Stony Brook University’s undergraduate-oriented, all-inclusive science journal — Young Investigators Review (YIR) — debuted its fourth issue at this year’s annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URECA) celebration. The mission of the journal, which was founded in 2008, is to provide students with a way to learn more about the research currently being done on campus by their peers and faculty. In addition to stories on student research, the 2014 journal features a cover story titled “Demystifying Star Formation,” which focuses on the work of Jin Koda, assistant professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy. Other stories feature interviews with Lorna Role, chair and professor, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, and Marvin O’Neal, course director, Undergraduate Program in Biology.
YIR is edited, written and designed entirely by students. It offers aspiring talented future researchers and physicians a way to hone their science writing skills, spread word of their experiences, and inspire incoming students to think about devoting their futures to the various fields of science.
While the journal staff was active from 2008 to 2011 — publishing three issues and hosting two symposiums — it was on hiatus until this academic year when it was re-established under new management. The journal was redesigned and a website was created to showcase its articles as well as an archive of past issues.
“Layout editors Preston Kung and Sherin Kuriakose, photographer/Photoshop whiz Yaruq Hassan, and webmaster Evan Magaliff did a fantastic job,” explains Julia Joseph ’15, editor-in-chief. “Similarly, our president and vice president, Viven Solomon and Surya Chalil, worked extremely hard to re-establish our footing on campus. I’m only mentioning some of our incredible staff — this was definitely a team-based effort, and without any of our members, YIR would not have been possible.”
Going forward, YIR wants to strengthen its structure to ensure its success after the founding staff graduates. “I will be staying as editor-in-chief as will most of this year’s staff with the exception of two associate editors, Erin Thomas and Sahar Bilal, and our president, Viven. Despite these major losses, I’m confident that we will continue on this upward trajectory,” Julia adds.
Starting fall 2014, YIR intends to add and train more staff. “We also want to revamp the writer recruitment process and the editing process, so this restructuring will be a major part of the plan for next year,” Julia says. “In the meantime, we will aim to produce our next journal by spring 2015 and continue to showcase a unique set of articles online.”
For more on YIR or to read past issues, visit sbyir.com. The full spring 2014 journal may be found at sbyir.com/journal/.
YIR Staff
Working behind the scenes to bring this year’s journal to life were: Julia Joseph ’15, editor-in-chief; Viven Solomon ’14, president; Surya Chalil ’15, vice president; Youran Wu ’14,
graduate student advisor; Eman Kazi ’15, copy editor; Sahar Bilal ’14, copy editor; Ashwin Kelkar ’16, associate editor; Erin Thomas ’15, associate editor; Matthew Alsaloum ’15, associate editor; Sherry Bermeo ’15, associate editor; Sherin Kuriakose ’14, layout editor; Preston Kung ’16, layout editor; Evan Magaliff ’15, webmaster; and Yaruq Hassan ’14, photographer.
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