Stevens Institute of Technology: Admissions Blog

Meet Stevens' New Student Government Leaders

Fast-approaching the 100^th senate of Stevens’ Student Government Association (SGA), Nick Catania and Abhay Sampath take the helm as newly elected (2011-2012) president and vice president, respectively.  Assuming top position on their agenda is a concerted effort to increase the already robust and diverse representation of clubs and organizations on campus - something that makes Stevens distinct. They aim to position the SGA as a central point of information for extracurricular activities and inspire students to come up with ways to make the Stevens experience even better.

“With almost 100 student-run organizations on campus, there are so many ways to get involved.  You can join media organizations, ethnic and professional societies, sports, Greek life, and so much more.  Students are always starting new clubs and finding new ways to explore their interest," Catania said.  "The funds for these organizations are in the hands of students, and everyone is determined to be successful. There is clearly a great advantage for students here.”

Both Catania and Sampath will be entering their final year as Stevens undergraduates, and they are very excited to be holding their new leadership positions.   These are students who have taken full advantage of opportunities for student involvement at Stevens.  Catania is a double major – engineering physics and music & technology (with a concentration in music composition).  He is also a member of Gear and Triangle, Stevens Jazz Band, Stevens Dramatic Society, and he was on the winning team of the Northeast Regional Ethics Bowl.  Sampath is a Stevens Scholar who will earn both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering when he graduates in 2012.  He is a former member of the Stevens Honor Board and a member of a number of extracurricular clubs. In addition, this past fall semester (2010), he studied abroad at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“My study abroad experience was amazing,” Sampath said. “It was one of those college experiences that gets you out of your comfort zone and opens your eyes to different environments, outside of what you learn in the classroom.  This was the first time I had the opportunity to experience new cultures and travel to such remarkable destinations as Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. I’m happy that Stevens was able to connect me to other parts of the world.”

With most of their undergrad years behind them, Catania - a graduate of Marlboro High School (Marlboro, NY) - and Sampath - a graduate of Middlesex County Academy (Edison, NJ) - look back on their transformation and credit Stevens with helping them become campus leaders.  Stevens’ close-knit community engages students in ways other larger universities cannot.  They say everyone at Stevens is motivated to work together, take on new challenges and make things happen.

Their message to incoming freshmen?  Take advantage of the available opportunities to get involved.  Freshmen, for example, eager to take on new leadership roles, can run for the SGA Senate positions early on in their first semester.  And Pre-Orientation is a great way to be introduced into the community before the school year begins.  It helps many students get a jump start on making new friends and building relations that will last through, and well-beyond, their careers at Stevens.  “We can’t wait to see you at Stevens this fall, and we’re looking forward to getting you started on your new adventure!” Catania said.

Alumna Dominique Gonzalez: From Stevens to Product Engineer at Fisher-Price/Mattel

Since 2004, mechanical engineering graduate Dominique Gonzalez (B.E. `04, M.E. `10) has been a product engineer for Fisher-Price/Mattel in New York City.  True to the company’s mission of “Creating the Future of Play”, she is specifically responsible for the production of some of the most popular, innovative toys on the market.  For the average consumer, it’s hard to imagine all the work behind creating the fun children have with the latest toys, but listening to Dominique describe her role in getting the company’s products on the shelf – through the various stages of concept and design to manufacturing, packaging and distribution – cultivates a keen sense of appreciation for her job as well as the education she received at Stevens.

As product engineer, Dominique is charged with considering, first, if the toy design is manufacture-able, and if so, ensuring that it is developed through the production cycle, including debugging and safety inspections, ultimately making sure the product meets expectations in every way.  As highly sophisticated and complex as it is, Dominique describes her job as a fun place to be.  Considering some of her favorite products – Handy Manny Toolbox, Elmo Live, and the Sesame Street Cars– that’s not surprising. “In a job like mine, it’s actually ‘ok’ to watch cartoons and get excited about toys,” she said.  “It’s fulfilling to see my products in the stores, to see parents buy them.  Really, I get to make things that make kids happy!”

Dominique’s success at work and in life, she says, is linked to several factors.  Recalling her days as a student at Verona High School in New Jersey, Dominique pointed to her mother’s high expectations and how that ultimately led to her applying and getting accepted to Stevens. “I was always pushed to do well in school,” she said.  “A’s were expected, and if I was struggling with getting those, I was encouraged to find help and support. There were no exceptions.”  Her uncle being a mechanical engineer was also an influence. “A few things he told me about the field that inspired me: one, that mechanical engineers are versatile and two, engineers, generally, are taught to be good at problem-solving,” Dominique said. “At Stevens, that all held to be true. I learned to handle people and projects, how to organize them into an efficient whole.  Product engineer for Fisher-Price/Mattel, which was first a temporary position, was my first job in the field. I adapted to a complex process of product design and project management very quickly. I did a great job, and they kept me on as a regular full time product engineer. That really is a testament to my Stevens education and the support I received through the Career Development Office.”

Dominique is equally appreciative of the solidarity she had at Stevens, which she gained through several activities: varsity women’s volleyball, the Black Student Union (BSU), Latin American Association (LAA), National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), the Stevens Technical Enrichment Program (STEP), and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE).  “At Stevens, everyone is willing to help,” she said. “It’s challenging, for sure, but very supportive.”

The highlight of her experience at Stevens?  Senior design, she said.  And this is what she feels incoming students need to know if they’re weighing several colleges.  “Senior design is the most important hands-on dive into your major. It’s amazing,” Dominique said.  “Beyond the books, you seriously learn here by doing – like building mock ups, outputting information to the model shop, designing and running simulations.  By the time you leave Stevens, you understand and are confident because of this experience. It makes you distinct out there in the industry.” 

Dominique’s senior design project won top prize at the New Jersey Chapter meeting of the International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE).  The “Remotely-Operated Stitching Device,” was an exercise in pharmaceutical engineering.  Her team’s primary goal was to provide an innovative way to reduce, if not eliminate, invasive surgery. More specifically, the aim was to develop a method for securing an endovascular stent-graft in place from within the aorta using spiral Nitinol clips.  In addition to winning first place in the ISPE Poster Competition, the project won Stevens’ Technogenesis Award in 2004, and the team filed a U.S. patent for the device.  They also earned a National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Association grant. “I learned a lot during the senior design experience,” Dominique said. “And the highlights of the project were a big deal. We got to present in San Jose at a professional conference.  Most memorable for me, though, is having worked with Professor Zhengi Zhu, our senior design advisor. He is really incredible.  Working with faculty like him – very much known out there for his expertise, his research, and yet so available to students – is what you get at Stevens, and that makes all the difference.”

Stevens Habitat for Humanity Chapter Visits Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in Timber Lake, SD

By Sara Roeder, Class of 2008

Mitakuye oyas’in! This phrase, meaning “all my relatives” in the native Lakota language of the Sioux Native Americans, became the theme of the Stevens Institute of Technology team’s trip to Timber Lake, South Dakota for Habitat for Humanity.  With these words, the Lakota culture attempts to communicate the belief that all life is connected, and there was no better premise to observe this cultural philosophy than from the perspective of a Collegiate Challenge.

The Collegiate Challenge is an alternative spring break program sponsored by Habitat for Humanity during which students spend a week building a house for a partnership affiliate.  The Stevens Institute of Technology team trekked to the Okiciyapi Tipi HFH affiliate on the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation in Timber Lake.  Upon landing in the Midwest, the general sentiment was that the group had arrived in a foreign country, one in which the predictable, geometric patterns created by innumerable skyscrapers were replaced by expansive vistas of rolling prairie and irregular rocky buttes.

As the team pulled in to our final destination at the Holy Cross Catholic School, we were greeted warmly by Sisters Pegge Boehm and Darlene Gutenkauf with their arms full of an extensive array of bar cookies: brownies, blondies, pumpkin bars, spice cake, and more.  The hospitality did not end there, as the team enjoyed several home-cooked meals throughout the week.  The accommodations at Holy Cross were simply the start of the progression to a new understanding of the word ‘community’.

With bellies full and bodies rested, the team embarked on their true mission for the week: building a house for a Timber Lake family.  The Marshalls are a family of five that have fallen on hard times, and have turned to Habitat for Humanity for a hand up.  The building site was seven miles away on a gravel road in a desolate town known as Glencross.  On Monday, the team was faced with the challenge of erecting an enclosed house on what appeared to be little more than foundation and decking.  During the week, the team fought through blisters, splinters, wind, snow, and precarious ladder maneuvers in order build exterior walls, interior framing, and complete a roof for the Marshalls.

Although the work was tough, the team thoroughly enjoyed the time under the tutelage of construction superintendent a.k.a. crew boss Ted “Teddy” Eagle (the added help of Adam Westbrook and Allison Moe, two Habitat veterans in town for a few days, also sped up the construction process).  The camaraderie experienced at the site contributed to the group’s increasing awareness of the importance of human relationships in both rural and urban societies.  This importance, and relevance, of human connections also carried over into the Native American cultural activities planned by the Okiciyapi Tipi HFH affiliate.

While on the reservation, the Stevens team participated in a native sweat lodge ceremony, listened to live performances of traditional Sioux folksongs and legends, and also ate the local delicacy: “Indian tacos”.  By far, the most intense cultural experience the team partook in was the sweat lodge.  All 15 team members entered into a deer hide tent constructed with willows that stood approximately four feet tall with a diameter of twelve feet.  In the center of this tent lay several igneous rocks that had been heating in a blazing fire for most of the day.  The sweat lodge leader would pour water over the rocks during the ceremony to create steam which would in turn heat the participants.  The team then endured four rounds of sweating throughout which the sweat lodge leader chanted Lakota songs and prayers.  While the team did not directly understand the meaning of the words being spoken, communication and intercultural connections were deepened as a result of the sharing of this ceremony.

Another favorite activity of the Stevens group was a trip out to the ranch of the head of the affiliate, Jerry Farlee.  At present, he maintains cattle and bison on the ranch.  The excursion was taken on a truly picturesque day, and several team members will have photographs to treasure the landscapes.  Throughout the tour, Farlee stressed the Sioux reliance on subsistence living.  This event demonstrated the connection that humans have to the land, and also showed how delicate of a connection it is when facing the advance of an increasingly modern world.

As the Stevens students return to Hoboken, New Jersey, many of them have taken on new perspectives as a direct result of their experiences in the Cheyenne River Sioux Indian Reservation and, more specifically, the Timber Lake community.  The students approached this alternative spring break with open minds and open hearts, and have broadened their perception of community beyond the simply cordial to the nearly familial.  As a group, we would like to say thank you, mitakuye oyas’in, for all that you have shared.