Four years after the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the nation’s ports, rails and airports remain highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks, according to Dr. Joseph King, a former anti-terrorism chief for the Customs Service who now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In the premier of “City Safe,” CUNY Radio’s new series on security and terrorism, Prof. King argues that the agency has also failed to support New York City, the site of two terrorist attacks and perhaps the nation’s top target for terrorists. Professor King also discusses a recent study by the New York Police department on homegrown terrorism and how Muslims in the U.S. become radicalized.
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Last Piece of the Puzzle
On his next expedition to Antarctic, funded in part by the National Science Foundation, Stephen Pekar, assistant professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Queens College, hopes to solve “the last piece of the global (warming) puzzle.” In his presentation, entitled “CUNY Marches with the Penguins: Expeditions to Discover Antarctica’s Icy (and Warm) Past,” part of the Governor’s Island lecture series, Professor Pekar shares findings from his own research, including geologic samples taken from the continent’s ice shelves, and foresees the dangers in store if temperatures continue to rise.
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While Hurricanes make national headlines, nor’easters are the biggest threat to New York City, according to Frank Buonaiuto, associate professor of geography at Hunter College. In a lecture entitled “New York Meets Nor’easters: Are Our Coasts Prepared?,” Prof. Buonaiuto says nor’easters wreak havoc by eroding shorelines, causing intense blizzards and flooding the New York metro area every year. This lecture was prepared in collaboration with his Hunter colleague Prof. Haydee Salmun.
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Hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean primarily affect the Caribbean and Southeastern United States. But as renowned hurricane expert Dr. Nicholas Coch points out, New York City is the only major American city that has been hit with a major hurricane three times. A longtime professor of earth and environmental sciences at Queens College, Dr. Coch presents hard, if surprising, facts about hurricanes and their impact on the New York region.
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Biologist Ray Gavin and his research team recently reported findings that shatter the theory that no direct pathway exists between materials outside a cell and the cell nucleus. In this lecture, the Brooklyn College scientist discusses the team’s findings, which were published in the scientific journal “Cell Motility and The Cytoskeleton” in August. The National Science Foundation referred to his finding as “an amazing and potentially paradigm-changing observation.”
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Dr. Nicholas Coch, professor of earth and environmental sciences at Queens College, earned the nickname “Dr. Doom” in the media a decade ago with his persistent warnings about New York City’s vulnerability to hurricanes. “But now that we understand a lot more [about hurricane predictions] they’re not calling me Dr. Doom anymore. In fact, they’re calling me quite often,” said Dr. Coch. Nationally recognized geologist and longtime professor of earth and environmental sciences, Dr. Coch discusses New York’s stormy history and offers a glimmer of hope.
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Energy engineer and creator of the Building Performance Lab for the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS), Michael Bobker, poses an interesting question in his lecture, “The Open Window: Getting to Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings.” With all of the new energy efficient windows installed in New York City’s apartment buildings “how many of them stay open in the winter?” Professor Bobker argues that if a building is overheated, people tend to open a window rather than turn down the heat and with over 950,000 buildings, that’s a ton of energy. Energy efficient (EE) products, such as air cooling and heating systems, only work when consumers use them and understand how to integrate them effectively and with new EE technology being introduced to the market, people can save more on energy costs than ever before.
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New York City must look to solar power to help solve its ongoing energy needs, says Tria Case, executive director of the CUNY Center for Sustainable Energy at Bronx Community College. In her lecture entitled “New York City’s Renewable Energy Future,” Case cites rising gas prices, pollution levels, dependence on imported fuels, as well as an ever increasing need for more energy, as the reason. Case is among the optimists who predict that, with government support, solar energy could generate about 20% of the city’s total energy use and help reduce dependence on carbon fuels, stabilize energy prices, improve the environment and even lower the occurrence of blackouts, possibly eliminating them altogether.
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In part 1 of 3 of “The 30th Anniversary of the Arrest of the Son of Sam,” a symposium at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Mayor Edward I. Koch, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Jonathan Mahler, author of “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Bronx Is Burning” (now a mini-series on ESPN) recall the events and emotions that gripped the city during the “Summer of Sam.” In 1977, serial killer David Berkowitz, armed with a .44-caliber revolver, randomly shot six people and held the entire city hostage during his eleven month-long rampage. Also that July, New Yorkers were forced to endure a Con Edison blackout, in 100 degree heat, that led to the largest mass arrest (over 3000) in the city’s history. Sam Roberts of the New York Times is the moderator.
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In part 2 of 3 of “The 30th Anniversary of the Arrest of the Son of Sam,” a symposium at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Luis Schelesinger, professor of forensic psychology at John Jay, discusses, in chilling detail, the pathology of serial killers in general, and David Berkowitz in particular. Other panelists include Mary Ellen O’Tool, supervisory special agent and criminal profiler for the F.B.I. (the unit made famous in the film “The Silence of the Lamb”) who collaborated on the Zodiac case in San Francisco, and Scott Weinberger, the chief investigative reporter for WCBS Channel 2 News, who landed an exclusive interview with Berkowitz at the Sullivan Correctional prison this past May. Sean Gardiner, a crime reporter for the Village Voice is the moderator.
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