Summer of Math! REU in Geneva NY

Ray Ibrahim, Verrazzano Class of 2019, completed a major in Mathematics. 

It was a cloudy, damp Wednesday morning. I had just packed my bags and threw any loose items in the back of my car that may be useful. I was going to spend two months in Geneva, New York participating in a mathematics Research for Undergraduates (REU) program. Before embarking on my three-hundred-mile journey, I swung by my friend Bing’s house. Equipped with only a quarter of a tank, Bing’s Costco membership card was my ticket to that sweet, cheap fossil fuel. After promptly filling up my tank and returning my one eye closed one eye opened friend to his humble abode, I set forth on the I-81 to Geneva.

With the sun ablaze, I arrived at Geneva at around three in the afternoon, perfectly late for the campus tour with all the other participating students. This gave me time to unload my soccer mom Mazda and get situated in my super humid room. After sweating my butt off moving stuff from my car to the third floor of a house built in the 1800s, which I had thoroughly convinced myself was a wooden oven at this point, another student came by to pick me up and bring me to the group. From then on, I was part of the Summer 2018 Math REU group at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

Throughout that summer, I was able to work alongside another student and mentor on a problem in Graph Theory. It was an incredibly useful experience to come up with original ideas and present them, as well as argue our positions to convince others of our results. I was able to visit two universities, namely Rochester Institute of Technology and Cornell University, to get a feel of what graduate programs are like and talk to current graduate students. The most amazing experience by far was flying to Denver, Colorado to present our research results at MathFest 2018. It was awesome going to a huge conference, seeing wonderful talks from all kinds of mathematicians, and of course all the free promo merchandise given out was a bonus.

In the end of the program, I left with a near complete paper with my REU partner and mentor. After working on this paper further with incredibly helpful reviews and suggestions from Professor Kevin O’Bryant, I was able to find critical errors and apply fixes as well as flesh out some other parts. All in all, the REU has been a wonderful academic experience for me and I have come out a better person.
 

Verrazano Honors Students Make The Most Of Summer Break

Verrazano Honors students are spending the summer conducting research, participating in internships, and exploring the world, and some of them have been selected for special opportunities. Here's what some of our top students are doing this summer.

Abeer Husein, Verrazano Class of 2016, is participating in a Teach & Travel program in Turkey.  This is a month-long program in which participants teach English to elementary school students while gaining valuable work and cross-cultural experience.  Abeer is pursuing a combined BA/MA degree in History along with the Adolescent Education certification. 

  

Juliet Baidoo, Verrazano Class of 2015, has been selected for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) at Princeton University.  She will be working with Dr. Celeste Nelson, whose research is focused on tissue morphodynamics.  Juliet is part of the Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) which aims to increase the number of underrepresented minority students pursuing graduate and bachelor's degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.  Juliet is majoring in Chemistry and plans to apply to medical school.

Kamal Kaur, Verrazano Class of 2017, has been accepted to the New York Needs You (NYNY) Fellows Program.  The New York Needs You Fellows Program is an intensive program for high-achieving, low-income, first-generation college students.  The two-year program offers career development workshops, access to internships, and professional development grants, and Fellows are matched one-on-one with a successful and motivated professional mentor. Kamal joins a growing list of Verrazano students who have been selected for the NYNY Fellows Program, and she is studying Biology. 

Dennis Lam, Verrazano Class of 2015, is working with Dr. Sharon Loverde in the Chemistry Department at the College of Staten Island this summer, where he will be using molecular dynamics (computer simulation) to analyze Camptothecin (CPT) drug delivery.  Dennis is majoring in Biochemistry with a minor in Chemistry and has been involved in undergraduate research since his freshman year.

Adriane Musacchio, Verrazano Class of 2015, has been accepted for a CSI Summer/Fall Undergraduate Research Fellowship.  She will be the research assistant for Dr. Zara Anishanslin’s forthcoming book on eighteen-century women’s history to be published by Yale University Press, and Adriane will be fact-checking, obtaining image permissions, and researching eighteenth-century primary sources – images that are in museums, online history collections, and other information accessed through various archives.  Adriane is pursuing a double-degree in Dramatic Arts and History/Adolescent Education.

Allison Fremer, Verrazano Class of 2017, was selected as the Undergraduate Intern for Finance and Operations at the Brennan Center for Justice through a competitive application process.  Allison is studying Accounting and hopes to attend law school in the future.