Second year PhD student Jeff Smith fills in summer student Cristina Irimia on the ins and outs of graduate training.
This summer we witnessed young scientists at various crossroads in their careers. Our inaugural class of PhD students completed their first year of study and took the important step of choosing their thesis laboratories. We welcomed our second class of PhD students, who, at this writing, have completed their first laboratory rotation. And 20 summer students spent ten weeks gaining the confidence in their abilities to one day become graduate students.
2007 Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP)
Alex Kostic
“Even though it was only ten weeks, I feel like I’ve grown as a scientist — I’ve learned so much and I feel more confident working independently than I did at the beginning of the summer.”
— Alex Kostic, 2007 SURP student
- See what other students had to say about their summer experience.
- See the slide show of the 2007 Poster Symposium.
- Learn more about students’ 2007 summer research projects.
Shaps Scholars
Four summer students were named Rubin and Sarah Shaps Scholars. These students were selected on the basis of their outstanding undergraduate credentials and their performance in our summer program.
Peter Ly, a junior majoring in biology at Baylor University. He was mentored by Eric Lai, Developmental Biology.
Courtney Schroeder, a sophomore majoring in biochemistry at the University of Virginia. She was mentored by Kenneth Marians, Molecular Biology.
Amit Tailor, a junior majoring in chemistry at the University of Illinois. He was mentored by David Gin, Molecular Pharmacology and Chemistry.
Application to our summer program has grown from 262 in 2004 to 606 in 2007. The application to our 2008 program is now available.
Our Second-Year PhD Students
Our second year students declared their thesis laboratories and have begun full-time work on their dissertation research.
Eric Alonzo
Derek Sant’Angelo
Immunobiology
James Dowdle
Scott Keeney
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
John Maciejowki
Prasad Jallepalli
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
James Mahaffey
Kathryn Anderson
Cellular and Developmental Biology
Jeffery Smith
Alan Hall
Cellular and Developmental Biology
Dimiter Tassev
Nai-Kong Cheung
Immunobiology
Our First Year PhD Students
first row: Sadia Rahman, Yvonne Gruber, Ly Vu, Semanti Mukherjee second row: Heather Scherr, Karen Hunter, Muge Akpinar third row: Jennifer Nnoli, Jialing Kim Png, Shannon Yu fourth row: Dmitry Lyumkis, Alexandria Miller, Nicholas Gauthier
Our 2007 class joins us from across the globe — Turkey, Singapore, India, Austria, Vietnam — as well as from locations in the US. Students have completed their first laboratory rotation and are now immersed in the Gerstner Sloan Kettering Core Course.
Learning Beyond the Lab
Welcome Barbecue for 2007 PhD Students
The opportunity to create a vibrant community — with all members contributing to the scientific richness of our work — extends beyond the laboratory. Typical summertime activities — cheering on the Yankees, socializing at a barbecue, sharing informal luncheons — engaged undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty.
As we celebrate our past successes and anticipate the rest of the academic year ahead of us, we look forward to adding new members to our flourishing community of scientists.