Within the past month, 18-year-old Samantha Garvey has endured homelessness, been named a semifinalist for the 2012 Intel Science Talent Search and traveled  to Washington, D.C. for the State of the Union Address.
Her family lost their home on Dec. 31, 2011, and on New Year’s Day she found herself and the rest of her family moving into a local shelter, where they lived for three weeks.
But this does not mean she stopped going to school and doing her research at Stony Brook University. It meant the exact opposite.
“When she works in the lab, it is her way mentally out of reality,” Rebecca Grella, who is getting her Ph.D at Stony Brook, for her work with exotic plant species, said.
With the help of Dianna Padilla, professor and lab mentor for the Ecology and Evolution department, Grella brought Garvey into the lab at Stony Brook three years ago.
“Dianna has also been pivotal person in Samantha’s life, with the two of us pushing her to reach the highest heights,” Grella said.
Padilla and Grella got the Toyota Tapestry Grant of $10,000 in 2010 that helped with Garvey’s research and other students into the lab in Life Sciences on campus.
“This grant gave us the ability to bridge the gap between university and high school and bring students into Stony Brook’s lab,” Grella said.
Samantha was interested in mussels—which she observed in Flax Pond in Old Field—and how they adapt to their environment around predators. Her results illustrated that mussels settle where they are more threatened, and their shells grow thicker because of the presence of predators.
Garvey’s eagerness intrigued Padilla when they met over three years ago.
“She was smart, eager and really focused on learning how to do research,” Padilla said.
Congressman Steve Israel was the one to bring her into the national light after reading about her in Newsday, which coincided with her semifinalist Intel announcement.
He took Garvey to the State of the Union Address on Jan. 24.
She left New York at 6:30 a.m. that morning and went straight to meet with Dr. John Holdren, assistant to the President for Science and Technology. She went on to take a tour of the U.S. Capitol.
She then had dinner at the House Chamber and listened to Obama’s address.
“For Samantha, it’s important to see how policy-making works into the field of science,” Grella, who joined Garvey for the trip to Washington, said.
Israel gave a statement on why he brought Garvey to the State of the Union.
“I hope my colleagues understand that we cannot praise Samantha’s achievements while also advocating for slashing education budgets that allow students like Samantha, who face difficult circumstances through no fault of their own, to succeed,” Israel said.
Social services found her family a three-bedroom-home, which they moved into the week of Jan. 23.
Even though she was not  honored as a finalist in the Intel competition, Grella still believes in Garvey.
“She’s still a winner,” Grella said. “I would say she’s made it to the Super Bowl.”

Peter Cohen died Nov. 14, 2000, after defending an employee who was being bullied.

In March 2011, his son, Ben Cohen, a former English rugby player, founded the StandUp Foundation in memory of his father and formed the “world’s first foundation dedicated to raising awareness of the long-term damaging effects of bullying,” according to the foundation’s website.

And on Nov. 14, 2011, 11 years after Cohen’s death, the undergraduate college of Arts, Culture and Humanities and Stony Brook’s StandUp Charter hosted an event for National “Stand Up Against Bullying” Day in the Black Box Theater of the Tabler Arts Center.

As students, staff and faculty entered the Black Box Theater in the Tabler Arts Center on Monday night, they each received a different colored piece of paper. In a few minutes, they would learn that this identified them as a different kind of victim of bullying.

Each color represented a different story. As each story was read, the people who had that story’s color card stood up. By the end of the interactive demonstration, everyone in the room was standing up.

“We were trying to get across that bullying can happen to anyone,” said Jeremy Marchese, the ACH college adviser and the founder of the StandUp Charter at Stony Brook.

“It made me feel emotional because when I was little, people passed judgments,” said James Fishon, 18, a psychology major and member of the Stony Brook StandUp Charter.

The StandUp Charter is part of a group of 25 Stony Brook students who are bringing the message to stand up by trying to get students to sign their “Commitment to End Bullying and Homophobia” petition posted on ACH’s website.

At the event, there was a table with the stories and names of victims of bullying who had been killed, had committed suicide or had been victims of homophobic bullying. In the middle of the table, there was a laptop opened up to StandUp’s petition, which now has 675 signatures.

Marchese says he hopes they get 1,000 signatures by the end of spring semester.

Only a month and half ago, Marchese decided he wanted to form a group of students dedicated to this cause inspired by Ben Cohen’s StandUp Foundation.

On Monday night, Marchese surprised the organizers and the rest of the people at the event with a video message straight from Ben Cohen.

“I am expecting to hear great things about the progress of the Stand Up Charter at Stony Brook,” said Cohen in his video message.

The crowd of 102 students was surprised to hear Ben Cohen had heard of Stony Brook’s Stand Up Charter, but Marchese had actually been in contact with organizers of Ben Cohen’s StandUp Foundation since he started the group.

“The foundation is asking for bi-weekly updates so they can stay on top of our charter,” said Marchese.

Other organizers of the group were also pleased with the event’s success.

After the event, Luke Fontana, the treasurer of the StandUp Charter and an ACH fellow, posted a video on YouTube felt inspired to announce that was inspired to stand up after a bullying incident 10 years ago.

“Stand up against bullying because you can no longer sit down and watch,” said Fontana.

The group’s president, Danielle Barbato, 19, was pleased with the success of the event.

“It really surpassed our expectations and set a standard for what we hope to do in the future,” said Barbato.

In the near future, the Charter hopes to hang figurines of blue men with the names of people who were at the event in support of its anti-bullying message. The 100 blue figurines were signed at the event and will hopefully be displayed on the SAC lobby windows according to Jocelyn Pascucci, 18, a member of the StandUp Charter.

As each person left the event, they got a rose with inspirational messages like, “You have the right to be yourself.”

“If someone doesn’t stand up, nobody will,” said Taylor Knepper, 19, an English major and event coordinator for the StandUp Charter.

Susan Facini, known best by Susie, was watching a movie at home with her mom on Wednesday night when her heart started beating very rapidly, according to her mother, Bernadette.

She went into cardiac arrest and was brought to Mather Hospital in Port Jefferson, where she died around midnight.

Minutes later the news had spread to her friends through Facebook and a chain of text messages. Her mother also called her daughter’s closest friends during the early morning.

“One of my friends found out and called me to let me know,” said Jackie Paduano, 18, a psychology major and longtime friend. “At first I didn’t believe them but I went online and saw all of the posts.”

Hundreds gathered for her wake at O.B Funeral Home in Miller Place.

“You had to wait on line to get in but no one really minded. She was that great,” Paduano said.

Facini, 19, recently declared a major in Italian studies. She was also a student manager in the SAC dining hall where she worked since last year.

One of the other student managers, Konstantinos Plakas, 19, a chemistry major, remembers her personality.

“At work, everyone will agree that her smile could light up the worst of days. She had a beautiful smile, warm heart and touching personality,” he said.

At the memorial service her mother spoke about how she wanted people to remember her daughter.

“She wasn’t my Susie or my husband’s Susie, she was our Susie, she brought happiness to everyone” Facini said.

Michelle Strano, 19, a biology major, shared an eight-year friendship with Facini.

“She brought so many of my friends together, she’s the reason so many people are friends with each other today,” Strano said. “She wanted to be friends with everyone, and succeeded with all those she met.”

At Stony Brook, Facini was a proud supporter of the Stony Brook Men’s Rugby Football Club.

“She was always in the stands supporting them. She even made them cupcakes and brownies for their games and tournaments,” said Dina Aly, 20, a political science major and close friend of Facini.

Paduano is working on naming a star after Facini through the International Star Registry. And one of her friends, Fallon McManus, is making bracelets in her memory.

“She’s gone, and it’s left a void in all of our lives that can only be filled with memories of her making us all laugh,” said Hope McDonaugh, 20, a psychology major and close friend of Facini.

Rob Drago has found himself saying the word “awesome” a lot lately.

That’s probably because Drago, a junior political science major and intern in the Office of the Dean of Students, is the co-founder of “Community of Awesome,” a new blog promoting “the simple joys” of Stony Brook University.

“Everything I say, I add the word ‘awesome’ to,” Drago said. “I’m not saying it’s a problem, it’s just because I’m part of this blog.”

The other founder, Denise DeGenarro, a graduate student in the Higher Education Administration program, came up with the idea in late September from another blog, “1,000 Awesome Things,” and “The Book of Awesome” by Neil Pasricha.

“This blog really makes me think about the positive things happening on campus everywhere I go,” said DeGenarro, who is also the graduate student assistant to the Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, Jerrold Stein.

The initiative to spread positivity is another goal of Drago, DeGenarro and other students who have become a part of Community Pledge, an initiative that started last semester in response to the bullying and suicide of Tyler Clementi at Rutgers University.

“After Clementi’s death, we felt there was a lack of a sense of care for bullying and harassment on campus,” said Jeffrey Barnett, the assistant dean of students. “We started Community Pledge to counter that negativity.”

During Community Week, which took place from Oct. 24 to 28, Community Pledge leaders gave out free hugs, sent thank you cards to staff and held doors open when it was raining.

Community Pledge was also the inspiration for Community of Awesome.

Other groups on campus, like Team Awesome, run by Homecoming King Nick Ela, have supported the positive message, as when they gave free hugs during Campus Lifetime on Oct. 26.

They hope the blog will bring a positive message to incoming freshmen and prospective students.

“I think it can provide prospective students with an insider’s glimpse into Stony Brook, and that is invaluable in helping them decide if we are the right place to attend,” said Matthew Whelan, Assistant Provost for Enrollment & Retention Management.

The Community of Awesome founders are soliciting more submissions, which can come from any student, faculty or staff who feels they have “something awesome to share,” said DeGenarro. Anyone can fill out the online form when they go to the blog under ‘Submit an Awesome Thing.’

“We have gone around to residential halls and even visited PUSO [Philippine United Student Organization] to get submissions for the blog,” Drago said.

There are currently 83 posts on the blog and more than 90 more submissions collected from visiting groups on campus.

“It’s only been a month, and so far it’s been cool seeing what comes out of it organically,” DeGenarro said.

In the near future, Drago and DeGenarro will be visiting more clubs to get more submissions for the blog.

In the spring, they are planning on having an art show in the SAC lobby displaying the posts for the whole campus community to see.

“We want to see this blog grow into something not only found online, but something people can physically and visually appreciate,” said Drago of the upcoming art show.

SBUThings, another student-run blog, displays a different message than Community of Awesome, according to its founder, who wants to remain anonymous because some of his posts are negative and he doesn’t want to lose his status on campus.

“We cover a range of things from awesome all the way to the horrific and terrifying,” said the founder. “It’s not necessarily that SBUThings is a more honest blog about Stony Brook, but that its a blog where students aren’t wearing a fake smile and pretending like this is a perfect place to live.”

According to the founder, the number of followers speak for themselves. SBUThings has 450 followers and many other non-Tumblr followers, while Community of Awesome currently has 13 followers on WordPress and 12,059 views from Sept. 28 to Nov. 9.

“We have only been around for a little over a month and we have already gained a lot of attention,” DeGenarro said.

One student has made a decision regarding the difference between SBUThings and Community of Awesome.

“SBU Things not only focuses on cool things but also annoying things that go on,” said Natalia Popko, a freshman psychology major and Community Pledge leader. “I guess people can bond over a communal hatred of the fact that the Dunkin’ Donuts in the TCACH, Tabler Center for Arts, Culture and Humanities, has horrible hours of operation, but why not celebrate the fact that we have a Dunkin’ Donuts in general?”

With 96 projects a year and $250,000 spent per project, a total of $24 million is spent annually on research and development by the Stony Brook Chemistry Department.

The chemistry department ranks ninth in the country for the $24 million dollars it spent on research and development in 2009, according to a National Science Foundation study.

With 600 graduate and undergraduate chemistry students, 40 faculty members and scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the research opportunities at Stony Brook are growing due to the funding the chemistry program receives.

Doctoral student and president of the Graduate Chemical Society at Stony Brook Alexandra Reinert sees the benefits of the funding when she does her research.

“My project funding has allowed me to concentrate on my research full time,” said Reinert, who is working on producing a cleaner energy source. “I have also traveled all over the United States collecting data at top notch facilities.”

The funding she gets allows her to travel and do her research at Brookhaven National Laboratory, which Stony Brook is partnered with for research.

When professors heard about the ninth place ranking they were surprised that their hard work was paying off.

“First, I could not believe it. The second thing came to my mind was the great success of the Institute of Chemical Biology & Drug Discovery as well as the formal appointments of joint faculty members with Brookhaven National Laboratory,” said Professor Iwao Ojima, director of the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery and former chairman of the chemistry department.

Current chemistry department chairman Benjamin Hsiao credits the research direction of the department in gaining the ranking. The “core issues” for research are energy, environment and health, as defined by the department’s summary of its strategic plan published in 2010.

“These issues really allowed our staff to get the funding and expand in the direction of doing research that will benefit the world,” said Hsiao.

Research funding comes from research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the School of Medicine at Stony Brook University and private donations, most notably from former Stony Brook mathematics professor Henry Laufer.

Jessica Jeng, president of the undergraduate Chemical Society at Stony Brook, understands the importance of funding. Jeng said, “Funding is needed to get the resources to do any research. In the research I’m doing, I’ve learned money is needed every step of the way.”

The ranking will have a positive effect on future students and their research, according to Ojima.

“The pride and confidence [gained from the ranking] will have a very positive effect on the recruitment and performance of future students,” said Ojima. “Also, undergraduate students who do research in research laboratories in the department will appreciate the opportunities they are given.”

The International Academic Program held its first fundraiser ever on Saturday night.

All donations went to Tanzanian orphanages in Mto wa Mbu. The fundraiser was held at Pentimento Restaurant in the village of Stony Brook, and cost $75 per person. A genuine African dinner was served, there was live African music and African artwork was for sale.

“We decided to organize this event since we are all dedicated to the Tanzanian cause. The orphanages there really need this money,” said Frances Aldous-Worley, assistant to the dean of the International Academic Program, who helped organize the benefit.

Worley first went to Tanzania in 2003 with the International Academic Program when she was an undergraduate student. She now goes every summer, teaching classes in Tanzania to Stony Brook students and leading the trip along with William Arens, the dean of the International Academic Program. Arens created this trip in 1998, and has since been taking 15 to 30 students to Tanzania every summer.

“When we first started going, we would see the orphanages with no water, inadequate beds and hard living conditions,” Arens said. “We decided we should leave something to help out every summer when we came.”

Arens says the most rewarding part of giving money to the orphanage was “bringing water and the ability to shower.”

Each year, Arens and his students buy supplies before going to the orphanage and give the rest of the money they raised in cash to the orphanage.

Before this fundraiser, students would organize their own events, including ice cream socials, residential hall events and club meetings to raise money to send with the summer trip to Tanzania.

After senior Maria Rodriguez went to Tanzania in 2010 she decided to raise funds with the help of the on campus UNICEF team.

“After going to Tanzania and seeing the orphanages, I thought about my experience and what I could do to give back,” said Rodriguez.

Alumni also attended the benefit to support Tanzanian orphanages.

“I feel like even though I went so long ago, I’m in this for the long haul,” said Christina Szaraz, an alumna of the class of 2004.

But Rodriguez and Szaraz agree this benefit was more successful as a whole.

The benefit raised $3,000 from the sale of art pieces and the costs of the 50 tickets that were sold.

Last year, the fundraiser raised a total of $7,000, compared to $10,000 the year before. This year’s fundraiser is not yet over, and they hope to meet at least last year’s total.

“This benefit was a success and we will definitely continue to have it every year,” Aldous-Worley said. “This was hopefully the beginning of a nice tradition for the International Academic Program.”