News Releases

January 15, 2008 – Eight Iona College students have been selected, among only 70 statewide who have been invited, to participate in the inaugural “Independent Sector Undergraduate Research Exposition” January 22 at the Legislative Office Building in Albany, N.Y.

The one-day event will bring together college students, faculty, and New York State legislators to showcase high quality research posters. In addition to the display of student work, special presentations will take place during the day and a book with descriptions of the research projects will be provided to the legislators.

The Undergraduate Research Exposition is sponsored by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU), which represents the chief executives of New York’s 100+ independent (private, not-for-profit) colleges and universities on issues of public policy. Member colleges compose the largest private sector of higher education in the world and confer most of the bachelor’s degrees (56%), master’s degrees (74%), and doctoral and first-professional degrees (81%) earned in New York State.

The students on the research team of Dr. Sunghee Lee, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, have been engaged in the development and application of the isolated water micro droplet for use as a versatile, spatially confined nanoliter-size reaction container. Disparate chemical phenomena are studied with common advantages of enhanced safety, cost savings, and rapid kinetics due to their extremely small scale. Using the micropipette manipulation technique in combination with digital video microscopy, Dr. Lee’s research team has been able to readily monitor and control ultra-small volumes of chemical reactants, in the micron diameter range. This unique approach simultaneously offers high-quality digital capture of unfolding reactions and vastly enhanced reaction kinetics, yet in a green and environmentally friendly manner.

The students of Dr. Lee who will be presenting their research are: Kristin Allain, Senior, Chemistry major; Shelby Erb, Senior, Chemistry major; and Aileen Hilario, Junior, Biochemistry major; Loreta Geneviciute, sophomore, Chemistry major; and Aaron Snyder, Senior, Chemistry/Biology double major. Allain and Erb (together with Christina Luis, ’07, Chemistry major) have pioneered in the development of methods of inorganic crystallization within an isolated micro droplet. Their work clearly showed that this method of crystallization provide conveniently short induction times, facilitating rapid data collection, to study important nucleation kinetics of industrially relevant crystallization system.

Hilario, and Geneviciute, are investigating the effect of the monolayer at the liquid-liquid interface as a way to build a template for controlled nucleation, as well as to study intricate interfacial structure of the monolayer. Their findings show that the monolayer arrangement at the interface indeed affects the variation of onset concentration at crystallization and crystal morphology.

Snyder is investigating protein crystallization, especially lysozyme droplet crystallization, in order to rapidly assess effect of parameters including protein concentration, type of precipitant, and buffer. His research includes droplet protein crystallization investigations using drops of sizes varying across three orders of magnitude to find the most efficient way to growing diffraction-quality crystals.

The students on the research team of Br. Robert Novak, CFC, Professor of Physics, Chair of the Department, have been engaged in the understanding of the Martian atmosphere with the collaboration with NASA.

The students of Br. Novak who will be presenting their research are: Cara Rahon, Senior, Chemistry major, Caitlin Sanstead, Chemistry/Biology double major.

Rahon constructed a map of carbon monoxide in Mars’ atmosphere using select absorption lines of 12C 16O in the near-infrared. Preliminary analysis shows greatest carbon monoxide column densities at 15o N, 217o W on July 6, 1999, Ls at 165o. A comparison of Martian and terrestrial carbon monoxide isotopic ratios will also be presented. This work is part of an ongoing survey of the Martian atmosphere.

Sanstead is analyzing O2 (a1?g) emission in order to detect ozone in the Martian atmosphere. The data were collected using CSHELL at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. From the data, she creates 2-dimensional maps of the O2 singlet-delta emissions allowing the geographical distributions of ozone across Mars to be compared at various seasons.

The participation of Iona's undergraduate students in research programs in the Chemistry and Physics departments is part of Iona's commitment to providing active learning opportunities to solve leading research problems. In this way, Iona students obtain valuable experience needed to enhance their professional development for a variety of future careers and advanced degree programs.

Founded in 1940 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, Iona College is a private, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of American Catholic higher education. Iona, currently listed in the US News and World Report's annual "America's Best Colleges 2008" and The Princeton Review's Best Northeastern Colleges 2008 edition, offers undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, science, and business administration, as well as Master of Arts, Master of Science and master of business administration degrees and numerous post-graduate certificate programs.

-30-

For questions or more information please contact:
Dawn Insanalli
Public Relations Office
Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801
tel: (914) 633-2005 fax: (914) 637-2711
dinsanalli@iona.edu

Back to Top