 The year 1997 marked another NYIT first as the men's lacrosse team won the college's first national championship when it captured the NCAA Division II title.In 1998, NYCOM opened the Adele Smithers Parkinson's Disease Center.Among its many initiatives, the center provides medical care, promotes community awareness and Parkinson's disease education, fosters scientific studies and medical research, and helps individual patients achieve and maintain the best quality of life possible while coping with the disease.