PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT

Department of Technology and Society students sat down with department faculty and Career Center Coaches to learn something new, to discover networking opportunities and to discuss internship opportunities. The event was held in the department's seminar room on Wednesday, September 25th. More events like this are scheduled for the spring 2025 semester.

EST 599: Special Projects and Topics (1 credit), Fall 2024

Research Commercialization Bootcamp Start Up Methods “How to Build a Tech Startup”

Interactive hands-on course for graduate students engaged in academic research. The course introduces proven scientific real-world business startup methods. Established research teams, formed before or in class, will be immersed in the NSF I-Corps process for commercialization of academic research. The course teaches the structured methodology for testing assumptions through the “Customer Discover” process utilizing the “Steven Blank” Business Model Canvas established and utilized by the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) I-Corps process.

The course will determine the viability of “Broad Reaching”, “Deep Tech” business opportunities. The course will guide teams to develop hypotheses about the values and benefits of the research/product. These hypotheses will be researched through experimentation and customer discovery of “Target Market” prospective customers. Conclusions will be drawn to prove or disprove these hypotheses. These conclusions will be presented throughout stages of the bootcamp research course.

Mastery of the methodology is a key measure. Teams wanting to continue and move forward with forming companies can receive post-class support. Successful teams may be eligible for cash awards.

Prerequisite: Must be engaged in graduate level academic research

Contact Kevin Moriary at Kevin.Moriary@stonybrook.edu for more information.

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT

iSTEAM, a project focused on increasing inclusivity and diversity in STEM, has been awarded its second year of funding through a SUNY Innovative Instructional Technology Grant (IITG). The PI is Gary Halada (Materials Science) with Co-PIs Lori Scarlatos (Technology & Society) and Shyam Sharma (Writing & Rhetoric). In the first year we ran a pilot workshop for SBU faculty teaching STEM courses. Fifteen instructors participated, revising their syllabi, coursework, assignments and assessment based on a series of four weekly online workshops on non-agonistic (i.e. invitational and feminist) rhetoric and how it can be applied in teaching and course development. Online content developed included recorded discussions with leading experts, a set of carefully curated readings, and participation in a cooperative game developed for the program. In the second year, this first cohort will be invited to help lead activities for a much broader, SUNY-wide version of the iSTEAM program, which will also be expanded to include an additional focus on the impact of non-traditional rhetorical processes on the growing use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in STEM education.

We have created a 3-minute video showing gameplay for the cooperative game, which we call It Takes A Village.

Faculty who are interested in participating in this second round of workshops can sign up by following the link on the attached poster.

EVENTS

A recent session titled "Addressing Food Waste: A State Perspective," featured insightful contributions from Hyein Lee. Here, she shared the findings of the Waste Data and Analysis Center's 2023 sampling results. The focus was to comprehensively comprehend the volume of food waste and compostables within the disposed waste stream, and discern the intricate relationship between food waste and socioeconomic factors in New York State.

Hyein Lee