News

Urban Heat Island Effect Keeps Manhattan Hotter Longer, CCNY Professor Says Heat waves like those that baked the Northeast in July are likely to be more frequent and more intense in the future, with their effects amplified in densely built urban environments like Manhattan, according to climate scientists at The City College of New York (CCNY). “Manhattan is subject to an urban heat island effect because its physical landscape is significantly different from the surrounding suburbs,” said Dr. Jorge Gonzalez, NOAA-CREST Professor of Mechanical Engineering in CCNY’s Grove School of Engineering.

Spitzer School’s June Williamson Organizes ‘Build A Better Burb’ Competition With an aging infrastructure and an aging population, Long Island – America’s first suburb – is in need of a facelift. June Williamson, Associate Professor of Urban Design in the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at The City College of New York (CCNY), is helping to generate fresh thinking about what can be done to rejuvenate the region’s commercial centers. Professor Williamson is serving as advisor and jury coordinator for “Build a Better Burb,” a competition to promote ideas for retrofitting

Could Have Applications to Gulf of Mexico Spill A team of chemists led by Dr. George John, Associate Professor at The City College of New York (CCNY), have developed a non-toxic, recyclable agent that can solidify oil on salt water so that it can be scooped up like the fat that forms on the top of a pot of chilled chicken soup. The agent could potentially be used to recover oil lost in the British Petroleum (BP) spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Professor John said. In the laboratory, Professor John and colleagues added a sugar compound mixed in alcohol to diesel oil floating on top of a saline

Garden, Play Area Replace Weeds in W. 140th Street Lot A City College of New York (CCNY) graduate student’s capstone project has led to the creation of new community space for residents of two buildings in central Harlem. Two adjacent empty lots on W. 140th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Malcolm X Boulevards are being transformed into a garden and play area thanks to the initiative of Dawn Mikkelson, who earned her Master of Public Administration degree in May, and her mentor, Dr. Jean Krasno. “This began as a theoretical idea,” said Ms. Mikkelson. “I never anticipated we would

A five-member team of students in the Grove School of Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY) took first place in the design category in the 18th annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC). The event, in which 58 teams from six countries qualified to compete, was held June 4 – 7 at Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Mich. “We’re very proud of this achievement, especially since robotics is one of our key research areas,” said Dr. Joseph Barba, dean of the Grove School of Engineering in congratulating the team. “By supporting our students so they can participate in

Delegation from Shimoda to Honor Townsend Harris July 14 Hon. Naoki Ishii, Mayor of Shimoda, Japan, will lead a 14-member delegation on a pilgrimage to The City College of New York (CCNY) July 14 to honor CCNY’s founder Townsend Harris, who opened the first U.S. consulate in Japan. The party will be the 24th delegation from Shimoda to visit CCNY to pay homage to Mr. Harris, who founded the College as The Free Academy in 1847. The visit coincides with the 150th anniversary of the visit of the first Japanese Ambassador to New York prior to opening the first Japanese embassy in Washington. Mr

Check-Cashing Businesses and Other Alternatives to Banks Still Widely Used in NYC Dominican Community New York City’s 600,000-plus Dominicans are more likely than Latinos nationwide to have accounts at a bank or credit union. However, they continue to rely heavily on alternative financial institutions such as check-cashing businesses, and use costly financial instruments such as money orders and tax refund anticipation loans because the mainstream financial institutions are not meeting their needs. Those were among the key findings of a study by the CUNY Dominican Studies Institute (CUNY-DSI)

Insooni Overcame Discrimination to Become R&B Star Kim In-soon, the acclaimed Korean R&B vocalist, came to The City College of New York (CCNY) Thursday, June 3, to visit with students and to present a $10,000 gift to the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies. The gift will support the Center’s mission of developing new generations of leaders from populations previously underrepresented in public service and policy circles. Popularly known by her stage name, Insooni, Ms. Kim’s donation coincides with the development of the Center’s new Korean Insights and Issues program, set to launch in 2011

Dr. John J. Lee, Distinguished Professor of Biology at The City College of New York (CCNY), received the 2010 Faculty Service Award from the CCNY Alumni Association at the Association’s 158th Annual Meeting June 10, in The Great Hall. In addition, the Association presented its second Administrative Service Award to Robin Villa, ’75MA, Director of the Honors College. An internationally recognized researcher in marine microbial ecology, Professor Lee was honored for his 40 years of service to CCNY and CUNY. He has been an outstanding teacher and mentor to undergraduate and graduate students

18-Month Study Funded by Grants from the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the University Transportation Research Center With a coastline stretching from New York Harbor to Cape May, New Jersey stands to benefit from a new study designed to pinpoint the top 20 sites for hydrokinetic energy, a renewable resource produced by the movement of tides, waves and currents in oceans and other bodies of water. A City College of New York (CCNY) engineering professor is partnering with Natural Currents Energy Services, LLC (NCES), a leader in tidal power technology, to locate these sites. Dr