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Val received a B.S. in marketing and French from Penn State University. She studied for her M.S. in education at Bank Street College and received an M.A. degree in computer and information science at Brooklyn College in 2009. Andrewlevich is interested in autonomous agents and robotics. She also works to broaden the participation of women in computer science and is interested in issues related to gender and technology.
Vincent Campese received his B.S. from Brooklyn College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology: cognition, brain and behavior at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Campese’s research aims to identify and examine neurobiological substrates important for various psychological phenomena such as motivation, learning, and memory.
Rich received his B.S. in meteorology from Penn State, and his M.A. in secondary education from Adelphi University. While participating in GK-12, he was working to obtain a Ph.D. in earth and environmental sciences from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His research interests include energy consumption, climate change, and science education.
Marlyn Gonzalez worked in the lab of Professor Peter Lipke while pursuing her doctorate at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. After finishing graduate school and while working in Professor Noel Goddard’s lab in the Physics Department at Hunter College (CUNY), she developed a high-throughput screen for identifying the genes involved in the adhesion process in yeast.
Michael Grinshtein received his B.S. in forensic science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). While participating in GK-12, he was pursuing an M.A. in chemistry at Brooklyn College. His research involved measurement of arsenic in biological specimens.
Marek received his B.S. in computer science from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences of Columbia University. While participating in GK-12, he was working to obtain a Ph.D. in computer science through the CUNY Graduate Center. His research falls in the area of robotics, specifically the locomotion and stabilization of vision in legged robots.
Matt received a B.A. in theater from Southern Methodist University and an M.A. in computer science from Brooklyn College, and is currently a Ph.D. student, studying computer science, at the City University of New York (CUNY). His eclectic background includes stage, film, and television appearances as well as a four-year stint as the systems administrator for a Manhattan technology consulting firm. He is a firm believer in the power of technology to transform lives.
Natasha Nadler received her B.S. from Cornell University and is currently working toward a Ph.D. in cognition, brain and behavior at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her research explores the area of learning with human participants. She studies learning behaviorally using a computer model and seeks to determine the brain structures involved via imaging techniques.
Katherine Nutter-Upham received her B.A. from the University of Montana, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology: cognition, brain and behavior at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She has conducted research on the preclinical stages of Alzheimer’s, verbal fluency abilities in older adults, and the nature of procrastination in undergraduates. She Katherine worked on understanding genetic influences on the aging process by analyzing grey and white matter distributions in the healthy elderly.
Janina received her B.A. in psychology and theater from Brooklyn College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology: cognition, brain and behavior at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her research focused on figuring out which neural substrates are implicated in sensory-specific associations in conditioned flavor preference paradigms.
Javier Suarez received a B.S. in biology in Venezuela and worked as a research technician in a molecular genetics lab at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research for two years. He came to New York and received his M.Ph. and Ph.D. in biochemistry at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Currently, Suarez is a research associate at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. His research interests are the study of molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the study of the catalytic mechanism of the heme enzyme catalase-peroxidase KatG.
Suzanne Tamang is a doctoral student in computer science at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her research interests include the application of artificial intelligence and natural language processing to clinical informatics. Other interests include the use of web technologies and mobile computing for medicine and public health, health care quality, and long-term care policy. She received her Master of Science from Brooklyn College.
Maxim was a student in the master’s program in computer science at Brooklyn College, and an adjunct in the Department of Computer and Information Science. He was also a past participant in the Bridges program at Brooklyn College. Maxim participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2008 to 2009.
Nick DiFrancesco is currently a graduate student of geoscience at Brooklyn College. He received his B.S. from Stony Brook University in 2004, with a senior thesis in experimental igneous petrology. From there, DiFrancesco worked as a hydrogeoloist for a consulting firm in Long Island. In 2005, he moved back to Brooklyn to pursue a master’s in teaching at Pace University and subsequently taught high school and junior high school science in the New York City school system, until enrolling in the master’s and GK-12 programs at Brooklyn College.
Kendall Eskine earned his B.A. in psychology and philosophy from Loyola University New Orleans and his Ph.D. in psychology: cognition, brain, and behavior at the CUNY Graduate Center. He conducted his research on the embodiment and bodily feedback underlying self-understanding. He currently works under the umbrella of embodied cognition, specifically in the areas of concept formation, figurative language and metaphor acquisition, and spatial representations of power.
Kim Handle earned her B.A. at Hunter College (CUNY )in studio art with a minor in environmental studies. While participating in GK-12, she was working on a master’s in geology at Brooklyn College. Prior to joining the fellowship, she worked as a science instructor for professional development at the New York Hall of Science.
Jesse John received a B.S. in geology, B.A. in earth science teacher, and M.A. in geology from Brooklyn College. John is currently a Ph.D. candidate at SUNY at Stony Brook. His research involved strontium isotopic signatures in the enameloid and dentine of upper Cretacious and modern shark tooth for paleoecological and geochronological implications.
Adam Johnson received an M.A. from NYU with a concentration in social psychology as well as a B.A. in communication studies from the University of Richmond (where he met his wife, Niya). Johnson received a Ph.D. in cognition, brain, and behavior from the CUNY Graduate Center. His research in the Hardin Social Cognition Lab examined the personality variables and cognitive processes that cause variability in people’s political beliefs.
Mark Kanner earned his B.S. in electronic media from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire. He also has a master’s of teaching from Hamline University in Minnesota. After teaching abroad for a few years, he went to San Francisco to study physics and worked as a research assistant in the medical physics lab at UCSF. Currently he is working toward a Ph.D. in physics, studying properties of life cycle assessments.
Michael Magee received his B.A. in acting from the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, and his M.A. in experimental psychology and Ph.D. in cognition, brain, and behavior from the CUNY Graduate Center. He worked within the field of social cognition, and his research has explored the interpersonal foundations of religious belief. Specifically, Magee is interested in how threats to religious commitment are related to the relationships we have with our parents. His dissertation research applied these ideas to the topic of anti-atheist prejudice.
Sheila Nightingale received her B.A. in archaeology and physical anthropology from Yale University. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in archaeology at the CUNY Graduate Center. She has conducted archaeological and paleoanthropological fieldwork in England, the Republic of Georgia, and Turkey, and is interested in studying early modern human evolution and migration.
Anna Petrovicheva received a B.S. in biology from Brooklyn College. Currently she is working on her Ph.D. in cell and molecular biology though the CUNY Graduate Center. The research is in botany and microbiology, focusing on Agrobacterium, the causing agent of Crown gall disease in plants, and plant transformation.
Reena Rahi is working on obtaining her Ph.D. in chemistry, in the subdiscipline of nanotechnology and materials science through the CUNY Graduate Center. The focus of her research is the use of metal nanoparticles as catalysts to achieve cleaner fuel.
Greg Barord completed his B.S. in marine biology, with a minor in chemistry, at Texas A&M University at Galveston in 2005. Barord worked at the National Resource Center for Cephalopods maintaining large scale aquaculture systems for octopuses, squids, cuttlefishes, and Nautiluses and conducting various research projects from 2003 to 2008. After graduating from Texas A&M, he began working at the quarantine facility at the Aquarium at Moody Gardens, diagnosing and treating all of the animals at the aquarium. From 2008 to 2010, he worked on fishing boats in the Bering Sea collecting data for the National Marine Fisheries Service to manage the quotas of the various fisheries in Alaska. Currently, he is a second-year Ph.D. student at the CUNY Graduate Center and Brooklyn College, working with the chambered Nautilus. The chambered Nautilus is a cephalopod, related to octopus, squid and cuttlefish, and is the only cephalopod with an external shell. His work focuses on the learning and memory abilities of the chambered Nautilus in the lab. The chambered Nautilus is also heavily over-fished in the Indo-Pacific region (the Philippines, Australia, etc.) for its shell, so a large part of his research also focuses on collecting information on the size of their wild populations to determine whether or not it should be listed as an endangered species.
Jen Drieves is currently a doctoral student at the CUNY Graduate Center, studying archaeology. Her research interests include archaeological science and the investigation of unique prehistoric construction materials. Drieves holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cooper Union and a master’s degree in history from the University of Southampton in Southampton, England. Prior to pursuing her degree in archaeology, she worked as a mechanical engineer designing HVAC systems.
Malgorzata Frik is working on obtaining her Ph.D. in chemistry, in the subdiscipline of inorganic chemistry through the CUNY Graduate Center. Her research involves studies of luminescent gold compounds with phosphine as antimicrobial agents. She received her B.A. in chemistry and anthropology at Brooklyn College.
Andrea Huska received her B.A. in geology from DePauw University in Indiana. She is currently working toward an M.A. in geology in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at Brooklyn College. Her research involves stream tin deposits that are associated with Bronze Age settlement sites in western Serbia.
Annesia Lamb received her B.S. in molecular biology from Western Kentucky University. Before continuing her education in the earth and environmental sciences Ph.D. program at the CUNY Graduate Center, she trained as a research assistant in a neuroscience laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. Currently, she is studying the impacts of eutrophication in urban water bodies of New York City. She received a National Park Service Learning Center Fellowship to analyze the trends of water quality indicators in Jamaica Bay, New York.
Lilja Nielsen completed a B.A. in biology, with special projects focused in marine biology. After two years running a general biology laboratory, and a year as a volunteer math teacher in Angola, she returned to school. She completed her M.S. at the University of Aarhus in Denmark, which led to a publication on the effect of environmental estrogens on the guppy. Currently a Ph.D. student of the CUNY Graduate Center, she is investigating the effect of environmental estrogens on neuronal circuitry in the lab of Assistant Professor Paul Forlano.
Remy Rovelli completed his B.S. in geology at Brooklyn College in 2011. He is now doing his master’s in geology at Brooklyn College, with specific interest in paleontology. Rovelli has been working with the American Museum of Natural History since 2009, looking at the Cretaceous/ Paleocene boundary in Monmouth County, New Jersey, where they have found possible evidence of extinct cephalopods knows as Ammonites surviving past their perceived extinction date, including the first occurrence of ammonite jaws found in the North Atlantic Coastal Plain. He has had the opportunity of presenting his research at several GSA conferences as well as an International Conference for Cephalopods in Dijon, France. In addition to geology, he has studied education and has done a few years of student teaching in public high schools in Brooklyn. He hopes to continue his research to reveal even more previously undiscovered historical events, and to eventually plans on becoming a college professor or museum curator.
Tashana Samuel earned her B.A. in philosophy and psychology at Brooklyn College. She is currently a doctoral student in the cognition, brain, and behavior psychology program at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her research in the Infant, Child and Adult Cognition Lab at Brooklyn College, under the direction of Associate Professor Laraine McDonough, seeks to investigate acquisition and everyday event representation in children and adults with autism spectrum disorder. She has recently examined functional generalization of objects and sequential understanding of novel and familiar events in children with cognitive and language delays and will replicate this experiment on children with autism.
Suzie Stempel is currently a doctoral student at the CUNY Graduate Center in the earth and environmental sciences program. Her research interests include urban water systems, stormwater, geochemistry, environmental policy, and public science. She holds a B.S. in environmental science from Florida Institute of Technology and an M.S. in environmental science from the University of Florida. Before moving to New York to pursue her doctorate, she worked for the Natural Resources Management Office of Brevard County, Florida, as an environmental specialist working on stormwater quality assessments in the intercoastal waters of Florida.
