CUNY 2007 Salute to Scholars

Eighteen faculty members from the College of Staten Island (CSI) are among The City University of New York’s Salute to Scholars celebration honoring faculty members who won prestigious national awards or outstanding national recognition for their research, artistic endeavors, and other accomplishments.

“Our honorees represent the rich mosaic of faculty expertise and research interests that help make CSI a great College in an extraordinary University,” says Tomás Morales, President of CSI. “Whether the research involves gender and warfare in Italian Renaissance writing, drifter motion planning for optimal surveillance of the ocean, or Staten Island’s response to the World Trade Center disaster, the scholarly pursuits of CSI faculty not only contribute to the intellectual capital of the world, but transform the lives of our students.”

“These scholars are among the core of the University’s educational community,” says Selma Botman, Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and University Provost. “Their unique and varied contributions have made CUNY “the nation’s largest public university” into a model of urban public education. Their research vitally transforms our local and our global communities, and their teaching inspires the minds and enriches the lives of our diverse and multi-talented students.”

In addition to the 18 honorees, CSI faculty members are prominently featured in the event’s program, including the cover photography of two out-of-this-world scientists: Irving K. Robbins, director of the College’s Astrophysical Observatory and Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy; and Charles Liu, Assistant Professor of Astronomy and Professor of Astrophysics. Liu is also on staff at the American Museum of Natural History, and is among a select group of international experts studying data collected by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope.

Dr. Naider, a CUNY Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the Leonard and Esther Kurtz Term Professor at CSI, was featured for his research in making strides toward a new anti-HIV drug with a novel chemical approach employed by CSI undergraduate Svetlana Rabinovich. Naider is one in a handful of scientists who has had continual funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for over 30 years.

Dr. Jane Coffee, director of the CUNY Teacher Academy at CSI, was noted for having built relationships with four host schools on Staten Island, including two whose leadership includes CSI graduates: Richard Gallo, Principal of IS 61, William Morris Intermediate School, and math teacher Debra Lauro; and John Crowdell, Assistant Principal at Curtis High School where he oversees math. The two other host schools are New Dorp High School and the CSI High School for International Studies.

The host schools benefit not only from students as classroom assistants but also from the professional knowledge that College faculty can provide, Dr. Coffee explained.

“I’m really happy that there is a professional relationship between the University faculty and the Department of Education faculty,” she says. “If we are going to improve how students perform in college and when they become teachers, they’ve got to have a solid foundation at the middle school and high school levels. That’s where change has to happen.”

CUNY College of Staten Island Faculty Honorees: 2007

Brian Carolan
Assistant Professor, Department of Education
American Educational Research Association; Student
Engagement in Small Schools: The Effects on
Academic Achievement, Research Grant, 2006-2007

Abdeslem El Idrissi
Associate Professor, Department of Biology/PhD
Program in Biology, College of Staten Island/The
Graduate Center
FRAXA Research Foundation; The Neurobiology of
Fragile X Syndrome: A Unifying Neuro-Endocrine
Hypothesis, Research Grant, 2007-2008

Qiao-Sheng Hu
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry/PhD
Program in Chemistry, College of Staten Island/The
Graduate Center
American Chemical Society; Controlled Pd(0)
Catalyzed Cross-Coupling Polymerizations, Research
Grant, 2006-2008

Shi Jin
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry/PhD
Program in Chemistry, College of Staten Island/The
Graduate Center
3M Community Affairs; Nanostructured Organic
Optoelectric Materials, Research Grant, 2007-2008

James Kaser
Associate Professor
Library
New York Staten Department of Education; Phase One Documentation Planning Project Focusing on the Former Willowbrook State School , Research Grant, 2004-2005
New York State Conservation / Preservation Program; General Preservation Survey of Archives and Special Collections, Research Grant, 2004-2005

Athanasios Koutavas
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Science
& Physics/PhD Program in Earth and Environmental
Sciences, College of Staten Island/The Graduate Center
National Science Foundation/Columbia University;
Tracking Past Shifts on the Eastern Pacific ITCZ with
Oxygen Isotopes and Magnesium Paleothermometry,
Research Grant, 2007

David Kritt
Associate Professor, Department of Education
The City University of New York/Hunter College;
Collaborative Grant: Early Childhood Environments
Research Consortium, Research Grant, 2006-2007

Lihong (Connie) Li
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Science
& Physics/PhD Program in Physics
College of Staten Island/The Graduate Center
Pearl River Computers; Automatic Image
Segmentation and Feature Analysis Technique Based
on the EM Algorithm, Research Grant, 2007

Charles Liu
Assistant Professor, Department of Engineering Science
and Physics
National Science Foundation; Earth and Planetary
Science and Astrophysics REU at the AMNH with CUNY,
Research Grant, 2007-2008

Gerry Milligan
Assistant Professor, Department of Modern Languages
Villa I Tatti/Harvard University Center for Italian
Renaissance Studies; Gender and Warfare in Italian
Renaissance Writing, Fellowship, 2007-2008

Shaibal Mitra
Assistant Professor, Department of Biology/PhD
Program in Biology, College of Staten Island/The
Graduate Center
National Science Foundation/Science Education for
New Civic Engagements and Responsibilities (SENCER);
Applying Active Learning and Civic Engagement to a
Multi-Sectioned College Science Course, Grant,
2006-2008

Fred Naider
Distinguished Professor
Department of Chemistry / Ph.D. Programs in Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biology
College of Staten Island / The Graduate Center
United States / Israel Binational Foundation; NMR Study of HIV-1 Glycoprotein Interaction with CCR5, Research Grant, 2004-2005

Andrew Poje
Associate Professor, Department of
Mathematics/Honors College/PhD Program in
Mathematics, College of Staten Island/The Graduate
Center
Office of Naval Research; Drifter Motion Planning for
Optimal Surveillance of the Ocean, Research Grant,
2007-2010

Christina Tortora
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Speech, and
World Literature/PhD in English
College of Staten Island/The Graduate Center
National Science Foundation; Collaborative
Research: The Comparative Morpho-Syntax of
Appalachian English, Research Grant, 2006-2008

Richard Veit
Professor, Department of Biology/PhD Program in
Biology, College of Staten Island/The Graduate Center
Nuttall Ornithological Club; Year-Round Tracking of
Common Terns Using Geolocators, Research Grant,
2006-2007

Jesenko Vukadinovic
Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics
National Science Foundation; Asymptotic Study of a
Smoluchowski Equation Arising in Modeling of
Nematic Polymers, Research Grant, 2006-2008

Nan-Loh Yang
Professor
Department of Chemistry / Ph.D. Program in Chemistry
College of Staten Island / The Graduate Center
New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research; Center for Engineered Polymeric Materials, Research Grant, 2004-2005

Alexandre Zaitsev
Associate Professor, Department of Engineering and
Physics/PhD Programs in Engineering and Physics
College of Staten Island/The Graduate Center
Department of the Army/Army Research Office; Ion
Beam Written Carbon Nanostructures on
Carbonaceous Substances, Research Grant,
2006-2008

CSI News & Media: CUNY's 2007 Salute to Scholars