Anthropology student Hannah Kruse and faculty member Kathleen Blake presented posters at the Paleopathology Association;s 45th annual North American Conference April 9 to 11 in Austin, Texas. Blake presented “Hands-on Instruction to Enhance Learning of Pathology” while the duo shared “A Case Study Comparing Clinical Observations and Skeletal Lesions to Assess a Diagnosis of Gout.”

Students from Oswego’s Computer Science Association and human-computer interaction programs including Raynier Breton, Ashley Lefebvre, EunSeo (Amber) Bang, Heng Hao Pu, Zhushun (Tim) Cai and Olivia Melinski went to Hack Upstate VI in Syracuse on April 14 and 15. Breton’s group came in first runner-up (splitting a $500 prize) in the inventive technological competition for creating a system that allowed students of the same university to sell textbooks from classes to one another. Cai, Lefebvre and Melinski created a web application to send random reminders throughout the day. Bang and some computer science students tried to create a calendar application called “Day In, Day Out” for counseling centers. 

SUNY Oswego human development major Matthew Honeywell was recently honored during the USA Today Phi Theta Kappa All-New York State Academic Awards hosted by SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson. A December 2017 human services graduate of Onondaga Community College, Honeywell earned All-New York Academic Team recognition as a PTK member and achiever from a community college. The 1989 graduate of West Genesee High School and a veteran of the United States Navy is studying at SUNY Oswego's Syracuse campus.

Carolina Ilie, associate professor in physics, gave an invited talk on "Inkjet Printable All Inorganic Perovskite Films with Long Effective Photocarrier Lifetime" at Rochester Institute of Technology on April 4. After the talk, Ilie visited the research labs of SUNY Oswego alumni Julia D'Rozario, Dylan McIntyre and Martin Dann, who all are working on their Ph.Ds at RIT.

Physics professor and chair Shashi Kanbur and 2017 Oswego graduate Daniel Wysocki were co-authors of "Geometry of the Large Magellanic Cloud Using Multi-wavelength Photometry of Classical Cepheids" in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal. Additional co-authors in the international study included Sukanta Deb from Cotton University in India, Chow-Choong Ngeow of National Central University in Taiwan, Harinder P. Singh of the University of Delhi in India and Subhash Kumar of Acharya Narendra Dev College in India.

Political science faculty member Helen Knowles and December 2016 Oswego graduate Kassidy Pekarek presented "A Good Pirate?: The Story of KVOS v. Associated Press (1936)" at the annual meeting of the New England Political Science Association in Portsmouth N.H., on April 21. The paper examines a lawsuit involving pioneering broadcaster (Lafayette) Rogan Jones which “had important consequences for the development of media law,” Knowles said. “Those consequences have not been well documented in the scholarly literature, and what has gone totally unexplored is the story behind that case.” The paper, which features extensive use of primary archival materials and newspaper coverage, also probes “the decision’s relationship (geographical, temporal and institutional) to aspects of the Court’s decision, the following year, in the landmark case of West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937); and the precedential implications of the decision,” Knowles said.

Computer science major Christopher Wells will become the latest Oswego student to take part in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s highly competitive Year Round Internship Program at the California Institute of Technology. This summer, Wells will work on “Planning and Scheduling for NASA's Deep Space Network” with JPL mentor Mark Johnston of the artificial intelligence group. The Deep Space Network consists of three spacecraft communications and tracking centers in California, Spain and Australia, which track NASA and international partner spacecraft that are in paths from high Earth orbit to well beyond the solar system.

Communication studies faculty member Jason Zenor published two articles in law reviews. "Viewpoint Endorsement Equals Viewpoint Neutrality? The Circular Logic of Government Speech Doctrine" in the Capital Law Review examines the government speech doctrine that allows the government to craft its own speech, but in doing so it can discriminate against other viewpoints. The issue arises from the recent case of Walker v. Sons of Confederate Veterans, which allowed the state of Texas to deny displaying the Confederate flag on specialty license plates. Zenor argues the facts could have been reversed and the state still would have won. He noted it is a dangerous doctrine that favors the government using its resources to choose which viewpoints it prefers; thus, a new test should only allow this in solely government platforms, and the administrative agencies should not be involved in political speech. In "Endowed by Their Creator with Certain Unalienable Rights: The Future Rise of Civil Rights for Artificial Intelligence?" in the Savannah Law Review, Zenor ponders how a civil rights movement for AI could develop. The article examines predictions of AI evolution and the ethical concerns that may arise. Zenor suggests that an AI movement would parallel other civil rights movements (corporations and animals) and examines what legal doctrines could support “legal personhood” for artificial intelligence.

In Memoriam

Jay Button, 84, long-time reading education professor and Johnson Hall faculty adviser, who passed away April 21.

 

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