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Discimus ut serviamus: We learn so that we may serve.
#67
What’s News
Vice President for Student Affairs Adam Rockman (left) and Interim Director of Athletics Rob Twible (right) flank Taylor Persaud, who yesterday was presented by  QC Interim President William Tramontano  with a certificate of appreciation. Persaud was the lifeguard on duty on whose alertness and rapid response rescued a student from drowning in the pool at Fitzgerald Gymnasium. Persaud reported that on the afternoon of December 9, she saw a young woman lying face up at the bottom of the deep end of the pool. She immediately jumped in, brought the woman to the surface, and with the assistance of two patrons got her out of the pool. While another swimmer called 911, Persaud checked for a pulse, felt none, and immediately began chest compressions. The woman soon began to cough up the water she had swallowed. Responding to Persaud's questions, she nodded her head indicating that she was okay. She then sat up and began to speak. Persaud covered her with a towel and jacket to prevent her going into shock while they awaited the arrival of EMS. The certificate reads that it is presented to Persaud "in heartfelt gratitude for her outstanding service to the Queens College community and her fellow students."
QC Forum Will Present Proposed New Bus Routes for Queens
 
In an effort “to create a faster, more reliable system of interconnected routes,” the MTA is proposing to completely redraw the bus route map for Queens. Assemblywoman Nily Rozic and Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal are inviting members of the QC campus and surrounding community to attend a presentation on the MTA draft plan, today (Wednesday, February 19) from 6:30 to 8:30 pm at Rosenthal Library 230. You can learn more about the MTA’s proposals, including reviewing its Queens bus route draft plan, at new.mta.info/queensbusredesign . Questions can be emailed to Assemblywoman Rozic’s office at rozicn@nyassembly.gov , or you can call 718-820-0241.
Interim President William Tramontano and VP Laurie Dorf recently had several meetings in South Florida with alumni from different graduating classes. This one took place in Fort Lauderdale. No wonder some call Florida the sixth borough.
NYPD Active Shooter Presentation at QC

The NYPD counterterrorism unit NYPD SHIELD will make a presentation about what you can do to survive an active shooter presentation, tomorrow (Thursday, February 20) from 12:15 to 2 pm in Rosenthal Library 230. This is open to all members of the college community.  
In addition to the live presentation, Queens College's Office of Communications and Marketing has produced an active shooter preparedness video that can be viewed anytime here . 
On Friday, February 7, high school and middle school students from New York City School District 29 had the opportunity to learn, grow, and share together. The My Brother’s and Sister’s Keeper Convening held at QC’s Colden Auditorium provided a space for them to discuss their goals and their experiences from both middle and high school perspectives. High school students experienced a day of mentoring centered around a central theme of self-love and student voice. Middle school students were led with an activity that encompassed creating a personal narrative or brand. Through these activities, both populations of students got a chance to hear the perspective of the other and create bonds that exist not only in the school building but also spread to the outside communities they share. Anael Alston, Assistant Commissioner of the New York State Education Department, is seen above with some of the participating students. He traveled from Albany expressly to participate in the event, which was made possible by Queens Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman.
Michael Lubell (right) of City College was joined by Acting Dean for Mathematics and Natural Sciences Daniel Weinstein (left) and Con Edison representative Al Harris (center) at last Monday’s ConEd STEEM Lecture/Physics Colloquium, Navigating the Maze: How Science and Technology Policies Affect America and the World , held during free hour in the Con Edison Lecture Hall (Science Building C-201). Lubell provided a non-technical talk about his experiences advocating for scientific interests in Washington. He served as director of public affairs of the American Physical Society for more than two decades and has been active in local, state, and national politics for half a century.
Queens Borough President Candidates Forum

The candidates for Queens Borough President will be on campus next week for a forum hosted by Prof. James Vacca (r) (Urban Studies) and the Urban Studies Club. The event will take place Monday, February 24, from 12:15 to 1:30 pm in Campbell Dome and will include a complimentary pizza lunch (kosher and non-kosher). Six people are vying for the office vacated by Melinda Katz when she resigned to become the Queens District Attorney.
Calling All Coders

As part of NYC Open Data Week,Tech Incubator@Queens College and Serval Ventures are inviting data scientists, artists, designers, developers, and anyone who is interested in data visualization to participate in a Data Hackathon at Queens College on Sunday, March 1, from 9 am to 5 pm at the Student Union Fishbowl. The topic will be: Can Data Start a Movement? The event is free and open to the public; click here to RSVP .

NYC Open Data Week takes place annually during the first week of March. This week-long series of events brings New Yorkers together across the boroughs to celebrate New York City’s Open Data Law, which was signed into law on March 7, 2012. The goal of Open Data Week 2020 is to increase civic engagement with open data as a free resource for New Yorkers. Diverse teams examine NYC Open Data and come up with new ways of visualizing the data and envisioning the future of NYC. Learn more at  https://www.open-data.nyc
2020 Winter Sports Update

The 2019­–20 winter sports season is wrapping up with many of QC’s teams gearing up for the postseason.
Men’s and Women’s Basketball

The women’s basketball team remains in the final play-off spot in the East Coast Conference despite Saturday’s 70-46 loss to New York Tech, as Bridgeport's win over UDC put both teams to a 3-9 mark in the league standings. Freshman Raiana Brown has burst upon the scene this year, averaging 13.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game which ranks her first-best and first-best in those categories in the ECC, respectively. Her outstanding season has resulted in five ECC Rookie of the Week selections. 
 
With its 70-62 loss to New York Tech, the men’s basketball team is now 7-16 and, more critically, 5-8 in ECC play with just two weeks remaining in regular season play. This places the Knights seventh in the ECC standings, a half-game behind District of Columbia, Molloy, and New York Tech (6-18, 5-7 ECC) for the final spot in the conference playoffs. Junior Elijah Bovell is having a big year for the Knights, averaging 18.2 points per game—good for third-best in the ECC.
 
Both teams will host their final home game of the season today (February 19). The women tip off versus St. Thomas Aquinas at 5:30 pm, and the men follow against St. Thomas at 7:30 pm. They will then close out the regular season with road games against Mercy College (February 22) and the University of the District of Columbia (February 26).
Women’s Swimming

After a 1-4 start, QC women’s swimming closed the regular season with four straight victories to move to 5-4. This also included a dominant performance at the Cedar Crest College Falcon Invitational that saw the Knights win 14 of 19 events in the non-scoring meet. A group of seniors—Gabriela Almeida, Megan Dawes, Chelsy Espinosa, and Amanda Giordano—have been key to the Knights’ success this year. The team will close out the season at the Metropolitan Conference Championships from February 21­–23. 
Men’s and Women’s Indoor Track and Field

Indoor track and field is looking strong with a number of student-athletes putting up top performances thus far. The men’s 4x400 relay qualified for the prestigious Millrose Games on February 8. Sophomore Pavan Bhat ranks near the top of the ECC in every jumping event and Jahmel Maynor-Mendez has the fastest 400-meter time (49.24) in the conference this season. In throwing events, junior Andrew Saulpaugh is ranked #1 in the ECC in the weight throw (15.68 meters).
 
For the women, junior Crystal Jia has been a top performer in middle-distance events. At the West Point Open on January 10, she won both the 1,000-meter and mile run. Sophomore Isabella Allocco and junior Nyakuome Thichiot are having solid seasons for the Knights in throwing and jumping events, respectively. The Knights will compete at the ECC Championships on February 22 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island.
 
For the latest news on Queens College athletics, visit queensknights.com.
New Offerings Highlight Summer Session Curriculum

With years of experience in running summer programs, Queens College is poised to introduce fresh courses in Summer 2020 that respond to students’ evolving needs and interests.

For instance, alongside the familiar summer offerings like Invitation to Modern Math and a brainteaser on Games and Puzzles, the Mathematics Department is adding new intermediate courses in fundamentals. Linear Algebra is an introductory course that will include matrices, vectors, determinants, and eigenvalues, while Introduction to Probability and Mathematical Statistics will include combinatorial methods, conditional probability, and discrete and continuous random variables and distributions. Students will get the full workout in mathematical principles, but in a much shorter timeframe than during the regular academic year.

The two courses are being offered for the first time during the summer as part of the new major Data Science and Statistics introduced in Fall 2019. According to LinkedIn, the most promising job of 2019 was data scientist with a median starting salary of $130K. The career has burgeoned, witnessing an exponential growth of 20x in the past three years. The flourishing is not limited to tech and finance, it's everywhere–in manufacturing, marketing, education, big pharma.
Interim President William A. Tramontano has stated, “There is always demand for the summer program. We have a large number of students who work, and who find summer courses essential to timely completion of their degrees. They also often find that they can engage better with difficult material during the summer, when courses are more intensive and often more intimate. Since students tend to take only one or two summer courses at a time, they are better able to focus on and master challenging material.”
                   
Other new courses also will expand the quantitative and STEM offerings this summer. For undergraduates, Urban Studies will be teaching Introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), offering them the chance to acquire skills in creating, organizing, analyzing, and visualizing spatial data; these skills have become essential to a broad spectrum of professions—from urban planning to public health to political science and many others. At the graduate level, Risk Management is rolling out Data Analytics for Risk Management, which will teach how to build financial models and analyze risk using Python software. A graduate course on Using Survey Techniques to Understand the Future with Transportation will prepare students to do research having real-world applications. Similarly, a graduate biology course on Entomology has been added to the summer program.
 
Four sessions are scheduled this summer, running from June 1 to August 6 and offering courses in four-, six-, and ten-week increments. You can register now for any or all of the four sessions by visiting the Summer Session website . Both the shuttle bus and free parking are available.
Building Futures: Herb Weiss
Herb Weiss ’95 (left), a high school science teacher and research coordinator, has been mentoring aspiring science students for more than two decades, but were it not for a fateful injury 30 years ago, he may have never had the chance to affect so many young lives. 
 
Back when Weiss was in high school, he admittedly was not a great student and decided to pass on college. So, he spent 11 years working as a truck driver for Entenmann’s. But at the age of 29, Weiss fell off a platform while on the job, injuring his knee which required ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction surgery.
 
After the surgery, Weiss was unsure if he could still perform a physically demanding job and instead went back to school, enrolling in the Queens College Adult Collegiate Education (ACE) program. One of the first classes he took was a five-credit chemistry course that first sparked his love for science. He went on to earn a degree in Biology with a minor in education.
 
“The program was nothing short of great,” said Weiss. “We mentored one another. We helped one another. It was very supportive. I loved it.”
 
First teaching job

He landed his first teaching job at West Hempstead High School on Long Island shortly after graduating from QC. There, two students were working on submitting a research paper to the Westinghouse Talent Search (now known as Regeneron Talent Search), a national science competition, and one of the school’s advisors asked Weiss to assist them. Having done scientific research often as a student at Queens College, Weiss was knowledgeable on the process and helped the two students reach the semifinals of the prestigious competition. From there, his career as a science research coordinator was born.
 
He later went on to teach at Sewanhaka High School and Locust Valley High School where he also started successful science research programs, with numerous students under his guidance gaining honors at top competitions. In 2010, he was hired by South Side High School, specifically because it needed help rejuvenating a dwindling science research program. He is still at South Side, and its science research program is thriving.  
 
“I credit Queens College for the education to get me where I was going—never envisioning that I would ever become a research coordinator or a science teacher.”
 
Weiss also credits his connections to the faculty at Queens College for the success of his research programs. Many of his students who did research worked with biology and chemistry professors from Queens College, in addition to many other top schools and organizations in the area. Several of the students Weiss assisted with research projects have gone on to have successful careers as doctors and scientists.
 
Science research matters

“To me, science research is all about the research,” explained Weiss. “The competition is nice. You may win. You may lose. What you can’t take away from students is the experience they get working with an expert in the field. And frankly, Queens College has some of the best experts in the field in the country.”
 
For 21 straight years, Weiss and his students have been regulars at QC’s Annual Science Open House for High School Students—an event that welcomes area high schools to the campus each January for a day of inspiring exhibits and presentations on a variety of scientific topics. Since arriving at South Side, he has also worked with Queens College to bring developmentally disabled students to the open house, creating presentations uniquely tailored for their special needs. 
 
“Especially now, it’s more important than ever to be as inclusive as we can. The students love it. My school loves it. The parents love it,” added Weiss.
 
With so many students benefiting from his guidance and leadership, the injury Weiss suffered many years ago has proved to be a blessing in disguise.
Heard Around Campus
A new study appearing in Neuroscience by Jeff Beeler (Chair, Psychology; CUNY Neuroscience Collaborative, The Graduate Center) sheds light on why some people are motivated to work out in the gym while others are not. . . Joshua Brumberg ( Psychology, Queens College; Dean for the Sciences, The CUNY Graduate Center) is a member of the working group behind Creative GC: Art and Science Connect , a new Graduate Center initiative that explores the overlap between art and science and the ways in which they stimulate creativity. . . Alumnus Victor Calise ’12 , Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, has been nominated by Mayor Bill De Blasio to Governor Andrew Cuomo for a seat on the MTA Board. He has a Master’s in Urban Affairs from Queens College. . .
Earlier this month, the online edition of the Queens Chronicle featured the story of Dr. Marie Maynard Daly , who received her BS and MS at Queens College in 1947 and went on to become the first African-American woman in the nation to receive a PhD in chemistry at Columbia University. . .
A new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York in Manhattan chronicles some of the greatest moments in the history of the Big Apple and includes a video of Queens College and the legendary coach Lucille Kyvallos . Kyvallos has been nominated again this year for the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Last year, a basketball court at the college’s Fitzgerald Gymnasium was named in her honor. . .
The Q View is produced by the
Office of Communications and Marketing. 

Comments and suggestions for future news items are welcome.