2 CSI professors make teaching and learning a
multifaceted experience
One makes objects vanish into thin air and suits up like an
astronaut in protective gear. The other juggles a passion for snakes
with an 8,000-plus collection of old records. What do they have in
common? They can both be found teaching at the College of Staten
Island.
For Dr. Steven Okulewicz and Dr. Frank Burbrink, their second
careers sometimes come in handy as they intertwine their off-campus
lives with class syllabi to drive home a lesson, or broaden
students' horizons. Chalk one up for job diversity.
As a professional magician and a professor of geology, Okulewicz has
more than one trick up his sleeve for keeping the attention of
students.
To help smooth over some of the rocky points of the subject, such as
chemical weathering, Okulewicz will rip up a piece of paper to show
a physical change, pop the pieces in his mouth and pull out a
50-foot long multi-colored streamer. Magic via the chemicals in
saliva.
With slight-of-hand antics and a Ph.D. in geology from Brooklyn
College, Okulewicz has been unleashing his own brand of instructing
at CSI for 23 years. To demonstrate that you need a heat source to
melt rock and make volcanoes, the 51-year-old Castleton Corners
professor opened up a text book that burst into flames.
What's the secret? He'll never tell.
But with magic, Okulewicz stresses that how to do it isn't as
important as how you do it.
"It's all in the presentation," said Okulewicz. And he should know
because he's been entertaining young and old alike with his "Magic
of Geology" show for more than 20 years throughout the tri-state
area.
SUITING UP
When he's not a college professor, or pulling things out of a hat,
Okulewicz can be found suiting up in what he calls a "moon suit"-- a
fully encapsulated Level-A suit.
Monday through Friday, Okulewicz works as a senior geologist and
instructor for Tetra Tech NUS in Edison, N.J.
His job takes him throughout the country and abroad training
agencies such as the Coast Guard, Federal Bureau of Investigation
and Department of Environmental Protection to deal with hazardous
situations.
Courses in anthrax, sampling for toxic materials in ground water,
using air monitoring equipment to check for explosive and flammable
vapors and measuring the levels of oxygen, radiation and chemicals
are among the subjects he teaches.
Critical to the coursework is selecting the right suit for the
emergency at hand from nearly a dozen types made out of Teflon,
butyl rubber and other kinds of rubber compounds that can resist
hazardous chemicals.
"There's no Superman suit that protects you from everything," said
Okulewicz.
SHEDDING SOME LIGHT
While Okulewicz might be a master at suiting up, his colleague,
biology professor Dr. Frank
Burbrink knows shedding -- snakeskin -- which enabled him to
discover a third type of corn snake in 2001.
Researching mitochondrial DNA samples from the skin and livers of
corn snakes, Burbrink found an evolutionary distinction. He dubbed
his discovery, "Slowinski's corn snake" after his best friend,
herpetologist Dr. Joseph Slowinski, who died that same year from a
venomous snakebite in southeast Asia.
Known also by its Latin name "elaphe slowinskii," Burbrink's
non-venomous corn snake can be found in parts of Louisiana and
Texas.
Although his discovery bumped the number of known snake species in
the U.S. to 141, Burbrink has yet another goal to attain -- writing
the definitive book on early American recorded music.
Aided by a massive assemblage of old records -- spanning a 1917
recording of "Livery Stable Blues" by the Original Dixieland Jazz
Band through the early 1960s -- the 32-year-old Clifton resident has
been working on his book for several years.
"I have a whole room that's just complete music," said Burbrink.
Crates of 33-, 45- and 78-rpm records, and his new passion, CDs,
came along with him when he relocated last year from Baton Rouge,
La.
However, that collection ends abruptly, once The Beatles and the
rest of the British invasion destroyed American music, said Burbrink
in a mixture of sincerity and laughter.
MUSICAL ROOTS
Elaborating, Burbrink points out that many of the invading "mophead"
bands copied the raw styles of black artists such as Howlin' Wolf
and Muddy Waters and received the accolades and air play that eluded
their mentors.
They may know the music but they don't know the blues," said
Burbrink, quoting Chester Arthur Burnett, better known as Howlin'
Wolf.
Burbrink's tome will explain how each musical genre evolved and
converged to form new styles -- ragtime, early blues, swing jazz,
be-bop, hillbilly, honky-tonk and rockabilly -- just to name a few.
The book will also trace the influence of '50s rock rebels like The
Phantom, Bunker Hill and Guitar Crusher on three-chord punk rock
bands like the Ramones, the Cramps and Misfits.
While the book is geared toward music aficionados, Burbrink tries to
grab the interest of his students by including a sampling of his
vintage vinyl heroes in classroom discussions.
"There are a few kids who are slick and they know [the music]," said
Burbrink. "But the other kids, I can tell, their eyes just glaze
over."
