Alexa Henehan and Mark Worrell at SUNY Maritime in the Bronx.
Alexa Henehan of Victor, an environmental science major, was among 57 students from across the State University of New York selected to give an oral presentation at the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference on April 14.
Alexa, a 2022 Victor High School graduate, was one of five community college students who gave oral presentations at the event at SUNY Maritime in the Bronx. She spoke on “The Effects of Glacier and Sea Ice Loss on Arctic Communities.”
Kellie Gauvin, FLCC professor of biology, works with two participants on a DNA activity at a past STEAM summer camp at the Geneva Campus Center.
Registration is now open for Finger Lakes Community College summer day camps for students who will enter grades 7 through 9 in the fall.
The lineup includes camps at the college’s campus centers in Newark and Victor, as well as a new camp at the FLCC Muller Field Station at the south end of Honeoye Lake.
The full-day STEAM camps provide activities in science, technology, engineering, art, and math with themes for each location. Camps run from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. for five days. The cost for each week is $200 and includes snacks and a T-shirt; students should bring their own lunches. Students may enroll in more than one camp. The schedule is as follows:
July 10-14, STEAM in Motion, Victor Campus Center, 200 Victor Heights Parkway, off Route 251.
July 17-21, STEAM in Our Community, Geneva Campus Center, 63 Pulteney St.
July 24-28, STEAM in Space, Newark Campus Center, 1100 Technology Parkway, off Route 88.
July 31-Aug. 4, STEAM in Nature, Muller Field Station 6455 County Road 36, Canadice
The registration deadline is June 23, at flcc.edu/STEAM. Registration is limited to 15 students per camp. A limited number of need-based scholarships are available. Email questions about the camps to steam.camp@flcc.edu.
The Finger Lakes Community College Foundation is accepting applications for scholarships for current and incoming students for the 2023-24 academic year.
The Foundation awarded more than 170 students a total of $176,000 in scholarships funded by local families, businesses, and organizations for the current academic year.
The Foundation manages more than 100 scholarship funds. Eligibility requirements vary and include criteria such as academic program, veteran status, first-generation college student, hometown location, demonstration of financial need, and successful essay completion. There is one application for all scholarships which filters and qualifies students based on their answers.
Scholarship awards range from $250 to one year of tuition, currently $5,112. One award is larger: the Farash First in Family scholarship covers full tuition, fees, residence hall lodging, and books to one student per year. This special scholarship requires a student to live in Ontario or Monroe counties, be a first-generation college student, demonstrate financial need, and respond to essay questions.
All incoming students should fill out the scholarship application by April 30 to determine eligibility. Students who apply to FLCC by March 1 and submit a high school transcript will also be considered for an early admissions scholarship.
The application is available atflcc.edu/scholarships and closes on April 30. To apply, students must have completed the FLCC admissions application and received an FLCC email address. Students will be notified during the summer if they have been selected to receive a scholarship.
Christine Parker, associate professor of biology, leads a class in the holography lab on the main campus. Photo by Rikki Van Camp
Christine Parker, associate professor of biology, discussed her use of mixed reality to teach anatomy and physiology on Finger Lakes News Radio on Nov. 22 with host Paul Szmal.
Mixed reality is the use of headsets to superimpose an image onto someone’s field of view. Students in Parker’s classes can see and hear the room and those around them. They also see holograms of the body or individual organs in a foundational class for nursing, kinesiology and other classes.
The professor explained how she learned about the technology developed by Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic and piloted its use locally. FLCC is the only community college in the country working with Case Western Reserve University on the technology. Listen to the interview below.
Two representatives of Finger Lakes Community College will present their research on the cultivation of mushroom sugars this week at an international conference in Spain.
Professor James Hewlett
James Hewlett, professor of biology, and Jessica Halliley, an instructional specialist, were invited to share their work at the 8th International Conference on Bio-based and Biodegradable Polymers, or BIOPOL 2022, in Alicante, Spain, which runs from Nov. 14-16.
Hewlett and Halliley have been working with students since early 2021 on a research and development project for a Henrietta-based company, Empire Medicinals, which grows gourmet mushrooms under the brand Leep Foods.
John Foust, chair of the environmental conservation and horticulture department, talks to visitors at a previous open house. Photo by Rikki Van Camp
About 40 professors typically take part in open houses at FLCC so prospective students can meet the people who will teach them, and in some cases, become their advisor.
What percentage of courses in a program are offered online, face-to-face, or only in one modality or another?
How much time – per day – should be reserved for homework and coursework?
What kind of everyday work does the program require? Reading, essays, lectures, presentations, workbooks, productions, field journals?
Richard Walsh, who coordinates the sports studies program, speaks to a prospective student and parent. Photo by Rikki Van Camp
Richard Walsh, assistant professor of business and coordinator of the sports studies program, suggests students think about end goals.
“Go to every table. Ask what job skills are needed. Ask how many graduates have job offers before they graduate, or shortly after graduating.”
Another question he recommends: “Are there additional courses they could add to a program to boost hiring chances?”
Find out if a program requires an internship and whether a program or class offers opportunities for on-the-job experiences early in their studies.
With so many faculty in one area, he recommends finding out what their expectations might be. “What goals do you, as the instructor, have for this class? What’s your idea of being a successful student in your class?”
John Foust, chair of the environmental conservation and horticulture department, encourages students to share a little about themselves so faculty can provide the most relevant advice. Do they plan to transfer? Are they transferring credits into FLCC? Do they have military service?
“I would suggest that students visit all the tables and keep an open mind. My advice would be to find something that makes sense to them as a vocation but also find something they’re truly passionate about,” he said, adding a few questions he recommends:
What is it like to be working as a professional in the field?
Christine Parker, associate professor of biology, leads a class in the holography lab on the main campus. Photo by Rikki Van Camp
FLCC uses both virtual reality and mixed reality in educational programming. The technologies are similar with a few key differences.
Mixedreality
In 2018, the College began using three-dimensional holography to enhance the teaching of human anatomy and physiology, a required class for several programs: nursing, kinesiology and human performance, health care studies, physical education and exercise science, and nutrition and dietetics.
Under the guidance of Christine Parker, associate professor in biology, students wear Microsoft HoloLens visors in labs. The headset uses the HoloAnatomy Software Suite developed by Case Western Reserve University in conjunction with the Cleveland Clinic. This software enables students to view highly detailed, three-dimensional images of human organs individually and as part of body systems.
Holograms give the viewer a three-dimensional image while allowing them to see the rest of the room.
The university’s software allows the HoloLens to project a holographic image that everyone wearing the visors – students and their instructor – can see. The instructor can rotate the image, zoom in on a particular section or zoom out to show the class how structures function and interconnect.
In the labs, students work collaboratively in groups and view the same holographic image. Christine moves about the room, joining each group and pointing out features. Students can still see each other and the rest of the room behind the image.
They cannot manipulate the image though they can walk closer to it and even poke their heads inside to get an internal view of a particular structure. This is helpful, for example, to understand how the flow of blood proceeds through the human heart and then out to the general circulation. This three-dimensional approach helps students visualize key physical relationships between body structures.Continue reading “Mixed reality vs. virtual reality: What’s the difference?”
Justin Castronovo ’19, shown at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) shipyard in Philadelphia, works on the Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense system.
Naval personnel operating ballistic missile defenses need to know the status of those systems at a glance.
That means someone has to figure out how to collect, aggregate and present a range of data in an easy-to-understand visual format on a computer monitor or touch screen.
Such readouts are called human-machine interfaces, or HMIs. For Justin Castronovo ’19, building them is his dream job.
Justin is a graduate of the instrumentation and control technologies program, now known by a more straightforward name: smart systems technologies. He is a civilian contractor at the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) in Philadelphia where he works on the Aegis Ashore land-based missile defense system.
“The human can’t just go to the chilled water system and get all the data from it,” he explained of the complex machinery. “There has to be some in-between way to get all that data in a reasonable format for a human to look at quickly and say, ‘Hey we’ve got a high-pressure alarm at the chilled water system.’”Continue reading “Cal-Mum grad finds dream job in HMI development”
Adam Keuer ’13 is the assistant IT director at the Mozaic human service agency in Waterloo and a 2013 graduate of the networking and security associate degree program, now called networking and cybersecurity. Photo by Jan Regan
As assistant IT director for Mozaic in Waterloo, Adam Keuer ’13 enjoys designing the computer networks that help his colleagues at the human service agency get their work done.
“I have always been a very logical thinker,” he said, referring to the tasks involved in getting computers to talk to each other efficiently and securely. “It feels like home for me.”
Home took a while to find. Adam logged a years-long trek through three majors at two other colleges and a detour into retail management before finding his way to FLCC’s networking and security program.
Jeff Dugan, assistant director of online learning, sat down with retiring humanities professor Christopher Parker to talk about his transition from only teaching in person to becoming a leader of online education. “Teaching online was like the last thing I ever thought I was going to do,” Christopher began. “I don’t know how it happened that I went from being absolutely against it in every imaginable way to now doing it only online … Now that I look back on it, it was a very obvious transition for me.” Click the image above to watch the full fascinating discussion.
