Iona College Students in the News

New Rochelle, NY (April 2011)

CHEMISTRY STUDENT TO RECEIVE PRESTIGIOUS
ELI LILLY/ GRANT

Zuzanna Michalak (Class of ‘13), a chemistry student at Iona College, has been selected by the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Woman Chemists Committee to receive a 2011 Eli Lilly/WCC Travel Grant. This highly competitive award is given to a select few outstanding female students from undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral programs. Zuzanna is one of only eight female chemists in the country to have won this award, and one of only two undergraduates to have won. Six of the 8 awardees were PhD students, and yet Zuzanna was in this prestigious club as an undergraduate. Zuzanna will present a poster at the 2011 National ACS meeting in Denver CO., in August. Her research work, performed under the tutelage of Dr. Sunghee Lee, deals with understanding membrane interactions with ions in a simplified model bilayer.

IONA CHAPTER OF NATIONAL CHEMISTRY
SOCIETY INDUCTS 8

Iona College’s National Chemistry Honor Society Chapter recently inducted the following students who are majoring in chemistry or biochemistry at a ceremony held at the College. The keynote speaker was Edward V. Filardi, an attorney and Iona alum (‘65) who majored in Chemistry. The inductees are:

• Cari Anderson (Class of ’13)
• Daniel Lutolf Carroll (Class of ’13)
• Danielle Guerrino (Class of ’11)
• Nousin Haque (Class of ’13)
• Kathryn Lynch (Class of ’13)
• Zuzanna Michalak (Class of ’13)
• Erin Morgan (Class of ’13)
• Nadine Ninivaggi (Class of ’12)

Current members of the chapter are: Nick Florio (Class of ‘11), President; Kiersten Giusto (Class of‘12); Catherine Morris (Class of ’12); Diana Nunes (Class of ‘11); Dean Saccomanno (Class of ‘11); Paul Sanstead (Class of ‘11), Vice President and Garner Soltes (Class of ‘11).

It was also announced that three students received American Chemistry Society certified degrees: Nick Florio, Paul Sanstead and Jacob Varghese (Class of ‘11).

BIOLOGY STUDENTS RECEIVE HONORS AT NATIONAL BIOLOGICAL HONOR SOCIETY DISTRICT CONVENTION

At the recent Northeast District Convention of Beta Beta Beta, the National Biological Honor Society, held at Manhattan College, Bronx, a group of Iona College students was honored including Ivelisse Izaguirre (Class of ’12), under the mentorship of Dr. Teresa D’Aversa, who was presented with the Johnson C. Johnson Award for best poster presentation.

Izaguirre’s presentation was titled, “Myelin Basic Protein Stimulates CCL2 Chemokine Secretion in Human Astrocytes:  Importance in the Pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis.”  The award includes a grant to attend the Beta Beta Beta National Convention, which will be held next May in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

In addition, Nichole Walker (Class of ‘11), under the mentorship of Dr. Yourha Kang, was awarded third place for her poster presentation, “Metallothioneins and Metal Ion Transporters in Phragmites: Possibilities for Phytoremediation.” 

Garner Soltes (Class of ‘11), under the mentorship of Dr. Eric Muller, also gave an oral presentation titled, “Regulation of Polarized Morphogenesis in S. cerevisiae.”  Daniel Lipus (Class of ’12) and Matthew Joslyn (Class of’12), under the mentorship of Dr. Joseph Stabile, presented a poster titled, “Assessment of Genetic Variation in Phragmites australis Populations from Contaminated and Clean Sediments of the Hudson River using Chloroplast and Nuclear DNA Markers.”

Note: All of the student research in chemistry and biology was funded, in part, by  the Patrick J. Martin Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 2005 to primarily encourage math and science at the undergraduate level.

Founded in 1940, Iona College is a four-year private, coeducational institution of learning in the tradition of the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers and American Catholic higher education. It is a diverse community of learners and scholars dedicated to academic excellence and the values of justice, peace and service. Iona 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 advanced certificate programs.

For questions or more information please contact:
Dawn Insanalli
Public Relations Office
Iona College, 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801
Office: (914) 637-2726
Fax: (914) 637-2711
dinsanalli@iona.edu