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May 30, 2006

Three CCNY Grads Win Salk Awards
Three seniors bound for medical school after graduation received, Sherman Chu, Andrea Silva and Edward J. Vazquez-Cintron, received CUNY Salk Scholarships at a ceremony last week’s at Baruch College. Each will receive a $6,000 stipend toward medical school. In addition, Ms. Chu and Ms. Silva have been accepted as summer interns at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Calif. A fourth graduating senior, David Shiu, received honorable mention. CCNY had the most Salk Honorees among CUNY colleges. Ms. Chu, a Queens resident who is a student in the CUNY Honors College, plans a career as an osteopathic pediatrician and will attend New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. Ms. Silva, also from Queens, will enroll in the Ph.D. program in biology at theAlbert Einstein College of Medicine. Mr. Vazquez-Cintron, a Manhattan resident who plans to become a researcher, has been accepted to the Sackler Institute of New York University School of Medicine, where he’ll pursue a Ph.D. in immunology. Mr. Shiu’s will also attend the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. The Salk scholarships are named for Dr. Jonas E. Salk, the 1934 CCNY graduate who developed the first polio vaccine. More on this story.

Deborah Wolf, ’06, Wins Javits Fellowship
Deborah M. Wolf, a graduating English major in the CUNY Honors College ay CCNY has received a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education. Ms. Wolf, who will pursue a Ph.D. in African American Studies at Yale University after graduation, was one of 25 recipients selected from a nationwide pool of 771 applicants. The Fellowship, named for the late U.S. Senator, who represented New York from 1957 to 1981, includes an annual $12,224 payment to the institution in lieu of tuition and a stipend of up to $30,000. Ms. Wolf, who was among the first cohort of CCNY-Stuyvesant Scholars when she enrolled four years ago, is a City College Fellow and has received the Kaye Scholarship from the Division of Humanities, the Goldsmith Scholarship from the CUNY Honors College and the Mack Graduate Fellowship from the CCNY English Department. “Winning the Javits Fellowship is a truly fitting capstone to Deborah’s extraordinary undergraduate career,” President Williams said in congratulating her. More on this story.

Nickolas Pappas Wins CCNY Outstanding Teacher Award
Professor Nickolas Pappas, Chair of the Philosophy Department, has received City College’s 2005-2006 “Outstanding Teacher” award winner. The award is presented annually by a committee of past winners under auspices of the Office of the Provost. In congratulating Professor Pappas, President Williams noted that both his peers and students hold him in high regard. He is “one of CCNY’s true gems and an inspiration to many,” President Williams said, adding that letters from students and faculty colleagues praised his skills as a lecturer as well as the extraordinary time he devotes to his students. “I am very grateful to be recognized in this way. It’s a rare honor,” said Professor Pappas: “One of the things I love about teaching at CCNY is the way the students bring out my best efforts. I know they don’t take their education for granted, and their commitment is an inspiration to me.” A graduate of Kenyon College and Harvard University (Ph.D.), Professor Pappas has taught at CCNY for 14 years. 

Sophomore Maria Komarstova Wins Watson Fellowship
Maria Komarstova, a sophomore in CCNY’s Honors Program pursuing a double major in International Relations and Jewish Studies, has been awarded a 2006 Jeannette K. Watson Fellowship. Under the three-year Fellowship program, Ms. Komarstova, a Brooklyn resident, will be offered paid summer internships, mentoring and enhanced educational opportunities. “I feel honored to be a part of such a great organization and I’m looking forward to my next three summers,” said Ms. Komarstova, who was born in the former Soviet Union and came to the United States in 1994. She is a City College Fellow and has been involved with NYPIRG. Established by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation in 1999, the Fellowship recognizes New York City undergraduates who demonstrate exceptional promise, outstanding leadership skills and commitment to the common good. Watson Fellows have their pick of coveted job placements over three consecutive summers in non-profit agencies, business organizations and government service that give them a chance to grow and develop interpersonal skills and gain confidence in a variety of professional settings. In the third summer, they can apply for an international assignment.

Restored Wrought Iron Arches Re-Hung Over Convent Avenue
Seven years after they were taken down for storage and restoration, the wrought iron arches over Convent Avenue were reinstalled Saturday, May 20. The arches, with their elaborately decorative grillwork, frame the north and south entrances to the historic neo-Gothic Quad designed by George Post. They were removed in 1999 due to extensive corrosion and stress on the supporting piers, according to Sam Martinez, Project Manager with the CUNY Department of Design and Construction Management. At first, they were placed in storage while CUNY construction managers developed a program for replacing the terra cotta trim on the piers. After rehabilitation of the piers got underway, the arches were taken to TDO Iron Works in Roosevelt, N.Y., which performed the restoration under contract to Ahern Construction, which is also refurbishing the façade on the Compton-Goethals building. Restoring the arches involved cleaning those sections that could be repaired and replacing those that could not, Mr. Martinez noted.

CCNY Science Students Win CSTEP Poster Competition
City College undergraduate science majors earned top honors in the poster competition at the New York State CSTEP Student Conference last month at the Sagamore Conference Center on Lake George. Junior Jemila Caplan took first place in the natural sciences junior division competition. Her mentor was Biology Professor Shubha Govind. In the natural sciences senior division, Adawale Olajueblo, Edwin Vazquez-Cintron and Silbilly Toribio came in first, second and third, respectively. Their respective mentors were Biology Professor Christine Li, Biology Professor Mark Pezzano and Chemistry Professor Horst Schulz. This year, 15 students in the CCAPP program (City College Academy for Professional Preparation) attended the conference, with support from the MARC/RISE program, the Memorial Sloan Kettering/City College parternship and the Office of the Dean of Science. They competed against more than 100 presenters represents CSTEP programs at 49 colleges and universities throughout New York State.

Women PR Executives Group Expands Scholarship Support
The Foundation of Women Executives in Public Relations (WEPR) will fund four scholarships totaling $10,000 for CCNY advertising / public relations majors for the 2006-2007 school year. The gift will provide for a full scholarship ($4,000) for a student from New York City, one half scholarship ($2,000) for an international student and two half scholarships for New York City residents. Recipients will be selected from among juniors and seniors based on academic achievement and financial need. In prior years, the WEPR Foundation provided three $1,000 scholarships for CCNY students. CCNY is the only school in metropolitan New York that receives support from the Foundation, which also provides scholarships for students attending Cornell and Syracuse Universities. “The additional scholarship money is a tremendous vote of confidence for our program, said Professor Lynn Appelbaum, director of the advertising and public relations sequence. She notes that enrollment in the program has increased by 50 percent over the last three years to 150 enrolled undergraduate majors and that graduates are increasingly landing entry level positions with leading agencies. “We feel it is terribly important to support the program at CCNY,” said WEPR President Pat Davis.

CCNY Senior Earns Honor From Publication Designers
Miau-Yee Chen, a senior Electronic Design & Multimedia (EDM) BFA student, received an honorable mention (one of the top five prizes) in the Society of Publication Designers annual student competition. Her entry, a design proposal for a sports magazine, will be showcased in the society’s annual publication. Ms. Chen was one of 120 art students from across the United States and abroad participating in this year’s competition. Her submission was based on a project from her Editorial Publication Design class taught by Professor Ina Saltz, who noted that the Fall 2006 semester was the first time the class had been offered in the EDM program.

Flat Panel Screens Spread Event Information Around Campus
Many of you have seen the flat panel screens on the first floor of NAC and by the Bursar's office that provide up-to-date information on campus events. They are part of a new Student Information System (SIS) that will carry continuously updated information about all campus events that are open to students, as well as important academic and other College deadlines that impact students. The system, which will be operational next month, will ultimately have seven of these monitors, with additional screens in Shepard Hall’s Lincoln Corridor, the Sophie Davis Student Lounge in Harris Hall, the lobby of Steinman Hall, by the elevators in the Marshak Science Building and at The Towers residence hall. The SIS was bought from the Student Technology Fee, in response to student requests for a better way to find out what’s going on around campus. Each SIS screen is split in two: the left side lists what’s happening on any given day, and the right lists deadlines and events coming up in the next two weeks. Events posted to the system will also appear on the CCNY and CUNY websites’ events calendars. A protocol for including events on the system will be distributed after Commencement.

CWE Relocation Postponed Until January 2007
The City College Center for Worker Education (CWE)’s relocation to the historic Cunard Building at 25 Broadway has been postponed until January 2007, according to a statement from Dean Daniel E. Lemons. CWE will continue to hold classes in its current location, 99 Hudson Street in Tribeca, during the summer and Fall semester. CWE has leased 44,000 square feet on the seventh floor of the Lower Manhattan landmark. Its new facilities will include 15 classrooms to accommodate 750 bachelor’s degree students, a state-of-the-art auditorium with 150 seat capacity, workshop classrooms, smart seminar rooms, an improved full-size computer lab, a student lounge, public information display, and a student study area/library resource room. More on this story.

Professor’s Species Modeling Technique Ranked Among Best
One of City College biology professor Robert Anderson’s research specializations is the use of geographic information systems to model the probable distribution of animal and plant species. The ability to predict species distributions is central to many applications in ecology, evolution and conservation science. In a recent study comparing 16 methods for performing this work, a technique developed by Professor Anderson and computer scientists from AT&T and Princeton University known as maximum entropy, or Maxent, ranked among the top two for discriminating between suitable and unsuitable habitats. The findings appear in the April edition of the journal Ecography and were the subject of a research highlight brief in the May 18 edition of Nature.  The Maxent technique relies upon occurrence records from known habitats and computerized maps of environmental data for modeling, and is based upon a simple and precise mathematical model.

Synthesized Gold Nanoparticles Embedded Gel Stack Up Like City Skyscrapers
When CCNY Chemistry Professor George John and colleague Dr. Praveen Kumar Vemula synthesized gold nanoparticles in a urea-based gel, the tiny particle embedded gel took on an appearance quite familiar to most New Yorkers. They were stacked like sheets suspended vertically in the gel; under an electron microscope, they resembled Lower Manhattan’s skyscrapers as viewed from an airplane flying overhead. The team’s discovery was the subject of the cover story in the May 24 edition of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Chemical Communications. The cover illustration features a picture of Lower Manhattan, as viewed from Upper New York Bay, atop a photo of the gold nanoparticles encapsulated in the gel. The nanoparticles are reduced from gold (III) to gold (0) when the gel is mixed with a gold chloride solution, Professor John explained, adding that the gel acts like a sponge trapping the solvent. The researchers believe their technique has application to the development of nano-structured-advanced materials made from a combination of gels and metal nanoparticles.

Classes of ’46, ’56 and ’66 Return for Commencement, Reunions
Approximately 200 members of the Classes of 1946, 1956 and 1966 and their families are expected back on campus next week to participate in commencement and attend reunion events on Thursday, June 1, and Sunday, June 4. This is the first year that the 60^th, 50^th and 40^th anniversary events have been held concurrently, according to Elena Sturman, director of The City College Fund, which organizes the reunions. In prior years, only 50-year reunions were held in conjunction with commencement. On Thursday, June 1, the returning alums will march in the commencement processional, have class luncheons and go on campus tours. On Sunday, June 4, they will attend a gala dinner and reception at the New York Hilton with guest speaker Dr. Leon Lederman, ’43, winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics. Other speakers will include President Williams, Valedictorian Ilana Hellman and Colin Powell Fellow Trevor Houser.

From the President

A remarkable academic year is drawing to a close. What has made this year so special has been the extraordinary accomplishments of so many of our students. You’ve read about some of these achievement in this newsletter, on our web site and in the media.  We have students graduating who in the fall will enroll in some of our nation’s most prestigious graduate and professional school programs; some of them have earned generous fellowship in national competitions to support their studies. In academic competitions such as the Model UN, City College students have demonstrated time and again that they can hold their own with the best and brightest.

What our students are achieving has changed the conversation about City College for the better. It has resulted in a new sense of excitement among our alumni and other supporters, and helped our capital campaign to exceed $162 million. All of us can take pride in what our students are accomplishing because we’ve helped it to happen, whether by serving as mentors or cutting through red tape to help a solve an administrative issue.

For those of you who will be away over the summer, I wish you a pleasant and restful time, and I look forward to seeing you in the fall.

Gregory Williams

138th@Convent  is produced by the Office of Communications of The City College of New York. We welcome your comments and suggestions for stories; please email eletter@ccny.cuny.edu