Fellows
2007–09
Janina Scarlet
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. Janina participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2008 to 2010.
Val Andrewlevich
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. Val 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. Val participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2007 to 2009.
Vincent Campese
Vinn 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. Vinn's research aims to identify and examine neurobiological substrates important for various psychological phenomena such as motivation, learning and memory. Vinn participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2007 to 2009.
Michael Grinshtein
Michael 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. Michael participated as a GK-12 fellow from 2008 to 2009.
Marek Marcinkiewicz
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. Marek's research falls in the area of robotics, specifically the locomotion and stabilization of vision in legged robots. Marek participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2007 to 2009.
Matt Meyer
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. Matt is a firm believer in the power of technology to transform lives. He participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2007 to 2009.
Natasha Nadler
Natasha 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. Natasha's 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. Natasha participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2007 to 2009.
Katherine Nutter-Upham
Katherine 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. Katherine has conducted research on the preclinical stages of Alzheimer's, verbal fluency abilities in older adults, and the nature of procrastination in undergraduates. Katherine worked on understanding genetic influences on the aging process by analyzing grey and white matter distributions in the healthy elderly. She participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2007 to 2009.
Suzanne Tamang
Suzanne 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, healthcare quality and long-term care policy. Suzanne received her master of science from Brooklyn College. She participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2007 to 2009.
Maxim Titley
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.
Marlyn Gonzalez
Marlyn worked in the lab of Dr. 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 Dr. Noel Goddard’s lab in the Physics Department at Hunter College (CUNY), Marlyn developed a high-throughput screen for identifying the genes involved in the adhesion process in yeast. Marlyn participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2007 to 2008.
Javier Suarez
Javier 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, Javier 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. Javier worked with GK-12 in the 2007–08 academic year.
Rich Cohen
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. Rich's research interests include energy consumption, climate change, and science education. He worked with GK-12 in the 2007–08 academic year.
2009–11
Nick DiFrancesco
Nick 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, Nick 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. Nick participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
Kim Handle
Kim 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. Kim participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
Kendall Eskine
Kendall 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. Kendall participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
Jesse John
Jesse received a B.S. in geology, B.A. in earth science teacher and M.A. in geology from Brooklyn College. Jesse 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. Jesse participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
Adam Johnson
Adam 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). Adam 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. Adam participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
Mark Kanner
Mark 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. Mark participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2010 to 2011.
Michael Magee
Michael 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, Michael is interested in how threats to religious commitment are related to the relationships we have with our parents. Michael's dissertation research applied these ideas to the topic of anti-atheist prejudice. He participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
Sheila Nightingale
Sheila 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. Sheila 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. Sheila participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
Anna Petrovicheva
Anna received a B.S. in biology from Brooklyn College. Currently Anna 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. Anna participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
Reena Rahi
Reena 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. Reena participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2009 to 2011.
2011–13
Greg Barord
Greg completed his B.S. in marine biology, with a minor in chemistry, at Texas A&M University at Galveston in 2005. Greg 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 Greg 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. Greg participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
Jennifer Drieves
Jen 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. Jen 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, Jen worked as a mechanical engineer designing HVAC systems. Jen participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
Malgorzata Frik
Malgorzata 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. Malgorzata received her B.A. in chemistry and anthropology at Brooklyn College. She participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
Andrea Huska
Andrea 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. Andrea participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
Annesia Lamb
Annesia 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, Annesia 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. Annesia participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
Lilja Nielsen
Lilja 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. Lilja participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
Remy Rovelli
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. Remy 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. Remy has had the opportunity of presenting his research at several GSA conferences, as well as an International Conference for Cephalopods in Dijon, France. As well as geology, Remy 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. Remy participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
Tashana Samuel
Tashana 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. Tashana 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. Tashana participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
Suzie Stempel
Suzie 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, Fla., as an environmental specialist working on stormwater quality assessments in the intercoastal waters of Florida. Suzie participated as a GK-12 Fellow from 2011 to 2013.
