- [Narrator] Funding for this edition of State of Affairs with Steve Adubato has been provided by EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Newark Board of Education.

PSE&G.

Powering progress.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Working to create a future where health is no longer a privilege, but a right.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Moving the region through air, land, rail, and sea.

And by Garden State Initiative Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by Meadowlands Media.

A print and digital business news network.

[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC] - Hey everyone, Steve Adubato, everything you wanted or needed to know about AI right here.

And seriously, we're about to introduce Dr.

Patricia Morreale, Professor and Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Kean University, one of our higher ed partners.

And seriously, Professor, you have a program at Kean all about AI, the first in the state of New Jersey, first university or college to do this.

What is it and why is it so important, Doctor?

- So about a year ago, we decided, my faculty, a little more than a year ago, we decided that AI was so significant that we needed to develop a Bachelor of Science degree in Artificial Intelligence, so we went ahead and did that.

We created about 10 new courses.

We took it through program review here at the university.

We got it endorsed and reviewed at the state level, and it's been available to students in New Jersey at Kean University since fall of '25.

- What has the response been like from your students?

I mean, the level of interest.

- They're really excited.

AI is something that many students have been interested in, but they didn't really know how to access it.

They knew about generative AI and the tools out there that they could use, but learning about building it, using it, whether for good, or for, unfortunately, bad purposes, they were eager to look into that.

And they're very happy to have courses at all levels, entry level and more sophisticated upper level undergraduate and graduate courses that they can study.

- Do you believe, Professor, that sooner or later, sooner, rather than later, every university and college who is serious about preparing students for the future job market, if you will, are going to have to do this?

- I certainly think they're going to have to have AI in all their degree programs.

Whether or not they choose to have a Bachelor of Science AI, of course, that's up to them.

I know far more are joining us this fall, which is terrific for everyone.

But every single profession or field is being updated, enhanced by the use of AI from the history department with looking over manuscripts to the business department, having to teach your students how to work with marketing tools.

So using systems infused with AI or building them as our students are able to do is definitely what everyone's going to be doing.

- To what degree, Professor, is the issue of ethics and AI incorporated into the curriculum?

- Well, we're very fortunate we're participating in a National Science Foundation-funded project to put AI ethics in every year of our curriculum.

We're very, very concerned that we graduate students who know about the ethical use of AI.

From the early stages, there's a data structures course where we have them write the code themselves, and then use an AI tool to generate it and look at the differences, to more advanced courses, analysis of algorithms, where we study the organ donor algorithm and how people are matched, what the criteria are, how people can be, yeah.

- Wow.

- So this is a serious one.

You know, how well are you?

How sick are you?

What do you need?

What's the priority?

And then there are other, in software engineering, we look at tools that Amazon adopted, for example, a resume checker to look for efficiency and ways to go through the resumes faster.

Unfortunately, it introduced some bias and led to some hiring patterns that Amazon later had to correct.

So we study practical cases where AI was used either for better or for good, and hopefully our students will be well-equipped to avoid those pitfalls.

- As part of the curriculum, Professor, and in your work academically and the applied research that you do, how important is it that the rest of us not studying at Kean or any university in the future as it relates to an AI curriculum, how important is it the rest of us begin to understand the keys to identifying what has been generated from AI, and what is real?

- It's awfully important.

I mean, the deepfake images, I'm sure we all saw the Pope in the puffer coat.

I mean, that looked really good until I realized, no, that's not what he's wearing.

We have to critically examine every picture and every article that is shared with us.

We have to understand the statistics or numbers that are shared with us.

A good illustration is if you were going to plan a vacation and use a tool, an AI tool to help you plan it, be sure to check out and make sure that that's a real hotel or that's a real boardwalk that you're being suggested to take.

Those are very important factors.

Critically examine everything.

- Now you're helping students through this curriculum, through this program, prepare for a future influenced and impacted by AI.

To what degree is there an honest dialogue in the curriculum about where AI is replacing human beings?

- Well, that's a good point.

I mean, we remember when calculators came out and were widely used in the classroom and then computers became widespread in the classroom, and so forth.

So definitely AI has the potential to automate some tasks, but everything needs to be critically examined.

For example, initially there were concerns about generating code and so forth, but now companies are realizing they need even more software engineers to review that code and make sure what they're getting is correct.

So really AI is increasing the productivity of individuals, but there's still the critical examination that is needed of any product or any resource that's used.

So we do discuss it, but we also talk about the new ways AI will enable businesses to move forward, which I think you're seeing much excitement about on Wall Street.

- By the way, that's Wall Street as we tape on June 16th.

Wall Street goes all kinds of ways.

Real quick, a minute left.

As AI continues to the technology changing rapidly, to what degree is the university prepared to adapt and revise the curriculum accordingly?

- We're looking to make sure that every student that attends Kean University has an introduction to AI in a general education course.

And then if they choose, they can take additional courses both in their major area, which may not be computing, that will include AI.

We're introducing a minor this fall for all students in all disciplines that includes AI.

- Dr.

Patricia Morreale, who is a professor and the Chair of the Department of Computer Science and Technology at Kean University, one of our longtime higher ed partners.

Professor, thank you so much for joining us.

We'll revisit this issue as AI continues to evolve.

Thank you.

Appreciate it.

- Thank you.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To see more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato programs, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We're joined once again by our good friend, Peter C. Connolly, Chief Executive Officer, CEO, of New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, NJMEP is the acronym.

- Yes, sir.

- Good to see you, Pete.

- Good to be seen.

Glad to see you again, Steve.

- You got it.

The website is up right now.

Tell everyone what the organization is, your mission, and how you support the manufacturing community.

- Sure.

So we're the New Jersey Manufacturer Extension Program.

Our goal is to assist New Jersey small and medium manufacturers with organization excellence, development and excellence.

And we are one of 50 organizations.

There's one of us in every state, and we work with the 10,000 small/medium manufacturers in New Jersey.

- So Peter, we're about halfway through as we tape this program in 2026.

What do you see as the one or two, one and two most significant challenges facing the manufacturing community in the state?

- Well, depends on where you are.

Across the board, it's corporate business tax all the way.

Corporate business tax, we're at sitting at about 11.5%.

Pennsylvania in the next two years is driving down to be about 5%.

South Jersey is transportation.

As our good friend Senator Michael Testa would say, "It's not New Jersey Transit, it's North Jersey Transit."

But actually, I was just down with him yesterday in Atlantic City.

New Jersey Transit has just set up six new bus lines that will go from Millville, Vineland, Camden, Glassboro, and Atlantic City.

So that was just announced yesterday.

So great things.

But corporate business tax is probably the biggest issue.

- By the way, check out our website, steveadubato.org.

It's up right now.

Previous interviews we've done with Senator Testa, this issue has come up, and Pete knows that.

Pete, let me follow up on this.

I was telling you, I was watching another network, a business network, this morning before we came on, and a whole debate back and forth about the impact of the so-called Trump tariffs.

He didn't do it alone, but there are tariffs.

He's pushing them.

The administration's pushing them.

- Yes.

- It's confusing to me what the impact of those tariffs is and has been on the New Jersey manufacturing community.

You say?

- So yes.

So there's misleading information.

It is not a tax on the country.

The country that we are importing from is not paying the tax.

The importer of record pays the tax, pays the tariff.

So if you're buying stuff at Walmart or at Target, they're paying the tariff and passing that on to consumers.

So that goes throughout the United States, not just New Jersey.

For New Jersey manufacturers, you do deal with export companies.

So right now, the Supreme Court has basically rejected tariffs and said that the administration does not have the power to do it, only Congress.

So that was in February 20th.

- Sure.

- So what you're seeing with New Jersey manufacturers is that they're not going to get most of that money back that they've paid in tariffs to exporters.

It's going to go to the export company, whoever they're importing from.

So if you're sitting in Newark, you see all those import-export companies that are sitting there in Port Newark.

Those companies are, the small manufacturers are starting to work with the import/export that they do get paid.

Whether they do or not is yet to be seen.

- You know, Pete, so interesting, as you lay this out, there's a lot of, I use this word, uncertainty, meaning it's not clear where things are going.

It's not clear who gets that money.

And you and I have talked about this offline a lot.

- Right.

- And you made it clear, it goes to the exporter, if you will, right?

- Yes.

- And also what's going to happen with the courts?

What's going to happen with this election and who's going to be in Congress?

And what's that going to mean regarding tariffs and other policies?

And a new governor six months into her term, Governor Sherrill.

- Yes.

- Here's the question.

How the heck do you plan, as a leader in manufacturing, with so much uncertainty?

- You can't.

It changes.

Yeah, I get this question every day, and it's uncertainty.

Companies, that's what they're looking for.

The stock market is looking for certainty and we can't find certainty.

So actually the government is now imposing more tariffs under Section 122 of the 1974 Tariff Act where they can raise tariffs up to 15% for 150 days before they have to go get approval from- - And that falls, sorry for interrupting, Pete, that falls outside of the Supreme Court decision.

- Correct.

- Go ahead.

- So they have 150 days.

Now, they're not doing every country.

It's probably the big five, which is Canada, China, Japan, Germany, and I think Vietnam is the other one.

And it's a wide range, but they have 150 days.

They have begun to pay back.

There's about $166 billion worth of tariffs they've collected.

So far, they have approved 80 billion to be repaid, and they've paid only about 20 billion to date.

- So a lot of stuff happening on the federal level.

I mentioned the new governor or Governor Sherrill.

What is the most impactful policy action that the Sherrill administration could and should take from your perspective?

By the way, let me disclose New Jersey MEP, an underwriter of those of us in public broadcasting, our company.

I want to be clear.

What is the most impactful, meaningful policy decision you believe the governor, together with the legislature, could make, should make that would have a positive impact on the manufacturing community in the state?

- Permitting.

- Permitting.

- It's the biggest thing.

- Permitting, the hugest thing.

She's on a 21-county tour of going out, save time, save money, and how to reduce permitting throughout New Jersey.

- Permitting for what, Pete?

Sorry for interrupt, permitting for what?

- Permitting for expanding your business, permitting for roadways, permitting for parking lots, extending your buildings, you name it.

It's just a roadblock.

There's horror stories out there.

As I said, she's doing a 21-county tour.

She's done Bergen County, Morris County, Somerset County, Mercer County, - Hunterdon County.

- To do what?

To do what?

Meaning she's going out there and her team, Kellie Doucette, who's their chief operating officer, and getting feedback on what the key issues are in everything we hear is permitting, in the amount of time and cost it takes.

I give two examples.

One is the microbrewery business.

You're allowed to serve hard pretzels, but you can't serve soft pretzels.

One is a snack, one's a food.

You tell me what the difference is.

- Wait.

And so how does that impact a manufacturer of soft versus?

- Well, a manufacturer, but that's just an issue with permitting.

I would say in manufacturers, we have a customer that has a 70,000 foot facility.

They just expanded 20,000 and the 20,000 is not in the tax-exempt zone.

So now they lost their whole tax-exempt zone, even though it's contiguous to their property.

So there's just regulatory issues and permitting issues out there that are just causing New Jersey companies problems.

- It's not my job to editorialize, but it sounds like you just said that government needs to facilitate and help businesses succeed.

We're not even talking about subsidizing.

- We're talking about - No.

- just getting out of the way and helping the process while you regulate for safety and all those things.

But what you seem to be talking about is not about safety.

It's about how government works or doesn't work.

- The DEP process and Department of Transportation process is just, it's antiquated.

- State government.

- And now, when you change it... And now, you know, she's made some moves, putting Kris Kolluri in front of both the Turnpike Authority in New Jersey Transit.

A smart move.

Very smart move.

So, she's trying, you know, she's 150 days in, you know, she's making a difference.

- By the way, check out our full length "State of Affairs" program that we did with Governor Sherrill.

The website will be up again right now.

Next time we have her in, which is in a few months, we will talk about the issue of how state government works or doesn't work and how the aide, not her, the agencies and state government facilitate and support business and what needs to be done to improve it.

Peter Connolly is the Chief Executive Officer of New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program, NJMEP.

Peter, thank you for joining us.

We appreciate it.

All the best.

- Steve, pleasure to be with you.

- You got it.

Stay with us, we'll be right back.

(grand music) - [Announcer] To see more State of Affairs with Steve Adubato programs, find us online and follow us on social media.

- We are honored to be joined by our good friend and colleague Dr.

Regina Foley, who's Chief Nursing Executive at HMH, Hackensack Meridian Health, also the President of Specialty Hospitals and Clinical Services there.

Regina, good to see you.

- Hi, Steve.

How you doing?

- I'm doing great.

Listen, this will be seen later, but we're taping on the 16th of June.

Why is it relevant?

FIFA, World Cup.

HMH, one of our longtime underwriters, very much involved in it.

Why are there medical and health issues connected to the World Cup or any major international sporting event or any kind of event?

- They're very relevant.

Certainly, HMH is on a world stage with the World Cup as well as the America 250 plan.

So that means a lot of influx of visitors to the New Jersey area.

Hackensack University Medical Center is a receiving hospital to MetLife, to the neighborhood.

We do this all the time though.

I will tell you, we do it all the time.

It's just that the volume of individuals coming to our area is so much more so because of the World Cup and America 250.

So, a lot of preparations for many people being in a very small enclosed areas.

There are communicable diseases happening on the world, and we wanna make sure that we're protecting certainly the patients if they come to us as well as our own team members and physicians.

So the impact of the amount of people coming to our area, although we're here for global games, these amazing activities are gonna be taking place, we need to be mindful of the amount of people coming certainly to the area, and that's where, you know, healthcare rises and shines.

- So hopefully when this is seen, the people are like, "Steve, nothing happened."

Yeah, that's a good thing.

That's what we're hoping for.

Regina, shift gears.

AI and nursing, talk to us.

- Yeah, so, I'll say technology and/AI, I know there's some trepidation of embracing AI and worrisome.

We don't know what we don't know.

I can tell you from a healthcare landscape, we should certainly, and we are today to a certain extent, embracing AI.

And the purpose at HMH is we want to decrease the administrative burden to our bedside nurses and physicians of anywhere we can leverage technology and AI to help with documentation and automation.

A really good example is wound measurement.

So, patients come into hospitals.

We always do skin assessments.

If they have a wound or breakdown of skin, there's a lot of documentation associated with that.

Now we have, through AI, we can use an iPhone that we wand essentially, the camera we wand at wherever the wound or the skin issue is, and it will automate the documentation based on the size of the wound, the density of it, you know, what it looks like, all those details that a nurse would document in the chart.

Now with the picture and leveraging AI, now the documentation becomes automated right in the chart, freeing up that time for- - Is it faster, Regina?

I'm sorry.

Is it faster now because of that?

- It is.

It is 'cause it gets- - What about accuracy, though?

- Yeah, well, certainly the bedside nurse always looks to check the accuracy, but I can tell you, it's pretty darn good.

It's pretty darn good.

We've used it or kind of piloted it for, you know, the last, I guess I would say few months or so, and the documentation is spot-on.

And it's really a kind of dream to the nurse because they're not having to, you know, get on the laptop or their device and document all that detail where it's really documented for them.

- Regina, let's shift gears.

And team, let's put up the graphic for our Vaccines: What You Need to Know initiative, which is tied to our Trust in Public Health initiative.

And trust me, there's a point to this.

And you also see the website for the New Jersey Department of Health.

They have a vaccine section.

And what we're trying to do, Regina, and you and I have talked about this, and to make it clear, I've done a significant amount of leadership and communication coaching at HMH because I'm convinced, and I know Regina feels the same way, that leaders in the healthcare community need to be effective communicators to the public.

What does that have to do with this?

That trusted voices matter, trusted voices regarding vaccines.

What do you believe is the greatest challenge facing healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, as it relates to communicating and educating large numbers of the public about what you need to know about vaccines?

- Yeah, it's really challenging, certainly as a nurse, and we know that nurses are one of, if not the most trusted profession on the planet.

And, you know, our goal is really just to minimize suffering and to help people.

Right, that's just what we do.

What the challenging and the stressor to us as nurses is that we are from the time we go to school, and the same thing with the physicians, is that we follow science.

We follow science over and over again, and it doesn't let us down.

So this whole notion of that, you know, the chatter of challenging the science is very troublesome because that becomes a public health issue, right?

We follow the science, the American Academy of Pediatrics, for decades, decades.

No pediatrician or the Academy of Pediatrics would put a child or a baby at risk, right?

So we follow that same methodology.

We follow the science, and the researchers that are over and over again challenging the status quo and to make sure that the effectiveness of vaccines, the access to vaccines is happening.

So something that we, I'll say double down and reinforce, is that if we follow the science, and we follow the track record of success, that won't let you down.

And I think we can't get distracted with narrative or challenging that status quo because that's just not safe.

I mean, that could be certainly troublesome to public health.

- And sorry for interrupting, Regina, social media can potentially make it more complicated.

- Big time, because social media is so nimble, and it's so quick, and it's opinion.

Opinion can be put out there on any- - Not science.

- Not.

- Not science.

- Not science, not science.

And that's why we go to those thought leaders, physicians, members of the medical community.

Certainly nurses are vaccinating.

But I think we just can't lose our way because, again, public health could be at risk.

- Before I let you go, Regina, your mom, a nurse?

- Yes.

Yeah.

- In the minute left, tell us about your mom and how she influenced you.

- Well, certainly that's where I got kind of the bones of this great profession.

Was raised in an environment where my mother was a home care nurse and would... The landline would ring, and she would be on the other end of the phone.

And sometimes she wouldn't be able to take me or wouldn't take me 'cause my dad was home or whatever, and I had somebody else to be there.

I'm talking when I was much little, very little.

And she would go out, but other times I got a chance to go with her, and I certainly could see the impact that she made.

And the other kind of part B of that is that my father was a construction worker.

He was a pipe (indistinct) and very often he would get laid off.

And both of my parents would say to my sister and I, I have one sister, and they would both say to us, "You have to have a profession to make sure you can take care of your family and yourself and be independent."

And I can tell you, nursing certainly hasn't let me down, and I would do it again in a hot minute.

- Dr.

Regina Foley, to you and all the other folks, even though you're a healthcare executive now, all the nurses out there, we say thank you.

I know there's nursing week.

There should be nursing every day.

Regina, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate it.

- Anytime, Steve.

Always a pleasure.

- You got it.

I'm Steve Adubato.

We thank you so much for joining us.

We'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

A New Jersey health foundation program.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Newark Board of Education.

PSE&G.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

NJ Best, New Jersey’s five-two-nine college savings plan.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

And by Garden State Initiative Promotional support provided by New Jersey Globe.

And by Meadowlands Media.