News

School places high among master’s universities for research, social mobility in magazine’s college rankings The City College of New York was ranked 43rd among the United States’ 684 master’s universities, according to the 2013 “Washington Monthly” College Rankings. The magazine rates schools based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories that receive equal weight: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country)

Professor Robert Alfano and colleagues devise approach for applying quantum and optical principles to cosmetic preparations How someone perceives color is determined by how the item they are looking at scatters and emits light. In August, three City College of New York physicists affiliated with the Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL) were awarded a patent for a method for changing perception of skin tone by applying quantum and optical principles to cosmetic preparations. IUSL Director Robert R. Alfano led the team. Research Associate Xiaohui Ni played a key role in

General Powell contributes $5 million to school at City College The Colin L. Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership at the City College of New York announced its new board of visitors November 5. The board, consisting of 26 prominent Americans, will hold its inaugural meeting later this month. Chairing the board is General Colin L. Powell USA (Ret), CCNY ’58, who donated a lead gift of $5 million to the campaign for the Powell School, and has been the driving force behind the campaign, which has raised $44 million to date. The Powell School’s Board of Visitors will help support the

Meeting November 7 – 8 in Detroit is first of its kind to bring together change agents from Southeast Michigan, Northeast Ohio and Upstate New York The Spitzer School of Architecture’s J. Max Bond Center on Design for the Just City (JMBC), in partnership with the American Assembly and the Detroit Collaborative Design Center, is hosting the Bruner Loeb Forum on Legacy City Design. The two-day conference will be held, November 7 – 8 in Detroit. “The conference builds on our Legacy City Design Initiative launched last year in partnership with the American Assembly, which is based at Columbia

College’s entry in 2011 Solar Decathlon to become multi-purpose facility dedicated to sustainability A campaign is underway to install the Solar Roofpod atop the Spitzer School of Architecture building, where it will serve as a multi-purpose facility dedicated to sustainability. The installation is expected to begin in early 2014. The solar-powered house was The City College of New York entry in the U.S. Department of Energy 2011 Solar Decathlon. “Placing the Solar Roofpod atop the Spitzer School of Architecture would allow it to function as originally intended, on top of a roof, tied into a

As postdoc at Columbia, CCNY physicist Cory Dean and colleagues devised new method that addresses graphene’s contamination problem Dr. Cory Dean, assistant professor of physics at The City College of New York, is the lead author of a paper published November 1 in the journal “Science” that demonstrates it is possible for an atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) material to have electrical contact along its one-dimensional (1D) edge. The contact architecture offers a new assembly technique for layered materials that prevents contamination at interfaces. Professor Dean conducted the research as a

Dr. Sheldon Weinbaum, CUNY distinguished professor of biomedical and mechanical engineering emeritus in City College’s Grove School of Engineering, was among 164 influential artists, scientists, scholars, authors and institutional leaders inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences at a ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., Saturday, October 12. His cohort, the academy’s 223rd class, includes Academy Award-winning actor Sally Field, jazz great Herbie Hancock, Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns (elected in 2011), U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, U.S. Secretary of Energy Ernest

First event of its kind in New York lets clinicians, researchers and students hear from pioneers, learn about emerging innovations The 2013 NYC Neuromodulation Conference, the first meeting of its kind to be held in New York City, will take place November 22 – 23 at The City College of New York. The event will provide clinicians, researchers and students with opportunities to hear from pioneers and learn about emerging innovations in transcranial electrical stimulation, the application of low-voltage current to restore and improve brain function. Conference sessions will cover research

City College of New York Professor of Spanish Araceli Tinajero is the co-editor with J. Brian Freeman of "Technology and Culture in Twentieth-Century Mexico." The book, published by the University of Alabama Press, departs from popular scholarly themes associated with Mexico such as tradition and culture. The 376-page volume includes 18 articles from prominent scholars at City College, the Graduate Center, CUNY, and eight other institutions across the United States and Mexico. Among the contributors are Dr. Anna Indych-Lopez, associate professor and chair of art at CCNY; and Erja Vettenranta

Dr. Joan Steitz, Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University, will present the 8th Annual Sharon Cosloy – Edward Blank Lecture at The City College of New York 4 p.m. Thursday, November 14, in Room 95, Shepard Hall, 160 Convent Ave., New York. Her talk is titled “Noncoding RNAs: with a Viral Twist.” A reception will follow in Room 250, Shepard Hall. The event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to 212-650-8499 or events@ccny.cuny.edu . A member of the Yale faculty since 1970, Dr. Steitz’ laboratory is dedicated to the study of RNA structure and function