|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The HIV/AIDS Peptide Team
The College of Staten Island
Dr. Fred Naider (right)
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Leonard and Esther Kurtz Term professor. $7.5 milion in research grants.
Svetlana Rabinovich (left)
B.S. in Chemistry and Biochemistry 2006
William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, CSI
M.D. SUNY Downstate Medical School 2010
The Cellular Aging Team
City College of New York
Dr. Shanaz Ghandhi (left)
Ph. D., 2006, Postdoctoral researcher, Cednter for Radiological Research, Columbia University Medical Center
Dr. Karen Hubbard (right)
Professor of Molecular Biology, CCNY
Collaborates with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center
Dr. Shanaz Ghandhi, who earned her master’s in India and came to CUNY to study with Dr. Hubbard, used a genomic approach to investigate a protein that interacts with a cancer-causing gene. Their research could help explain the aging process and cure or prevent cancer.
The Chemistry Team
Baruch College
Charles Malerich (right)
Professor of Physical Chemistry
Mark Smiley (left)
SEEK Program (Search for Education, Elevation and Knowledge)
B.A., Biology, Baruch College, 2006
M.D., University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2011
Jack Kent Cooke graduate Scholarship
($300,000 over six years)
Mark Smiley vowed to become a physician when he saw a friend shot dead in Brooklyn. Dr. Charles Maleric (left) has long stood behind him, starting with a general chemistry class. Smiley later joined Dr. Malerich’s research into metal porphyrins, which are components of blood proteins.
Smiley earned a two-year United Negro College Fund/Merck Science Scholarship for drug research and a one-year postgraduate National Institutes of Health grant to study musculoskeletal injuries. Future plans: devising new orthopedic surgical techniques. Says Dr. Malerich, “I got a tremendous thrill out of watching him learn.”
The Malaria Combat Team
Brooklyn College
Dr. Roberto Sanchez-Delgado (right)
Associate Professor of Chemistry
Guggenheim Fellow 1998; NHI-SCORE Grant recipient
Chandima Rajapakse (left)
Ph.D. in Chemistry, 2009
Presenter, mercian Chemical Society, 2007
Three departmental awards for excellence.
Malaria strikes 350-500 million people every year, killiing more than 1 million worldwide. Malarial parasites now resist the standard drug, chlorouine. Dr. Sanchez-Delgado and doctoral student Chandima Rajapakse insert the metal ruthenium into chloroquine to make it invisible — and therefore lethal — to the parasties. This modified drug also promises to fight cancer. Lab tests are starting in both areas.
The Number Theory Team
Bronx Community College
Dr. Rony Couraige (right)
Ph.D., CUNY, 2006, after 12 years in banking.
Researches associative and Lie algebras and quadratic forms.
Erica Fells (left)
A.S., BCC, 2007
B.A.. in Mathematics Lehman College, 2009
NYC Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Particpation grant.
Presented, Nebraska Conference for Undergraduate Women in Mathematics.
With Dr. Couraige as her mentor, Erica Fells presented a novel approach to Euler’s phi function, which dates from the 1700’s and helps safeguard online purchases, at an international conference — a rare feat for a community college student. Now an undergrauate teaching assistant at Lehman college, she seeks a doctorate in mathematics.
The AD/HD Team
Queens College
Dr. Jeffrey Halperin (left)
Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Queens College and CUNY Graduate Center
Michelle Bubnik (center)
Senior, William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, Queens College
NIH Minority Access to Research Careers grant; Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalist
Olga Berwid (right)
Ph.D. in Psychology 2007; Phillip M. Resnick Award, International Neuropsychological Society, 2006; CUNY Postdoctoral Fellow at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine
Dr. Jeffrey Halperin studies long-term brain development in children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD), a condition affecting up to 7 percent of children ande 2 to 4 percent of adults worldwide. He has received $9 million in research grants. Michelle Bubnick, center, and Olga Berwid, left, are researching AD/HD from behavioral cognitive perspectives, respectively.
The Corn/Maize Genome Team
Lehman College
Dr. Eleanore Wurtzel (right)
Professor of Molecular Biology
Chair of CUNY Plant Sciences; Ph.D. subprogram; Fellow, American Associates for the Advancement of Science. Over $7 million in research grants.
Ratnakar Vallabhaneni (left)
Ph.D. in Biology/Plant Sciences, 2008
Best presentation, Plant Metabolic Engineering, Gordon-Kenan Graduate Research Seminar
Some 250 million children worldwide suffer malnutrition, disease or death because they don’t get enough Vitamin A. To help them, Dr. Wurtzel conducts research into the chemistry of different corn varieties that she grows on campus. Ranakar Vallabhaneni traveled from India to study with her. He examines the genomes of corn and other cereals, seeking genes that will raise Vitamin A production.
The Teacher Development Team
The College of Staten Island
Jane Coffee (left)
Professor of Mathematics
Director, CUNY Teacher Academy at the College of Staten Island
CSI Dolphin Award for Outstanding Teaching
Christina Idava (right)
B.A. in Mathematics, 2010
Enrolled in CUNY Teacher Academy
When sophomore Christina Idava graduates from CUNY’s new Teacher Academy, she’ll help solve New York City’s chronic shortage of math and science teachers. The Teacher Academy offers full scholarships, and Christina has committed to teach math in a high-need public middle school or high school. Dr. Coffee teaches her honors-level calculus, troublehsoots problems and keeps her moving toward her goal.
