CCNY Dean of Science Susan Perkins has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Dr. Susan L. Perkins, the Martin & Michele Cohen Dean of Science at The City College of New York, is one of the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s new 2025 Fellows. Dating back to 1874, the honor is bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers because of their scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications.
The AAAS Council cited Perkins “for distinguished scientific contributions in the fields of evolutionary biology and parasitology as well as for advancing scientific knowledge in the public through education, outreach, and administration.” It elects Fellows deliberately and carefully to preserve the honor attached to this recognition.
A microbiologist with expertise on protozoan parasites that cause malaria, Perkins has served as CCNY’s Science Dean since January 2020. Her tenure has been marked by her keen focus on student success, commitment to research, and building community. "City College is such a unique and special place," she said. "We have a dual role of conducting extensive, important research across so many fields of science and mathematics while also playing pivotal roles in promoting social mobility for so many New York City students."
Funded research in the Division of Science has grown under her tenure and reached $100 million this past year.
Perkins also has been a driving force behind making CCNY’s Gaming Pathways Program, and in bringing the Post Bac Health Professions program to fruition. It prepares students who want to go into the health professions but spent their undergraduate careers with other goals.
In tandem with all the administrative work that she has accomplished, she’s continued with her own research and taught classes in parasitology and Disease and history.
Prior to her current position, Perkins was Curator and Professor of Microbial Genomics at the American Museum of Natural History.
Perkins and the other new Fellows will be recognized during the annual Fellows Forum June 7 in Washington, D.C.
About the American Association for the Advancement of Science
AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science as well as Science Translational Medicine, Science Signaling (a digital, open-access journal), Science Advances, Science Immunology and Science Robotics. AAAS was founded in 1848 and includes nearly 250 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Jay Mwamba
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