February 2008
BROOKLYN
University News
BROOKLYN — Polytechnic University has joined NYSGrid, a consortium of New York institutions that develops cyber-infrastructure capabilities to advance research and education throughout New York State. NYSGrid's web site describes cyber-infrastructure as "advanced technologies - computing, data storage, visualization, instrumentation, sensors - connected via high-speed networking into an integrated grid that will support revolutionary advances in research, knowledge management, and education." See Press Release TOP
BROOKLYN — Globalization, high-tech, biotech, services innovation...these aren't just buzz words, they're realities. But to succeed in the emerging era, more than pure technology is required. Today's and tomorrow's business professionals need to master cutting-edge management in order to thrive. To ensure that they do, Polytechnic University's Department of Management has designed a unique "techno-MBA" program that takes advantage of Poly's role as a leading technology management, engineering and applied science institute, small size, multi-disciplinary approach, and location in the vibrant global city of New York. See Press Release TOP
BROOKLYN — December 2007 marked the year-and-a-half anniversary of Polytechnic University's partnership with the Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women. To celebrate the milestone, President Hultin, members of Poly's faculty and staff, and Poly trustees, visited the UA Institute which prepares girls for college with a rigorous and engaging curriculum that Poly helped to develop. The visit gave Poly a chance to see how the school has come along since it opened. See Press Release TOP
BROOKLYN — Polytechnic University President Jerry M. Hultin, Chancellor David C. Chang, and members of Poly's faculty and staff met with a delegation from China's Wuhan University to explore potential areas for collaboration.The two universities signed an agreement to continue that exploration and to promote academic exchange in areas such as professors, undergraduate and graduate students, and research. See Press Release TOP
National Science Foundation Awards to Individuals
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Maurizio Porfiri (Courtesy of Polytechnic University) |
BROOKLYN — Maurizio Porfiri of Polytechnic University is the recipient of a $418,738 NSF grant for Guidance and Control of Fish Shoals using Bio-Mimetic Robots. Detail TOP
BRONX
CUNY News
BRONX — The City University of New York has joined The Solar Energy Consortium to create a new research and economic development partnership between solar energy companies and academic institutions across the state, in order to dramatically advance the solar industry in New York. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., helped to organize the consortium, a not-for-profit organization which aims to identify the challenges facing the solar industry for New York's scientists, engineers and business researchers to collaboratively address, and to deliver turnkey, economical photovoltaic systems large and small. CUNY joins participating educational institutions including Cornell University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Clarkson University, Binghamton University and The State University of New York at New Paltz. See Press Release TOP
Technology Breakthroughs in New York State
BRONX — A glitch in the mechanism by which cells recycle damaged components may trigger Parkinson's disease, according to a study by scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The research, which appears in the January 2 advance online issue of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, could lead to new strategies for treating Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases. See Press Release TOP
New York State Research Patents
BRONX — Chris Conrad and Peter Davies were awarded a patent for Saitohin gene and uses of same. The patent was assigned to Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Detail TOP
New York State Scientists in the News
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Stanley G. Nathenson, M.D. (Courtesy of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University) |
BRONX — Stanley G. Nathenson, M.D., distinguished professor of microbiology and immunology and of cell biology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, has received the second annual Marshall S. Horwitz, M.D. Faculty Prize for Research Excellence during a special ceremony at the medical school. See Press Release TOP
BRONX — Jeffrey Pessin, Ph.D. has been named Director of the Diabetes Research Center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Dr. Pessin's research has encompassed several crucial aspects of diabetes: He is now studying the role of insulin signaling in activating and controlling glucose uptake and metabolism, the adult stem cell development of adipose (animal fat) tissue and why newly developed fat cells remain persistent despite weight loss. See Press Release TOP
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Hayley McDaid, Ph.D. (Courtesy of Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University) |
BRONX — Hayley McDaid, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine and of molecular pharmacology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, has received a $100,000 grant from Joan's Legacy: The Joan Scarangello Foundation to Conquer Lung Cancer for her research of lung cancer. The grant, which is being funded equally over two years by Joan's Legacy and the LUNGevity Foundation, will support Dr. McDaid's efforts to better understand mechanisms of specific lung cancer genotypes that contribute to the onset of lung cancer and how they can be targeted for therapy. See Press Release TOP
QUEENS
CUNY News
QUEENS — Flushing and Bayside officials are hailing Gov. Eliot Spitzer's higher education recommendations in his State of the State address. Eduardo Marti, president of Queensborough Community College in Bayside, is also a member of the governor's Higher Education Commission. "I am delighted to see that the governor's address contained many of the recommendations that were incorporated into the draft report presented to the governor last month." See Article TOP
KidSciTech News
QUEENS — For the first time ever, the Intel Science Talent Search has named three Queens students as finalists in its prestigious competition. The announcement was made Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where the 40 finalists will compete for $530,000 in scholarships from March 6-11. The top winner will receive $100,000. See Article TOP
MANHATTAN
NYSTAR Strategically Targeted Academic Research (STAR) Centers in the News
MANHATTAN — The New York Structural Biology Group will hold their 3rd Annual Winter Meeting on Friday, February 29, 2008 at the Weill Medical College, Cornell University, Manhattan. See Event TOP
University News
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Laura Kaufman (Courtesy of Columbia University) |
MANHATTAN — Laura Kaufman of Columbia University, a 2004 NYSTAR James D. Watson Investigator Program award winner, is the recipient of a $211,641 NSF grant for Particle-by-Particle Studies of Heterogeneous Dynamics in Molecular and Colloidal Glasses. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Nina Shapley of Columbia University, a 2003 NYSTAR James D. Watson Investigator Program award winner, is the recipient of a $282,784 NSF grant for Formation of Multiscale Biopolymer Particle Structures for Novel Biosorbent Design. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Using time-lapse photography and computer modeling, a team of researchers from Columbia, Yale and Lehigh Universities has explained a mystery surrounding the assembly of a cellular structure responsible for cell division, the vital process which enables living creatures to develop from embryo to adult. Ben O'Shaughnessy, professor of chemical engineering at Columbia University, led a group that developed computer simulations quantitatively analyzing this mechanism. See Press Release TOP
MANHATTAN — New York University has received $1.5 million from New York State to continue its work in stem cell research. NYU's Dean for Science Office within the university's Faculty of Arts and Science received $553,000 and NYU's School of Medicine received $999,715. The funding to NYU's Dean for Science Office will support research conducted by NYU's Center for Genomics and Systems Biology and NYU's College of Dentistry (NYUCD). See Press Release TOP
MANHATTAN — NYU Medical Center has received a grant of $1 Million from the Empire State Stem Cell Board, which-established in 2007 by Governor Eliot Spitzer-announced its first awards. The award will be used to supplement funding for work already underway in NYU School of Medicine's Helen and Martin Kimmel Center of Stem Cell Biology, as well as to acquire state-of-the art equipment and to create training programs to attract more researchers to the stem cell field. See Press Release TOP
MANHATTAN — The Rockefeller University is one of 25 institutions to receive a combined $14.5 million from New York state to fund stem cell research and training. The funds, which are part of a multi-year $600 million initiative overseen by the newly created Empire State Stem Cell Board, will fund new shared equipment and services to support research in more than a dozen Rockefeller labs working to understand the mechanisms of stem cells. See Press Release TOP
CUNY News
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Dr. George John (Courtesy of City College of New York) |
MANHATTAN — Researchers at The City College of New York (CCNY) and Rice University have developed a low-cost, environmentally friendly technique for embedding antimicrobial silver nanoparticles into vegetable oil-based paints. The method, to be reported in the March issue (online January 20) of Nature Materials, could give homes and workplaces a new defense against germs by applying a fresh coat of paint. The CCNY/Rice team developed a "green chemistry" approach to synthesize metal nanoparticles in common household paints in situ without using hazardous reagents and solvents. "We extensively worked on poly-unsaturated hydrocarbon chain containing polymers/oils to devise a novel approach to nanoparticle formation" said Dr. George John, Professor of Chemistry at CCNY and lead author of the article. See Press Release TOP
Technology Breakthroughs in New York State
MANHATTAN — Hybridizing blind cave fish from different cave populations can partially restore the vision of their offspring, biologists at New York University have found. The study suggests that genetic engineering can override, at least in part, half a million years of evolutionary change in one generation. "Evolution has many ways to accomplish the same end result, which in the case of cave fish is blindness," said NYU Biology Professor Richard Borowsky, the study's lead author. See Press Release TOP
MANHATTAN — Over the course of the 20th Century, doctor's waged war against infectious bacterial illness with the best new weapon they had: antibiotics. But the emergence of dangerous, multi-drug resistant strains of tuberculosis and other killer infections means that in the 21st century antibiotics are losing ground against bacterial disease. Now, researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City say exciting new molecular targets-so-called "virulence factors" that bacteria use to thrive once they are in the host-present an alternative, potent means of stopping TB, leprosy and other bacterial illness. See Press Release TOP
New York State Research Patents
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James Im (Courtesy of Columbia University) |
MANHATTAN — James Im, Robert Sposili and Mark Crowder were awarded a patent for methods for producing uniform large-grained and grain boundary location manipulated polycrystalline thin film semiconductors using sequential lateral solidification. The patent was assigned to Columbia University. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — James Im was awarded a patent for methods for systems and methods for inducing crystallization of thin films using multiple optical paths. The patent was assigned to Columbia University. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Michael Treat was awarded a patent for methods for harmonic propulsion and harmonic controller. The patent was assigned to Columbia University. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Ze'ev Ronai was awarded a patent for methods for inhibition of ATF2 activity to treat cancer. The patent was assigned to Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Mark Lemmon, Kathryn Ferguson, Paul Sigler and Joseph Schlessinger were awarded a patent for methods for diagnosis and treatment of PH domain signal transduction disorders. The patent was assigned to New York University. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Robert Alfano, Wubao Wang, Henry Sztul and Yury Budansky were awarded a patent for methods and systems for detection of ice formation on surfaces. The patent was assigned to Research Foundation of the City University of New York. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Andrew David Goodearl, Paul Stroobant, Luisa Minghetti, Michael Waterfield, Mark Marchionni, Maio Su Chen and Ian Hiles were awarded a patent for glial mitogenic factors lacking an N-terminal signal sequence. The patent was assigned to Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Detail TOP
New York State Scientists in the News
MANHATTAN — Phil Sharp, a New York Academy of Sciences President's Council member who won the 1993 Nobel Prize in Medicine and trained a scientist who won the same award 13 years later, says he learned from his first mentors how to nurture budding talent. While Sharp was still a grad student in chemistry at the University of Illinois, Victor Bloomfield gave his career a boost by telling other scientists about his work and by sending him to scientific meetings. And his postdoctoral advisor, National Medal of Science recipient Norman Davidson, encouraged Sharp to pursue his own research and engage with other faculty at Caltech. See Press Release TOP
MANHATTAN — A team of biologists have developed a model mapping the control circuit governing a whole free living organism. This is an important milestone for the new field of systems biology and will allow the researchers to model how the organism adapts over time in response to its environment. This study marks the first time researchers have accurately predicted a cell's dynamics at the genome scale (for most of the thousands of components in the cell). The study's lead authors are New York University Assistant Biology Professor Richard Bonneau, who holds appointments at NYU's Center for Genomics & Systems Biology and the university's Courant Institute for Mathematical Sciences, and Nitin Baliga of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, WA. See Press Release TOP
MANHATTAN — When Ali Shama was a teenager in the 1980s, he never imagined that he'd one day help reform a troubled high school. Back then, Shama spray-painted subway cars and signed them with his tag, EON. "Graffiti consumed me," Shama said. "It got me into trouble. I didn't do very well in school." Now, 25 years later, he's an assistant principal at Kennedy High School in the Bronx, keeping kids engaged through technology and computer arts. See Article TOP
New York State Young Scientist News
MANHATTAN — The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation named 17 new Damon Runyon Fellows at its November 2007 Scientific Advisory Committee review. The recipients of this prestigious, three-year award are outstanding postdoctoral scientists conducting basic and translational cancer research in the laboratories of leading senior investigators across the country. See Article TOP
KidSciTech News
MANHATTAN — Three New York City high school juniors were among those celebrating with the winners of the Nobel Prizes at the December awards ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden. Seventeen-year-old Mingzhu Li of the High School of American Studies at Lehman College, Melanie Plaza of Bronx High School of Science, and William Rifkin of Horace Mann School enjoyed an all-expenses-paid trip to the Nobel Prize festivities as winners of The Laureates of Tomorrow - Nobel Essay Contest, now in its final year. See Press Release TOP
MANHATTAN — In the typical undergraduate science class, the teaching approach relies heavily on textbooks instead of science's primary literature, academic papers written by professors and other researchers. The textbooks summarize what the research reports contain, explains Dr. Sally G. Hoskins, Professor of Biology at The City College of New York (CCNY). "Because of the way science is generally taught, it doesn't come across as creative or fun," she says. "We're doing a disservice to present science as a bunch of facts to be memorized." See Press Release TOP
MANHATTAN — Stuyvesant ranked 15th in the 2008 U.S. News & World Report's America's Best High Schools, released Thursday, November 29, and earned a Gold Medal for a high college readiness score. The report rated 18,790 public high schools across 40 states using data from the 2005-06 school year. Schools in the remaining 10 states and the District of Columbia were not included in the ranking. This is the first time U.S. News, in association with School Matters (an independent organization for school data collection and analysis), has released a ranking of America's best high schools. See Article TOP
National Science Foundation Awards to Individuals
MANHATTAN — Samuel Sia of Columbia University is the recipient of a $400,000 NSF grant for Soft 3D MEMS -- advanced biomaterials devices. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Nicholas Turro of Columbia University is the recipient of a $372,219 NSF grant for Understanding Chemical Complexity and Diversity Through Collaboration and Integration. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Terry Plank of Columbia University is the recipient of a $290,701 NSF grant for Mantle Dynamics and Magmatism across the Basin and Range. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Goran Ekstrom, Adam Dziewonski and Meredith Nettles of Columbia University are the recipients of a $270,616 NSF grant for Studies of Global and Regional Seismicity. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Peter Keleman of Columbia University is the recipient of a $160,590 NSF grant for Element Recycling from UHP Metasediments: Evidence and Consequences. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Latha Venkataraman of Columbia University is the recipient of a $120,000 NSF grant for Electronic and Mechanical Properties of Single Metal-Molecule-Metal Junctions. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Geoffrey Abers of Columbia University is the recipient of a $116,489 NSF grant for Earthscope Integrated Investigation of Cascadia Subduction Zone Tremor, Structure and Process. Detail TOP
MANHATTAN — Marcus Weck of New York University is the recipient of a $113,600 NSF grant for A New Methodology for Copolymer Functionalization: One-Step Multi Recognition Site Self-Assembly. Detail TOP
