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Dyson Professor and Chair of the Department of Environmental Studies and Science E. Melanie Dupuis, PhD, is one of the tri-state area’s foremost experts on environmental politics and policy. We had the opportunity to ask her a few questions about the Dyson Institute of Sustainability and the Environment’s Resilience Summit, which will bring together leaders, academics, and activists to discuss and debate the complicated issues surrounding meat consumption.

Why was The Future of Meat? chosen as a topic for this year’s Resilience Summit, and why should it matter to people?

Dyson has been holding Resilience Summits every few years. It began with Hurricane Sandy and the two summits about coastal resilience and sea level rise. But the last summit, on the water crisis, expanded the idea of resilience and now we are looking at food for this summit.

The idea of the Resilience Summit is to highlight a resilience topic that is currently under discussion and to bring together people who can address the various perspectives on that issue. Needless to say, with the current rise of plant-based meat, new ways of livestock production and how both address climate change, it was important to bring people together to talk about these different paths to the future of protein consumption: should we continue to eat meat as a protein? Or should be go with plants? Or with lab-created products like the Impossible Burger?

How has public perception of meat eating changed in the 21st century? How do you anticipate it will continue to change?

It depends on who you are talking to. For my Environmental Studies and Science students, the question is always: should I go vegan? Many of my students became vegan after watching Cowspiracy. One of my jobs as a professor in this department is to make sure they understand the information that is presented to them, offer them various different points of view, and give them the tools to sift through that information. A few years ago, one of my policy students came to me and said, “I watched Cowspiracy but my dad is never going to stop eating meat. How do I think about policy that takes everyone into account, including my dad?”

That became her thesis topic. We interviewed scientists on the various sides of the issue. That became an EarthDesk blogpost, which was one of the first discussions of that topic.

Since then, the question of “the how not the cow” has been discussed constantly in the media. But the answer remains that we don’t know the answer.

What are some of the downsides of meat consumption as it relates to environmental sustainability?

I just showed my students in my food course The Right to Harm. It shows how confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs)—meat and milk—are super-sizing quickly and bringing huge environmental and health impacts to the communities where they are located. So even if we aren’t talking methane and climate change, we have a huge behemoth of environmental impacts happening now at the local level with these large farms. Consumers see this and decide that meat and milk are bad. As a result, milk prices go down and the smaller family farms—that are already impacted by the lower prices caused by the mega-dairies and animal operations—are hit by dropping consumption rates, a move to almond milk (with is actually a livestock-based food in my opinion, but the livestock in that case are bees), or to other drinks and forms of protein.

Carbon, on the other hand, is more complicated. There is a group of livestock production innovators who are working with biogeochemical cycles to lower the environmental footprint of meat production. This type of production will never allow Americans to eat as much meat as we do now, but with other forms of protein may be the right choice for future meat production. Should we be eating lab and plant meat or should we move to better kinds of meat production? Or both? The answer may not be either/or, but either way farmers need to be able to make a living—not the “farms” that are just industrial operations but the ones that work with their land.

What role do local, federal, and international government organizations play in relation to some of the major issues surrounding this topic?

At the local level, livestock is sneaking into the suburbs through chicken coops and small-scale goat and cow operations. I live five minutes from a Metro-North station but also across the street from a goat farm. Different municipalities are allowing more backyard chickens.

At the state level, some states are looking seriously at legislation, like California’s, that allows farmers who farm regeneratively to claim carbon credits. This is the sort of thing that European agricultural policy has been doing for decades: paying farmers for their environmental services. But we have to be clear what those services are, how much carbon, how much methane, how much water pollution? We don’t have those answers at the moment but that’s the question of the hour for many agroecologists.

At the national level, I very much like the legislation proposed by Senator Cory Booker. I’ve been trying to get farmers and [agriculture] policy folks to weigh in on that legislation, and they all just tell me that no one is going to pay attention to legislation to restructure the livestock industry proposed by a vegan. But it’s a terrific bill and I believe the way we should go. It meets the needs and interests of small ranchers who are currently held hostage by the meat processing monopolies, the animal welfare folks who want to see animals treated well even if they have to have “one bad day,” and the environmental folks fighting against the super-polluter CAFOs.

Jessica Jiménez ’19 knew about Pace well before she enrolled. “My father learned English as a second language [on the] New York City Campus when he came here from Mexico,” she told us. Her mother and older sister graduated from Pace, too, and were supportive of Jiménez’s decision to apply. “They always talked about Pace with such pride,” she said, a legacy she would easily live up to when pursuing her BA in Psychology. Jiménez was named one of Pace’s Top 100 Scholars in 2016, received Dean’s List First Honors four times, won first place in the English Department’s Writing Contest for poetry, and also won for an experimental psychology research paper in the Writing Enhanced Course Contest, which was presented at the Annual Pace Psychology Conference. Talk about work ethic!

She cited her professors as just one of the many reasons why she ultimately decided to pursue a master’s degree at Pace as well, saying that, “I believed that Pace’s graduate professors would be just as good—if not better.” Her new focus? The recently launched Physician Assistant (PA) program on the Pleasantville Campus. “I had to take numerous science prerequisites,” Jiménez explained, who also worked as a physical therapy aide all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.

“The biological and pathological components of medicine have always fascinated me,” she said, but it was the team aspect of the work that also sparked her interest in pursuing the career. That and their dizzying breadth of knowledge across a variety of medical specialties. “There are many callings in life,” Jiménez told us, “but for me, they all pale in comparison to the skilled care and healing touch that a PA can provide to so many people.”

It was that level of dedication and a desire to lend her skills for the greater good that she took up the mantle of Historian and NYS Chapter Representative of the PA program on the Pleasantville Campus, becoming a leader for her peers. “I wanted to be a part of that impact to set an example for future students,” she explained. “Everything we do reflects on our program, and since we are the first class, first impressions are crucial to succeed.”

Currently, Jiménez is in the clinical phase of the rigorous 27-month PA program. In general surgery alone, she faced a challenging schedule beginning in the early morning hours and working well into the evening, covering “trauma, acute care, minimally invasive, and vascular surgeries (including a 24-hour shift), as well as completing projects at night for my surgeons, creating a presentation for my class, and studying every day for my end of surgery exam.” Whew!

During one of those many surgery rotations, Jiménez encountered a patient and his wife who were both extremely nervous about his upcoming procedure. “I volunteered to wait with [them] until a medical transporter came to take him to the operating room,” she said, explaining that she listened carefully to the couple’s concerns. “I reassured them that they [were] in good hands, [and] mentioned how I saw a lot of people who maintained a good quality of life after,” as Jiménez was very familiar with this particular procedure. “I went with him down to pre op and the couple said they felt better knowing that I was going to be there surgically assisting in the operating room.”

We know Jiménez will go on to help countless others in her medical career, and we’re excited to hear more about what will undoubtedly be a bright future for her.

Bryan Volpe ’20 is a biology major with an eye for detail and a mind for the medical field. His interest in Pace started early; he went the extra mile and sat in on a few biology classes on the Pleasantville Campus when he was still in high school. But it was the size of those classes that struck him: there were no more than 30 students per professor. “That kind of collegiate atmosphere is a rarity in universities throughout [the US], specifically in the scientific community. Many biology and chemistry students [...] often feel like just another number in their major due to the sheer volume of students,” Volpe told us. “I believed in Pace’s capacity to provide me with the mentorship and direction that I needed to grow as an individual.”

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Taking advantage of those very mentoring opportunities early on, Volpe began conducting groundbreaking research with Dyson Assistant Professor of Biology Aaron Steiner, PhD, who he’s been involved with for over two years now. Along with Leslie Sanchez ’18, the three have been studying regeneration of hair cells in zebrafish. They hope to be able to apply positive findings to better understand how hair cell regeneration can potentially work in the human body. “I’ve always been compelled by the desire to disentangle the underpinnings of biological phenomena; driven by the chance to connect molecular dots,” Volpe explained.

“This great mystery and the chance to solve it is what draws me back to the lab every single week,” he continued. “There’s no place I’d rather be—energy pulses through my veins like electricity through a power line when I’m in [the] lab conducting confocal imaging of interneuromast cells.” This past July, their group presented at the national conference in Boston for the Society of Developmental Biology.

Of his numerous positions at a variety of work placements over the years, Volpe has also completed a staggering 561 hours of intensive clinical shadowing at The Valley Hospital of Ridgewood, NJ, where he was accepted into their physician shadowing program. “I specifically functioned as a pre-medical student where I was extensively instructed and taught by powerful physicians. Their wise teachings and my time with them not only bolstered my foundational knowledge base, but also provided me with direction,” Volpe explained.

All throughout his time at the hospital, he diligently carried a notebook everywhere with him. When people asked why, he answered with just one word. “Effort,” Volpe said. “To me, effort exists within all of us. No one can give us effort—it can only emanate from the decisions that we make pertaining to decisive action.” He filled each of those notebooks with annotations regarding his observations with each physician. It’s that kind of dedication that exemplifies the work ethic Volpe so clearly has.

There is, perhaps, no better example of this than a story he shared with us about his mentor at the hospital. Previously, the long-standing record was 15 patients transported in seven hours. They shattered that record by transporting 18. “We kept up that pace for the next three weeks, and individuals throughout the hospital began to notice us. I was cognizant of the fact that when coupled with hard work, modest tasks can give birth to extraordinary opportunities,” Volpe said, and he was right. “I was invited to shadow an RN in the cardiac unit, [and] she eventually pulled some strings to get me into the coronary catheterization lab.” He got to witness a patient’s heart being saved—and his mind was blown. “Since that moment, there hasn’t been an hour that has passed where I haven’t thought about going to medical school or getting my MD.”

Volpe has called his journey a “metamorphosis” over years of dedication and effort. We look forward to hearing about more of his many accomplishments in the future—and the patients he will inevitably save.

Jj Perdido ’23 knows who he is and what he wants, and he’s driven to achieve every goal he sets for himself. As a digital journalism major and regular contributor to the Pace Chronicle, the student-run newspaper on the Pleasantville Campus, Perdido has taken on many responsibilities in his tenure here. He’s a first-generation student mentor, an Orientation Leader, and a member of both the Setters Leadership Program and Alpha Chi Rho fraternity—all roles he’s served with pride. “The one thing I want out of life is to become a father and teach my children how to become more successful than me. And hopefully the people [who] I have the chance to influence can take that same mentality of setting up those you affect to become more successful than you,” Perdido told us.

Those leadership qualities started early on when he joined his high school’s morning news show, The Warrior News, in his sophomore year. “I really felt in my element and that being a news anchor [was] definitely what I want[ed] to do,” Perdido explained. “I think it’s very important to know what is going on in your community and [the] world. That is what news brings you.” He also discovered his love of writing then, too, which set him on the path of pursuing a career in journalism. “There’s something about the simplicity of it; putting your thoughts on paper is so appealing to me. We’ve been doing it in different forms for hundreds of years and it evolves slightly, but still has so much impact.”

When it came to choosing a college, Pace seemed like a natural fit. And when Perdido toured the Pleasantville Campus, his decision to apply Early Action was solidified. “I’ve loved every second here, have met many people, and have gotten more opportunities to get involved than one person could ever handle,” he told us, and he’s certainly taken advantage of everything we have to offer. Recently, Perdido was named sports editor for the Pace Chronicle, which involves a lot more than just writing articles. “I reach out to our sports representative and let him know what I want to write about, and he’ll set me up with an athlete to interview. The most difficult part is scheduling it, since I am usually busy, as well as the athlete, as well as our sports representative. It typically works out, but that is probably the biggest challenge,” he explained.

As a journalist, Perdido has had to hone his people skills, which he said he initially picked up from two unlikely jobs: one at a moving company near his hometown in Pennsylvania, and another with Pace’s IT Helpdesk as a student assistant. “To put it into perspective, there are certain ways that we have to carry different pieces of furniture,” Perdido said of his moving job. “Some can be anywhere from 200 [to] 400 pounds. There have been times where we will begin to carry a large couch, for instance, and halfway to the trailer, the client will ask us to turn around and bring it back because it is not supposed to go.” Uh, yikes.

On the flip side, in his job for the IT Helpdesk, Perdido was faced with client requests that his department didn’t handle, such as, for example, with Blackboard, which another team is in charge of. “The problem is, [they’re] usually very backed up and may take a couple days to fix individual problems. Some people cannot wait that long and have exams or assignments due hours or minutes after they call us. It’s difficult to tell them that there’s nothing we can do in a stressful situation for them,” he said. Sounds like he had to cultivate a lot of patience and dedication, and it shows in all his work—particularly as a member of Alpha Chi Rho.

“My fraternity’s motto is ‘Be Men,’” Perdido told us. “I think being a man means to care for those around you and to be a beam of light for those you can be one for. I definitely think that trying to influence those around you in a good manner is one of the most important things that you can do in life. My fraternity has taught me that.” Wise words.

It’s clear that in everything he does, Perdido is passionate about affecting change and giving back to his community. We’re so excited to see what he achieves next! You can say you knew him when.

Double major Aissatou Gningue ’22 was already preparing to commit to another college when she happened to schedule a tour at Pace. The experience left such an impression, it caused her to seriously reconsider her plans. “The way I was welcomed by the students I spoke to, the possibilities presented on campus, and the fact that I would stay in New York was a game changer for me,” she told us. She also ended up choosing Pace for the opportunities the University provided, something Gningue didn’t waste any time taking advantage of.

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Currently, she’s pursuing a dual major in both public accounting and political science, and even added a pre-law minor to her busy schedule. “I ultimately want to go to law school to study international law,” she explained, her sights set on eventually working in foreign policy at the United Nations (UN). Gningue dreams big! For now, though, she has a solid plan in place on her way to the UN, which involves focusing her talents on learning more about the auditing process. “I spoke to accounting professionals while [I was] figuring out my major, and I found out that accounting is something I would like to pursue while on my journey [toward] something I am also passionate about.”

As practical as Gningue clearly is, she’s also passionate about a lot—and that includes her many, many extracurricular activities. She not only participates in intramural volleyball games, she’s also an active member of the National Society of Leadership and Success, Phi Mu Psi Delta Chapter, and Beta Alpha Psi. These things, she says, were motivated largely by her parents. “I always strived to do well in school because starting at a young age, they gave me the extra push to be the best at whatever I want to do,” Gningue told us. “They set the bar really high and continue to encourage me to go above and beyond.”

In her time at Pace, Gningue has worked in numerous industries from tutoring to sales to counseling all the way to an internship at the New York City Law Department. “My perspective on law completely shifted,” she explained, having worked with law practitioners, former lawyers, judges, and even Mayor Bill de Blasio’s legal team there. It gave her a real sense of the world she would be entering into after graduation. “I learned how policies and the legal system as a whole impacts society and can be used to mitigate issues around the world, including my country, Senegal.”

Like every good legal professional, Gningue is always working to bring people together and foster a greater sense of camaraderie. That’s why she’s working on launching a brand new student organization on the NYC Campus called The Nomads. “The club strives to build a community within Pace to help students meet new people, collect and commemorate memories, and make the most of their college experience,” she told us. “I sincerely hope it will [bring] the Pace Community together and celebrate diversity and inclusion.” We’re excited to see this project flourish!

Did you know her mother is also attending Pace right now, though? It’s true! She already has an MBA in Finance, “but after coming on [a] tour at Pace, she decided to get her master’s in accounting and is on [the] CPA track,” Gningue said. Talk about a Pace legacy story!

We look forward to hearing more about the next big project Gningue decides to take on and pioneer, as well as all the numerous work opportunities we’re sure she’ll be landing on her path to the United Nations. Ambition like that never sleeps, and Gningue is as passionate as they come.

Rachel Vetterman ’22 has wanted to become a teacher since she was little. “I loved to play school,” she enthused. “I played it so often that my dad actually made me my very own chalkboard using chalkboard paint and pieces of wood for the frame.” That passion for education eventually led her to participating in her high school Students Assisting Students program. “[It] allowed me to go back to my old first grade classroom and help out,” Vetterman told us. “The experience solidified my love for teaching and the incredible guidance from my former teacher inspired me to become an elementary school teacher as well.”

With her heart set on teaching in New York, she had the unique perspective of being a college transfer student, which meant Vetterman got to be choosy when it came to her next move. That’s what brought her to Pace. “[The] School of Education is top notch,” she told us. “They really prepare their students for the teaching field.” She was also interested in the fact that Pace students start their training in the field earlier than most universities. “That opportunity was impossible to pass up,” Vetterman explained.

She has held numerous student teaching positions over the years, most recently at the Ossining Union Free School District. There, she organized and distributed homework and classroom supplies, worked directly with teachers to develop education plans, administered tests and quizzes, supported classwork and projects, graded, and much more. But it was a moment with a student in one of her previous positions that really hit home for her.

“One time, my mentor teacher and I were in the classroom eating lunch when one of our students came in crying,” Vetterman told us. “We immediately asked her what was wrong, and she shared that she had been experiencing terrible anxiety for the past few days. [...] It was so heartbreaking to see my student hurting like that at such a young age.” She said that was a turning point for her in her career, something she wouldn’t forget. “[It] made me realize that as a teacher, I have to be more than just an educator. I need to be a friend, a role model, and a confidant.”

It’s that level of enthusiasm and sincere dedication for her work that impressed the Pace chapter of the Tau Sigma National Honor Society, and they recently extended an offer of membership to Vetterman in the spring. “Due to COVID-19, however, we were never able to have an induction ceremony,” she said. Hopefully it happens soon! We look forward to hearing about her much-deserved induction to Tau Sigma after all her incredible work.

Looking ahead to the future, Vetterman will be completing her BA in Childhood Education in May 2021. From there, she will continue on to receive her MSEd in Special Education, to be completed in May 2022. It’s truly impressive how, even as a transfer student to Pace, she’s taken every opportunity available to her and pursued a combined degree program to get the most out of her time here. We’re excited to see where she goes next!

Little known fact, though: Vetterman used to participate in musical theater for many, many years. “I have won two National Youth Arts Awards for different roles that I have played,” she told us. So cool!

Now join us for National Transfer Student Appreciation week as we celebrate incredible transfer students like Vetterman who bring so much to Pace and the students she is so passionate about supporting.

From charting the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns to uncovering a forgotten chapter of history, Dyson College faculty members have provided new understanding on a variety of topics recently. Here’s a closer look at their work.

COVID lockdowns and PSY Health

Has the strain of mandatory COVID-19 lockdowns affected your mental health? The psychological toll has been widely discussed in the media, and now, a new analysis from Pace University Associate Professor of Psychology Anthony Mancini, PhD, and Gabriele Prati, a researcher at the Università di Bologna, provides groundbreaking insight that indicates we might be more resilient than we thought.

“We found that, in the early stages at least, the effect was quite small,” Mancini said. He and Prati analyzed 25 studies involving more than 72,000 participants, and findings showed no statistically significant negative impact on social support, loneliness, general distress, negative affect, and suicide risk among the general population. However, Mancini also notes that the data was extremely varied, which suggests that the psychological effect of lockdowns may differ depending on factors such as social group or geographical location. This may also be due in-part to the disparate health impact of the pandemic.

The full study, “The Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdowns: A Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies and Natural Experiment,” is published in the journal Psychological Medicine.

Unlocking the Secrets of Bee Propolis

Propolis, a sticky residue produced by bees and used in the construction of hives, has been recognized for its medicinal properties since ancient times. Today, Pace University Associate Professor of Chemistry Elmer-Rico Mojica, PhD, and his students are working to gain a better understanding of the material.

“[Propolis doesn’t] have exact composition since its chemical make-up is dependent on many factors like location, bee species and season,” said Mojica. “What we are trying to do is to find out if we can have some sort of a chemical marker that can identify that one propolis sample from a particular place.”

To understand how it might be possible to differentiate between propolis samples, the first step is to determine optimal methods to extract the propolis. Mojica recently published new findings in the LSUA Undergraduate Journal in Teaching and Research that demonstrate the efficacy of using ultrasonification (ultrasonic sound waves). He completed the study, “Comparative Study of the Extraction Methods for the Instrumental Analysis of Bee Propolis,” with Lyric O. Wyan ’19, BS Forensic Science, and Jozlyn Charland ’20, BS Forensic Science.

The research is ongoing with other students, and Mojica recently had papers accepted for publication in the Philippine Journal of Science and the Journal of Tropical Life Science.

The Impact of Online Dating Service Advertising

In the world of online dating services (ODS), advertising may be the third wheel, according to award-winning new research from Assistant Professor of Communication Studies Aditi Paul, PhD. Her findings, presented recently at the 7th International Communication Management Conference, showed that advertising messages for ODS are standardized globally, not aligning with the values of different cultures. “Consistent exposure to such standardized advertisements can transform people’s dating practices,” Paul said.

Inspired by a Stanford University study, "How Couples Meet and Stay Together," Paul has worked on her project since 2018, in collaboration with Saifuddin Ahmed, a researcher at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Their paper, “Does Online Dating Promotion Vary Across Cultures? Analyzing Homepage Advertisements of Online Dating Services in Fifty-One Countries Across Europe, North America, and South America,” was awarded $5,000, first place recognition at the conference, held virtually and hosted by MICA, a strategic marketing and communication institute in Ahmedabad, India.

“Because of the pandemic, both Dr. Ahmed and I have not been able to visit our families in India for over a year,” Paul said. “To receive this recognition at a conference hosted in India was the closest we got to being home during these extraordinary times.”

Karolina Zaluski ’04, a business economics major, also assisted Paul with the research.

Survival in Today's Media Market

How can local news organizations, especially digital ventures, ensure survival in today's media market? New research from Department of Media, Communications, and Visual Arts Assistant Professor Mirjana Pantic, PhD, demonstrates that establishing a unique niche is one key strategy.

“It is not enough for local digital media to base their originality on the specific region where they produce the news,” Pantic said. “They need to have certain unique characteristics which are usually reflected in the type of content they provide.”

Supported by a Pace Undergraduate Student and Faculty Research Program grant from the Provost’s office, Pantic worked with Jade Perez ’20, Digital Journalism, and conducted in-depth interviews with ten local news organizations.

Results, published earlier this year in the journal Journalism Practice, indicated that focusing on localized content of particular interest to the specific audience rather than investing resources to cover stories being covered by other larger outlets is an effective approach. Pantic also found that utilizing the talents of emerging journalists and students is beneficial to news websites, as well as the individual journalists.

Unearthing Hidden Women’s History

The Korean War, which began on June 25, 1950, has been referred to in the United States as “the forgotten war,” for the limited consideration it has received in comparison to World War I, II, and the Vietnam War. Assistant Professor of History Michelle Chase, PhD, is working to change that, particularly when it comes to an all-but-forgotten protest movement led by a group of women in Cuba. Her article, “Hands Off Korea! Women's Internationalist Solidarity and Peace Activism in the Early Cold War,” published recently in the Journal of Women's History explores the efforts of the Democratic Federation of Cuban Women, a group active in opposing the war. Members held protests, signed petitions, and wrote letters against engaging Cuban troops in the fighting. One managed to travel to North Korea to collect information on wartime atrocities. Chase’s work is the first scholarly article on the group.

“My article emphasizes the fact that in the early Cold War you did see some interesting expressions of women's activism, including some very radical peace activism that tried to build bridges between women in Latin America and the Caribbean and women in Asia,” said Chase. “It’s an interesting group, because in some ways their protests prefigured events of the 1960s, like opposition to the Vietnam War. In other ways, they anticipated arguments made by second-wave feminists in the 1970s. So, I think it’s a very intriguing story that hasn’t been fully told.”