The Finest and Best 7th Annual Undergraduate Research Day
64 presentations, 10 performances, 144 students and 50 faculty mentors!
These numbers represented faculty-mentored undergraduate research efforts across disciplines last week for the 7th Annual Undergraduate Research Day.
“Engaging in and mentoring student research is one of the most gratifying aspects of my teaching career,” said Dr. Sharon Lall-Ramnarine, Faculty Fellow for Research Activities, Office of Academic Affairs. “I applaud my colleagues for their dedication to our student researchers, many of whom have immense family and work obligations yet overcome these challenges to be the finest producers of undergraduate research.” Lall-Ramnarine is also Director of the CUNY Research Scholars Program and Professor in the Department of Chemistry.
“As educators we nurture the strong belief that knowledge and engagement go hand-in–hand, and that reflection goes together with being able to express ideas,” said President Christine Mangino.
Mangino added, “I thank all our faculty for playing such an active role in our students’ development. Because of their mentorship and dedication to our students, we are among the most recognized community colleges in the country that participates in undergraduate research.”
Dr. Sandra Plamer, Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs also gave remarks noting the “wonderful collaboration of faculty and administrators, their dedication to engaging students and their commitment to high standards.”
Among the many outstanding Undergraduate Research Day Projects was Student Stress at Queensborough.
The students for this project were mentored by Professor Edward Diller, Health, Physical Education and Dance and included Oleisha Jones, Cosmas Iwuanyanwu, and Jocelyne Ramirez, all full-time students majoring in Health Sciences.
Jones juggles a full-time job and sometimes stays up all night to keep up with her studies. Iwuanyanwu is a first-semester student who describes himself as the ‘man of the house’ taking care of his younger siblings. Ramirez said, “The goal for this project is to acknowledge that community college students, specifically QCC students, have greater challenges than traditional college students. The purpose of our anonymous survey is to better understand how stress impacts QCC students' ability to succeed academically. We especially wanted to discover what makes some students more resilient in their ability to manage stress and how QCC might be better able to help all students deal with stress.”
Elijah Bernard, a Forensic Science major, participated in the 2022 NASA-CCNY Center for Advanced Batteries for Space Program Highlights Internship. Under the guidance of Dr. Sharon Lall-Ramnarine and Drs. Robert J. Messinger and Elizabeth Biddinger, both of CCNY, Bernard developed scientific results outlining the development of Ionic Liquid Electrolyte for low temperature Li-metal battery. Bernard explained that current batteries use lithium ions and electrolytes that are flammable. He focused on the alternative solution to use lithium metal instead. “I like to solve real-world problems,” he said of his Chemical Engineering internship.
Spanish Memory in the Holocaust was the research topic surrounding one of the most silenced episodes of the Spanish Civil War. As part of the extermination policies of the Franco regime, Spanish exiles were interned in the Nazi concentration camp Mauthausen in Austria during the Holocaust. It was not until the 21st century that Spain finally paid tribute to the memory of these anti-fascist Spaniards, long forgotten in the history of their country. “My students, Jorge Garcia and Niyireth Castaneda began researching this little-known history through film archives,” said Carolina Chaves, Assistant Professor, Foreign Languages and Literature. “We were all learning together. As part of our study, we also visited the Kupferberg Holocaust Center so my students could begin researching this history in Spanish.”
The Undergraduate Research Day Planning Committee:
Dr. Sharon Lall-Ramnarine, Academic Affairs, Sarbani Ghoshal, Biological Sciences & Geology, Urszula Golebiewska, Meg Tarafdar, Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning, Zhou Zhou, Chemistry, James Nichols, History, Andrew Bulawa, Mathematics & Computer Science, Rommel Robertson, Social Sciences
Special thanks were given to many organizations and individuals. Among them are Dr. Christine Mangino, President, Dr. Sandra Palmer, Provost & Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Michael Pullin, Dean for Academic Initiatives, Mr. Stephen Di Dio, Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Division of Marketing & Communication, Mr. Tony Gamino, Director of Creative Services, Dr. Ron Nerio, CUNY Research Programs Director, Mr. Adam Volin, Director of Web & Application Services, Division of Marketing & Communication, Ms. Christina Denny, Programming Coordinator, CRSP, Ms. Debra Maslanko, Administrative Director for Business Operations and Ms. Olga Salamanca, both in the Office of Academic Affairs, and many more offices, departments and individuals who generously gave their time to support the Undergraduate Research Day Committee efforts.
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