Team members steer their “green” canoe into 11th place at the 2008 National Concrete Canoe Competition in Montreal. Sixty percent of the glass used in the canoe’s concrete mix was recycled from deposits made on NYU-Poly’s campus.
After winning first place at the Metropolitan Regional Concrete Canoe Competition in late August, NYU-Poly’s Student Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) took to the waters of Montreal on June 19 - 21 to compete in the National contest.The team came in 11th place overall, 7th in final product design, and won the Spirit of Competition award for focusing on sustainability and using recycled glass in their concrete mix. Read More
Category Archives: Student Highlights
Students Return from National Concrete Canoe Competition
July 14, 2008 – 10:44 am
Spotlight on Successful Student Leadership: 2008 Student Activities Banquet
May 29, 2008 – 4:36 pm
On May 12, the Student Council and the Awards Committee recognized more than 170 students for exemplifying the leadership, dedication and support that participation in student clubs and organizations instills.
Members of Poly’s 35 student clubs and organizations — from PolyRadio and the Society of Women Engineers to the Polytechnic Reporter and the Society for Human Resource Management — made over 200 nominations for this year’s awards. Read More
Othmer Residence Hall Shows Campus How To Go Green
May 28, 2008 – 8:13 pm
Residence assistants cutback on paper waste by creating this recycle-inspired, paperless bulletin board.Did you know that recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours?
Students living in the Othmer Residence Hall have been learning similar energy-related facts every day this spring since the Office of Residence Life, with support from the Facilities Department, began the pilot green initiative R.E.D.O. (Reduction, Education, Do Research and Outreach).
Daniel Aniello, Director of Residence Life and member of Poly’s Sustainable Practices Committee, created R.E.D.O. as a way “to develop Residence Life into a green community and to use its success as an example of sustainability for the rest of the campus.” Read More
Poly Greets the Chinese Lunar New Year
February 11, 2008 – 4:57 pm
Did you know? Red symbolizes fire, which according to legend can drive away bad luck. From Feb. 4 through Feb. 8, Poly greeted the Chinese Lunar New Year in festive style thanks to the committee members of the Polytechnic University Chinese Undergraduate Student Association (Poly CUSA) and the Chinese Graduate Student and Scholar Association (CSSA).
To celebrate 4706, the year of the rat, Poly CUSA and CSSA decorated areas of the school with red lanterns, streamers and other traditional decorations. They also celebrated with lion dances, live calligraphy and a traditional Chinese painting show. On the last day of the five-day celebration, CUSA and CSSA collected money to send to the Red Cross Society of China. The funds will go towards relief efforts for the severe snow storms that have devastated parts of China over the past few weeks.
Student Profile: Lamia Iftekar, Electrical Engineering ‘09
December 11, 2007 – 12:56 pm
Lamia Iftekar, Electrical Engineering 2009
Lamia Iftekar dreams big. “I want to create a subway system back home in Bangladesh,” says Lamia, a junior electrical engineering student. “I’m fascinated by New York City’s subway system.”
Talking to Lamia about her achievements and her enthusiasm for her various fields of study — she plans on going into control systems, is pursuing a math minor and anticipates another in psychology — it wouldn’t be surprising if she does in fact doing something as big as creating a subway system.
Earlier this year Lamia was part of a group that reestablished Poly’s chapter of the Society for Women Engineers, PolySWE, which she is the secretary of. She participated in the undergraduate research project “Cooperative Layered Wireless Video Multicast” this summer with Professor Y. Wang and Ph.D. student Ozgu Alay. Lamia is also one of three undergraduate members of Poly’s 2007-2008 SRC/SIA IC Design Challenge team and tutors in the math department.
“I knew since I was in the 10th grade when I put together a simple circuit for a burglar alarm that actually worked that I wanted to go into electrical engineering,” says Lamia.
Lamia’s excitement for her chosen discipline has grown even more since coming to Poly. “The possibilities are so vast,” she says. “Electrical engineering is in everything. In control systems especially, there are so many developments that I want to be a part of.”
One of Lamia’s biggest commitments outside of her studies is her involvement with PolySWE. Lamia sees the group as a supportive community for Poly’s female engineering students. It’s also a way to learn concrete career-building skills. On November 16, for example, PolySWE organized a networking night where representatives from six companies came to speak with students in an informal meet and greet setting. The group also holds workshops where students can learn about things like resume and cover letter writing.
Lamia says that PolySWE is one of the more active of the nation’s other university chapters and that the group plans to build a strong tri-state network with local chapters. “We also want to reach out to high school and middle school girls to get them interested in engineering,” notes Lamia.
As she nears her senior year at Poly, Lamia is excited. “All of my fun classes are left to be taken,” she says. What will she do after graduation? Lamia is certain that she’ll pursue a graduate degree. Where, however, isn’t as clear. “My father is in the military,” she explains. “I went to seventeen schools before I was seventeen so I’m not used to planning too far ahead.” While she may not know for sure where she’ll be after graduation, she has learned that “whatever happens is usually for the better.”
In addition to her many school-related activities, Lamia takes Arabic classes every Saturday, is conversant in Hindi and speaks Bengali. She’s an avid reader, enjoys sketching, loves music, and plays the harmonium and the guitar.
Lamia joins her fellow engineering students at PolySWE’s Networking Night.
One of PolySWE’s four general meetings since its rebirth earlier this year.
Discovering America: One Student’s First, Bold Steps
December 11, 2007 – 11:12 am
Chao Wang visits Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for a traditional Thanksgiving weekend.
Many study abroad students need some time to decompress from their eye-opening, often transformative experiences to realize what they’ve learned from their host country. Chao Wang is a little different. He’s only been living in the U.S. for three months, but he’s already able to reflect on the ways his experiences have made him examine issues of American life, happiness, faith and family.
A sophomore electrical engineering student, Chao came to Poly through its 1-2-1 Joint Degree Exchange Program which “aims to encourage academic and cultural exchange” by having students study at their home university for one year, two years at Poly, and then their final year at their home university. Chao’s home university is the South West Jiaotong Unviersity in Chengdu, China.
1-2-1 students are encouraged to participate in activities outside of the classroom to enrich their learning. In November, Chao decided to volunteer at a Sunday breakfast for seniors at New York Methodist Hospital in Park Slope. Chao has volunteered before in China. Naturally, though, this volunteering experience was quite different.
Chao was paired with a woman who came to America in the 1930s. “We talked about daily life, food and music,” says Chao who enjoyed being able to learn about a specific, personal story of America. “It was different from what I learned in China,” he says.
A couple of weeks later, Chao took a bold step in his pursuit of learning about American culture by attending a four-day trip to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving organized for international students like Chao.
In nearly every way, the world that Chao visited for those four days was diametrically different from his world back home. His host family are active Christians who speak of their faith openly; Chao comes from a traditionally atheist culture. The children, parents and grandparents of the host family play board games and joke around with each other; in China, children are “in awe” of their elders, speaking little to them let alone goofing around with them.
Chao was “very impressed” by his host family and how their approach to life “makes them happy.” In a letter to his host family, he wrote:
I think your happy life must have something to do with your faith. I could not understand your religious faith before…I thought religious faith is a way to avoid exploring the true meaning of life. I thought people with religious faith lived blindly, throwing everything about meaning of life to their God.
…
I always tell myself that I am happy enough because I have food and water, I don’t have disease, and I even can study abroad…My idea is influenced by the traditional Chinese culture very much. The leaders in Confucianism said that people should take the social responsibility before others take it and enjoy happiness after others have happiness.
From Chao’s letter and in speaking with him, it’s clear that he has been changed by his recent experiences. It’s also clear that he is on a journey of discovery, one that has just begun.
Chao’s makes his first gingerbread house with his host family.
Chao and his fellow study abroad students on their four-day trip.
Chao dives into the experience of fall in Pennsylvania.
New Chinese Undergrad Club Goes to D.C. and Philly
December 10, 2007 – 10:40 am
CUSA members visiting the White House.
Poly’s newly-founded Chinese Undergraduate Student Association (CUSA) organized a two-day trip over Thanksgiving to Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. More than twenty students participated in the trip which included visits to famous monuments and museums. Stops included the Liberty Bell, Lincoln and Jefferson monuments, the White House, the Capitol building and the National Art Gallery.
From a CUSA member: “For many of us it was an eye-opening experience in many ways. We were able to experience other major cities and the foundations of United States History. Most importantly we realized the greatness (tastiness) of the Manhattan Chinatown in comparison to the Washington, D.C. Chinatown.”
CUSA members visiting the Capitol building.
Musky in 2017, a Poem
November 28, 2007 – 5:35 pm
The below piece is the result of an assignment asking writers to interview a classmate and then write an essay about meeting that person ten years from today. This piece arrived in the form of a poem. What’s extraordinary about the work is that it comes out of our EN 1080 class, where I prepare students from other countries for freshman English by getting their prose into the American form. (Otherwise known as ESL.)
-Allan Goldstein, Instructor of English, ESL
Musky in 2017 by Li Liu, Freshman, Computer Engineering
I remember, I remember,
The classroom we first met 10 years ago.
The little windows the sun
Came peeping in at noon.
You’d never been late for class,
Nor paid less attention to the class than any one else.
But I knew you always had a dream
And lived with courage and confidence till today
I remember, I remember
Your dress red and white
The melody you sang to the piano you played
The landscape-your favorite in Japan
The amazing windows you longed after
And the smile made of light you own
But I notice that you are different today
You have found your ever-love, your world, your value and yourelf
You have gone through your desert, your darkness and your bitter tears
You are a woman instead of a girl
You have the experience which just belongs to you
You always kept yourself strong during those 10 years
Life taught you lessons, you told life stories back
You have learned a lot from life
And I can learn a lot from you
You have changed
Your dress, your hair style, your movement, and your words
But all these changes just imply that you now have a deeper inside
And you are influencing the people and world around you with your power
You are getting changed, and making the world change
Maybe it’s the power of Polythinking
We are all rowing the boat of fate
The waves keep on coming and we can’t escape
Only the ones who stick to their belief and faith can be the winners at last
You are one of them
Everything you told me
Maybe you are not perfect, but you certainly are whole.