Harvey Kaylie, ’60, Endows Entrepreneurship Contest
Helping students to bridge the academic and real worlds, the Grove School of Engineering is launching an entrepreneurship contest supported by a new $3 million gift from CCNY alumnus Harvey Kaylie, ’60. Winners of the Kaylie Prize for Entrepreneurship will receive financial support and housing while they work over the summer in a Silicon Valley garage-like environment to turn their ideas into a successful business start-up. "Many City College engineering students aspire to careers as entrepreneurs, and the idea of this prize is to encourage, teach and provide them with the opportunity to experience real-world entrepreneurial challenges," said Mr. Kaylie, an engineer who is president and founder of Mini-Circuits, a Brooklyn-based RF and microwave electronic components design, manufacture and distribution company.  "This higher level of learning did not exist when I went to school.  I am proud to be part of this." More on this story.

U.S. Department of Education Awards $5.7 Million to CCNY
Two grants totaling $5.7 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Education will help The City College of New York improve undergraduate retention and graduation rates and prepare graduate students for careers in the green economy.  CCNY was the only mainland institution east of the Mississippi River to receive awards through the Department’s Title V programs for Hispanic-serving institutions at both the undergraduate and graduate level. "The initiatives funded through these grants will benefit City College students for many years to come since they will enhance their success at both the undergraduate and graduate levels," said Dr. Daniel Lemons, CCNY acting senior vice president and provost. "As the most diverse institution where Hispanics are the largest minority group, we are proud that the Department of Education has funded these grants." The award for undergraduate programs, $3.2 million over five years, will support a coordinated set of initiatives designed to improve student learning and increase retention and graduation rates.  These include programs to enrich undergraduates’ quantitative and writing skills and curriculum development initiatives to create new online and hybrid course formats that will provide greater flexibility in completing graduation requirements. Provost Lemons serves as program director on the grant. More on this story.

Architecture Newsletter Praises CCNY Faculty Book
"Research & Design: Faculty Work, The City College of New York - Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture," by George Ranalli, (Oscar Riera Ojeda Publications, 2010), the catalog accompanying the school’s opening exhibit, was chosen one of the ten best architecture books for 2010 by ArchNewsNow, an architecture online newsletter. "From the over-the-top Hotel Jellyfish for Tianjin, China, by Michael Sorkin that straddles a line between zoomorphic and dadamorphic design, all to way to the dignified apollonian civility of Dean George Ranalli’s Saratoga Community Center in Brooklyn, NY, the architecture students at CCNY luck out by having a teaching faculty practicing with so much visionary panache," wrote architecture journalist Norman Weinstein in praising the book. "All of the Spitzer School's faculty are practicing architects and designers," noted Mr. Ranalli, who is the school’s dean.   "We’re extremely proud of this acknowledgement, especially since showcasing their professional work through this publication recognizes their contributions to the field and serves to inspire our students." More on this story.

Top Media Firm GroupM Seeks Ad Talent at CCNY
Through a partnership announced last week, the world’s leading media investment management operation, is set to tap the best and the brightest in The City College of New York’s Advertising/Public Relations Program. GroupM, which has worldwide billings of over $73 billion and 17,000 employees in 81 countries, will provide entry to the industry through internships and employment opportunities to top CCNY students. The program, dubbed the GroupM Professional Development Initiative, consists of two principal components: a scholarship program, and a separate enrichment fund designed to benefit a wide range of Ad/PR majors by allowing them to participate in professional development opportunities in their junior or senior years. Both elements will help GroupM identify promising talent early among CCNY’s Ad/PR majors and cultivate relationships with students for possible internships and employment. Emphasis will be on undergraduates with ethnically diverse backgrounds. "GroupM is looking forward to our new partnership with CCNY and to tapping into its rich tradition of academic excellence," said GroupM North America Chief Executive Officer Rob Norman. "Our goal is to help CCNY’s richly diverse student population discover and participate in the many challenging and rewarding career opportunities available in our industry." More on this story.

Service-Learning Course Targets Harlem Health Issues
A new service-learning course offered by CCNY’s Division of Science gives undergraduates the opportunity to apply their scientific knowledge to community projects that address critical health issues in the Harlem community. The course begun as "Focus on Obesity" in spring 2010 and titles "Environmental Impact of Food" for the fall semester, targeted the issue of obesity, which has reached epidemic proportions in Harlem, with 48 percent of children living in its zip codes considered to be overweight or obese.  It is funded by the City College Academy for Professional Preparation, which is partnering in a Learn and Serve America grant to the Center for Advanced Study in Education at the CUNY Graduate Center. As part of the course, students initiated projects to promote better nutrition as a strategy for reducing obesity. The projects the class worked on are: making healthy snacks available in City College vending machines, convincing local bodegas to offer healthy lunches at affordable prices and establishing an on-campus farmers’ market. More on this story.

CCNY Professor Gets Grant to Develop ‘Artificial Blood’
As a post-doc at The University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Ron Koder, CCNY assistant professor of physics, was part of a team that devised a novel method for producing an artificial protein capable of transporting oxygen, similar to human neuroglobin. He was recently awarded a three-year $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop an artificial blood that can be administered to injured troops on the battlefield. "Engineered blood substitutes have a lot of attractive properties compared to blood drawn from people," he said.  "No typing is required, you don’t have to worry about refrigeration or freshness and there is no risk of infection."  They can save lives, as well, since severely wounded servicemen and women sometimes die before they can be transported to a hospital and given a transfusion. More on this story.

CCNY Alumna Wins ‘Project Runway’ Modeling Contest
CCNY alumna Millana Williams, ’10, is a prime example of how hard work, perseverance and dedication can help anyone succeed.  Just months after graduating from CCNY with a BA in advertising and public relations, she has won the model segment of Lifetime’s reality series "Project Runway." Originally from Houston, Millana moved to New York on a leap of faith; her goal was to obtain a college degree and break into the fashion business.  "I moved to New York when I was 19," she said.  "It was definitely very hard financially.  Yet, I knew that I wanted to live in Manhattan and that I needed to find a public university because there was no way I could afford a private university’s tuition. "I compared CCNY to the other CUNY schools and, after meeting with the Media and Communication Arts Department, I knew that CCNY was the place for me," said Millana.  "Despite how hard it was to juggle everything, completing college was the most important goal for me." More on this story.

CCNY Chemists Design Molecule that Responds to Stimuli
The venus flytrap plant captures its prey when it senses the presence of an insect on the tips of its leaves.  An amphiphilic molecule designed by chemists at CCNY acts in a similar manner by changing its structure when heated slightly and, then, reverting to its original form when cooled. The finding, reported in the journal "Angewandte Chemie," points toward the possibility of designing adaptive soft materials in the lab that take their cues from how nature responds to stimuli, said Dr. George John, associate professor and corresponding author. Professor John and colleagues designed the molecule, which has both water-adhering and water-repelling ends, from cardanol, a naturally available material found in cashew nut shell liquid.  When mixed with water, the molecules formed a self-assembled structure called a micelle with a water-adhering exterior and water-repelling interior. More on this story.

CCNY Hosts CUNY CREST Institute Inaugural Reception
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Dr. Larry Robinson was guest speaker at reception to inaugurate the CUNY Remote Sensing of Earth Science and Technology (CREST) Institute, based at City College. The event, held November 29 in the Faculty Dining Room, drew more than 100 participants. Secretary Robinson called the new CREST Institute, which is an outgrowth of the NOAA-CREST Center, a "pioneering example" for other cooperative science centers. In addition, he praised CREST Director Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi for his tireless efforts since the initiative was begun in 2001. "NOAA has set very high standards of achievement and CREST has exceeded those high expectations. CCNY President Lisa Staino-Coico said the CREST Institute, which was approved by the CUNY Board of Trustees last June, "will be like none other in the Northeast and will be an important component of CUNY’s Decade of Science. Citing his passion for his students, she praised Professor Khanbilvardi as "one of CCNY’s crown jewels." The CREST Institute will serve as a hub for interdisciplinary research in remote science and technology across CUNY colleges. Its primary mission will be research to understand and predict changes to the earth’s environment and helping to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources, as well as training next-generation scientists and engineers to address global and national initiatives at a regional level.

Professor Emeritus Bernard Sohmer Passes Away at 81
Dr. Bernard Sohmer, CCNY Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and a former chair of the City College Faculty Senate and CUNY Faculty Senate, passed away Friday, November 19, following a lengthy illness.  He was 81. Professor Sohmer, who joined the math department in 1953, was a fixture at City College for more than a half century, serving in numerous administrative, faculty and union roles.  Throughout his career, he was a tireless advocate for City College faculty and students and the institution’s mission. In addition to being a faculty member, he served in the administration as Dean of Students and Vice Provost for Student Affairs during the 1960s and 1970s.  More on this story.

From the President

As you may know, City College has a robust intercession program in January. In addition to offering opportunities to students who attend at out-of-town colleges, but want to take a class while home with their families, it gives our own students a change to advance their journey through CCNY. I'd like to thank all the faculty and staff who are making this possible, and congratulate the students on their commitment to their education.

For most, however, the intercession is a time to relax, refresh and recharge, and – if you go far enough South – defrost. Whether you hit the ski slopes, head to a sunny beach or stay here in the Big Apple, here’s wishing you good times.

Lisa Staiano-Coico
President

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