As a sociology graduate student at Harvard University, Peter Moskos thought the best way to see the inner workings of a police unit in a high-crime area was to join the force himself. So he did. The result is his first book, “Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District,” which was published this summer to rave reviews. Now an assistant professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Prof. Moskos discusses his year patrolling the area of Baltimore made famous by the hit HBO series “The Wire” and why he is in favor of legalizing drugs. “I prefer to say I want to regulate drugs,” explains Prof. Moskos. “The fact that anybody can go to a corner and buy any drug, is what leads to violence and overdose deaths. We cannot regulate what we prohibit.”
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Professor Tom Angotti's "Beyond Bike Lanes: Retrofitting the 21st Century Metropolis for Bicycles and Pedestrians" investigates ways to make the United States less dependent on automobiles by exploring how other cities have successfully integrated alternative modes of transportation. A professor of urban affairs and planning at Hunter College and an avid bicyclist, Professor Angotti, who spoke at the Governor’s Island Lectures on Sustainability, argued that bicyclists and pedestrians must reclaim their streets.
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Project Manager Laura Sawgert Winkel of The CUNY Sustainability Project explores CUNY’s involvement with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s PlaNYC 2030, a comprehensive, long-term plan to reduce global warming emissions by 30% by the year 2030. In her presentation, part of the Governor’s Island Lectures on Sustainability, Prof. Winkel discusses the overall design of PlaNYC 2030 and the how CUNY has already taken early steps to realize the ultimate goal of a sustainable future.
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In his lecture “New Materials for Renewable Energy Technologies,” part of the Governor’s Island Lectures on Sustainability, Steven Greenbaum, professor of physics at Hunter College, explores different strategies to lower the world’s carbon dioxide output through renewable energy, which cannot occur without developing technologies for mass energy storage. Greenbaum shares details of his own research, including the inexpensive lithium iron phosphate material that he says might ease reliance on expensive materials used in rechargeable batteries. “This is the material that might save us,” he said.
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The ruling Communist Party may have viewed the 29th Beijing Olympic Games as a way to project China as a prosperous and progressive country, but its suppression of protests over Tibet, as well as its reaction to parents whose children perished in the horrific earthquake, reveal just how little has changed, says Prof. Peter Kwong. “I think for the Chinese, there are certain bottom-line issues that they are not willing to give in to,” said Kwong, professor of Asian-American studies at Hunter College. “They try to compensate by building impressive facilities and by organizing an impressive opening ceremony.” A mainland China native, Kwong knows the Chinese government’s tactics firsthand. After the earthquake in May, he was detained and questioned by Chinese authorities while working on a documentary for HBO about the defective school construction in the Sichuan Province.
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Cold coffee drinks have been available for more than a century, but Lehman College sophomore Luke Kelly claims his new beverage “Luke’s Brew” is the first environmentally friendly, unsweetened black coffee that can also be stored for several weeks without spoiling. From the product’s reusable filters to the recyclable Mason jars in which the coffee is sold, Kelly ensures his black coffee is also green. “The brewing process itself does not consume any energy and does not produce any waste,” he says. “This is a product that can revolutionize the coffee industry.”
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William Macaulay Honors College and Queens College graduate Joseph Hirsh has always had a passion for mathematics, including space-based math like geometry and topology. Hirsh, who received a prestigious research fellowship from the National Science Foundation in 2008, also believes that there is a discontinuity in the way children are taught math. “Babies first understand topology, they understand shapes,” says Hirsh. “It seems a little strange (then) that we focus on numerical problems when it may be easier to get students engaged in problems related to geometry.” Hirsh discusses his research interests, education and fellowship, which will provide financial support towards his doctoral studies at the CUNY Graduate Center.
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For some Brooklyn College biology majors, watching an episode of “CSI Miami” was their closest encounter with a crime scene investigation — until Dan Eshel came along. In spring 2008, the biology professor introduced a DNA technology course with up-close forensic science techniques. Working in the laboratory, students analyze DNA samples and then perform scaled-down DNA fingerprinting, said Prof. Eshel, who helped upgrade the lab with a $25,000 in funding he sought from the CUNY Compact. The lab has also been used as a location for longest-running crime series on TV, “Law & Order.”
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For its commitment to race and gender equality in athletics, Queens College was one of fourteen schools honored with the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s (NCAA) Division II Diversity Award. Director of Athletics, Dr. Richard Wettan, says the award is especially important because of the role sports plays in society. “Look at Jackie Robinson’s contribution to baseball… Sport has such a profound impact on the country that his example helped motivate more civil rights in the United States.”
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U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan get one toothbrush for every 15-month tour, according to Dr. Gwen Brown, assistant professor of dental hygiene at New York City College of Technology. Prof. Brown’s military veteran-students are the source of this astounding fact, and, she notes, the American Dental Association recommends toothbrush replacement every three to four months. Last year Prof. Brown and the Student American Dental Hygiene Association City Tech chapter launched the “Send a Soldier a Smile” campaign to collect and distribute oral hygiene supplies to soldiers abroad. “We got an incredible response,” said Brown. “It’s something we want to continue.”
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