his father find peace over a bowl of Lucky Charms when my

brothers could not decide on whether they wanted a story about Power Rangers or Star Wars.

Being an older sister has taught me much about coloring inside the lines and not being upset when you stray from where you meant to go. It has taught me to be compassionate and adventurous. It has taught me to never let a moment pass, to always say the things you mean, to apologize when you are wrong. It has taught me that when ice cream cannot heal a wound, a five-dollar bill can. Being an older sister is the most powerful weapon I have; it has taught me the most valuable lessons I have learned in life because being an older sister makes you realize that you are here for so many more reasons than just yourself. Being a leader is realizing that you are responsible for so much more than just yourself and I don’t think anything has taught me that better than my siblings.

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 3

Off the Press

Girl Talk

Let’s talk about mental health

by NAMANKITA RANA

Junior Engineering Management Major

This is not the article I would have planned to write today. But, at the risk of a total cliché, it’s the one that I feel I must write.

I didn’t know her personally, but when I heard the news Thursday morning, I was shocked. And then, I thought – could this have been prevented?

It’s an open secret that mental health on this campus is not frequently talked about. For all its boasting of being “stigma-free,” the topics of depression, mental disorders, and suicide are practically taboo. It’s common to hear jokes about how overwhelmed students are by it all – work, classes, extracurriculars, life. But it’s hard to find something meaningful in terms of support or dialogue. It’s not necessarily the administration’s fault, per se – apathy is a campus affliction, and for many

of us, ignoring the topic is our coping mechanism of choice. But what happens when we leave the bubble of campus? How much more must happen to us, as a student body, before we collectively hit a tipping point?

My high school grappled with something similar. Six months after I graduated, an explosive article in The New York Times reported how my school district had spent years ignoring mental health in favor of pumping out high-achieving students with Ivy League letters. In 2015, 120 middle and high school students were recommended for mental health assessments; 40 of those students were subsequently hospitalized. The article then diverged into talks of racial divisions, which misrepresented the reality of the situation, but the overarching message was clear: in a STEM-centric school, the haphazard focus on mental health just wasn’t enough. The school district’s answer?

To implement a program focused on developing the “whole” child, implementing mandatory days where students couldn’t be assigned homework and eliminating midterms and finals.

The deployment of that program had mixed results. In my opinion? It

was a placebo and failed to address the underlying issue at hand – changing the way students approached mental health.

Of course, existing attitudes towards mental health can be difficult to understand and ugly to dissect. For my part, I know it’s a topic I rarely talk about, only because I don’t know where to begin. How do I make my audience comfortable with the uncomfortable things I am about to say?

My family has a history of depression. Undiagnosed, untreated, and, if I’m being honest, nothing short of severe. But there’s an explanation for that, too. In many immigrant cultures, depression and mental health issues are considered a sign of weakness, and they are ignored. The fact that those attitudes bled onto their children is not a surprise – it was the way we are raised.

But as I told a friend, it is not necessarily the way we must remain.

Here is the reality of the situation: 6% of undergraduates and 4% of graduates in 4-year colleges have “seriously considered attempting suicide” in the past year.

Nearly half of each group did not tell anyone. The suicide rate among young adults, ages 15 to 24, has tripled since the 1950s.

Stars of Stevens

The rate of suicide is growing faster among young African Americans than it is among young Caucasians. Native Americans have the highest suicide rate of all 15 to 24 year olds, while Asian Americans have the highest rate of suicide among women in that age range. Men commit suicide four times as often as women, while women attempt suicide three times as often as men. The emotional health of college freshmen has declined to the lowest it has ever been in 25 years.

Mental health is nothing short of a campus crisis, and that is the urgency with which we need to approach it. I’m not a psychologist, and I cannot offer professional advice or any sort of real closure to anyone affected. But what I can say is this: reach out to friends, classmates, whoever. Take time to heal, but when you’re ready – talk it out. I don’t expect it to be an easy or comfortable conversation. I don’t expect it to suddenly fix everything.

But talking about these issues is half the battle won.

My heart goes out her friends and family for their loss.

And to the girl affected – I hope she found peace.

Stevens Student Blown Away by Howe Wind

by OFF CENTER

Last week, an unnamed Stevens student was literally blown away by the hurricane-force winds that are always present in front of the Howe Center. Eyewitnesses have reported that the student’s umbrella got caught in the wind, causing him to go flying Mary Poppinsstyle. After being buffeted by the wind for a few minutes, he landed on the horse statue in front of the library and had to sit next to the naked dude for an hour until campus police could get him down.

This is the fourth time this month that someone has been injured or seriously inconvenienced by the raging tornado that is always surrounding Howe, and it has been causing pandemonium on campus.

Protests have broken out in front of Howe, demanding that the wind “chill for a bit.” In response, all of the protesters’ signs were blown into the Hudson, an act that was described as a “dick move.” Campus police had been dispatched to arrest the wind, but all of their hats flew away in the breeze, causing them to lose all respectability and therefore ability to ar-

rest anyone.

The whirlwind has been nicknamed “Farvardin’s Fury” by students, who are increasingly annoyed with the ridiculously fast wind.

“The wind took my dog,” said one student holding an empty leash. “I was walking my chihuahua in front of Howe and the wind tore him from the leash. The last I saw of him, he was flying halfway across the Hudson.” People have also lost notebooks, laptops, and small children to the mercy of the gale, never to be seen again.

The administration has noted these complaints and has decided to do something about the wind.

This morning, officials announced that they will begin charging the wind for room and board, hoping the high cost will cause the wind to flee out of financial insecurity. The Mechanical Engineering department has also developed a giant fan in the hopes of blowing the wind away, hopefully somewhere like NJIT. If all else fails, Stevens plans to place wind turbines near Howe, with current estimates saying that they could generate enough energy to power half of Hoboken. As of yet, the wind has refused to comment.

Passion for Fashion

Starring Angie Zaccaria!

Supreme SS18

about it because I’m practically playing myself,” she laughs. “I don’t really sleep because 19 credits and all of these clubs and homework!

So, sleep doesn’t really happen. Will it ever happen?

The world may never know, but I’ll keep you updated,” she says, all with a smile.

Macbeth was Angie’s first theatrical production as a member of the cast, though she has done tech for numerous productions over the past several years. Ever since intensive rehearsals began three weeks ago, her weekends have been booked and filled with Shakespearean verse and Director Bethany Reeves’s encouragements to practice witchy movements. Angie explained, “Macbeth was such a great show for my first experience with acting because I knew Bethany already from Choir

came to hang out, and buy cool clothes and accessories with the Supreme logo on it (which itself was copied from Barbra Kruger’s infamous anti-capitalist lines with the font Futura Heavy Oblique; one of her most famous quotes is “I shop, therefore I am,” a riff on the Latin phrase uttered by Descartes, great French philosopher, “Cogito ergo sum,” which translates to “I think, therefore I am”). James Jebbias still keeps a low profile, and very rarely gives interviews. He was very much involved in the skating scene while opening Union NYC and Stüssy before transitioning to managing Supreme. Supreme has 11 outposts all over the world, 6 of which are located in Japan.

If Supreme enthusiast was an Olympic category, Japan would undoubtedly place first. Supreme is more than a brand - it’s like a religion. The other stores are in Brooklyn, Los Angeles, London, and Paris. Its first store, located just across the Hudson River in Soho, Manhattan, NYC, proudly remains the flagship. Jebbias designed the store the way it is, with no tables or shelves, so that skaters could come right in and have a safe place to exchange tips, and promote skating culture in general.

The store itself looks and feels like more of an art gallery and storage facility with its white walls and minimal-

by MIA HILDEBRANDT Junior Civil Engineering

“The fight scenes are awesome!” Angelina Zaccaria exclaims at the mention of the Stevens production of Macbeth. She and her castmates have been working on the play for the past several weeks, and the show was this past weekend at DeBaun Auditorium. “I am a witch [in Macbeth], and I also get to sleep on stage. I’m happy

Photo courtesy of Angelina Zaccaria

and I was already friends with most of the cast going in from SDS and Choir. I’ve been doing sound tech for years and I love it, but I’ve always wanted to give acting a try. It’s great that I had the chance to do this and I would definitely enjoy doing it again in the future!”

Meet Angie Zaccaria. She is in her second semester at Stevens and is already very involved on campus.

Between juggling commitments, like Choir, being Copy Editor of The Stute, doing sound tech for Stevens Dramatic Society (SDS), working at DeBaun Auditorium, and being a new member of Theta Phi Alpha sorority, she is also a Computer Engineering major pursuing a minor in Music and Technology as well as a Cybersecurity masters.

Additionally, she is a founding member and the manager of Floctaves, the new a cappella group on campus, which is a timeconsuming but very rewarding endeavor she took on with her roommate and friends, most of whom she met during Performing Arts Pre-Orientation.

While she spends a lot of her time on stage, she is also familiar with all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on a show. She did sound tech for Schoolhouse Rock Live!

continued on thestute.com

by DANIEL KANG

Freshman Biomedical Engineering Major

Since NYFW is not over yet, I will be comprehensively reviewing this year’s show in my next article. For now, Supreme’s new season will have to do. Even if you do not know what exactly Supreme is, you probably have seen it somewhere, in the form of a sticker, clothes, various accessories, or even skateboards. Between Valentine’s Day, Ash Wednesday, and Chinese New Year, this week gave most people a reason to celebrate. On Thursday, Feb. 15, Supreme’s first drop of the season was another cause for celebration. On this day, the drop was only in-store, so no one was able to scoop up items online.

Starting next week, the web store will open for business.

As always, it will not be easy to buy, so be prepared.

A little history on Supreme: first established in 1994 by James Jebbias, Supreme began as an underground skate shop where people

ist aesthetic. Supreme never aimed to lure rabid consumers; it was always supposed to be a place where people could come together and exchange ideas about skating culture. Even if you go to any of their stores, the employees will be aloof and comparatively rude. That’s because the Supreme mindset is you buy something if you like it, not because the service of the store clerks pleases you. Obviously, Supreme has expanded beyond skating culture, but a lot of people would argue that this comes at the detriment of society with the rise of “hypebeasts,” who do not care about skating and are attracted to Supreme solely through fashion and reselling. But at Supreme, it is all about authenticity, which I totally respect. The average customer is not expected to understand the sometimes obscure pop culture references made through its clothing or the store itself.

This cult-like atmosphere could only be cultivated through years of work and respect, which is considerable in this age of open media and a desire to broadcast everything to the public.

If you don’t understand why people would pay $160 for a Supreme branded hoodie and pay $100 to $300

continued on thestute.com

Campus Pulse

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 4

Roving Reporter Why are you single?

“Are you assuming Attila is single?”

Laina Emmons (speaking for Attila)

“Probably ‘cause I’m unlovable.”

Luke Langner

“I think it’s about time. I haven’t been single since I was 16.”

“It was luck that I’m not. I was set up on a blind date.”

Bella Saba

Taleen Mitchell

“Relationships are troublesome.”

“Doesn’t matter, it can always change, hit me up.”

Ricky Dana

Anthony Cicarny

“Haven’t met anyone.”

“I’m not single. I have a boyfriend already.”

Josh Dimas

Jainei Wang

“I’m not.”

Dave Cortinas

Polling Pierce Are you single?

It’s Complicated None of Your Business 1 2

In Relationship 29 Single 68

Join

Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

Jacobus 2nd floor

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 5

Taste of Duckbills

by Matthew Doto

On Thursday, the Campus Card Office sponsored Taste of Duckbills in Babbio Atrium. This event featured food, games, and giveaways from locations around Hoboken which take Duckbills as payment, such as H&S Giovanni’s, Hansel & Griddle, Aether Game Cafe, Mr. Wraps, Bareburger, Pure Pita, Makai Poke Co., Dunkin’ Donuts, Margherita’s Pizza & Cafe, O’Bagel, GFG Bakery Cafe, and Karma Kafe. It also included selections from Compass One and the Campus Store.

Taste of Duckbills this semester ran from 12 to 2 p.m. and was, according to one student, “well enjoyed by all.” If you missed it this semester, there’s no need to worry – Taste of Duckbills happens each semester, so look out for it in the Fall!

Photos courtesy of Jeel Shah

News Continued EC

Continued from front page

finalized plan delineating the future relationship between SGA and EC before they divorced from us. Right now the answer is not a cut-off, so this conversation is worth revisiting.”

Despite the passage of SECA, Entertainment Committee is looking forward to effective collaboration with the Student Government Association as a separate entity. However, this may be short-lived. On the docket for the Feb. 19, 2018 SGA meeting, there is a motion to rescind approval for SECA that would potentially re-establish Entertainment Committee as a standing committee of the SGA.

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 6

Newman Catholic holds “Fried Everything” event for Mardi Gras

by NICHOLAS BURNS Staff Writer

Mardi Gras, French for Shrove Tuesday, was Feb. 13 this year. The Newman Catholic Association held its yearly celebration on the day before the Catholic season of Lent begins, where they feast before a period of fasting and penance.

Despite celebrating every year, Angelica Torres, the organization’s secretary and treasurer said, “I don’t believe we had such a big set up last year, when I was a freshman.”

The purpose of the event is to celebrate and gorge before entering into a holy state of mind to receive ashes the next day in the form of a simple cross on one’s forehead.

Chinese Student Association celebrates Chinese New Year

by AUDREY DSOUZA Managing Editor

CSA hosted their annual Chinese New Year celebration on Tuesday, February 13, in Babbio Atrium at 9 PM. At the event, students could sample different traditional foods including Mushroom E-fu noodles, Shrimp Har Gow, BBQ Pork buns, Turnip cake, Spring rolls, fish fillet with mixed veggies, coconut pudding, drinks such as Calpico, Aloe drinks, and tea.

Charles Zwicker

“Chinese new year is the largest celebration in Chinese Culture; friends and family gather together to eat delicious food and spend quality time together,” said CSA Vice President Jeff Ung. The event also featured student fan dance and lion dance performances, as well as opportunities to write caligraphy.

About 175 people attended the event.

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

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

SASE Northeast Regional Conference

NERC

Continued from front page

Dr. Kathryn Abel, Janice Perez, Karl Flores, Dr. Kevin Ryan, and more.

Topics included innovating yourself, innovating your career, innovating your community, Women in STEM, and Internet of Things (IoT).

SASE Stevens has been working on the conference since April 2017.

The planning team had been working nonstop to build connections with Stevens Faculty, Student Life, The Westin Jersey City, and the professionals presenting workshops and recruiting. “This is the first NERC ever hosted by Stevens,” said SASE Vice President Nirav Sampat. “The biggest challenge came from the things that had a lot of ‘liability.’ For example, raising funds from sponsors and Stevens departments was very stressful. If we didn’t raise the money, the event would have to be cancelled. Securing a venue was also challenging. We essentially had to convince everyone that we would be able to raise enough funds before we had them so we could sign a contract. This was the most expensive NERC in the history of SASE. Most of the time [NERC] is held on school campuses. This year, we wanted to raise the bar and have a more premium experience, so we went with the Westin Hotel in Newport.”

“In order to be the host for NERC,” Sampat explained, “your chapter needs to fill out an application that explains

why you are capable of hosting the event. I spearheaded the application process in April 2017. We had Professor Mukund Iyengar as our keynote speaker, as well as Professor Kathryn Abel and Professor Kevin Ryan as workshop leaders. We were sponsored by the School of Engineering, Graduate Affairs, the School of Systems and Enterprises, the Business School, and President Farvardin’s Office. All of them had booths at our career fair to recruit for graduate programs and they gave out gifts like bags and notebooks.”

The theme for the conference was “Empower you to innovate.” SASE NERC 2018 Communications Director Tim Zhang shared a personal anecdote regarding what the theme meant to him: “[The theme] is meant to bring people out of their comfort zones.

Now, I cannot speak for all Asian families and cultures, but it is very common for kids to grow up in an environment that focuses on discipline.

My parents especially, told me to focus so much on doing well in school and then getting a generic “good” job and getting promoted from there. As many of us have found out already or will soon find out, a GPA is not the only factor that determines if a someone succeeds or not in life.

Following the standard path of life will only get you so far. In reality, it is your connections and network will bring you more success than a number on your transcript ever will. Many of NERC’s workshops focus

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 7

on developing professionalism and soft skills that will help develop and mature our attendees. ‘Empower you to innovate’ encourages our attendees to step out of their comfort zone and work on improving ourselves so that they can rise and reach more fulfillment in their professional careers and lives.”

As for how they did it, Sampat said, “Our sincerest thanks goes out to everyone involved in making this conference successful.” As said by workshop leader Mukesh Patel, “people can connect to the entire world just by talking to 3.5 people. That means you only need to speak to 3.5 people on average to get to know virtually anybody in the world.”

Lai added, “It’s astonishing that we can bring in every keynote speaker, workshop leader, and company recruiter with connections through our previous co-ops, alumni, and SASE friends.”

As to whether SASE wants to host it again, the consensus seemed to be that it was a lot of stress and anxiety, but definitely a worthwhile and unforgettable experience. “All of the fundraising and planning is done by Stevens students. However, this was an incredible learning experience for us all; we really paid close attention to all of the details to make everything special.” said Sampat. They hope that other chapters will be empowered to host the regional conference themselves, and maybe that students at Stevens would take it up again after a few years.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEVENS SASE

Happy RA Appreciation Day!

(Wednesday, Feb. 21st ) To All Of Our Resident Assistants!

Thank you for all the hard work, time and dedication you give to programming, making our halls/buildings decorative and informative, guiding and mentoring our students, and making our campus and Hoboken a great community to live in!

Joseph Puciloski, Koby Garcia, Stephen Opet, Elsi Rama, Ivette Marte, Paul Moyer, Sam Coumans, Jenny Quispe , Melina DallaStella, Patrick Lyons, PJ Gencarelli, Nikolas Lambert, Joshua Pirog, Nneka Udeagbala, Erica Abidor, Daniel Polk, Vasundhra Srevatsan, Kristy Chan, Victoria Stabile, James Sweeney, Tatiana Rosales, Kevin Shah, Benjamin Traskunov, Joseph Conway, Daniel Turrisi-Chung, Maryia Spirydonava, Teny Odaimi, Norma Martinez, Michelle Yip, Mary Beth Irwin, Gregory Klesaris, Christina Caches, Stephanie Mallon, Preston Horan, Rebecca Abernethy, Cristian Collado, Lucas Gallo, Katrina Guido, Yonaida Brito, Moira Brennan, Xavier Rosario, Natalie Correa, Elvin Abreu, Natalie Pertuz, Nicolas Nuila, Jordana Approvato, Victoria Piskarev, Kellie Vertetis, Aysa Akin, Hayley Logan, Anthony Lanza, Morgan Brenner, Kaitlyn Molnar, Patrick Grasso, Austin Lowey, Anthony Picone

We appreciate all the hard work you do!

From The Office of Residence Life: Dean Trina Ballantyne Director Tony Blazini Associate Director Kurtis Watkins Assistant Director of Housing Operations Patrick Monaco On-Campus Housing Area Director: Steven Couras Greek & Stevens Leased Housing Area Director: Danielle Holmes Stevens Leased Housing Area Director: Chad Jones Office Manager: Cathy McGuire Jonas & Palmer Hall Resident Director: Freddie Bourne Davis & Hayden Hall Resident Director: Brent Johnson Castle Point Hall & Humphreys Resident Director: Alex Monroe Stevens Leased Housing Resident Director: Quain Bevans Greek/Special Interest & SLH Resident Director: Kerry Mallett Stevens Leased Housing Resident Director: Ariel Tan

Opinion Continued

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 10

Cuisine Corner .

A(mazing) B(oujee) C(ried Eating this) Kitchen

by TRACY WONG

Sophomore Business and Technology Major

Hudson Restaurant Week was fun, but New York City Restaurant Week, I discovered, is a whole other level.

Similar to Hudson Restaurant Week, NYC Restaurant Week is a bi-annual event where restaurants show off their food with a PRIX-FIXE menu. The list for New York was overwhelming, to say the least, with over 350 restaurants participating from all over the five boroughs.

There are cuisines that range from Austrian to Thai, with all of the restaurants seeming to have at least four stars on Open Table. It’s definitely impossible to try even half of all the locations before the two and a half weeks are over, but if only!

There were many choices, but ultimately I chose a spot and cuisine that was new and unlikely for me. I had first encountered this restaurant while in the city with a friend. We had wandered into the store that it is attached to, ABC Carpet and home. There you can find

a seemingly normal table priced at over $300. Headache inducing price tags aside, there were beautiful (and boujee) home decor items. Near the back, we noticed and smelled something.

FOOD! We took a peek and looked into the fancy, dimly lit area longingly. We vowed that when we made it, we were going to eat there one day.

I don’t know if we made it, but thank you Restaurant Week! I was warned that I’d most likely need to make a reservation, and thank God I did. Although about a week in advance, I was only able to secure a table at 2 pm on the day I could go. I later found out that ABC Kitchen is owned by Michelin starred Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, who strives to offer the freshest organic and local ingredients possible to customers. When I arrived, it was packed. So packed that it was impossible to squeeze through between tables and someone actually knocked over a flower glass trying.

Compared to Liberty House Restaurant, the audience was much younger and hip, but definitely still boujee (extremely glad I learned from the first time and dressed well).

When our server came with the menu, my party and I were greeted very politely, offered assistance if needed help with ordering, and the choice between house (which I also learned

Tracy Wong

these past few weeks is just the normal water), bottled or sparkling water. We ended up collectively ordering a few different dishes.

For appetizers, we ordered the Shaved Raw Fluke with gooseberries, serranochilies and lemon and Chicory and Roasted Winter Squash Salad. For entrees, the seared salmon (not my order this time since my last traumatic experience) with bibb salad, market vegetables, spicy buttermilk-herb vinaigrette and grilled portobello sandwich with arugula, parmesan, jalapenos and rosemary mayo.

And finally for dessert, the chocolate cake with malted chocolate ganache and toasted marshmallow icing and the lemon tart. The menu is a bit different from their every day prix-fixe menu and about five bucks cheaper.

The service was equally as on top of everything as Liberty House as well, the waiters seemed to constantly hover and offer to refill or clean.

Now time to explain the food I couldn’t stop talking about for a week. First came the appetizers. I took a look at my fluke and thought “hm, interesting.” It was a very pretty, colorful, but strange dish. I had never had raw fluke or fish with fruit.

I took a modest first bite and there was an immediate firework of flavor. I’m guessing it was the gooseberry, it was an indescribable soursweet flavor that contrasted with the soft, slightly salty fluke. I love raw fish, sashimi, sushi, all of the above.

But I had never had a raw fish dish quite like this one.

I tried some of the winter squash salad, again skeptical because of the squash (another traumatic experience from Liberty House), but I loved it! The squash was a bit dried so it didn’t have that mushy texture I dislike but instead gave the salad a bit of sweetness, which went well with the cheese that was also sprinkled on the salad.

Again, a type of salad I had never tried but it ended up

CONTACT & INFO ABC Kitchen 35 E 18th St, New York, NY 10003 (212) 475-5829 Tracy Wong

exceeding my expectations.

Next came the entree, although the entire table agreed that we were already satisfied enough after the appetizers. Everyone had ordered the salmon except for me, and all responded in unison. It was the best salmon they had ever had. I stole a bite from a friend and began questioning if I had ordered the wrong dish. On the plate, the salmon looked pretty small and like a plain salmon. However, after that first bite, it all made sense: juicy, tender, perfection.

Crying, I took a bite of my own sandwich, which resulted in even more crying. I was worried that a mushroom between two buns wouldn’t be enough for a meat lover such as myself, but I was so wrong. With every bite, juice spilled from the mushroom.

I was fully aware that there was no meat, but for some reason, the mushroom, some veggies, and mayo tasted great alone between two buns! That day I said, “if vegetarian or vegan food could always taste like this, I can start that diet today with no regrets.”

The servers then brought out the dessert and we were not let down. The lemon tart was light, sour, and tart, a good ender for a full customer. But the chocolate cake really stole the show. Not only was the presentation gorgeous, but the deep richness of the chocolate in every moist bite made finishing the whole slice an easy task.

Needless to say, ABC Kitchen was a palate-changing experience. I wouldn’t call myself a food critic because this was the first time I had probably ever tried food on this level, but I am your average broke college student who can tell you if I’d spend thirty dollars on a meal like this one (I would, but probably on a special day or during restaurant week!). I’ve told everyone since going, I don’t usually have AmericanFrench cuisine, but this was the best food I’d ever had. I was so impressed by all three courses and kept thinking there was no way it could get better. I would definitely recommend ABC Kitchen for someone looking to celebrate a special occasion or looking to splurge after a first paycheck. Oh and, get the salmon!

Mon. - Wed. 12PM - 3PM, 5:30PM - 10:30PM Thurs.

12PM - 3PM 5:30PM - 11PM Fri. 12PM - 3PM 5:30PM - 11:30PM Sat. 11AM - 3PM 5:30PM - 11:30PM Sun. 11AM - 3PM 5:30 PM - 10PM Service: Food: Location: Price: $$$

Tracy Wong

Spoiler Alert

Lady Bird

by KOBY GARCIA

Junior Visual Arts and Technology Major

Towards the end of last semester, I wrote a paper on the roles of maternal characters in various films. One of the main focuses of the essay was Lady Bird, the refreshing, heart-warming, and modern coming-of-age film written and directed by Greta Gerwig in 2017. Saoirse Ronan (who plays Lady Bird in Lady Bird), won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical or

Comedy and the Lady Bird film won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Here’s an excerpt from the aforementioned essay: Greta Gerwig’s 2017 film Lady Bird tells the story of a coming-of-age teenage girl from Sacramento who wishes to escape her monotonous lifestyle and attend a liberal arts college in New York. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson, who belongs to a low-income family of four, is notably different than the other people she interacts with, especially her mother. The film follows Lady Bird and her adventures through maturing, dating, applying to institutions of higher education, and personal family issues. Of these family issues, the most significant in the film are those of

the relationship between her and her mother. Not only is this statement emphasized by the events throughout the film and the conclusion of the film, but the beginning as well: the film opens with Lady Bird and her mother laying in bed, facing each other, with Lady Bird’s arm bent in such a way that makes it seem as though she has a beak (you know, like a bird).

The words and actions of Lady Bird’s mother tell almost as much of a story about Lady Bird as Lady Bird’s actions do.

While Lady Bird is an ambitious, free soul, she is constrained by the words and doings of her mother. One of the very first scenes of the film includes a conversation between Lady Bird and her mother Marion while they are in the car discussing Lady Bird’s

desire to go to a school away from home. Marion interrupts Lady Bird and says, “How in the world did I raise such a snob?

You couldn’t get into those schools anyway.

You should just go to city college. You know, with your work ethic, just go to city college and then to jail and then back to city college and then may you’ll learn to pull yourself up and not expect everybody to do everything– ah!” Marion McPherson suddenly says “ah!” in reaction to Lady Bird opening the car door and letting herself fall out. These two characters have multiple heated discussions throughout the film, ending with Marion simply not speaking to Lady Bird because Lady Bird did not tell Marion that she had secretly applied to and eventually accept-

ed an offer to a school in New York. The dynamic between these two characters can be best described through the comparison of these two lines of dialogue from different moments in the film: “Whatever we give you, it’s never enough, it’s never enough,” and “I want you to be the very best version of yourself that you could be.”

Other characters say that Marion “has a big heart,” and that “she’s warm but she’s also kind of scary.”

At one point, Lady Bird asks her father if her mother hates her and her father replies, “You both have such strong personalities,” emphasizing the dramatic relationship between the two characters. Also, Lady Bird’s father suffers from depression and is much more caring and tender than Lady Bird’s mother

is, flipping the father/ mother stereotype on its head (woo for challenging gender roles).

Many of those moments can be seen in just the trailer for the film if you want to check it out. Lady Bird’s story structure is by no means much different than the nature of other comingof-age films, but its execution, style, timing, and content speak volumes to its uniqueness. Lady Bird and those involved are nominated for a total of five Oscars: Best Picture, Lead Actress, Supporting Actress, Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

Although Lady Bird is one of my personal favorite films of 2017, it is matched against some tough competition in each of the categories and probably won’t get the attention it deserves.

Opinion Continued

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 11

SGA Roundup

Campus Conservative

A Proposal to Improve Senator Requirements

Lets fix our Infrastructure

by MARK KRUPINSKI

Sophomore Computational Science Major

Two weeks ago, 15 Student Government Association (SGA) senators were eligible for impeachment, primarily because they did not meet senator requirements. These senators included the most active members of the SGA, and yet even they failed to meet the guidelines, specifically, Recognized Student Organization (RSO) event attendance. The Senator requirements rarely keep the senators in touch with the student body, with one of the only requirements that keep the senators in touch is RSO event attendance. Are these senators only serving themselves and not what the student body needs or wants?

And Speaker of the Senate Nic Nuila’s response to 15 senators up for impeachment? He’s “very upset,” but won’t bring them up for impeachment. Disappointing.

If someone doesn’t do their job, they should be brought up for impeachment regardless. Sure, some great senators, such as oversight committee members Matthew Cunningham and Melanie Caba, were up for impeachment, but what about the dead weight of the SGA? Might as well light a fire underneath those people, even if the entire Senate decided to vote no on their impeachment. The current senator requirements are light, yet senators still fail them. A new policy of senator requirements needs to be created that ensures that all senators do their jobs and remain in touch with the student body, all without subjectivity.

Subjectivity is a problem with any disciplinary system. Currently, it is solely up to the oversight committee whether or not to bring up a senator for a transgression, regardless of the action. I support adding a “three strike rule” for disciplinary review. Essentially, for each transgression, a senator receives a strike. At one or two strikes, the oversight committee will be able to bring a senator up for impeachment, as they do now.

At three strikes, however, a senator will automatically be impeached. No trial, vacancy elections immediate.

If a senator receives three strikes, then they are not performing their job at all and should not be a public official.

Now for the guideline improvements: Currently, senators are not in touch with the student body. Frankly, most senators only care about their own viewpoints on an issue or topic, not what their constituents believe. In order to aid this, all senators must be a voting member of at least one RSO. Much of what the Senate does and whom they interact with, are RSOs or their members. By ensuring that a senator is an active member of at least one organization, they will be able to gain a better insight on the struggles of RSOs. This suggestion would amend the current requirement that senators must attend five RSO events per semester. Failure to complete any of these suggested requirements earns a senator a strike.

Additionally, the Senate claims that they look to make improvements for the student body and are working with them, but they can’t be doing that because they are bad at communicating with the student body. Currently, senators are required to send out an email to their constituents only once a month. This is not even close to enough to keep the student body updated; additionally, there

are no provisions for when the student body has to be notified in an emergency, such as Tommy Daly’s Gianforte non-statement.

My proposal for communications is that each senator shall be required to send an email to its constituents once every two weeks, and a specific email within 72 hours when mandated by the SGA president or public relations. This ensures that the student body is kept updated on all actions of the SGA. To remain connected with the “needs” of the student body, senators are encouraged to fill out “quick-response” surveys: a quick question that they need to ask to only TWO Stevens students. And guess what? Most of them still don’t do it. How are senators supposed to represent the Stevens student body if they can’t even be bothered to know their view on a question? Codify into the senator requirements that participating in the surveys are a requirement. Failure to do so (or send an email in a timely manner) earns a senator a strike.

The above guidelines ensure that each senator remains connected with the student body. But what about internally? The current guidelines are appropriate; however, they need to be more strictly enforced.

Currently, a senator has to be a member of at least one committee (appropriate) but there are no provisions for when a senator doesn’t participate in a committee.

Allow committee heads, with approval from the Vice President of Operations and members of the committee, to impeach dead weight on a committee. If a senator is impeached, that senator receives a strike and is reassigned to another committee.

The other modified internal guideline is attendance. Currently, a senator

continued on thestute.com

by ALEX MURTAGH Sophomore Civil Engineering Major

On Monday, President Trump officially announced his proposal to Congress for an infrastructure plan. As a civil engineer, I was thrilled to hear the news, but I was even happier when I learned the details of the plan.

But before I get into the details, I think it’s important to preface why this plan is so important. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the current rating of US infrastructure is a D+. The grade is decided by gauging infrastructure in certain areas including capacity, condition, funding, future need, operation and maintenance, public safety, resilience, and innovation. As a whole, the United States does not score well. The system chooses grades from A to F, with A being “exceptional, fit for the future” and F being “Failing/Critical.” Our grade of a D+ puts us in between poor and mediocre. For more detail on this, you can visit the ASCE website, and if you really want to make a difference switch your major to civil engineering!

As a student of civil engineering, I can easily say that this plan is a great start. And I’m not the only one who feels that way.

ASCE President Kristina Swallow, Professional Engineer (P.E.), shared the same sentiments in a statement that she put out regarding Trump’s plan.

Civil engineers are finally

beginning to see the potential that the government has to actually do something positive. However, she also highlighted weaknesses like the need to fully fund the Highway Trust Fund.

Without enough funding to maintain our infrastructure, even a major overhaul of all infrastructure would not matter, because it would all fall into disrepair in a very short period of time.

Things are not looking too good and something needs to be done from a government standpoint in order to fix all of the government-owned and operated infrastructure. Right now, the Libertarian in me is screaming that we should get the government completely out of infrastructure, but the more liberal side of me is saying that could get really messy, really fast, before anything gets better. Construction is a long and messy process that may actually hurt the US infrastructure grade because of traffic congestion and public safety.

Now to the actual 55page plan put out by the White House. According to TheHill.com, “The plan is structured around four main goals: generating $1.5 trillion for an infrastructure proposal, streamlining the permitting process down to two years, investing in rural infrastructure projects and advancing workforce training.” This is the exact framework that we need as a nation to get things moving. In Trump’s plan, the federal government is only providing $200 billion of the $1.5 trillion for the project. The rest of the money is set to come from the states as well as privatepublic partnerships. This is excellent from a conservative perspective because it proves that government can be a limited part of this operation and that the private sector really has a huge stake in improving our infrastructure. According to the ASCE, “$3,400 a year [is lost] in disposable income.” This means that by

upgrading our infrastructure, individuals could save thousands of dollars per year. Honestly, who doesn’t want more money in their pocket?

In addition to the funding, there is also a proposal to streamline the approval process by condensing the government agencies that approve all permits. The current process is sequential and redundant, so it takes years longer than is necessary to complete simple tasks. Although this may mean that engineers such as myself will have to put more time into our work as more paperwork come in and out at faster rates, it will be well worth it.

To be honest, I don’t entirely understand the President’s focus on rural infrastructure. I think that this proposal comes with the chance to please Trump’s rural base, but at the same time, there are many rural communities that do not obtain the resources they need. All around the US, there are small towns with the need to modernize their water systems, waste removal systems, and telecommunication systems.

Many towns lack the ability to properly serve people with such basics that we take for granted in densely populated areas like Hoboken.

The final point of Trump’s plan addresses one of the biggest problems that this country faces: vocational workforce training. Unfortunately, vocations like plumbing, heating and air conditioning repair, electrical contractors, and skilled labor have almost become dirty words. As the son of a blue-collar worker, this is really sad to hear. If I didn’t have such a strong interest to pursue civil engineering, there’s a good chance I would have ended up in a blue-collar field, considering they go through fewer years of schooling and can

continued on thestute.com

Scientific Curmudgeon .

Is Science Infinite?

by JOHN HORGAN CAL Professor

Can science keep giving us profound insights into the world forever?

Or will it inevitably bump up against limits? David Deutsch, an iconoclastic British physicist, made the case for boundlessness in his 2011 book The Beginning of Infinity. Deutsch recently told me: “I think

nothing worth understanding will always remain a mystery. And consciousness (qualia, creativity, free will etc.) seems eminently worth understanding.”

At a meeting in Switzerland last month, “The Enigma of Human Consciousness,” philosophers and journalists (including me) chatted about animal consciousness, machine consciousness and related puzzles. One speaker, British physicist Martin Rees, challenged Deutsch’s optimism. Rees reiterated points he made in a recent essay, “Is There a Limit to Scientific Understanding?”

Rees called Beginning of Infinity “provocative and excellent” but disputed Deutsch’s central claim that science is boundless.

Science “will hit the buf-

fers at some point,” Rees warned. He continued: There are two reasons why this might happen.

The optimistic one is that we clean up and codify certain areas (such as atomic physics) to the point that there’s no more to say.

A second, more worrying possibility is that we’ll reach the limits of what our brains can grasp. There might be concepts, crucial to a full understanding of physical reality, that we aren’t aware of, any more than a monkey comprehends Darwinism or meteorology… Efforts to understand very complex systems, such as our own brains, might well be the first to hit such limits. Perhaps complex aggregates of atoms, whether brains or electronic machines, can

never know all there is to know about themselves.

I agree with Rees that the brain and by implication consciousness will probably resist complete understanding. The riddle of consciousness is a microcosm of the riddle of humanity. What are we, really? For most of our history, religion has given us the answer. We are immortal souls, children of a loving god, striving to reach heaven or nirvana.

Modern scientists reject these religious explanations, but they cannot agree on an alternative.

They have proposed a bewildering variety of answers to the question of what we really are. We are clusters of neurons awash in chemicals, genes shaped by natural selection, egos

keeping a lid on ids, software programs, nodes of information in a cosmic web, quantum wave functions.

Science will never converge on a final, objectively true theory of what we are, because we are too protean, too creative, to be captured by a single theory. Science itself keeps transforming us, with technologies like brain implants and gene therapy and paradigms like quantum mechanics and information theory. To be human means to be a work in progress.

Deutsch’s claim that science is infinite also has a contradiction at its core.

He wants science to solve the deepest mysteries, like consciousness, and yet to have more mysteries to

solve, forever. That is a radical claim about the structure of nature, which to my mind reflects wishful thinking rather than hardheaded realism.

Deutsch is both wrong and right in his view of science. He is wrong that science can solve every mystery, and especially consciousness. We will never understand, once and for all, who we are.

But he is right that science is potentially infinite. As long as we remain mysteries to ourselves, our quest for knowledge will persist.

John Horgan directs the Center for Science Writings, which is part of the College of Arts & Letters.

This column is adapted from one originally posted on his Scientific American blog, “Cross-check.”

n

Sports

Friday, February 16, 2018 • Page 12

No. 2 Men’s Volleyball earns hardfought win over No. 8 Juniata

Li’s record-setting performance garners Empire 8 Rookie of the Week honor

ON DECK IN SPORTS

Friday Stevens Sports Information Stevens Sports Information

SSI - Graduate student Gabe Shankweiler and sophomore David Lehman combined for 27 kills as No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology men’s volleyball earned a hard-fought, three-set victory over No. 8 Juniata College Saturday in a non-conference match at Memorial Gymnasium (31-29, 25-19, 25-19).

Senior Thomas Burrell added eight kills and eight blocks for Stevens, who improved to 9-2 on the year. The Ducks have won nine straight matches and are undefeated against Division III opponents.

Quinn Peterson led the Eagles with nine kills and Matt Vasinko added seven kills and a block for Juniata, who fell to 6-7. Juniata has dropped two straight.

Stevens has won the last six meetings between the programs.

Volleys and Points A Shankweiler kill opened the match scoring.

The Ducks added a point on a Peterson attack error to take an early 2-0 lead.

The opening set was a back-and-forth affair, with 12 ties and neither team holding more than a fourpoint advantage. Neither team scored more than four consecutive points.

A sequence that saw Stevens score five out of six points, led to a 19-15 lead. Three Juniata errors helped continue the run.

Juniata countered with its longest run of the set, reeling off four straight points on a pair of Mahlon Bender kills and two Stevens errors.

Stevens reached set point first on a Shankweiler kill.

Three straight points brought Juniata to set point, but Shankweiler pinned down a Jacob Patterson set to again tie the set.

Juniata fought off two additional set points before Burrell and Shankweiler connected for back-to-back kills to close the frame.

Patterson registered the

assist on both points. The opening set was Stevens’ longest set of the season.

The second set saw Juniata open a three-point lead before Stevens rallied with five straight points to grab a 12-10 lead. Lehman and Burrell connected for kills and Burrell teamed with junior Dylan DeBoer to reject a Matt Vasinko attack to spur the run.

The teams would again alternate the next series of points, with a Vasinko kill drawing the teams even at 17.

Consecutive attack errors gave Stevens a 19-17 lead.

The Ducks would add five more points with freshman Jack Bittker at the serve to reach set point. Burrell recorded three blocks during the stretch, partnering with DeBoer for a pair and teaming with Lehman for the other.

Juniata fought off two set points to remain in the frame, but a Vasinko service error gave the Ducks a 2-0 lead in the match.

The final set saw the Eagles score four of the first five points to take a 4-1 lead.

A Cooper Diamond kill briefly halted the Juniara run, but a service error returned the service to Juniata.

A Lehman kill and a Michael Young ball-handling error gave the Ducks a one-point lead, but Juniata remained in the set on a Steve Ask kill.

The teams alternated the next series of points before Stevens took the lead for good on a Lehman kill.

Juniata attempted to rally, drawing to within two points, but the Ducks showed the resolve typically associated with the second-best team in the country and reeled off three straight points to push the score to 23-19. The threepoint streak was punctuated by a double block of a Vasinko attack by DeBoer and Burrell.

A Dave Hibner kill returned the serve to the

hosts, but DeBoer set down a Patterson feed to draw Stevens to match point.

Match Point A double block by Patterson and Burrell closed out the final set.

Inside the Numbers Stevens outhit Juniata over the course of the match, .393-.187.

The Ducks held the edge in blocks (8-3) and aces (3-2).

Of Stevens’ 36 sets, seven have been decided by a score of 25-19.

Shankweiler and Lehman were the only players to reach double figures in kills. Lehman has reached double figures in seven of eight matches this season, while Shankweiler has totaled six.

Juniata handed Stevens 28 points via errors.

Juniata scored first in two of the three sets.

Unsung Hero Junior setter Jacob Patterson handed out a matchhigh 38 assists, helping Stevens to a .393 attack percentage for the match, including a remarkable .545 in the final set. Patterson remains among the national leaders in assists per set.

Coach Speak “We came out battling in a back-and-forth first set, where we struggled getting any blocks, but managed to pull it off.”

“We made some adjustments to our blocking scheme and we stepped up in the next two sets, led by [Thomas Burrell] and [Dylan DeBoer].”

“Offensively, we were led by [David Lehman], who rebounded from a slow start, and great hitting from our middles.”

Up Next The Ducks head to New York City for a match with cross-river rival, No. 6 NYU on Feb, 14.

The game is being played at Hunter College and is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start.

Live stats link is posted to StevensDucks.com.

SSI - Stevens Institute of Technology guard Christina Li was named Empire 8 Conference Women’s Basketball Rookie of the Week Monday. It’s the first career weekly honor for the Anaheim, California native and the second for women’s basketball this season.

“Christina has been a huge part of our team’s success this past week,” commented head coach Megan Haughey. “She is hungry to make our team better and has picked up [her play] on both ends of the floor.”

Li averaged 21.5 points as Stevens topped Alfred and Houghton to climb into third place in the Empire 8. Collectively, the computer science major shot

14-for-27 (52%) from the floor, including a remarkable 9-for-16 (56%) from behind the arc. Against Alfred, Li sank a school record seven three-pointers en route to a career-high 28 points, helping the Ducks break the school mark for three-pointers (15) in a game. Against Houghton, Li recorded her seventh double-digit scoring game of the season with 15 points and added a career-best six rebounds. Li also totaled six assists, three steals and two blocks and went 6-of-7 from the free throw line.

Up Next: The Ducks will play their final two games away from Canavan Arena, beginning with a contest at Elmira College on Feb. 16.

Twice as nice: E8 tabs Burrell as top player for second straight week

2/10 2/10 2/10 2/10 2/10 2/10 2/11 2/11 2/11 2/11

@ Elmira College 6 p.m.

Elmira, NY

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

@ Elmira College 8 p.m.

Elmira, NY

MEN’S SWIMMING

VS Day One TBA Piscataway, NJ

WOMEN’S SWIMMING

VS Day One TBA Piscataway, NJ

Saturday MEN’S TENNIS

@ Lehigh University 10 a.m.

Bethlehem, PA

MEN’S BASEBALL

Stevens Sports Information

SSI - No. 2 Stevens Institute of Technology men’s volleyball senior Thomas Burrell was named Empire 8 Conference Player of the Week Monday for the second week in a row after helping the Ducks sweep No. 8 Juniata College on February 10, to extend the team’s winning streak to nine. Stevens remains a perfect 9-0 against Division III opponents.

It’s the second career weekly honor for the Somerset, New Jersey native and the third Empire 8 weekly honor for the second-ranked Ducks this season.

“Tom has been very consistent so far this season, not only with his outstanding blocking, but with his offensive output as well,”

assistant coach Amable Martinez said. “He has become someone you have to pay attention to as an opposing team. Credit Tom’s work ethic, plus our passers and setter to be able to get him the ball on the offensive side.”

Burrell collected eight kills on 13 attacks with just one error as Stevens topped Juniata for the second time this season. The Somerset, New Jersey native also recorded eight blocks.

Burrell’s second-set attack error snapped a streak of 30 consecutive errorless attacks.

In his final season on Castle Point, Burrell currently tops the nation in attack percentage (0.513) and ranks second in blocks per set (1.438).

Duck Country Scoreboard Date

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Stevens

Opponent/Event

Score

Result

Men's Track & Field Women's Track & Field Women's Basketball Men's Basketball Men's Volleyball Wrestling Men's Fencing Men's Fencing Men's Fencing Men's Fencing

@ Boston Valentine Invitational @ Boston Valentine Invitational VS Houghton College VS Houghton College @ Juaniata College Centennial Conference Championship VS Hunter College VS New Jersey Institute of Technology VS Army VS Yeshiva University

N/A N/A 74-57 88-46 3-0 100 18-9

Complete Complete W W W Complete W L

12-15 17-10 23-4

W W

Stevens Sports Information

@ Kean University 11 a.m.

Union, NJ

MEN’S LACROSSE

VS Arcadia University 1 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

@ Utica College 2 p.m.

Utica, NY

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

@ Utica College 4 p.m.

Utica, NY

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

VS Massachussetts Institute of Technology 4 p.m.

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