Helen M. Teclaw (1944-2020) and Eugene J. Surowitz
The Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at The City College of New York has established the Eugene J. Surowitz and Helen M. Teclaw Program in Neuroscience, made possible with a generous gift from Eugene J. Surowitz ‘68.
This major long-term research and training initiative aims to understand the basic structure and function of the brain by focusing on the interconnectedness within it and the abstract functions of the mind. The advancement of new knowledge and understanding in this research field portends implications for a range of disciplines from analytic intelligence to computer science to psychology to physics.
This gift will enable the creation of the Eugene J. Surowitz and Helen M. Teclaw Professorship of Neuroscience. This position is to be filled by a world-class neuroscientist to lead theoretical and empirical research efforts among scientists at CCNY to investigate neural structure and function. Two faculty positions at the rank of assistant professor will be filled by neuroscientists who use innovative techniques to research and understand how the brain gives rise to cognitive phenomena.
One of these positions is currently being funded by the donor, with the other to be supported by this initiative.
Along with the faculty positions, one Eugene J. Surowitz and Helen M. Teclaw post-doctoral fellow is to be recruited. The fellowship will be filled by a neuroscientist to work alongside the faculty members in their quest to understand these phenomena. In addition, a speaker series will invite nationally and internationally recognized researchers to present their research on functional brain organization.
The gift also provides for: a research fund to provide materials and supplies to faculty members who mentor graduate and undergraduate students involved in their laboratory research; and an internship fund to provide stipends and research support, including professional development, to students pursuing research careers in neuroscience and analytic intelligence.
Eugene J. Surowitz spent almost three decades at IBM, where his work in algebraic computation for general relativity led to an interest in artificial intelligence technologies. He has published seven research works with 37 citations and 225 reads, and is the co-author, with Englebert L. Schucking, his Ph.D. advisor at New York University, of Einstein's Apple: Homogeneous Einstein Fields (World Scientific Pub Co Inc, 2015).
“City College provided me with the opportunity to get an excellent education, which has served me well all my life,” he said.
“As a neuroscience researcher myself, I am grateful for the scholarly opportunities this generous gift affords the College,” said Robert Melara, professor and chair of the Department of Psychology, where the initiative is to reside. “I look forward to welcoming more faculty to our community of scholars.”
“Gene Surowitz is a visionary who cares deeply about science and his alma mater. I am grateful that he brings the two together in supporting this major new initiative to understand the brain at CCNY,” said Andrew Rich, the Richard J. Henley and Susan L. Davis Dean of the Colin Powell School.
About the Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership
Established in April 2013, the Colin Powell School is home to the social science departments at CCNY as well as the core leadership development and public service programs of the College. With almost 4,000 students, and graduating the most CCNY students annually, the Colin Powell School mission is to transform the nation’s most diverse student body into tomorrow’s global leaders. Half of our students are immigrants; most come from lower income backgrounds. More than seventy percent are first-generation college students, and eighty percent are people of color. The Colin Powell School and City College remain among the most effective engines of economic and social mobility in the United States. The School is led by a faculty dedicated to the highest standards of research and to the university’s democratic and public obligations. Read more about the Colin Powell School.
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 Emsi (now Lightcast) puts at $1.9 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. This year, 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.
Syd Steinhardt
212-650-7875
ssteinhardt1@ccny.cuny.edu