Iona College’s Dr. Sunghee Lee Honored as 2022 CUR Fellow
Iona College’s Dr. Sunghee Lee has been named as one of the latest Fellows of the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR), along with Dr. John Barthell of the University of Central Oklahoma. They are being honored for their leadership and service as role models for those involved in undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activities.
Lee and Barthell will be celebrated during Undergraduate Research Week in a virtual celebration on Thursday, April 21, 2022.
Every two years, CUR Fellows Awards recognize two CUR members who have facilitated undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activities at their institution through mentorship and demonstrated leadership activities.
Awardees receive a CUR lifetime membership; a plaque; and a Brian Andreen-CUR Student Research Fellowship to support undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activities on their campus.
“Drs. Barthell and Lee provide inspiration to all who participate in the important work of undergraduate research,” said Lindsay Currie, CUR’s executive officer. “They truly exemplify the spirit of leaders and mentors and have shown dedication to spreading undergraduate research at their home institutions as well as at the national level.”
A mentor to over 94 undergraduates and recipient of numerous research and education grants, Dr. Sunghee Lee is the Iona College Board of Trustees Endowed Professor in Science, and a professor in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department.
As founder of Iona Scholars Day (ISD), where scholarship and the creative activities of students, mentored by faculty members, are shared with the college and community at large, Lee not only gave life to undergraduate research at Iona, but facilitated active participation from all corners of the campus – cultivating a high-quality undergraduate education through faculty-student scholarship and engaged learning experiences.
Lee also established a research group called Project Symphony, in which undergraduate students learn team cooperation, critical reasoning, problem solving, and planning skills through interdisciplinary scientific research experience.
Lee has published 41 publications with over 70 Iona student coauthors and together, have presented at over 300 conferences. Through nearly two decades of scientific research with undergraduates, over 75 percent of her mentored students have progressed to advanced degrees in science.
Among her many achievements, Lee has paved the way for Iona's Chemistry Department to gain acceptance from the American Chemical Society (ACS) for its BS in chemistry; increased enrollment in the chemistry/biochemistry majors by 500%; established two new combined degree programs; and promoted high-quality undergraduate curricula and student-faculty collaborative research with increased extramural funding.
Lee's honors and awards include The Rising Star Award by ACS Women Chemists Committee (WCC) and Distinguished Scientist Award by the New York ACS. She has also been recognized by her students and colleagues in receiving the Br. Arthur Loftus Faculty Award for Outstanding Student Research and most recently, the Senior Faculty Award in 2020.
“It is a tremendous honor to receive such a significant award and I want to share this recognition with all my students past and present who made this recognition possible. Receiving this recognition from CUR is in every way a testament to the power of undergraduate research, and especially, to my students, without whom I would not be here today,” said Lee. “Their dedication to science truly propels me, and we act to motivate each other to extend the boundaries of what is known in Chemistry.”
Lee has demonstrated her aptitude for leadership in her department, campus-wide, and to the broader community. She serves as a member of the ACS Committee on Professional Training (CPT), a member of the chemistry division within CUR and has served two terms as a councilor of the CUR chemistry division.
Said Seamus Carey, Ph.D., president of Iona College, “It is my honor to congratulate Dr. Lee on this prestigious award. Dr. Lee consistently goes above and beyond in her dedication to both Iona and our students. It shows not only in the results that emanate from her lab, but also in the passion that her students bring to their work and their lives beyond the classroom. I know the best is still to come as we continue to elevate the Iona experience.”
About CUR
Founded in 1978, the Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) is an organization of individual, institutional, and affiliate members from around the world that share a focus on providing high-quality and collaborative undergraduate research, scholarly, and creative activity opportunities for faculty and students. Nearly 700 institutions and more than 13,000 individuals belong to CUR. CUR believes that faculty members enhance their teaching and contribution to society by remaining active in research and by involving undergraduates in research, and that students engaged in undergraduate research succeed in their studies and professional advancement.