June 2005 Volume 1, Issue 1 IN THIS ISSUE UNIVERSITY DEAN FOR FACULTY SPOTLIGHT RESEARCH COVER STORY Myriam Sarachik Welcome to the First Issue Welcome to Myriam Sarachik, FACULTY SPOTLIGHT Distinguished Professor Myriam Sarachik the First Bonnie Gersten of Physics at the City Issue College, was named the DEAN’S CORNER Welcome to the first issue of 2005 L’ORÉAL-UNESCO Crisis in Federal Funding the CUNY Research for Women in Science RESEARCH OFFICE Newsletter! As I travel North American Laureate And the Winners Are … around the campuses and “for important Climate Change and a Global City hear of the impressive and experiments on electrical conduction and the New Web-based IRB Training significant research achievements of many of our faculty I transition between metals and insulators” and Strategies for Success wanted to create a platform through which we could honored at a special ceremony in France on Applications are up by 40% share and highlight these successes with both our internal March 3rd. Later in the month, she received AROUND THE CAMPUSES and external communities. Thus, we will be generating a the 2005 Oliver E. Buckley Prize in Condensed Botman lauds award recipients monthly newsletter for this purpose. Through this venue Matter Physics for “fundamental contributions Sedgwick Elected to AAS we will also provide information on upcoming research to experimental studies of quantum spin Milhous Receives Theatre Award symposia or conferences at our campuses, provide Engineering Medal for Tarbell dynamics and spin coherence in condensed ‘Einsteins In The City’ Conference information and deadlines for upcoming internal funding matter systems.” These awards, which were New polymer center at CSI opportunities, as well as external funding opportunities accompanied with cash prizes, underscore an APS Honor for Godfrey Gumbs for which we will be willing to take the lead in preparing already illustrious career of one of this Bittman Named AAAS Fellow collaborative CUNY-wide proposals. country’s most prominent women Physicists. Science Picks Chauhan’s Research Each month we will have a “spotlight” feature in which we EVENTS & ANNOUNCEMENTS (Continued on page 2) Annual Fall IRB Symposium will highlight the research of one or two of our faculty. In Review for Multi-campus Grants deciding what area to choose for this first edition I could Next Issue Highlights not help but be swayed by the current “hot topic” Subscribe to Email Notification centered around women’s ability to have a highly successful scientific career. Sparked by the comments of FACULTY SPOTLIGHT the president of Harvard University, Dr. Lawrence VISIT US ON THE WEB Summers, who spoke of the possibility of innate to learn about our office, flagship Bonnie Gersten initiatives, internal funding differences between men and women that result in the programs, faculty database, superiority of men at science and math1, this subject is Bonnie Lynn Gersten came to the Queens research highlights, human subject currently being debated in various media. Thus, we have College in 2002 by virtue of CUNY’s Flagship research and much more... Initiative in Photonics. Launched in 2000, the www.cuny.edu/research chosen to highlight two female scientists in this, our first, issue. Distinguished Professor Myriam Sarachik joined initiative aims to bring CUNY into the highest City College in 1964 from Bell Telephone Laboratories. ranks of Photonics research through cluster EMAIL US She was promoted to Distinguished Professor in 1995 and hiring of new faculty, development of new to submit news items, questions and has won numerous awards during her illustrious career. facilities, and expansion of educational comments about the newsletter: [email protected] Dr. Bonnie Gersten was recruited to Queens College as opportunities. In May of 2004, Dr. Gersten was part of our University Flagship Initiative in Photonics. one of ten scientists selected statewide to be Last year Dr. Gersten received a prestigious James D. the recipient of a prestigious James D. Watson Watson grant in the amount of $200,000 from the New Award—a $200,000 grant from the New York York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic State Office of Science, Technology and © 2005 CUNY Office of Academic Affairs Academic Research (NYSTAR). 535 East 80th Street, New York, NY 10021 Research (NYSTAR). Ph: (212) 794-5455; Fax: (212) 794-5378 (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 3) CUNY OAA Research Newsletter June 2005 1 Welcome to the First Issue Myriam Sarachik (Continued from page 1) (Continued from page 1) We have great strengths at CUNY. We have faculty who After earning a Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1960, Dr. Sarachik did postdoctoral are terrific teachers and researchers, despite the work at IBM Watson Laboratories and AT&T Bell Laboratories before joining the sometimes-challenging conditions. Our goal is to faculty at the City College as an assistant professor in 1964. She was promoted to support these efforts wherever possible. In the last associate professor in 1967, to the rank of professor in 1971, and Distinguished year or so we have initiated several new internal Professor in 1995. She served as the Executive Officer of the University wide doctoral funding programs to help seed research programs that program in Physics from 1975 to 1978. Dr. Sarachik received the 1995 New York can flourish and attract external funding. We are in the City Mayor's Award for Excellence in Science and Technology and the 2004 Sloan process of initiating a Postdoctoral Program to support Public Service Award from the Fund for the City of New York for blazing “trails as a the increasing number of Postdocs at the University – scientist, researcher, teacher, mentor and humanitarian”. In 2003 she served as stay tuned to future issues for more information on this president of the American Physical Society, the third woman president in the society's shortly. We are also preparing a University Research 105-year history. Dr. Sarachik is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a Brochure that will enable us to showcase some of our Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Fellow of the (APS) best researchers to potential students, faculty and American Physical Society, a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences and a funders. Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. I would like to encourage you to offer suggestions of Dr. Sarachik’s experimental work on solids (condensed matter) has covered a wide items for us to feature in the newsletter, and to send range of topics from superconductivity to metal-insulator transitions to the properties comments on the content of past issues. Such of molecular nanomagnets. From very early on, even before she became a full-time correspondence should be sent to faculty member at City College, Dr. Sarachik made important contributions in [email protected] condensed matter physics, beginning with her determination of “the superconducting energy gap from measurements of the superconducting penetration depth in the 1 http://www.president.harvard.edu/speeches/2005/nber.html classic superconductors tin and lead.” While at Bell Laboratories, she made a seminal contribution by establishing “the correspondence between a minimum in the electrical resistivity of an alloy as a function of temperature and the presence of PEER-NNYN EVENT AT THE CARRIAGE HOUSE dilute magnetic moments. This work played a key experimental role in support of the Climate Change and a Global City theoretical advance embodied in the Kondo effect.” During the 70’s, Dr. Sarachik’s research activities decreased markedly. She took on Nurture New York’s Nature various tasks in her department as well as an administrative assignment. She then (NNYN) and CUNY’s Program for decided to return to her research with renewed interest and energy. In so doing, Ecological/Environmental she was able to do what very few other academic research scientists have succeeded Research (PEER) held a joint in accomplishing—be at the forefront of research, take a ten-year hiatus, make up for event at the Carriage House on the gap in research and publications, and catch-up with the forefront again. In her March 15th titled “Global Climate second go-around, her new line of investigation was with metal-insulator transitions Change and New York City: A in (three-dimensional) semiconductors. With collaborators, Dr. Sarachik was recently scientific and an Artistic able to show that, contrary to conventional wisdom, a true metal-insulator phase Response”. The highlights of the event were transition may occur in two-dimensional systems. Her group has also demonstrated presentations by Hunter College Geography Professor quantum mechanical spin tunneling in molecular magnets. In her laboratory, Dr. William Solecki and contemporary artist Alexis Rockman. Sarachik and her team are currently pursuing the study of condensed matter Other speakers included David Rosane, Chief Naturalist properties at low temperatures, with particular focus on two areas: molecular of NNYN (www.nnyn.org) and Dr. Gillian Small, nanomagnets and the novel behavior of two-dimensional electron systems. University Dean for Research, CUNY. So how does the 2005 Women in Science Laureate react to the comments made by In his opening remarks, Mr. Rosane gave an overview of Dr. Larry Summers that there are “innate attitudes” that explain the low number of the NNYN/CUNY strategic alliance. Launched last year, scientific women? Dr. Sarachik thinks that commitment, tenacity and hard work are the partnership reflects a pooling of resources between far more important than any other factors in achieving success in science, as in any a foundation created by a legendary mediator, Theodore other field. She believes that Dr. Summers’ comments have been both beneficial and W. Kheel, and CUNY, the nation’s largest urban harmful; beneficial, in the sense that the issue has stimulated a broad public debate, university, to sponsor research, academic courses, and harmful, in the sense that it echoed the same attitudes that made things so student activities, field trips, events and public difficult for her when she entered the field, more than forty years ago.