Doers. Makers. Innovators. Healers.

Join the Office of Counseling and Wellness to learn everyday strategies to strengthen your confidence and self-esteem!Register (https://cglink.me/2rJ/r380926)

Join Lynn Hart, associate director for employer relations, as she shares the best job and internship leads available through Handshake and Career Shift in a 30 minute virtual session.Register in Handshake (https://nyit.joinhandshake.com/edu/events/1745497)

Please join the Office of Student Life for the 2025 Fall Grizzly Games, held on November 5, a day without classes. Activities include:In New York CityGrizzly Games Bowling (https://cglink.me/2rJ/r380884), from 2 – 4 p.m. at Frames NYC. Enjoy food, fun, and vibes (space is limited).On Long IslandBubble Soccer (https://cglink.me/2rJ/r380081), from 1 – 3 p.m. at President's Field. Watch or play while encased in large, inflatable bubbles, bumping into each other and trying to score goals.Open Gym Badminton (https://cglink.me/2rJ/r380249), from 5 – 7 p.m. in the SAC Gym. Play at your own pace, meet new people, and enjoy the game.Open Gym Volleyball (https://cglink.me/2rJ/r380236), from 7 – 10 p.m. in the SAC Gym. Spike, set, and serve your way into a night of fun and fitness. Please check out the events above and get in the Grizzly Games spirit!

Explore innovative strategies and solutions to advance wellness and reduce burnout within the medical community in this two-and-a-half-day conference, held at the Skytop Lodge in the Poconos Mountains of Pennsylvania. Attendees will engage in thought-provoking discussions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities designed to inspire actionable changes and foster a culture of well-being in healthcare. The event will bring together leaders, practitioners, and innovators to share insights, best practices, and tools to navigate the evolving landscape of healthcare while prioritizing the physical, emotional, and mental health of providers. Stay tuned for further details as we endeavor to drive positive change within the healthcare ecosystem. This program is open to licensed healthcare providers. The conference begins on Wednesday, November 5, at approximately 1 p.m. (ET) and concludes on Friday, November 7, at approximately noon. In addition to lectures and workshops, there will be several wellness activities and entertainment. Guests are welcome to enjoy the lodge's scenic grounds and activities prior to and following the conference.Learn More & Register (https://site.nyit.edu/medicine/nyitcom_wellness_summit_form)View Our Agenda (https://www.canva.com/design/DAGbuUTRalU/V09vuIgkVsmMxor8Auy_Ng/view?utm_content=DAGbuUTRalU&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h7a0118fa24#1) Look forward to lectures such as:Fellows of Wellness: Launching a Successful Healthcare Initiative Michael Moskowitz, D.O. Vice President, Clinical Resilience and Well-Being Catholic Health Doing Good While Doing Well: Understanding Federally Qualified Health Centers Steven Weinman, M.B.A. Principle, FQHC Associates Clinically Actionable AI-Assisted Diagnostics Mila Toma, Ph.D., SMIEEE Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences, NYITCOM Building a Culture of Trust and Safety: Catholic Health's High Reliability Journey Jason Golbin, D.O. Chief Medical Officer, Executive Vice President, Catholic Health From Burnout to Balance: Smarter Workflows for the Modern Clinician Ann Teng, D.O. Chief Wellness Officer and Vice President, United Health Services with Allison Roma, Ph.D., FNP-C The Value of Life Balance in Preventing Burnout and Optimizing Health Cheryl Miller, OTD, OTR/L Vice President, Therapy Operations, Encompass Health Questions? Please email cme@nyit.edu (mailto:cme@nyit.edu) or call 516.686.3730. Speakers See a Full list of Our Speakers. (https://www.canva.com/design/DAGqvEGSbGk/KqNdG5kQrICUcBBPvWoazA/view?utm_content=DAGqvEGSbGk&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h4b14b3d193) Jason Golbin, D.O. Chief Medical Officer and EVP, Catholic Health Jason Golbin is board-certified in multiple specialties including critical care and healthcare quality. He brings extensive clinical and executive expertise to advancing healthcare systems and medical education. Cheryl Miller, OTD Vice President of Therapy Operations, Encompass Health Corporation Cheryl Miller is a distinguished occupational therapist with over 40 years of clinical and leadership experience. She is an executive leader, research, and author. She is dedicated to promoting work-life balance and mentoring emerging leaders in the field. Michael Moskowitz, D.O. Vice President of Clinician Resilience and Well-Being, Catholic Health Michael Moskowitz is a practicing family medicine physician. He also serves as associate chair of the primary care service line, head team physician for Molloy University, and chair of the Contracting and Funds Flow Committee for Catholic Health's ACO. Ann Teng, D.O. Vice President And Chief Wellness Officer, UHS Ann Teng is board-certified in family and occupational medicine. She is a recognized leader in workplace wellness and public health preparedness, guiding system-wide initiatives for employee health and safety. Milan Toma, Ph.D. Associate Professor, NYITCOM Milan Toma is a biomedical engineer whose research focuses on head injury modeling and fluid dynamics in the human body. He leads the "Engineering in Medicine" initiative, promoting innovation through interdisciplinary collaboration between engineering and medical students. Steven Weinman, M.B.A. Principal, FQHC Associates With decades of operational and financial leadership experience, Steven Weinman is a nationally recognized leader in the community health center movement. As principal of FQHC Associates, he provides expert consulting in strategy, governance, IT, and healthcare policy.

Curiosity, Connection, and Creating Value: Learning that Lasts We welcome A. L. Ranen McLanahan, Ph.D., program director and national speaker for the Kern Family Foundation, who will give a keynote address focused on cultivating an "entrepreneurial mindset"—emphasizing curiosity, connecting concepts, and creating value.   Additional breakout sessions will be led by Kern Family Foundation's Team Crescendo and New York Tech faculty, who will further connect these ideas to our teaching practices. Staff members are also invited to the Fall 2025 Faculty Development Day. Because this event falls during the workday, please confirm your attendance with your supervisor before registering.  Classes are canceled on November 5 (except for NYITCOM). Student Engagement and Development will once again be hosting activities for students. An additional day of class has been added on Wednesday, December 10. Please register to attend at your preferred location:New York Registration (https://www.nyit.edu/u/KrWc2P)       Jonesboro Registration (https://www.nyit.edu/u/KrWc2P)       Vancouver Registration (https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=cxNWGqGj7UunwoFBBJGiFHm50SEsjUBOr3uDLMs3IkJUNzFaMUZHVEtBMjNLTzBISzVMVk44UTNGSy4u&route=shorturl) Support Our Students Please remember to bring a non-perishable food donation for the Grizzly Cupboard (https://www.nyit.edu/campus_life/bear_bytes?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=&utm_id=0#cupboard), New York Tech's food and resource pantry, and/or dry-cleaned new or gently used clothing or accessory donations for our new Tech Threads (https://www.nyit.edu/campus_life/tech_threads) professional closet. Items will be collected when you sign in at the event. Everyone who donates will be entered into a special raffle! Location Agendas New York The events in New York will take place on our Long Island campus on Eastern Time (ET). 9 a.m. Registration and Light Breakfast 10 a.m. Opening Remarks 10:15 a.m. Keynote:The Vital Importance of Having Fun While Teaching,A. L. Ranen McLanahan, Program Director and national speaker for the Kern Family Foundation Teaching is a serious business. But it doesn't have to be serious all the time. In fact, when educators bring genuine joy, curiosity, and playfulness into their classrooms, the impact on learning can be transformative. This keynote explores how fun is not a "nice-to-have." It is a powerful driver of engagement, creativity, and deeper meaning. You will discover how small shifts in mindset can reignite your own passion for teaching while inspiring students to develop habits that fuel exploration, challenge assumptions, connect ideas to real-world impact, and deliver meaningful outcomes to others. 11:30 a.m. Break Noon Breakout SessionsJoyful Learning: A Workshop on Curiosity, Agency, and Student Engagement, Sid Gunasekaran, Hans von Ohain Endowed Chair and Associate Professor, University of Dayton Unlock the power of intrinsic motivation and transform your classroom into a vibrant space of discovery and engagement. The Intentional Joy of Learning is designed for educators eager to cultivate deeper student connection and lasting enthusiasm for learning. We will explore the Cube of Joy, a practical framework encompassing key strategies. Discover how to move beyond traditional metrics to truly spark and sustain the joy of learning in every student. The Art of Ambiguity: Increasing Our Comfort with Uncertainty, Reva Johnson, Valparaiso University The Art of Ambiguity: Increasing Our Comfort with Uncertainty equips faculty with research-backed strategies to help engineering students thrive in ambiguous situations rather than freeze when specifications are incomplete or problems lack clear answers. Through practical techniques like improvisational theater exercises, poetry creation, and structured uncertainty exposure, educators learn how to transform their classrooms into spaces where "I don't know yet" becomes the beginning of discovery that builds students' confidence to navigate the open-ended challenges that define real engineering practice. How an Entrepreneurial Mindset Can Enhance Any Course, Khaled Adjerid, Professor of Practice, Tulane University This interactive workshop explores how an Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) can spark curiosity, deepen engagement, and help students become value creators across any discipline. Participants will identify EM principles already present in their field, make them visible to students, and adapt them to their own teaching. Using a proven design framework, you'll collaborate with peers to create discipline-specific strategies and micro-interventions you can implement immediately. Real-world examples from a variety of fields will illustrate how EM can be tailored to diverse learning contexts. Engaging Undergraduate Students in Scholarship and Building Student Research Pipelines, Robert Alexander, Assistant Professor, College of Arts and Sciences Undergraduate scholarship can be transformative, but high-impact research experiences often falter when they rely on ad-hoc opportunities or heroic individual efforts. This session explores how to design sustainable systems for engaging students in meaningful scholarship while also advancing faculty research agendas. Drawing from current scholarship and the structured research training model developed in my lab, we will consider practical approaches that protect faculty time while expanding student opportunity. Reimagining the Pillars of Teaching Scholarship and Service, Alexander Lopez, Associate Professor, School of Health Professions This presentation shares a blueprint of strategies for integrating research, experiential learning, and community engagement into a unified approach that benefits students, addresses the needs of underrepresented populations, and fulfills the core responsibilities of academia. Through practical examples and adaptable methods, participants will explore a flexible framework designed to align scholarly pursuits with real-world impact. The session invites faculty to reimagine how teaching, scholarship, and service can intersect to create learning environments that promote scholarship, are academically rigorous, and socially responsive. Hook, Line, and Thinker: Creating Lessons That Stick, George Salayka, Teaching Assistant Professor, College of Engineering and Computing Sciences His workshop teaches educators how to transform traditional lessons into engaging, entrepreneurially minded learning experiences that help students see the real-world relevance of their subject matter. Participants will learn to create "curiosity hooks" and compelling opening questions that capture attention, while designing assessments that measure both technical skills and value-creation thinking. The approach emphasizes building clear connections between classroom concepts and career success through industry stories and stakeholder perspectives, ultimately helping students recognize themselves as future value creators who can't wait to discover how their studies power the world around them. Strategies for Preparing Successful Grant Proposals, Joanne Donoghue, Director of Clinical Research and Professor, NYITCOM; Amanda Golden, Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences; Jennifer Yanhua Xie, Associate Professor, NYITCOM; John Zweck, Professor, College of Arts and Sciences This session will highlight the benefits of writing grants and obtaining external funding for the development of faculty research programs and scholarship. Topics to be discussed will include the use of AI to streamline the grant search process, agency-specific strategies for aligning your research with funding programs, how to address the call for proposals, how to structure and focus your proposal to garner the attention of grant review panelists and program officers, the benefits of collaborative proposals, and the importance of having faculty colleagues provide constructive feedback on drafts of the proposal. Panelists will share their experiences with NIH, NSF, DoD, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and private foundations. This workshop is equally relevant to prospective grant writers and their mentors. 1 p.m. Lunch and Poster Session Join us for lunch while connecting with colleagues and exploring posters that highlight innovative teaching practices, research projects, and initiatives tied to this year's theme. Jonesboro Events for Jonesboro are Central Time (CT). 11:00 a.m. Opening Remarks 11:15 a.m. Keynote:The Vital Importance of Having Fun While Teaching, A. L. Ranen McLanahan, Program Director and national speaker for the Kern Family Foundation Teaching is a serious business. But it doesn't have to be serious all the time. In fact, when educators bring genuine joy, curiosity, and playfulness into their classrooms, the impact on learning can be transformative. This keynote explores how fun is not a "nice-to-have." It is a powerful driver of engagement, creativity, and deeper meaning. You will discover how small shifts in mindset can reignite your own passion for teaching while inspiring students to develop habits that fuel exploration, challenge assumptions, connect ideas to real-world impact, and deliver meaningful outcomes to others. Vancouver Events for Vancouver are Pacific Time (PT). 9 a.m. Opening Remarks 9:15 a.m. Keynote:The Vital Importance of Having Fun While Teaching, A. L. Ranen McLanahan, Program Director and national speaker for the Kern Family Foundation Teaching is a serious business. But it doesn't have to be serious all the time. In fact, when educators bring genuine joy, curiosity, and playfulness into their classrooms, the impact on learning can be transformative. This keynote explores how fun is not a "nice-to-have." It is a powerful driver of engagement, creativity, and deeper meaning. You will discover how small shifts in mindset can reignite your own passion for teaching while inspiring students to develop habits that fuel exploration, challenge assumptions, connect ideas to real-world impact, and deliver meaningful outcomes to others. 10:30 a.m. Break 10:45 a.m. AI Showcase A dynamic series of short, interactive presentations highlighting how NYIT Vancouver staff and faculty are using AI to enhance productivity, creativity, and impact. Each session will feature a real-world use case, a simple "how-to" workflow, and measurable outcomes. Noon Box lunch and department meetings Keynote Presenter A. L. Ranen McLanahan Program director and national speaker for the Kern Family Foundation. A. L. Ranen McLanahan, Ph.D., program director and national speaker for the Kern Family Foundation, started his career in 1999 working on a floating factory ship in Alaska. After that, he researched computational fluid dynamics and then micro-electro-mechanical systems at Washington State University before serving as faculty for 12 years with the UW-Platteville Engineering Partnership. During that time, McLanahan co-founded a community research and development innovation center, 3DC, to develop intellectual property with students. In subsequent years, his consulting company, Critical Flux LLC, collaborated with industry on research endeavors and professional training. In 2016, McLanahan was invited to give a workshop to the Wisconsin State legislators at the state capitol. Topics from this workshop became his 2019 book, The Science of Solidarity. Throughout his career, McLanahan has earned multiple awards, honors, and nominations for his teaching, outreach, and innovations. Khaled Adjerid Professor of Practice, Tulane University, Tulane KEEN leader Classically trained as a mechanical engineer, Khaled Adjerid, Ph.D., has held industry manufacturing and research and development roles prior to joining the faculty at Tulane. He leverages his academic, industry, and clinical experience in liaising with industry professionals and helping colleagues infuse their courses with practical applications of an entrepreneurial mindset. He is a Tulane KEEN leader, former community catalyst, Team Crescendo member, and coach for the integrating curriculum with entrepreneurial mindset EUFD workshops. Sidaard "Sid" Gunasekaran Hans von Ohain Endowed Chair and Associate Professor at the University of Dayton Sidaard "Sid" Gunasekaran, Ph.D., is the Hans von Ohain Endowed Chair and an associate professor at the University of Dayton, where he directs the Low-Speed Wind Tunnel, Water Tunnel, and Merlin Flight Simulator labs. His research in experimental aerodynamics spans low-Reynolds-number flows, gust interactions, and vortex dynamics, with applications to Advanced Air Mobility. An active leader in KEEN, he embeds the entrepreneurial mindset across courses and contributes widely to Engineering Unleashed, an online community devoted to STEM issues and academia. He received the 2023 KEEN National Rising Star Award. Reva E. Johnson Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering at Valparaiso University. Reva E. Johnson, Ph.D., is an associate professor of mechanical engineering and bioengineering at Valparaiso University. Her research focuses on prosthetics and neural signal processing—developing better interfaces between humans and assistive devices. She teaches courses including dynamics, control theory, bioelectricity, technical writing, and senior design. A National Rising Star award recipient from the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network, Johnson builds strategic partnerships between academia, industry, and healthcare. She also leads nationwide workshops on story-driven learning and serves as associate editor-in-chief of Assistive Technology, an academic journal. Johnson earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University, where she studied prosthesis control and sensorimotor adaptation in the Center for Bionic Medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab. She specializes in connecting science with storytelling to drive transformation, drawing from her background as both engineer and published poet. Robert Alexander Assistant Professor of Psychology and Counseling Robert G. Alexander, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Psychology and Counseling at New York Institute of Technology's New York City campus. He is a cognitive neuroscientist with more than 15 years of vision research experience and earned his Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from Stony Brook University. Before joining New York Tech in 2023, he served as research faculty at SUNY Downstate and co-founded Expertize, Inc., a startup focused on educational tools and oculomotor biomarkers. His research examines eye movement patterns and perceptual expertise in fields such as medical image interpretation, aviation, and human performance, and has been published in leading journals including Nature, Human Behaviour, and The Journal of Neuroscience. At New York Tech, he directs the Human Factors and Neuroscience Lab, mentoring students and advancing work in science communication and educational equity. Joanne Donoghue Director of Clinical Research and Professor at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine Joanne Donoghue, Ph.D., is director of clinical research and professor at the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine. She has authored more than 30 peer-reviewed publications and presented at over 29 national and international conferences. Widely recognized for her pioneering work in esports medicine, she has recently expanded her expertise to the intersection of AI and clinical research, developing practical workflows and training programs that help health professionals use AI tools for literature review, study design, grant matching, and publication. Amanda Golden Associate Professor of English at New York Institute of Technology Amanda Golden is associate professor of English at New York Institute of Technology. She is co-editing The Poems of Sylvia Plath (Faber & Faber, 2026), a new, scholarly edition of Plath's poems, with Karen V. Kukil. This project received support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is also the recipient of research fellowships from the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, the Rose Library at Emory University, and the Lilly Library at Indiana University, as well as a Research Travel Grant from the Modernist Studies Association and a Tuition Scholarship from the Digital Humanities Summer Institute. Golden is the author of Annotating Modernism: Marginalia and Pedagogy from Virginia Woolf to the Confessional Poets (2020), co-editor of The Bloomsbury Handbook to Sylvia Plath (2022) with Anita Helle and Maeve O'Brien, and editor of This Business of Words: Reassessing Anne Sexton (2016). Alexander Lopez Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at New York Institute of Technology Alexander Lopez, J.D., OT/L, is an associate professor of occupational therapy at New York Institute of Technology. A licensed occupational therapist and attorney, he specializes in pediatric therapy, community health promotion, and advocacy. For the past 20 years, he has engaged in community-based programming with underserved populations, providing much-needed services for hundreds of at-risk youth and children with disabilities. He is the founder of Inclusive Sports and Fitness Inc. (ISF), a nonprofit that supports children with performance skill impairments. ISF has become the site of multiple interdisciplinary research initiatives with faculty from across campus. He and his New York Tech partners are currently conducting research that explores novel technological and therapeutic interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder. Since joining New York Tech in 2017, Professor Lopez has been dedicated to advancing rehabilitation science while meeting the needs of the underserved. George M. Salayka Teaching Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York Institute of Technology George M. Salayka, M.S., is a teaching assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science at New York Institute of Technology's Long Island campus. With 15 years of experience in the IT industry and a lifelong connection to New York Tech, he earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science from the university. Since joining the faculty in 2014, Salayka has been dedicated to helping students translate core computer science concepts into marketable skills, emphasizing industry certifications to enhance career prospects. He has been instrumental in integrating platforms such as Red Hat Academy and Google Coursera into the curriculum. Professor Salayka's commitment to education is deeply rooted in his longstanding ties to the New York Tech community. Jennifer Yanhua Xie Associate Professor of Biomedical and Anatomical Sciences, New York Institute of Technology Jennifer Yanhua Xie, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical and anatomical sciences, obtained her doctorate degree from the University of Arizona in 2005 and joined NYITCOM-Arkansas in 2017. Besides teaching neuroanatomy and pharmacology at NYITCOM and Arkansas State, she has been running a vibrant research laboratory that has attracted 79 students from both campuses as well as surrounding areas. Her research is supported by federal grant agencies related to the mechanistic exploration of OMT in mitigating migraine-like pain and development of novel, non-opioid molecules to relieve chronic pain using a variety of rodent pain models. She has extensive experience reviewing research proposals for various NIH and DoD study sections. Xie has brought in over $1 million from external funding agencies since 2020 and has published 55 peer-reviewed journal articles that are significant and highly cited. So far, her work achieved excellent h-index of 30 and i10-index of 40. John Zweck Professor of Mathematics at New York Institute of Technology John Zweck, Ph.D., is a professor of mathematics at New York Institute of Technology. He earned his B.Sc. in mathematical sciences from the University of Adelaide and his Ph.D. in mathematics from Rice University. Before joining New York Tech in 2025, he held faculty positions at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the University of Texas at Dallas, where he introduced small-group active learning in Calculus III and created 3D printed models to enhance geometric visualization. His research in applied and computational mathematics focuses on applications to fiber lasers, plasmas, and optical communications. His research and teaching have been supported by nearly $4 million in funding. Zweck is a highly regarded educator, honored with several teaching awards, including the University of Texas System Regents Outstanding Teaching Award in 2023.