Innovation How Ideas, Experimentation, and Creative Breakthroughs at UB Point Us in New Directions
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U B KNIGHTLINES SPRING 2012 A PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRIDGEPORT SPRING 2012 Innovation How ideas, experimentation, and creative breakthroughs at UB point us in new directions ALSO INSIDE The Populist Supercomputer • Furniture to Save the World • Shopping for Sony 1 U B KNIGHTLINES SPRING 2012 President’s Line Commencement is a time of celebration, the final step our students take as they enter the global marketplace. But in today’s worrisome economic and contentious political climates many are asking that we reassess the value of higher education. As this issue of Knightlines abundantly shows, a University of Bridgeport education—drawn not only from the classroom, lab, gym, and studio but also from student and faculty conversations in the Hub—builds upon core values that give purpose to everything we do. In this issue, we draw attention to student and faculty innovation, perhaps the most exciting proof of UB’s success in educating for the future and evidence of the spirit that is essential to facing these uncertain times. Parents and politicians, faculty, staff, and university administrators—and students themselves— all know that the current job market is immensely challenging, and it appears likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. All of us would like to “create jobs” and “ensure a better tomorrow,” but rhetoric alone will not bring success. We must prepare students to see opportunities where others see problems and threats. Our graduates must possess skills of analysis, persuasion, community building, and collaboration. We have to prepare them to seek solutions, to craft novel methods of doing business, to raise standards of education and healing the sick, to envision new products and design them for usability and beauty, and to create institutions that can sustain healthy civic life for future generations. Taken together, the University’s schools, colleges, and institutes are endowing students with this palette of skills. In brief, this is the spirit and practice of innovation. Neil Albert Salonen With the current pace of change, some estimates hold that over the next 20 years—half the expected career-life of our graduates—half of the jobs they will hold do not yet exist. More than ever, our students must be ready to invent the future; they are required to be flexible, resilient, and adaptive. The narrow, careerist training of the past will not work in the future—nor will pie-in-the-sky theorizing. At UB, we bring the time-honored liberal arts into dialogue with career-oriented and globally enriched major programs. A commitment to innovation opens vistas of cooperation that connect UB to partner universities in China, India, and around the world. Students from New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut learn to appreciate the perspectives of students from Sweden, Brazil, Nepal, and Saudi Arabia. Differences matter, and at times they present challenges. But we overcome our differences at UB by working and learning together, striving to solve problems and see solutions. We have all witnessed UB’s special sense of the possible: whether it’s Muslim, Christian, and Jewish students working together, a group of African-American and European students discussing a divisive issue, or a diverse group of athletes claiming a trophy or award they have won as a team. Education is expensive in time, effort, and money. A college education may be the greatest investment a family or individual makes. Very robust research shows, however, that even a single year of higher education dramatically increases an individual’s lifetime earnings, far exceeding the cost of their education. With each successive year of education, earning power increases over the entire lifetime. And this is only measuring education’s value monetarily. Add to this the student’s lifelong friends, the global network, the enrichment of body and soul, and the professor-student interactions afforded by a UB education, and the value becomes greater than our capacity to measure. In the northeast, and in the State of Connecticut in particular, the public purse funds only a small fraction of the cost of private education, dramatically less than what is spent in the public sector. Yet private, independent institutions bring more out-of-state students to Connecticut and award more degrees to minority and underserved populations, and more graduate degrees. Higher education enriches the local economy, produces workers with skills and knowledge, and collectively represents the state’s third- largest employer. As the University’s president, I believe, as I am sure you do, in the value of private education, and in particular what we offer at the University of Bridgeport. I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Knightlines, and I would very much enjoy learning about your accomplishments. Send me a note about how UB helped you get your start, and let’s find a way to continue collaborating to build UB’s present and future. Neil Albert Salonen President 2 U B KNIGHTLINES SPRING 2012 Knightlines A PUBLICATION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BRIDGEPORT SPRING 2012 President Contents Neil Albert Salonen Characters Sorted by Forms ᎠᎡᏒᏰᏴᏋ ᎵᏢᎮ ᎢᎬᎰᎱᎻᏃᏆᏦ Ꮏ ᎣᎹᎼᏱ Features Vice President for University Relations Mary-Jane Foster ᏑᏜ ᎤᎺᎾᏅᏫ ᎥᎨᏐ ᎦᏕᏚ ᎧᏇᏊᏍᏯ ᎪᎯᏁ 4 The Innovators ᎳᏔᏉᏙᏤᎩᎽᎷ ᎫᏓᏗᏘᏝᏞ ᎸᏄ ᎭᏎ ᎲᏪᏬᏭ Neogrotesk Thin Cherokee Thin Neogrotesk Editor ᎴᏈᏛᏡ ᎶᏀᏩᏳ ᏣᏟᏨ ᏂᏏᏖᏮᏧᏲᏥ ᏌᏠ Faculty and students are harnessing their Leslie Geary DBP R SU CGOQ AVW YXZ KNM LTHEF IJ skills and pushing the bounds of creativity to Sports Editor break past the ordinary and make innovative Chuck Sadowski contributions in fields from nanotechnology ᎠᎡᏒᏰᏴᏋ ᎵᏢᎮ ᎢᎬᎰᎱᎻᏃᏆᏦ Ꮏ ᎣᎹᎼᏱ ᏑᏜ to publishing. Contributing Editor ᎤᎺᎾᏅᏫ ᎥᎨᏐ ᎦᏕᏚ ᎧᏇᏊᏍᏯ ᎪᎯᏁ Rebecca Salonen ᎳᏔᏉᏙᏤᎩᎽᎷ ᎫᏓᏗᏘᏝᏞ ᎸᏄ ᎭᏎ ᎲᏪᏬᏭ 4Cherokee Black Neogrotesk 14 A New Prescription for Health ᎴᏈᏛᏡ ᎶᏀᏩᏳ ᏣᏟᏨ ᏂᏏᏖᏮᏧᏲᏥ ᏌᏠ Production Director The University and New York Times-bestselling Larry Orman DBP R SU CGOQ AVW YXZ KNM LTHEF IJ author Peter J. D’Adamo launch the Center Staff Photographer ᎠᎡᏒᏰᏴᏋ ᎵᏢᎮ ᎢᎬᎰᎱᎻᏃᏆᏦ Ꮏ ᎣᎹᎼᏱ for Excellence in Generative Medicine to Kazuhiro Shoji ᏑᏜ ᎤᎺᎾᏅᏫ ᎥᎨᏐ ᎦᏕᏚ ᎧᏇᏊᏍᏯ ᎪᎯᏁ unlock mysteries behind health and human Designers ᎳᏔᏉᏙᏤᎩᎽᎷ ᎫᏓᏗᏘᏝᏞ ᎸᏄ ᎭᏎ ᎲᏪᏬᏭ genotypes. Scott Greenlee and Price Carter Cherokee Chancery Munch ᎴᏈᏛᏡ ᎶᏀᏩᏳ ᏣᏟᏨ ᏂᏏᏖᏮᏧᏲᏥ ᏌᏠ Creative Partners grotesk / munchfonts / [email protected] 16 Opening Their Eyes DBP R SU CGOQ AVW YXZ KNM LTHEF IJ A visit from Guide Dogs for the Blind Please send address changes and Letters Preliminary Cherokee extensions to Munch Chancery and Neo to the Editor to: Knightlines, Cortright Hall, reveals the wonders of pet therapy in and 219 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06604 or out of the classroom. by e-mail to [email protected]. Please include your full name, UB class year (if applicable), and contact information. 18 All In The Band For additional assistance, (203) 576-4625. Talented student musicians and others from Knightlines is published three times UB have been performing in Bridgeport’s public a year for University of Bridgeport spaces to the delight of audiences and local alumni and friends by the Office of movers-and-shakers who hope to elevate the University Relations. city’s standing as a cultural destination du jour. Cover illustration by Toby Michaels ’57, ’78, 14 Abundance in the Void #2 News Lines 16 22 Engineering a Dream 23 Bon Appétit! 24 Star Catchers 25 Best Design 25 Smart Shopping Departments 2 Pipelines 26 Faculty Lines 28 Focus On 29 Alumni Lines 32 Side Lines 18 36 Book Lines 37 Closing Thought 1 U B KNIGHTLINES SPRING 2012 Pipelines Editor’s Note Fond Memories Dear Editor, After editing this issue of Knightlines I’ve reached the conclusion Hello from Jacksonville, Florida. I’m an August that innovation is creativity’s triumph over the ordinary. 1963 graduate of UB, with a Bachelor of And at UB, innovation abounds more than ever before. Science in Accounting. So I don’t know if I’m in the class of ’63 or ’64. In any case, Just a few weeks ago, the University hosted its annual Faculty I did graduate. Research Day, showcasing nearly 100 breathtaking research ven- I entered the University in September 1961, tures. Our professors and students are working on projects for NASA, after serving in the U.S. Army at the start of the Architecture for Humanity, Sony, and the Cherokee Nation, among Vietnam War. UB accepted me as a third-year others. We’ve just launched Innovators, a new lecture series that student after my graduation from Westchester features leaders in science and business, including alumnus Royce Community College in June 1959. I am a CPA and a professor of accounting Friedman ’46, who is featured in “Focus On” on page 28. And in at DeVry University and Jones College in early March, more than 100 guests filled The Gallery at the Arnold Jacksonville. Most of my career was spent as a Bernhard Center for the opening of our first annual Alumni Art CPA, and upon retirement I went into college Show, a stunningly gorgeous exhibition of diverse creative talent. I’m teaching. delighted that one of the paintings in the show, Abundance in the My memories of the University are fond. Void #2 by Toby Michaels ’57, ’78, graces the cover of this issue. I was a little older than my classmates, 23, so I mainly spent my time studying. I was When Knightlines was redesigned in the summer of 2009, president of the accounting fraternity in my I hoped it would reflect the innovative energy on campus and the senior year. accomplishments of UB’s inspiring alumni by giving readers a place I’m married and have four children and to submit letters, make suggestions, send in their art and treasured nine grandchildren.