Hello!

I don’t know if you want a story or just information about the publication; here’s a little of both.

During my senior year at Hunter College, I started working with Professor Ulijn in the Nanoscience Initiative at the Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) to work on my Honors Thesis project. What i didn’t realize, however, was how enamored i would be with research, the people, and the building itself. So it lasted a whole lot longer than a few months — it lasted for 1.5 years after i graduated. This facility is nothing short of amazing, it provides CUNY students the access to state of the art equipment, including a brand new nanofabrication facility and microscopy/imaging machinery that other institutions can only dream of. In the future, i hope to see more students take advantage of these facilities.

After two years and countless hours of method preparation, microscopic analysis, data analysis, etc, the fruits of our hard work were finally realized after we published our article in “Nature Nanotechnology” (easily the most influential journal in nanotechonology with an impact factor of 35, and one of the most respected journals in research — professors dream of publishing their work here!), with another paper on the way. The article, titled “Dynamic Peptide Libraries for the Discovery of Supramolecular Nanomaterials” discovers a method to create new “soft” materials at the nano-scale, with different morphologies capable of different functions (e.g. nanofibrous materails form gels, for cell culture, cosmetics, regenerative medicine, nanospehres for drug delivery, etc.). It uses environmental factors to vet the strongest candidates for self-assembly (material) in a very Darwinian evolution/survival of the fittest concept. The paper was also featured in Nature Nanotechnology with a separate “News and Views” written by Thomas Hermans of Strasborg, France. This is a fundamental methodology of how to create new materials

Some links in media, and science press

http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nnano.2016.169.html

http://www.asrc.cuny.edu/2016/10/03/survival-of-the-fittest-in-materials-discovery/

http://www.nature.com/nnano/index.html#trending

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/self-assembling-polymers-use-evolutionary-principles/

https://scicasts.com/nanotechnology/2058-nanomaterials/11763-survival-of-the-fittest-in-materials-discovery/

http://phys.org/news/2016-10-survival-fittest-materials-discovery.html

other duplicates from different outlets:

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-10/casr-sot100316.php
http://www.rdmag.com/news/2016/10/survival-fittest-materials-discovery
http://www.nanowerk.com/nanotechnology-news/newsid=44689.php
http://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/159974/survival-of-the-fittest-in-materials-discovery.html?WT.mc_id=ca0066
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161003213612.htm
http://healthmedicinet.com/i/survival-of-the-fittest-in-materials-discovery/

I don’t know how significant of an accomplishment this is, looking at some of the other posts on here, so i feel a little guilty sharing this, but since i was asked to, i guess it’s ok!

The MHC Alumni mentoring program is now expanding to additional fields. If you’re looking to participate, please reach out to Brianne or contact the lead organizers in your area.

1) Finance and Accounting MHC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program Focus Group
Thomas Brigandi (CSI 2012), Associate Analyst at Moody’s
Irina Cruz (Baruch 2005), Middle Office at Soros

2) Legal MHC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program Focus Group Focus Group
Mary Pennisi (Brooklyn 2008), Associate Attorney at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Serge Zenin (Baruch 2008), Medical Malpractice Defense Attorney at Schiavetti Corgan

3) Technology & Engineering MHC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program Focus Group
Harrison Adler (Baruch 2010), Business Intelligence Lead, Android & Chrome for Work at Google

4) Marketing, Media & Advertising MHC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program Focus Group
Amanda Perez (Brooklyn 2005), Producer/Editor at CBS News

5) Education MHC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program Focus Group
Michael Young (CSI 2010), Spanish Dual Language Teacher at NYC Teaching Fellows

6) Administration & Non-profit MHC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program Focus Group
Alexandros Hatzakis (Baruch ’08), Chief of Administration and Executive Affairs at Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies

7) Policy & Government MHC Alumni-Student Mentoring Program Focus Group
Joe Eastman (Hunter 2010), Senior Analyst at NYC Office of Management and Budget

I recently took leave from my position in the NYC Council Speaker’s office to work at Hillary for America on the Digital Organizing team. Excited to make herstory this November!