Stevens Institute of Technology Helps Vets With New Database
The Stevens Institute of Technology’s School of Business recently revealed a new student project to assist Vets4Warriors in Piscataway, NJ, where veterans “answer between 900 and 1,000 calls each week from fellow veterans seeking financial, medical or legal help.”
Under the supervision of Industry Associate Professor, former Marine and faculty liaison to Stevens’ Veterans Office Dr. Don Lombardi, students Joyce Pegler, Management major Zoë Gnecco ’18, and Computer Science majors Austin Cawley-Edwards ’18, Ben Iofel ’19 and Jeff McGirr ’18, built Counselor’s Laptop Resource or CLR, which “allows counselors to search for resource providers by specialty as well as location and allows them to rate the effectiveness of services, to ensure quality.”
According to the article, Vets4Warriors veterans used to direct “callers to the services they were most familiar with, creating potential overuse of certain providers who might be many miles from those in need.”
Vets4Warriors’ director retired Army Major General Mark Graham praised the CLR beta: “I’m a field artillery guy, so as I say, you can have all the best equipment in the world, but if you don’t have any ammunition, it doesn’t do you any good. The Stevens students give us that expertise that helps make this work.”
Lombardi notes the tangible impact of CLR, “The students’ work is making a difference to a 1,000 lives a week—and their loved ones, their families, their boyfriends and girlfriends. And getting that resource that quickly could be the difference between a vet hanging up—or getting that vet the help he or she needs.”
About the Author
Jonathan Pfeffer
Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as contributing writer at MetroMBA and contributing editor at Clear Admit, he is co-founder and lead producer of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.
