Here We Grow Again: GAM Starts Research Branch, GAMA

The Fall 2010 semester marked yet another milestone for Great American Mentoring (GAM) as the club relaunched its research branch, GAMA, employing students for marketing research in various areas.

Christopher Gionnatta is shown above in the center
 wearing a white shirt. He is surrounded by other
associates of GAM.

One of the projects, Codename: JABNOT, is led by Project Coordinator Christopher Giannotta, a Computer Science major at the Manhattan campus of NYIT, who joined during the middle of the Fall 2010 semester.  JABNOT (Just Another Bag...NOT) is a play on the crux of the case involving a lawsuit where a major airline paid a record judgement for the death of a stray dog named Floyd that they argued was just another bag.  Floyd was virtually baked to death in the cargo hold of the plane, which sat delayed on the runway, in the summer of 1988 in Arizona, where temperatures rise over 110 degrees.  The airline relied upon its self-serving ceiling on compensation for lost or damaged baggage (then $1,250) as applicable to traveling pets.  Professor Gregorek took over the case in 1994 and contended that the term “baggage” in airline transportation did not mean to the ordinary consumer a dog, cat, or other companion animal.  What the research team is now involved in is finding out the impact the case has had on other animal welfare cases and whether or not anything has changed, hopefully for the better. 

Commenting on what he has learned from the case, Giannotta expressed that he further understands the importance of animal welfare and the legalities behind the fair treatment of animals, and that activism is an important aspect of that understanding.  The various skills that Giannotta credits having already learned from working on the GAMA project include investigating and gathering research data, coordinating and communicating effectively with fellow researchers, and working in/as a team (this being his first real-world group project).  

Be sure to be on the lookout for the next great opportunity that GAM has for you!  Come Aboard