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Vol. 5 No. III – Fall 2008 |
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Top Storiess Stony Brook Alum Named Distinguished Service Professor at SUNY Old Westbury
Recent Public Health Graduate Wins J.W. Saxe Memorial Award for Public Service Samia Omar (M.P.H., ’08), has won the J.W. Saxe Memorial Award for her work in oral health education. The award money will go towards implementation of a oral health education program in Madagascar where children suffer from poor oral hygiene. The Saxe award is given nationwide to students who choose to work in public service who need financial support to aid their projects.. More>> The Turkana Basin Institute, a research organization formed by Richard Leakey last year, has begun operations. The first field station, located at Ileret, Kenya, is now equipped for researchers to participate in extended stays in the area. . More>> New Institute For Ocean Conservation Science At SBU To Tackle Pressing Threats To Marine Ecosystem STONY BROOK, NY, Aug. 22, 2008 – Today Stony Brook University announced the establishment of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science within its School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) on Long Island, New York. This world-class Institute will conduct scientific research that will provide the foundation for smarter ocean policy by increasing knowledge about critical threats to oceans and their inhabitants. . More>> A Stony Brook University First: Students Receive $15,000 Carroll And Milton Petrie Foundation Awards To Teach In NYC On June 2, five Stony Brook students each received a $15,000 Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation Scholarship-Loan. These awards, funded by a grant from the Carol and Milton Petrie Foundation, are designed to support outstanding Stony Brook students pursing graduate degrees in teaching mathematics, science or TESOL, and who will teach in New York City.... More>> Student Profiles To Share or Not to Share…My Wife with My Brother?
He Puts the Steam in Kibbutzim
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Laura Anker (Ph.D. History, ’83), has been promoted to Distinguished Service Professor at SUNY Old Westbury. Professor Anker has been part of the faculty at the SUNY Collegeof Old Westbury since 1978, and attained the rank of full Professor in 1996. She is currently a faculty member of the American Studies Program.. 
Turkana Basin Institute: Ileret Field Station Running, Fieldwork Underway
In Thailand, there are a group of female apes, called siamangs, that have multiple male sexual partners. Is this an adaptation to a shrinking environment caused by deforestation? Is it an attempt by males to split the task of dealing with difficult females? Or is it simply sexual adventurism?. . 
According to Edward Westermarck, children develop a sexual aversion to those that they encounter regularly and are the same age – that’s why brothers and sisters are not normally attracted to one another. A genetic adaption has developed which triggers this aversion to deal with the biological malfunctions of incestuous pregnancies. In Westermarck’s estimation, the incest taboo is not something developed by humans to prevent these pregnancies (i.e. social structure), but rather the incest taboo is a result of a biological mechanism.