Lav Varshney appointed inaugural director of Stony Brook's AI Innovation Institute, effective August 1. Varshney most recently served on the faculty of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His background blends work in industry, academia, government, think tanks, and national laboratories. Varshney’s leadership is aimed at building on the university’s role as a core partner in Empire AI, New York State’s $250 million investment in AI and computing. He will also support further collaborations with industry and work to identify unexplored research areas.

News 12 photojournalist Brian Endres shows how doctors use Heartflow Plaque Analysis software to better understand what each patient needs.

Graduating into a tough job market, Stony Brook senior Abby-Gaëlle Sylvestre launched an event planning business with her sister amid challenges landing a full-time job. Nationwide, new grads face a hiring slowdown due to economic uncertainty, AI's impact, and increased competition. Job postings are down while applications are up. Some sectors, like consulting and accounting, are hiring more, but tech and finance have seen declines. Career experts urge adaptability, with students using AI tools to prepare for interviews and exploring jobs in alternate industries. For some, like Sylvestre, entrepreneurship offers a proactive response to limited traditional job opportunities.

Stony Brook Medicine is the first on Long Island — and one of a select number of healthcare systems nationwide — to implement an artificial intelligence (AI) technology, HeartFlow Plaque Analysis™, to enable its physicians to more accurately understand the blockages present in the coronary arteries of patients with suspected heart disease. This advancement, introduced at Stony Brook through a collaboration by the Division of Cardiology and the Department of Radiology, represents a significant milestone in the fight against heart disease, which remains the leading cause of death for adults in the United States.