Beyond
The IACS Student Association Logo contest is under way!
The rules are simple! Design a logo for the IACS Student Association and email it to mjavanmard@cs.stonybrook.edu before May 31st. Please make sure to include “IACS Student Association Logo Submission” in your subject line, and your full name in the body of the email. The winner will be chosen by the IACS Student Association committee.
by jscanderson on April 12, 2016
The IACS Student Association soon to receive official club status
By Taylor HaAfter completing just two more steps, the IACS Student Association will become an official club at Stony Brook University. “We’ve been operating as an unofficial club for a while,” said Secretary Joel Anderson. “It feels good – the promise of more funding.”
Although the association has already hosted several engaging events, including its December kickoff dinner at Stony Brook’s local The Bench Bar & Grill, it will be able to present more opportunities for the IACS student community: With official status comes potential funding from the Graduate Student Organization (GSO) and Faculty Student Association (FSA). Potential upcoming events include the following:
- Research Events:
- IACS Student Seminar Series – Students will present their research to fellow IACS peers and faculty.
- Brown-Bag Lunch Sessions – These are informal, friendly gatherings at which students can share their technical experience and knowledge with their IACS peers.
- Professional Development
- Scientific Communication Workshop – Students can hone their communication/presentation skills in this workshop.
- Patents Workshop – At this event an invited speaker will share his or her experiences with transforming an idea into a patentable product. “We think that could be really useful knowledge for our students,” commented Treasurer Tristan Delaney. “There are people who have definitely talked about it and it’s crossed their minds,” President Aimilios Sofianopoulos noted. However, he said that the procedure tends to involve loans and a great deal of paperwork, a workload that potential patentees fear. “Everyone in academia tries to avoid too much paperwork,” Sofianopoulos added. “So I believe this series of seminars will be helpful for people who are afraid of the whole process.”
- Social Events
- Student-Faculty Dinners – The “crown jewel of our events,” as Sofianopoulos described, will take place on April 28 and involve all IACS faculty and students dining in a relaxed environment where they can freely socialize. Sofianopoulos wants to “try to create a small community here because there is still not a sense of community in the IACS.” Different buildings, disciplines and even countries separate IACS members. “I believe this dinner is gonna be a good start,” he predicted.
- Group Outings to NYC – Potential destinations include museums and sporting events.
by jscanderson on April 12, 2016
President Aimilios Sofianopoulos reveals the new club’s goals
“There are many people who do the same research, but we don’t really know each other,” Aimilios Sofianopoulos said. That’s exactly why the Institute for Advanced Computational Science (IACS) Student Association was created.
Headed by Sofianopoulos, a second year PhD student, this new multidisciplinary student club aims to foster connections among Stony Brook University graduate students who are interested in computational science. This mission was partially triggered by the very solitary nature of this scientific field. “Especially in our zones of research, people get to be very isolated from each other,” Sofianopoulos said. “We’re in front of computers all day, working on codes and syncing lines of code.”
At last Thursday night’s first official meeting, the club’s mission was put into play. Over thirty-five new members mingled at The Bench Bar & Grill, a local sports bar, and sparked new friendships over free appetizers and drinks. Many of them, like second-year graduate student Rena Elkin enjoyed the camaraderie but also took advantage of the opportunity to discuss science. “I figured it would be a good way to get to know who else is here, and what they’re working on,” Elkin said.
Besides bringing together graduate students who are interested in computational science, the IACS Student Association plans to take advantage of its promising location: New York. “We have many opportunities that we wouldn’t have in other states,” Sofianopoulos noted. According to the student club president, many big companies, or potential employers, are around New York City and New Jersey. Having graduate students get to know these employers can pave the way for professional connections, scientific collaborations, and industrial feedback.
IACS Student Association President Sofianopoulos is joined by fellow student committee members Treasurer Tristan Delaney, Secretary Joel Anderson, and Vice President Mohammed Mahdi Javanmard. Sofianopoulos largely brainstorms ideas for future events and works on forging connections between the IACS Student Association and similar groups in institutions like Columbia and NYU. Some potential future events include more social gatherings on and off campus, academic/industrial lectures from invited speakers and professional development workshops. “Our next goal is to have an event that describes the whole procedure from zero, from scratch, to a patent – a full patent,” he said. This event would potentially include an SBU lawyer who would explain the entire procedure from a legal standpoint, an SBU professor who is one of the three patent holders for the iPod, and an Apple employee in charge of research and development recruitment.
“We try to combine looking for jobs on the one hand with university academic work on the other hand. This new association is the vehicle for joining hands,” Sofianopoulos concluded.
For more information about the IACS Student Association, or if you would like to join the group, or if you would just like to stay aware of future events and be included on their listserve, send your name, email address and a few words about your level of interest to Secretary Joel Anderson at joel.s.anderson@stonybrook.edu. You can also visit their Facebook page.
by jscanderson on April 12, 2016