June 2005

Kevin Lacey, chair of the Classical and Near Eastern Studies department, was quoted in the June 6 Elmira Star-Gazette, in an article related to the growing number of institutions who offer Arabic language courses, particularly at the community college level.

Lacey noted that given the climate of misunderstanding that surrounds the Middle East, it is long overdue. “It’s high time. Even high schools should start thinking about this. This should have happened a long time ago.”

Binghamton University was mentioned in a June 9 article on Newswise News Service related to the University’s participation in the creation of the world’s first fully online bachelors-degree program in electrical engineering. Funding for development of the program is being provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to the SUNY Office of Learning Environments. The new program was also mentioned in Buffalo’s Business First, the Buffalo News and the June 28 issue of Newsday.

Jessica Fridrich, research professor of systems science and industrial engineering, was mentioned in the June issue of US Fed News, in an article related to her work in steganographic key-breaking, which allows for extraction of hidden data in images. The article notes that working with an algorithm developed by Fridrich, teams from the Information Exploitation Division, Multi-Sensor Branch and the Advanced Computing Technology Branch of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) have reached a major milestone in the research and development of steganographic key-breaking.

Fridrich was also mentioned in the June edition of Wired magazine in an article related to her method of cracking the Rubik’s cube puzzle. Having invented her method during the fad’s height in the 1980’s, Fridrich published the solution on the Web, where it found an enthusiastic audience. Her method has helped many cube enthusiasts solve the puzzle including recent Rubik’s world champions.  

Reinhard Bernbeck, associate professor of anthropology, and Susan Pollock, professor of anthropology, were mentioned in a June 6 Mehr News Agency report on their findings at an excavation site in Iran.  The site, reported to be over 6,000 years old, is one of the most significant ancient areas in the Marvdasht region.

Liz Rosenberg, professor of English, reviewed children’s books for the Boston Globe on June 12. In Danny Tepper’s “Look Who’s Talking! On the Fam,” she noted that the book “is as clever and happy an introduction to the world of farm animals as one might devise.”

In “About fish: A Guide for Children” by Cathryn Sill, Rosenberg noted the book has “meticulous botanical-art-style watercolors one associates with the great wildlife artists. Rosenberg also reviewed  “Everglades Forever” by Trish Marx Lee. Rosenberg notes Marx “places the Everglades is a global ecological perspective.”

David Sloan Wilson, professor of biological sciences, was featured in the June 24 issue of Science & Theology News in a review of a science and religion summer reading list. Wilson suggested two books for students looking to get a ‘jump’ on their fall reading assignment: The Geography of Thought by Richard Nisbell and Not By Genes Alone by Peter Richerson and Robert Boyd.

Wilson’s books Darwin’s Cathedral and Unto Others was also mentioned in the article.

Binghamton University was included is a list of “desirable dorms” in the Spring issue of CollegeBound Teen magazine. A photo of a dorm room in Mountainview College was included in article, which described the community’s suite-style living and noted “eco-friendly people preferred.”

Gerald Sonnenfeld, vice president for research, was quoted in the June 16 issue of PhysOrg.com in an article relating to his bed-rest study, which will help scientist understand changes to the immune response and decreased resistance to infection in space. Sonnenfeld, who is the lead researcher on the project, noted: “In the past, most bed-rest studies for immunity have been carried out on men. It is significant to be part of the international WISE student because scientist and the space community want valid conclusions abut effects on women.”

The bed-rest study news was also carried on News-Medical.Net, SpaceRef.com, myDNA.com, MedicalNewsToday.com, ScienceDaily.com and EurekAlert!

Binghamton University was mentioned in an article about a study that provides a new technique of imaging rock layers under the Himalaya mountain chain. Geophysicists from Binghamton University, University of Colorado at Boulder, and Kathmandu, Nepal, have developed the new technique in the hope that the new detail they are now able to visualize will answer a number of questions about the world’s highest mountain and provide a new tool of assessing earthquake hazards.

News of the study was also reported on SpaceRef.com, Innovations Report, Red Nova, the Hindustan Times and NewKerala.com