The Polytechnic Reporter

THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
The Voice of the Student Body of the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering
Job Outlook for ‘15 Grads
Looks Pretty Good Right Now
Monday, March 2, 2015
Many companies to offer internships as well as full-time positions
BY AYLA DECAVALLAS
Job seekers in huge numbers thronged the Engineering and Technology Career Fair at the School of Engineering last month.
Job prospects are
promising this year for students looking for internships
or full-time positions. This
conclusion was reached based
on interviews this newspaper
conducted at the recent Engineering and Technology
Career Fair. The event took
place at the School of Engineering on Thursday, Feb. 12.
The fair gave students the opportunity to meet with more
than 126 employers looking
to fill full-time, part-time, coop, and internship positions
in the fields of engineering,
computer science, business,
management, and digital
media. Our reporters interviewed representatives from
the following companies and
here’s what they learned:
• Alliance Bernstein,
Students Prod Albany
To Fund Programs
BY MISHAH JAHANGIR
Every year a delegation of students and staff
members from New York
University travels to the state
capital to meet with members
of the legislature and discuss
the importance of the higher
education funding programs
they support and what a major difference they have made
in students' lives. On Feb.10,
students from different programs, such as HEOP, STEP,
and C-STEP, gathered at the
New York State Plaza and discussed the importance of a
continuing state investment in
higher education.
Kyle Harris, a representative from the Higher
Education Service Corp., was
present at the event, giving out
information to students about
higher education. “We aim to
provide information to everyone who wants to pursue higher education, and especially to
parents who want to go back
to college.” The organization,
runs the TAP, and STEM programs, and along with many
other federal agencies, comes
to Albany every year to educate
the public about the available
services and opportunities.
One of the offices that
the students visited was that
of Assemblywoman Nily Rozic, an NYU alumna. Due to
her busy schedule, she was not
able to meet the students but
her legislative aide, Meagan
Molina, greeted them and listened to their views. “Ms. Rozic is always very supportive of
these programs,” Molina said.
Several students also
had an appointment scheduled
with Assemblywoman Deborah J. Glick, chairwoman of
the higher education committee. Unfortunately, she too was
unavailable due to the budget
hearing, so students met with
her legislative analyst, Charles
LeDuc, who said that Glick
has always been very supportive of all the special opportunity programs.
Fatima Zainelabdin,
a freshman at Port Richmond
High School and a STEP student at NYU since last summer, mentioned that the program has been very helpful to
her; not only is it providing
her with academic and financial help, but, she said, she is
also getting tremendous moral
support from her advisers and
teachers. “I am very obliged to
be a part of such a helpful program,” she said. “It’s not only
providing me with academic
help but it’s also helping me
decide on my career goals and
how to achieve them.”
Anna Ortega Chavol-
Continued on Page 5
a global asset-management
firm headquartered in New
York, came here looking to
hire students for 10-week
paid summer internships in
New York City, White Plains,
Chicago, Los Angeles, San
Antonio, San Francisco, and
Washington, D.C. The company was looking for juniors
or master’s degree students
with a GPA of 3.3 or better.
The recruiter said, “We generally prefer students majoring in business, finance,
economics, math, computer
science or engineering, but
we will consider strong students across all disciplines.”
• Teach for America,
a nonprofit organization
headquartered in New York
City, wants recent college
graduates and seasoned professionals to teach in lowincome communities for at
least two years. According
to its recruitment manager, Francheska Vargas, its
members fill open positions
in high-need pre-K through
12th-grade classes throughout the country. Teach for
America requires applicants
to have a bachelor’s degree
by June 2015. Vargas, howContinued on Page 5
INSIDE
Editorial....................................................2
Patent Pending Club.................................3
Intramural Sports.....................................3
Lambda Chi Alpha....................................4
Spring Club Fest.......................................4
Canoe Competition...................................6
Anime Society...........................................6
MSA Prayer Room....................................6
Programming Languages.........................7
Faculty Profile.......................................... 8
Chinese New Year.....................................9
Home Cooking........................................10
Theater Review....................................... 11
Movie Review.......................................... 12
Restaurant Review.................................. 12
2 | Monday, March 2, 2015
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
THE POLYTECHNIC
REPORTER
Editorial
Tutoring Immigrant Youth
BY NATHAN GRAMMEL
Editor-in-Chief
NATHANIEL GRAMMEL
Last semester, I took a class at
Washington Square called Service Learning with Refugee Youth. The course was
offered by the Silver School of Social
Work, taught by Professor Dina Rosenfeld. I believe that taking this course was
one of the most fulfilling experiences
I have had at this school so far, and I
would urge other students to consider the
course as well. The course has a volunteer
component in which, once a week, the
students in the class go to the Brooklyn
International High School to tutor international students who have recently immigrated to the United States.
As for the specifics of the course,
it carries two credits and entails one hour
of lecture each week. I feel that it is absolutely worth the commute, and I tried to
make the most of my time at Washington Square every week, as the class was
located close to the park and the bookstore. Additionally, the new shuttle service helped me to save the subway fare.
The service aspect of the class—tutoring
at BIHS—was also conveniently located,
being less than a 10-minute walk from
MetroTech.
The course did not demand a lot
of work; I got the feeling that the core
emphasis of the class was the service aspect and the in-class discussions. There
were a few writing assignments, though it
was not hard to do well in the course and
get a good grade, as the biggest aspect of
the class seemed to be the tutoring.
Tutoring these young pupils was
a remarkable experience; I loved it. The
Brooklyn International High School
paper and none of the money spent to
works with the International Rescue
Committee (IRC) to offer an education
to students who have recently immigrated. As the name of the course suggests, many of the students at BIHS
are refugee youths, so some of the
students had traumatic experiences
in their home countries before coming
to the U.S. Some students came from
war-torn countries or countries where
genocide is occurring and managed to
escape to come to New York City. As a
result, the NYU course lecture focused
on the circumstances that some of the
students may be in. This is important
when it comes to interacting with the
students, many of whom are not as
privileged as the typical American student.
The IRC helps refugees coming
into the country, finding them a place
to live and helping them settle into a
new home in a new and foreign country. The IRC works with BIHS so that
the youth can go to a school that focuses on trying to provide an effective
learning environment. Some students
come in with very little to no previous formal education and may not
even understand much English. Such
students typically struggle in a traditional educational setting designed for
American students with a background
of many years of primary education.
The IRC was involved with the
Service Learning course at NYU Silver
and arranged for the students in the
class to tutor at Brooklyn International High School. Once a week, I walked
the short distance to the Brooklyn
International High School and spent
about two hours tutoring students
with incredibly diverse backgrounds
in a culturally sensitive environment.
It was an incredible experience and
one that was very fulfilling.
I would strongly urge any student on this campus who can fit two
credits into his or her schedule to take
this class or another service learning
class at the Silver School. The IRC and
BIHS could strongly benefit from the
educational contribution of Poly's engineering students as well, particularly
in a subject like math.
produce and publish it is provided by
-NG
Executive Editor
MARUFUR BHUIYA
Managing Editor
ALI NAGI
Staff Reporters
MISHAH JAHANGIR
AYLA DECAVALLAS
MICHAEL SHAMOUILIAN
GLEN NEVILLE
MOHAMMAD KHALID
ALVI KABIR
ERIC SHAK
MARCUS WILLIAMS
LIWEI ZHOU
KRIS PEREZ
CHINVA CHAN
SALAH ELKHALLOUKI
HUBERT KIM
JOHN MOROCHO
VACHITAR SINGH
Design, Layout and Editorial Director
JESSIA LEONARD
Faculty Adviser
LOWELL SCHEINER
The opinions and views expressed in The Polytechnic Reporter do not
necessarily reflect those of the NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering. The opinions expressed in guest editorials are not necessarily the
opinions of The Polytechnic Reporter or of NYU. All submissions should
be e-mailed to the editor at [email protected]
To Our Readers:
The Reporter is an independent news-
Polytechnic or NYU.
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
Monday, March 2, 2015 | 3
EXPANDING INTRAMURALS HERE
REPLACE NCAA PROGRAMS
BY VACHITAR SINGH
The intramural program of the NYU department
of athletics is bringing basketball, futsal, indoor cricket
and other sports to the School
of Engineering now that this
campus no longer participates
in NCAA competition. Curtis
Spence, assistant athletic director, emphasizes that “the
intramural program is open to
all students.”
Devin Roban, assistant facility supervisor of
NYU’s department of athletics, coordinates the program.
Students who want to participate in NYU intramurals must
currently be enrolled in classes
and must create an online account at www.imleagues.com,
he says. A student can join the
program in one of three ways:
(1) by going online to establish, as captain, his or her own
team for a specific sport and
inviting other players to join
the team; (2) by joining a team
at the request of a captain; (3)
by applying for a spot on an established team. A student can
also list himself or herself online at www.imleagues.com as
a free agent.
The basketball league
started on Friday, Feb. 16,
and runs for seven weeks.
Each team plays at least twice
a week. After the regular season, there will be a singlegame elimination tournament
in which teams will be seeded
based upon their regularseason records. Each game is
played up to a 21-point limit or
for 25 minutes maximum with
three starting players on each
team. Unlimited substitutions
are allowed. For the Brooklyn
league, games are played on
Monday evenings from 6 to 9
in the Jacobs Gymnasium.
Because of the large
turnout for futsal last semester, 32 teams are taking part in
the futsal league this semester.
These teams are divided into
nine divisions; all games are
played on Friday mornings
from 9 to 11:30 at Palladium
and from 12 to 5 at the Brooklyn athletic facility. Each game
consists of 13-minute halves
and each team has five starting
players; unlimited substitutions are permitted. The futsal competition runs for four
weeks. It began Feb. 6.
The NYU department
of athletics is introducing indoor cricket for the first time
into its intramural program.
The league's regular season
will run for six weeks, followed
by playoffs. It started Feb. 18.
Ten teams, with a minimum
of 10 players each, will participate. All games will be played
on Thursday evenings from 6
to 9.
The intramural program is a great way for students to take some time off
from their busy studying
schedules and get involved in
physical activities with their
friends and other members
of the Poly community. “Very
few former Poly athletes made
NYU varsity teams, and now
they continue to have a way of
competing in a sport of their
interest,” says Spence. “For
many engineering school students, it is more convenient for
them to participate in an intramural program at the Brooklyn campus than to travel to
Coles and Palladium for this
experience. Certainly, there
will be options for intramural
play at other NYU sites that
might not be available at the
Brooklyn campus; however,
whenever possible, students
prefer to have a program on
the Brooklyn campus. Creating an intramural program on
this campus enables the school
to continue to utilize the gym
space effectively.”
For more information
about participating in the program, visit
www.gonyuathletics.com.
Students enjoying intramural cricket.
Patent Pending Club
Provides Real-World Experience
BY MICHAEL SHAMOUILIAN
Have you ever had an
idea for a new tech product
but didn’t know how to get it
off the ground? Have you ever
wanted to work with a team to
develop and patent a new invention but couldn’t find others to work with? Do you want
to be at the forefront of innovation for your generation?
Well, Patent Pending is your
answer.
Officially established
as a club in the spring of 2013,
Patent Pending was formed to
“encourage students to fully
utilize university resources
in pursuit of innovation and
invention,” says Earl Co, the
club president. By helping
students to prototype and test
their inventions, “the club enables students to pursue their
innovative curiosities beyond
the constraints of a classroom
setting,” he adds. The ma-
jor goal of this club, he says,
is “to foster an environment
where students can be at their
most creative, where they are
comfortable seeking advice
and practicing various technical skills within their chosen
field.”
The club organizes various conferences and
events to help expand a Poly
student’s knowledge in the areas of product development,
project management, and patent law, Co says. On March
4, the club will host a session
titled Introduction to Arduino
Workshop and on March 12 an
Advanced Arduino Workshop.
Both workshops are open to
all NYU students and will provide attendees with a working
knowledge of Arduinos, which
are programmable-embedded
microcontrollers. The club will
provide attendees with free
tutorials and hands-on experience. You may not walk out
of the workshops ready to invent the next game-changing
technology, but you will learn
rapid prototyping skills, says
Co.
Patent Pending helps
prepare students for the annual Inno/Vention competition by providing the tools and
resources needed to turn their
ideas into something tangible,
he says. The club encourages
members to sign up for this
event, which is hosted by the
Entrepreneurship and Innovation Association (EIA). All
NYU students are eligible to
enter projects in this technology competition in the hopes
of winning cash prizes to help
support the development of
their ideas and to gain a chance
to move forward into the Summer LaunchPad, which pro-
Club President Earl Co (left) and vice president Navin Raj
vides the necessary support
to turn ideas into commercial
start-ups.
In addition to these
activities, the club will be hosting the annual HackNYU event
later this spring. This hackathon is organized each year
by Patent Pending’s executive
board and hosted at the School
of Engineering. It’s open to
all NYU students, faculty and
alumni and even to students
from other colleges. Some 200
people attended last year’s
HackNYU event to develop ex-
citing apps.
While most club projects are concerned with electronic hardware and computer
programming, teams have
room for members of all disciplines and majors, Co says. Working out of the
Prototyping Lab in LC 015,
students can drop by any time
they want to “learn about the
tools available, "Co says.
You can join the club
by visiting its Web site at patentpendingnyu.org/mailinglist.
4 | Monday, March 2, 2015
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
Lambda Chi Alpha Hosts Northeast Conclave
BY GLEN NEVILLE
Lambda Chi Alpha is
an international male social
fraternity that has been part
of the School of Engineering
community since 1920. This
reporter had the chance to
speak with the president of
the fraternity, Alex Krush, to
discuss the events it will be
hosting this semester. He said,
"This semester is going to be a
really exciting one for us. We
have been expanding on the
main campus and we hosted
this year's Conclave, which is a
regional event to develop and
implement educational programs to foster leadership and
personal development skills
among members." What's
more, Krush says, the fraternity promotes brotherhood
and close collaboration among
chapters within the same region.
This year's conclave
brought Lambda Chi Alpha
undergraduate brothers and
highly respected alumni brothers to the School of Engineering from all over the Northeast
to promote personal development and the creation of lead-
ers. "Members from Boston
University, Cornell, Syracuse,
the University of Maine, the
University of New Hampshire,
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the University of Rhode
Island and Worcester Polytechnic Institute came here
recently specifically for this
event," says vice president
Timothy Charlton.
This year's conclave
hosted two guest speakers:
Mark Fletcher McElreath and
Christopher Leslie. McElreath
is the president of the International Society of Lambda Chi
Alpha (Grand High Alpha),
located in Indianapolis. McElreath is a partner with the law
firm Alston & Bird LLP, where
he focuses mainly on debt and
equity securities offerings and
public and private mergers
and acquisitions. He received
his J.D. from the Columbia
University Law School, where
he was a Harlan Fiske Stone
Scholar, and his B.B.A., summa cum laude, from Mercer
University. McElreath spoke
on the state of the fraternity
and how Lambda Chi can im-
prove over the next several
years.
The other speaker was
Prof. Christopher Leslie, the
academic adviser for sustainable urban environments and
science and technology studies and co-director of the STS
program here. Prior to joining
Poly, he worked as an editor at
a management-services consulting firm and taught at John
Jay College and Hunter College. Leslie spoke on the history of innovation and what this
history tells us about cooperation and the development of
technology.
One of the objectives
of this year's event was to help
once again Lambda Chi Alpha's national partner Feeding
America. The goal of the program is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks. Last year, Lambda Chi Alpha
raised over 2.4 million pounds
of food nationally to feed over
two million families in need
throughout the United States.
This year the fraternity hopes
to improve on that figure.
Lambda Chi Alpha's president, Alex Krush.
Members of Lambda Chi Alpha dropping off cans of food at the
Feeding America food bank.
Spring Club Fest: Always a Big Hit
BY MISHAH JAHANGIR
The huge spring Club
Fest at the School of Engineering took place on Feb. 11
in Regna Lounge and LC 116.
Most of the school’s clubs took
part and got a chance to introduce themselves to the student
body. At the beginning of every
semester, Club Fest showcases
all the clubs at the school to
give students the opportunity
to become familiar with the
different clubs on campus and
to get more involved in the
campus life.
“Club Fest gives us a
chance to show people what
we’re about and to tell people
that our club is open to everyone. It gives students a chance
to learn more about our culture,” says Rumana Ruma,
president of Bengali Student
Association of Engineers.
Other than the cultural clubs,
such as BSAE or the Graduate Indian Student Association, academic clubs such as
the Biomolecular Science Club
were also present. Divya Patel,
the secretary of Tau Beta Pi,
an engineering honors society,
said, “Our club is about professional skills development and
networking. It gives students
a chance to interact with people and alum who are already
in industry.” To be an official
member of the club, a student
has to be in the top one-eighth
of the junior class or the top
one-fifth of the senior class.
However, it’s open to everyone to attend the events, Patel
said.
Some of the clubs that
are new to the Poly community were also introduced to the
student body at the event. One
of these clubs was D3, which
stands for drawing, design and
development. Joanna Wang,
an administrator for the club,
explained that photography,
photoshop, and designing Web
sites are some of the things the
club concentrates on. The club
hosts different workshops for
students to teach them these
skills and is open to everyone
with similar interests. “Our
love for photography made us
start this club,” Wang said.
Whitney Dhiting, a
graduate assistant working
in the office of student activities, said that the club day was
important because it gave students a chance to know what’s
going on around the campus
and helps build a better community. “ It’s important for the
students to know the face behind these events, which is the
student activities office and
its members, and it gives us a
chance to let them know that
we’re here to serve them,” she
said.
Alicia Erwins of student activities was also present at Club Fest and was representing OSARC. “We have a
lot planned for this semester,”
she said. “I encourage all the
students to take part in all the
activities and contact the office of student activities if they
have any questions.”
Nicole Isenhour, of the
Wasserman Center for Career
Development, distributed information about upcoming
events and workshops. She
said that there are so many
student clubs and organiza-
tions that the students are unaware of and so Club Fest gives
them a chance to explore all of
them.
This semester there
was something different at
Club Fest: a canned-food
sculpture competition. All
the clubs were divided into
teams and each team collected
canned food and over a certain allotted time they were
to make a sculpture using the
cans. Four judges scored the
contest on the basis of ,creativity, teamwork, service, and
sculpture size. All the collected
cans were eventually donated
Continued on Page 6
A student group displays its canned-food sculpture at the Club
Fest Competition.
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
Career Fair
From Page 1
ever, did note that the company is willing to hire juniors
who want an early start in the
organization. The firm hires
majors in all areas and looks
for candidates who possess
leadership, communication,
and organizational skills. The
firm expects to hire more applicants this year than last
year; the application deadline
is March 6. For undergraduates interested in applying,
there is a 2.5 minimum GPA
requirement.
•The Bank of New York
Mellon (BNY Mellon), headquartered in New York City,
seeks to fill full-time and
summer internship positions
in New York City, Nashville,
and Pittsburgh. The company
is primarily looking for application developers. According
to Shalin Shah, an application developer at BNY Mellon, the company is targeting
students majoring in computer engineering, computer
science, and management.
The ideal applicant must be
a fast learner and have excellent communication and
technical skills, he said. BNY
Mellon is expecting to hire
more people this year than
last year and specifies a 3.2
minimum GPA requirement,
but says it is willing to con-
Albany Visit
From Page 1
la, the senior director for the
CSTEP program at NYU, accompanied the students as a
student leader and was guiding the students to the offices
of the legislators. “I want to
thank all the members for their
continuous support for our
programs, and this day gives
us a chance for our students,
who are the beneficiaries, to
meet them and tell them their
stories and show them how
they are helping them attain
their dreams.”
One of the students
from the NYU College of Arts
and Science, Tenzin Tsomo, an
environmental science major
and a HEOP student, says that
sometimes OP students find it
hard to tell their peers about
all the extra help they are receiving, because most of the
students are unaware of these
programs and end up graduat-
sider applicants with lower
GPAs who have had work experience.
• Cisco, a multinational
global corporation headquartered in San Jose, Calif., has
opportunities for internships
and full-time positions. The
company is seeking engineers across all areas, computer scientists, and those
who have a skillset for data
analysis. Frank Semar, a system engineering manager at
Cisco, said, “We are looking
for bright, talented students
who have done well in their
academic studies but who
can also demonstrate that
they have been a part of internship programs working
on major projects.” Semar
added that Cisco looks for
applicants who display “a lot
of enthusiasm and possess
great communication skills.”
Applicants applying to Cisco
should have a GPA of at least
3.0.
Facebook and Yahoo attended the career fair, both
featuring many positions for
potential applicants. Both
companies are headquartered in California, Facebook
in Menlo Park and Yahoo in
Sunnyvale. Both firms said
they will offer full-time jobs,
summer internships, and
regular internship positions.
Yahoo also offers part-time
and co-op opportunities.
• Krista Heaton, uniing with tons of loans. “HEOP
provides students with extra support, such as financial
help, tutoring and counseling.
It gives a sense of better community.” says Tsomo
Richard Jung, another
student leader, said that as an
OP adviser at NYU, “this day
is important to me because we
want our students' voices to be
heard. If it were not for these
opportunity programs, most
of our students wouldn't have
been able to attend this college. Our hope is that we continue getting this support from
the government officials so our
students can succeed in their
quest for a solid education and
continue to be productive, successful, and effective members
of society.” Jung also said that
this country is falling behind
in the education system, as
compared to other countries.
“We need to raise our standards and make sure that everyone gets a chance to attend
college,” he added.
versity recruiter for Facebook, said, “We are looking for people who are very
good at what they do.” She
added, “We have various
types of jobs and different
locations that suit our candidates.” Facebook is looking for interns in the fields
of software and industrial
engineering, she said. There
are no strict GPA requirements.
•Laurel Manlow, the Yahoo recruiter, said, “We are
mainly looking for software
engineers who have an active personality and are
willing to work outside of
the job. Multiple programming languages are a plus
for applicants to have.” She
said Yahoo also prefers its
applicants to have a strong
academic background (GPA
of 3.0 or above), but is willing to consider those who
have lower GPAs.
•Recruiter Jeff Gelb of
Scholastic Inc., which is
headquartered in New York
City, said, “Ideal candidates
are those who are openminded, are willing to work
on a team, and can communicate well.” The firm seeks
computer science majors to
fill full-time positions in the
areas of e-commerce, statistics, and programming.
The positions available are
primarily for graduating seniors, but Gelb mentioned
Shawneece Bailey, the
associate director of HEOP
at the School of Engineering,
said, “The HEOP program is
very dear to me. As a HEOP
alumna from Hofstra University, I would not have been
able to attend a private college
if it was not for the HEOP pro-
Monday, March 3, 2015 | 5
exceptions could be made for
juniors. Positions do not require citizenship, he said, but
do require a minimum GPA
of 3.0.
• Unilever, headquartered in Englewood Cliffs,
N.J., and well known for its
consumer products such as
Dove and Vaseline, has internship opportunities for
students majoring in computer science and business.
Applicants must have at least
a 3.0 GPA. Its representative
said, “The company looks for
applicants who display leadership and curiosity and enjoy challenges.”
• General Dynamics’
Electric Boat Division, headquartered in Groton, Conn.,
has internships and full-time
positions for computer scientists and mechanical, electrical, and civil engineers. Valued attributes for applicants
include excellent technical
writing ability, motivation
and, preferably, some industry experience, but the recruiter said the company will
not automatically reject applicants with no experience.
The company does not have
strict GPA requirements. It
helps full-time employees
attain their master’s degree
through tuition reimbursement, the representative
said.
• Raytheon says it offers full-time, part-time,
internship, and co-op opportunities. The company’s
headquarters is in Waltham,
Mass. The recruiter said the
firm intends to hire three
times more applicants this
year than it did last year. Important skills for computer
science applicants include
knowledge of multiple programming languages, including Java and C++. The minimum GPA requirement is
3.0.
• The U.S. Navy has diverse full-time positions for
civil engineering graduates
and physics and chemistry
majors. Lt. Michael Johnson
and Lt. Commander Kyle
Barker made it clear that
“one of the most important
skills needed for the Navy is
being able to adapt and take
in all the information taught
to you.” They stressed that
applicants should have a GPA
of 3.0 or above and must be
U.S. citizens.
• The NYC Department
of Design & Construction is
looking only for summer interns. Applicants interested
in applying must at least be
in their sophomore year and
enrolled in a B.S. engineering program, complete an
online application with a
cover letter and resume, and
have a minimum GPA of 3.0.
gram. "Besides the financial assistance, the program
provided me with academic
support that was extremely
helpful during my academic
career at Hofstra. The sense
of family and support from my
peers and staff was very com-
forting as well. My love for the
program is why I returned to
Hofstra as a counselor, which
led to my being an assistant director at Pratt Institute, director at NYU Poly and, currently,
the associate director at NYU,
the largest HEOP program in
New York State.”
College students in Albany seeking support for HEOP.
Continued on Page 7
6 | Monday, March 2, 2015
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
Anime Society Cancels
Its SpringFest Event
ASCE Chapter to Host
Concrete Canoe Competition
BY ERIC SHAK
Do you ever wonder why
there is a canoe on the fourth
floor? Many people walk past
it without even knowing what
it’s supposed to signify. The
interesting thing is that it is
completely made of concrete.
Now, you may wonder, why
is the canoe made out of concrete and who made it? The
answer: It’s for the American
Society of Civil Engineers’
concrete canoe competition,
which is sponsored every year
by different schools. This year,
the NYU Polytechnic School
of Engineering will be hosting
the concrete canoe competition for the Metropolitan region. The society encourages
students to participate in the
competition to gain hands-on
experience in working with
materials and designs that students would not experience in
the classroom.
Mishka Stueber, cocaptain of the concrete canoe
team, said, “In the concrete
canoe competition, we build
a canoe and race it with other
colleges. This canoe is made
in our lab by the students representing different majors.
There are many different roles
within this competition that
do not have the do with civil
engineering. For instance, we
are always looking for paddlers, people to construct the
canoe, and team members to
present the design details to an
ASCE panel judging the competition.”
For more information, Stueber can be reached at
[email protected]. The canoe
competition will be held on
April 26 at Cooks Pond, Denville, N.J.
“ASCE is a professional society for all civil engineers, including students, and
one does not need to be a civil
engineer to join,” says Sutenee
Nopachinda, vice president of
NYU’s ASCE student chapter.
She also said, “It is all about
meeting and connecting with
engineers from all different
backgrounds. As a student
chapter within the civil engineering society, we have the
opportunity to invite experienced engineers to describe to
students what it means to be
an engineer. That helps open
up job opportunities for all our
members.”
Last month, ASCE
co-hosted a game-night event
with the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the
New York Water Environment
Association (NYWEA).
Savanna Sampson, a
junior majoring in civil engineering, felt “game night was
a great success for ITE and
ASCE.” Neera Arjoon, also a
junior majoring in civil engineering, said, “I would go to
game night again as it was a
nice stress-reliever.”
BY MARCUS WILLIAMS
SpringFestNY
has
been one of Poly’s biggest
events. Organized by the Poly
Anime Society, the convention has always been home to
various Japanese musical acts,
artists, vendors and exhibits,
panels, workshops, and gaming. After experiencing several
delays and other unforeseen
events, president Kuan Newton said that “rather than providing a subpar experience, we
decided that meeting our expectations comes before anything else.” Since PAS is a club
focused on promoting Japanese culture, gamer lifestyle
and the American otaku experience, Newton said, “PAS will
continue to uphold the SpringFestNY experience through
smaller, more frequent events
throughout the semester.”
PAS will begin to host “art discussions that focus on drawing
techniques you would find in
your standard manga/comic,”
he said, as well as “cultural
panels that address pop-cul-
MSA Seeks
Permanent Prayer Room
Club also wants to add Halal food to Lackmann menu
BY MOHAMMAD KHALID
The Muslim Student Association, an organization that provides
community service as well as enabling
the Muslim population to bond together in a familiar environment, sponsors
several social events throughout the
school year, including a popular MSA
welcome-back dinner at the start of
each semester, weekly halaqas, and
Friday night games. The dinner is for
all NYU Engineering School students
and faculty, not just for club members.
The spring 2015 MSA dinner was held
on Thursday, Feb. 26. It was organized
by the MSA board, which is headed
by the MSA president, Muhamad Faizan Siddiqui. About 60 students and a
number of Poly staff members showed
up in the Silleck Lounge. The attendees
expressed opinions on the issues the
club faces this semester, in addition
to presenting various ideas as to what
events the organization should schedule this spring.
The food included various delicacies, such as Thai, Middle Eastern,
Mediterranean, and South Asian food.
Siddiqui says he is trying to
find a permanent daily prayer room for
his organization. The previous prayer
room was a rather tiny space located
in the basement of Rogers Hall. However, due to the ongoing construction in
that building, the daily prayer room has
moved temporarily to RH 708. Siddiqui
said, “It has been difficult for the MSA
to get a permanent room, and it seems
that every other year the room location
changes.” Currently, the MSA holds the
weekly Friday afternoon prayer, Jumma,
in LC 400.
Along with its sponsored events
and the quest for a permanent prayer
room, the MSA has goals that it wants to
achieve for all NYU Poly students, Siddiqui says. One of these goals is to get
Halal food onto the Lackmann menu. Halal food is generally known to New Yorkers as food gotten from the popular halal
food carts that have sprung up all around
the city; however, the actual meaning is
quite different. The term "Halal" generally means something is permissible in
Islam and "Halal" meat is meat from animals that have been slaughtered the Islamic way, animals such as sheep, goats,
and chicken. Siddique has spoken to the
Imam of the Islamic Center at NYU (ICNYU), Khalid Latif, who said he is working on the matter.
tural foods, holidays, music
and video games.”
PAS has also started
hosting online “trivial” competitions on its new Facebook
page, focusing on Japanese
music and anime. In hopes of
attracting new members, PAS
will provide the winners of
each contest with prizes such
as free ramune, a carbonated
drink that is very popular in
Japan.
At the Poly Anime
Society’s upcoming general
body meeting Friday, March
6, Newton says he plans to
“reintroduce the new e-board
and discuss upcoming events,
shows, games and more.” The
meeting will be held in a panel-like format, in which the
officers will receive feedback
from the community about the
direction of the club.
To join the club, go to
NYU’s OrgSync page and type
PAS in the search bar or send
an email to
[email protected].
Spring Club Fest
From Page 4
from Lackmann. The judges were Edna, a manager at Lackmann; Mark Flowers, academic adviser at TRIO; Rose Ampuero, assistant dean of
student affairs; and Anurag RV, graduate service ambassador for the Poly Project. “Creativity is an important aspect of the competition,
and the cause is really thoughtful. I’m glad to be
a part of it,” says Edna. Ampuero said that she
also would be looking for creativity in the sculptures, and she expected a lot from engineering
students.
One of the administrators at the event
was Nicole Kazanecki, the coordinator of student activities. “We wanted to try something
according to the interest of students and incorporate service into our largest scale events,” she
said. She added that one of the main purposes
of the competition was for clubs to demonstrate
teamwork, creativity, and service.
The winning team, Team 9, consisting
of members of ASCE, SWE, and SHRM, demonstrated their creativity by building Brooklyn
Bridge. “The idea of making this came from one
of our team members, who is a civil engineering
major. We chose to make it because the bridge
represents Brooklyn, and also Poly, as it is located in Brooklyn,” said Stella Gomes, head of
public relations at SWE. Other than the abovementioned criteria for choosing the winner, the
judges also said that another point they looked
at was how the model related to a specific field
of study.
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
Career Fair
From Page 5
However, Winnie Corton,
the recruiter, said, “While we
would like candidates to have
at least a 3.0 GPA, if a person
has 2.8 or 2.9, we will still
take him or her into consideration.”
• The NYC Department
of Environmental Protection
has internships available in
engineering,
information
technology, administration,
customer service, and legal
management. The department came to the career fair
focusing on internship applicants who have at least a 2.5
GPA. Grace Pigott, its recruiter, said, “Ideal candidates are
people who can communicate
effectively, have good interpersonal skills, are passionate about what they do, and
can work independently.”
Required skills include Microsoft Office; for computer
science positions, applicants
must be well versed in Java
and/ C++.
• The MTA offers fulltime, part-time, and internship opportunities for students majoring in electrical
engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science,
chemical engineering, and
architecture. For all posi-
tions, applicants must have
at least a 2.5 GPA. Engineering applicants should be familiar with CAD and Revit;
however, MTA recruiter Alex
Pintado emphasized that one
of the most important qualities he seeks in applicants is
a readiness to learn.
• ADDTEQ, located in
Princeton, N.J., deals with
software configuration and
software engineering. Recruiter Kerry O'Conner said
ADDTEQ is looking to fill
full-time positions and internships in the fields of software engineering, computer
engineering, electrical engineering, and computer science. Computer science applicants are expected to have
general coding knowledge
and experience with languages such as C++, Python, and
Java, O'Conner said.
• Vernalis Group Inc.,
located in New York City,
offers IT services such as IT
consulting, custom-software
development, and IT software support. The firm currently has two full-time positions available, one for a
business analyst and the other for a designer. The company seeks applicants with a
master’s in computer science,
computer engineering, financial engineering, or business analysis. In addition,
the firm looks for candidates
who possess “an insatiable
fascination with technology
and a broad understanding
of major software platforms
and technologies.” according
to the recruiter. Technical
applicants are expected to be
proficient in Adobe Creative
Suite,
Visio/Omnigraffle,
Wireframing tools, HTML5,
JavaScript, and visual-design
principles.
The company
says it does not have strict
GPA requirements; instead,
it seeks candidates who will
meet the company’s corporate culture and technical requirements.
• The New York Times,
located in New York City,
offers internships and fulltime positions for computer
science majors interested in
working as Web developers,
mobile developers, and software developers. Cory Borg,
its recruiter, said, “Computer
science applicants are expected to know Web development, scale development,
and have design skills.” The
GPA requirement depends
on the applicant’s skills, he
said.
• BuzzFeed, a social
media company located in
New York City, has full-time
jobs, fellowships, and internship opportunities for
juniors, seniors, master’s degree students, and alumni.
Charlie Keinath, lead techni-
Monday, March 2, 2015 | 7
cal recruiter, said the company is hiring more applicants
this year than last year and is
expanding into a new, bigger
facility. Keinath emphasized
that applicants should be
friendly, approachable people who have the ability to
adapt readily to its corporate
environment.
• Yodle is an online
marketing company headquartered in New York City.
The company has full-time
and summer-internship opportunities for those interested in software engineering.
Applicants should be juniors,
seniors, master’s students or
alumni in the fields of computer science and computer
engineering. The company
does not specifically hold
strict GPA requirements;
instead, it seeks applicants
who will fit into the company’s culture and who have a
strong programming background.
• NASDAQ, located in
New York City, is one of America’s largest stock exchanges.
The firm seeks students to fill
full-time and part-time positions. Candidates should be
well versed in financial services/technology, are smart
and capable, have the ability
to attend business meetings
and can effectively articulate
their views to both company
executives and clients. The
minimum GPA requirement
is 3.3, said a representative.
• Ernst & Young LLP
is a multinational professional audit firm. According
to the company recruiter, the
firm seeks both graduate and
undergraduate students for
positions in management, finance, computer science and
computer engineering. A 3.2
GPA or above is preferred,
the recruiter said.
• Dropbox, headquartered in San Francisco, is a
multinational cloud-storage
company seeking computer
science majors. The firm
has full-time positions and
internships available and is
continuously seeking to increase its number of employees.
Recruiter David Mah
said, “At Dropbox, there is a
huge emphasis on employees
who can really take control of
situations and be responsible.” He added, “In regard to
software engineering, there is
no specific domain technology that we are looking for; instead, we look for people with
a computer science foundation in algorithms, programming, and data structures.”
Dropbox has no strict GPA
requirements; instead, the
company cares more about
how applicants are able to
think and solve problems, he
said.
Looking for a job?
Programming Languages
You Need to Know
Have you ever wondered what programming
skillsets companies are seeking in new college graduates?
Here’s the simple answer:
Depending on the industry or
business, a company will be
looking for individuals with
specialized knowledge in certain languages, so you can
limit the number of languages
you’ll need to know for your
future career field.
For example, start-ups
like to experiment with new
technologies. Popular languages within this sector include
JavaScript, Ruby, Python, and
Java. Alan Chen, a senior, is
heavily involved in the startup environment. He has interned for the start-up company wireLawyer, a firm that
hosts an online professional
network for lawyers. According to Chen, “If you’re looking to pick up new, relevant
skills, then joining a start-up is
your best bet in achieving that.
They prefer languages like Python and JavaScript because
they are scalable and versatile,
able to be used for tasks such
as creating simple scripts and
processing requests on a Web
server.” When asked about the
learning curve for these languages, Chen responded, “The
learning curve is not high; if
you’ve taken a C++ class, then
you’ll be more than capable of
learning these languages.”
High-tech companies
like Microsoft have their own
set of languages with which
they like to work. Ken Chan,
a senior, is a front-end developer intern at Microsoft Re-
BY ALVI KABIR
search. When asked about the
different languages Microsoft
uses, he replied, “If you’re doing analytics, then you’ll be using either Python or R. Microsoft uses the .NET platform,
which is built on top of C and
C++. Windows applications
are built using C#, and Windows phone applications are
built using HTML5 and JavaScript.”
Financial institutions
seem to differ in their programming-language requirements. As someone who’s
applied to various banks on
NYU CareerNet, this reporter
has seen Java, C++ and/or C#
listed in the qualifications for
jobs at BNY Mellon, Goldman
Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.
These financial firms require
experience in these languages
for various reasons. According to Jaimin Doshi, a current
technology analyst intern at
Citi and a senior, “Traders who
deal with high-volume trades
need the best performance,
and compiled languages like
C++ and Java are optimal for
that requirement. Financial
companies also tend to interface applications on top of preexisting ones, building their
own sets of APIs (Application
Program Interfaces); this is
usually done with languages
such as Java.”
So, for those who are
interested in joining the fastpaced start-up environment,
learning the new languages
and technologies is essential.
For those looking to join successful high-tech companies
that are common household
names, like Microsoft, learning older languages like C/
C++ or newer languages like
Python/JavaScript is recommended.
For those looking to
join stable financial firms,
learning prevalent languages
that are optimized for performance such as C++, C#, and
Java is the route to take.
Programming
languages are not hard to learn,
especially if you’ve already
programmed in multiple languages.
Regardless of the language, companies will not hire
you if you don’t know your core
essentials, such as data structures and algorithms, say students who have been engaged
in internships in the corporate
world.
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
8 | Monday, March 2, 2015
Faculty Profile
Roula Maloof, Civil Engineering
As a girl growing up in
Lebanon during the Lebanese
civil war from 1975 to 1990,
Prof. Roula Maloof of the civil
engineering department was
surely not thinking about pursuing a career in the engineering field. Maloof recalls from
her childhood, “I attended a
girls’ Catholic high school and
since it prepared students for
biology and literature studies,
I never thought about becoming an engineer. Considering
that the engineering field was
dominated by men, women
engineers were unheard of.”
Nonetheless, following in
her two brothers’ footsteps and
inspired by her father, Maloof
decided to take the entrance
exam for admission to St. Joseph University, one of the top
engineering schools in Beirut. After successfully passing
the highly competitive exam,
Maloof chose to major in civil
engineering. She graduated
with a bachelor of science degree in 1986. Her focus was on
structural and economic engineering.
Her first job as a construction manager, in 1986, was at
an architectural and construction management firm in Beirut. She reviewed proposals,
did cost estimates, and prepared schedule documents for
her first project at the firm, she
says. A year later, she started
her second job, this one as a
resident engineer and consultant for a French company. She
worked on a project financed
BY SALAH ELKHALLOUKI
by the French government.
Her tasks, she says, were to supervise the construction work
as well as to keep track of all
meetings and schedules.
In January 1989, Maloof
married and moved to the U.S.
to join her husband, an engineer with a master’s degree
in environmental engineering
from Polytechnic University.
She says she was ambitious
to obtain an advanced education herself while working for
Staunton-Chow Engineers as
an entry-level engineer. “After
around 18 months, I realized
that without an American de-
gree, I could not achieve my
goal of a better future,” she
said. “This is when I decided
to apply to Polytechnic to earn
a master’s degree in civil engineering.” In December 1993,
she graduated, then decided
to pursue a doctorate with the
help of her academic adviser,
If you would like to write for
The Polytechnic Reporter,
please contact our editor-in-chief,
Nathan Grammel
at [email protected]
Fariss Nabil, who was a professor in civil engineering.
Having completed a thesis on fracture mechanics,
Maloof received her Ph.D. in
1997. Asked how hard it was
to achieve her educational
goal, Maloof replies, “It was
not easy to get my Ph.D. After
all, I was a mother in a foreign
country with no family members to help.”
Pursuing her academic ambition, she became an adjunct
professor in Poly’s mechanical
engineering department and
later an adjunct professor in
civil engineering.
She became a fulltime professor in 2000 and
has been teaching a number of
civil and mechanical engineering courses, both graduate and
undergraduate.
As for her students, she
says that she encourages them
to take advantage of all the opportunities at their disposal
here and that entails using all
the resources in this school.
“It is very important
that students invest quality
time in their studies because
their work now will have a
profound effect on their lives
later,” Maloof stressed. “I really love teaching,” she says.
“It is a great feeling when some
alumni come back to visit to
tell me about their success in
their work.”
Maloof lives in Brooklyn
with her three children. Her
husband works overseas and
visits the family at least four
times a year.
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
9 | Monday, March 2, 2015
Chinese New Year: A Photo Essay
The Year of the Ram
BY CHINVA CHAN
To celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year, fireworks and firecrackers were set off on Feb. 19 at Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Manhattan.
Keeping to the tradition of the Chinese New Year, three lions go from store
to store to receive red envelope donations so that the store may prosper and
be profitable in the year to come. It is significant that it must be three lions
because the number “three” to the Chinese is a lucky number and groups
of three represent good fortune. The significance of the lions, according to
Chinese folklore, is to chase away ghosts and evil spirits.
Store owners give red envelopes to the lions as a sign of their appreciation
that the lions will safeguard their stores and in the hope that their businesses will prosper in the New Year.
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
10 | Monday, March 2, 2015
Our Student Chef Says,
Tired of Eating out?
Try Home Cooking--in Your Dorm
BY HUBERT KIM
If you want nutritious, delicious food and are fed up (pun intended) with cafeteria selections, why not make the food yourself in your dorm? I’m serious. Interested?
OK, I have some tips on how, with only an oven, a microwave or an electric kettle plus a few eggs and some simple ingredients, you can make delicious dishes for
yourself anytime you wish. The following recipes are easy to master no matter how tiny your kitchen may be:
For the oven user: bacon and eggs made easy
If you don’t already have a cupcake pan, you can pick up a disposable foil muffin tin at any grocery
store. What you need for three bowls are 1½ slices of bacon, ¼ of an onion, 2½ tablespoons of
corn, one tablespoon of butter, and three eggs.
•
Preheat the oven to 340 ºF for at least five minutes.
•
Put the butter in a small dish and microwave it for 15 seconds to melt it (be careful not to put an aluminum foil in the microwave).
•
Spread butter on the side and the bottom of each bowl cavity of the pan.
•
Chop up an onion and spread it over the bottom of the pan.
•
Slice some bacon and divide the strips into three bowls (no need to pre-cook it).
•
Crack each egg into a bowl without breaking the yolk.
•
Sprinkle about two tablespoons of corn on top of each bowl.
•
Add pepper and salt to suit your taste.
•
Put the pan in the preheated oven and wait at least 25 minutes.
•
Check the eggs by shaking the pan gently. If the contents wobble, let it cook for an addi-
tional five to 10 minutes.
•
Carefully remove the cups from the pan.
•
If you like spicy food, as I do, a bit of crushed red pepper flakes will make the dish even tastier.
Total calories per cup are a little more than 100, which is about the same number of calories as the
egg and cheese dish made in the cafeteria. If you want more variants, you can add leftovers from a
cafeteria meal, such as chicken tenders or pepperoni.
Bacon and eggs breakfast made in an oven.
For the microwave user: omelet in a bowl
While my previous recipe is more likely to be served as a breakfast or a light meal, this recipe
could be your dinner. You’ll need two bowls that can be microwaved, one tablespoon of ketchup, one tablespoon of corn, a slice of bacon, a couple of tablespoons of milk, one tablespoon
of cheese (parmesan or cheddar), half a tomato, 1/8 of an onion and two eggs.
•
Chop up the onion and slice the bacon.
•
Put the onion and bacon into a bowl and heat in a microwave for a minute and a half.
•
Crack eggs into the second bowl.
•
Add milk, salt and pepper to the eggs and mix well.
•
Slice a tomato in half.
•
Add the tomato half and the cooked onion and bacon mixture to the eggs.
•
Microwave the contents in a bowl for three and a half minutes.
•
Remove from the microwave, sprinkle the contents with corn and garnish with cheese.
•
Return the food to the microwave for one minute.
•
Serve immediately.
Cheesy omelet in a bowl.
For those with an electric kettle: deviled eggs
Although boiled eggs on their own could be a great meal, deviled eggs offer a better taste. For this simple snack,
you will need six eggs, a medium-size electric kettle, one tablespoon of mustard, one tablespoon of mayonnaise,
1/8 of an onion, smoked paprika or chili powder (optional), salt, and pepper.
•
Fill the electric kettle with cold water and put the eggs inside (this will prevent the eggs from cracking).
•
Turn the kettle on (for about 10 to 15 minutes).
•
Take out the hard-boiled eggs and let cool.
•
Peel off the shells and cut the eggs in half.
•
Take out each yolk and gather them in a bowl.
•
Add salt, mustard, mayonnaise, onion and pepper to the bowl and mash the mixture with a fork.
•
Fill the eggs with a yolk mixture.
•
Optional: Sprinkle with a little smoked paprika (or chili powder) to suit your taste.
Deviled eggs are great for one or to share with friends who are living in the dorm with you. Serve the food warm.
It’s wonderful, healthful food at any time.
Using these flexible recipes, you can try your own variations, skip the lines in the cafeteria, and have more time
and money for other pleasures than eating out. Take my word for it.
Deviled eggs sprinkled with smoked
paprika.
11 | Monday, March 2, 2015
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
Theater Review
'On The Town'
BY JOHN MOROCHO
“On The Town,” the
timeless masterpiece with
music by Leonard Bernstein
and book and lyrics by Betty
Comden and Adolph Green,
emphasizes the human experience, the excitement generated when you visit New York
City.
This is a revival of the
musical that premiered at the
Adelphi Theater in 1944. It
was directed by George Abbot,
with choreography by Jerome
Robbins and opened to rave
reviews.
The set is adroitly
assembled to resemble renowned places in the city, such
as the Brooklyn Navy Yard,
Times Square, Carnegie Hall,
and –yes– even the subway.
The actors are perfect for their roles, and director John Rando is worthy of
praise for making the whole
thing work so seamlessly. The
setting is New York City during World War II, when Chip
(played by Jay Armstrong
Johnson), Ozzie (played by
Clyde Alves), and Gabey
(played by Tony Yazbeck),
whose ship has docked at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, begin a
24-hour whirlwind of a furlough.
What to do! Chip
wants to go sightseeing using
a 10-year-old guidebook that
his father gave him, a leftover
from his own visit to the city
a decade earlier. Ozzie says
he desires to seek dates with
Manhattan women because
they are considered the most
beautiful in the world. Gabey,
on the other hand, wants to
find that special woman with
whom to partner for life. So off
they go. Once they get on the
subway, they notice the poster
of a Miss Turnstiles, voted the
prettiest woman of the month.
Gabey falls in love with the
picture and removes it from
the wall of the car.
The woman in the
poster is Ivy Smith (played
by Megan Fairchild), a “cooch
dancer” who works at Coney
Island. The poster states that
she is a singer at Carnegie
Hall, loves to visit the Museum
of Modern Art, and likes to
ride the subway. Gabey is determined to find this woman
regardless of the size of the
city.
His two friends then
agree to assist him in his quest.
So they go their separate ways,
each to realize a bizarre experience in the town that never
sleeps. The result: an incredible adventure for the trio as
time ticks away toward their
furlough-ending deadline: 6
a.m. the next day.
Every actor is deserving of special notice for incredible singing and dancing;
however, I must single out two
standouts: Fairchild -- whose
ballets will dazzle you as she
dances to “Presentation of
Miss Turnstiles,” “Carnegie
Hall Pavane,” and “Subway
Ride/Imaginary Coney Island”
-- and Yazbeck, who is exceptional as he trips the light fantastic to “Lonely Town” and
“Lucky to Be Me.” Credit Joshua Bergasse for the excellent
choreography.
Director John Rando
has created this revival to
evenly balance the dramatic
and the comical so as to hold
your attention throughout. No
boring interludes here.
The orchestra, under
the direction of James Moore,
captivates you with old Bernstein classics such as “New
York, New York,” “Some Other
Time” and “Carried Away.”
All in all, the entire company
provides the audience with a
splendid two-hour and fifteenminute extravaganza, even
interacting casually with the
audience during the intermission.
“On The Town” is playing at the Lyric Theater, in
Manhattan. Do I recommend
it? You bet. Whether you’re
a native New Yorker or not,
this show will leave you with
a touch of nostalgia for the
Big Apple. And you’ll probably
walk out of the theater humming to yourself one or two of
this wonderful show’s American songbook classics.
Jay Armstrong Johnson, Tony Yazbeck, and Clyde Alves arriving in New York City at the Brooklyn
Navy Yard.
Photo: Joan Marcus
Megan Fairchild, winner of the Miss Turnstiles competition, in a showstopping number, one of
many in this sparkling revival.
Photo: Joan Marcus
THE POLYTECHNIC REPORTER
12 | Monday, March 2, 2015
Movie Review
Restaurant Review
BY LIWEI ZHOU
BY KRIS PEREZ
'American Sniper'
He is known as “the
Devil of Ramadi,” and there’s
an $18,000 bounty on his
head. His ability to shoot long
range has saved hundreds of
American soldiers and intimidated Iraqi insurgents during
the Iraq War. “American Sniper,” directed by Clint Eastwood, is a true story adapted
from the book by Chris Kyle.
Kyle (played brilliantly by
Bradley Cooper) signs up for
the military and serves four
tours of duty as a Navy SEAL. He is credited with 160
kills, earning him the nickname “Legend.” Kyle, as a defender of his fellow soldiers,
is constantly concerned about
the people whom he is not able
to save when he is off duty.
His antagonist is the Syrianborn sniper Mustafa (played
by Sammy Sheik). They have
been fighting each other since
Kyle’s first tour of duty in Iraq.
The story sounds like a typical superhero movie, in which
the hero kills every enemy, but
it is actually a much deeper
movie than simply one featuring flying bullets. It is indeed a
thought-provoking film.
“Sniper”
challenges
moviegoers to think about
what they would do if they were
in Kyle’s place. In his first tour
in Iraq, he is devastated when
he shoots a boy who is running
with a grenade toward a group
of marines. In his fourth tour,
Kyle is struggling over what to
do about a boy who picks up a
weapon out of curiosity. Fortunately, there is no violent
action from the boy, who soon
drops the weapon and runs
away. The dilemma: As a soldier, should you do what you
are trained to do: protect your
comrades from being killed or
should you fulfill your moral
responsibilities as a human
being -- realize your humanity,
that is, -- and not kill a child,
who really doesn’t know what
he is doing?
In a flashback, the
movie explains from where
Kyle’s courage and moral
sense emanated, the responsibility, that is, to protect his
military comrades. As a boy,
he received a compliment from
his father after he stood up
for his younger brother, who
was being bullied by another
youngster. This compliment
encouraged him to become a
protector, to constantly think
about his comrades in times of
battle.
Such a selfless protector also has a weak side. Eastwood uses a few camera shots
to emphasize the family issue
that Kyle faces. In the movie,
his children grow up so quickly
that the audience cannot even
recognize them unless Taya
(Kyle’s wife, played by Sienna
Miller) is standing nearby.
In fact, Kyle’s children are as
unfamiliar to us as they are to
Kyle. At one point, Taya says
to her husband, “I need you…
to be human again.” This emphasizes not only that Kyle is
always in a war zone thinking
about people he cannot save
but clearly, painfully, it depicts
the separation between him
and his family.
However, the movie shows
Kyle returning to his family
after we see close-up camera
shots of Kyle’s abandoned helmet, his Bible, rifle and the
dead body of Mustafa, whom
Kyle has shot from a mile
away. These symbolize that his
responsibility on the battlefield has ended.
Ironically, this war hero was
killed at a Texas shooting range
by another veteran, one suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), a man Kyle
was trying to help. The movie
portrays a great respect for
Kyle by concluding with real
footage of his funeral, showing thousands of people lined
up along a highway in Austin,
Tex., to say goodbye to him.
“American Sniper” has already
earned more than $320 million, the most money ever for
a war movie. It was nominated
for six Academy Awards, but
only won for best achievement in sound editing. Nevertheless, it is a good movie, a
realistic film that engages the
moviegoer not only in the plot
but in the minds and hearts of
soldiers, who are faced with
enormous responsibilities and
decisions in times of conflict.
Such turmoil in their professional lives, the movie points
out, can also have a profound
impact on their family life as
well.
Applebee's
Applebee's at Flatbush and DeKalb in Downtown Brooklyn.
The Downtown Brooklyn area is home to many chain
restaurants. Deciding where to
have lunch after a long morning of classes is no easy choice,
with so many possible dining
spots near the campus.
With an array of restaurants to pick from in the
area, the decision became fairly easy for me, at least, based
on my two criteria: price and
proximity. So, I decided to
try Applebee’s on Dekalb and
Flatbush Avenues.
Going to a chain, one
must expect the tacky décor
and musical taste of those who
work there. This one was no
different. The interior is the
same as any Applebee’s. It is as
random as décor can get. The
dimmed lights try to distract
you from the hodge-podge of
confusing photos on the wall.
But it doesn’t work.
Entering the restaurant, I was told by the hostess
that I would have to wait a few
minutes for a table. The wait
was not long.
Eventually, I was seat-
ed around the bar. The area
around the bar was packed
with young people, probably
looking for a bang for their
buck, as I was, something all
college students share. I had
a great view of two televisions
playing a rerun of a basketball
game, which was a plus.
The initial problem
I had was the filthy table at
which I was seated. Other patrons had just left so apparently, between parties, there was
not enough time to wipe down
the table.
When the server arrived, she was more than happy to clean the table for me
and she apologized for its condition. After cleaning the table,
she asked what I would like to
order. I ordered the chicken
wonton as an appetizer and a
cowboy burger for my entrée.
I found the chicken
wonton appetizer pretty good.
I would recommend this appetizer to anyone, even with
its $10 price tag. As for the
actual entrée, it was good but
not memorable. The burger
did not stand out in terms of
taste. The fries that came with
the burger tasted like -- you
guessed it -- good old packaged frozen fries. The entree
was definitely not worth $11.
Overall, the meal was
passable but not anything
special. The only “Have a nice
day” I received when leaving
was from the hostess. The service was just pleasant enough
not to be considered rude, but
there was no real effort to be
friendly or welcoming.
Bottom line: if you’re
looking for a good meal, try
a different eatery with better food and a friendly atmosphere. There is nothing special about Applebee’s -- it’s just
another chain in Downtown
Brooklyn.
Do I have a recommendation for a cash-strapped
college students like me? Yes,
visit the Five Guys’ burgers
and fries next to the campus. The service is faster, and
there’s always the assurance
that the food will be cheap and
good. Trust me.
The Reporter seeks photographers and editors.
Interested? Contact Nathan Grammel @ ngrammel@nyu.