Year Attended STEM Institute: 2012

Originally from Punjab, India, Jaffarguriqbal immigrated to the United States at the age of four. His passion for learning geared him towards finding opportunities to learn new topics. When accepted to the STEM Institute during the summer of 2012, he received a wider understanding of the potential topics in STEM. This experience helped him decide on a future career in medicine and science. After graduating high school, Jaffarguriqbal attended Hofstra University Honors College, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. While attending Hofstra, he gained valuable research experience in working in both organic and inorganic research laboratories. With the pursuit of becoming a physician in his mind, he wanted to use the knowledge that he gained at Hofstra to first contribute to a cancer research laboratory. After graduation, he accepted a position in Tyler Jack’s cancer laboratory at the Koch Institute at MIT. There he was able to learn new techniques to help diagnose and treat cancer. Shortly after, he helped start a new lab at Yale Medical School with Dr. Mandar Muzumdar. This is where he contributed to research that showed a correlation between obesity and the progression of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma as well as how to limit the progression of this disease in the early stages. Currently, Jaffarguriqbal will be applying to medical schools with the aim to become a physician. He hopes to continue the pursuit of learning in the field of medicine and science that he gained throughout his time at the STEM Institute.

Jaffarguriqbal recently had his research about the relationship between Pancreatic Cancer and obesity from Yale published in Cell as a co-first author. His research article publication can be access at https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)30395-0

Jenny originally intended to take a pre-college calculus course at CCNY during the summer of 2011. Serendipitously, she was chosen to participate in the STEM summer research program funded by NASA and NOAA-CREST. Under the mentorship of Soe Hlaing in Dr. Alex Gilerson’s lab, she evaluated satellite sensor chlorophyll-a concentration algorithms with data collected from the Long Island Sound Coastal Observatory. Captivated by the research process, she returned to CCNY the following summer to investigate the downscaling of soil moisture and ocean salinity data and evaluate soil moisture estimates.

Throughout her undergraduate career at Skidmore College, she continued pursuing her passion for academic research and studied Spinocerebellar Ataxia, a neurodegenerative condition. She also found herself participating in research at an Essential Tremor lab at Columbia University, a genetics lab studying Inflammatory Bowel Diseases at Mount Sinai, and a Familial Dysautonomia clinical lab at NYU Langone. Eager to see how research findings could be translated to improvements in human health, she took on more patient-focused roles and began working at a neurology clinic and Skidmore’s student health center.

After graduation, Jenny worked as a research associate at Karim-Jean Armache’s epigenetics lab at NYU. Jenny’s work on understanding the structures of PRC2, a protein complex heavily implicated in various cancers, landed her authorship on a peer-reviewed paper in the scientific journal Molecular Cell.

Jenny is currently nearing graduation from a Master’s graduate program at Sarah Lawrence College in Human Genetics. She’s ecstatic that, as a genetic counselor, she can use her rich research background and provide both genetic education and psychosocial support to individuals all the while performing risk assessments for individuals and their families for the occurrence or recurrence of genetic conditions. She is currently interested in specializing in prenatal, neurogenetic, and cancer counseling.

Randy was very blessed to attend the STEM Institute for the summer during his high school career. The courses he took during that summer prepared him for classes that he would be taking during college, which made him have a strong interest and passion for sciences and the medical field. While studying at Hunter College for his biology degree, the hard work and determination he developed from the STEM Institute helped him achieve his goal of graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Biology.

After graduating from Hunter College, he was on his way to medical school and after studying two semesters at medical school, he had a strong vocation and calling to become a priest more than a doctor. He left medical school and entered the seminary to study for the priesthood. Overall, the success that he has today is all thanks to the STEM Institute, which helped build his confidence and knowledge as a student.

As I was growing up with family members who were involved in the medical field, I thought that medicine was meant for me as well. Almost every single one of my family members is a nurse and very few of them are not. Since becoming a nurse was a stereotype for Filipinos, I wanted to be a little different from the rest and strove to become a doctor instead.

During my first two years of college, people would ask me what my major was and I told them that I majored in Biology and double-minored in Chemistry and Mathematics with a focus on pre-medicine. I would get commended by them for my hard work and dedication that I had put into my studies. However, they didn’t know that I moderately hated what I was studying. Of course, the lessons that were taught in class were interesting, but not enough for me to want to pursue a career at all in medicine.

After my first year in college, I told my mother that I didn’t want to be a doctor anymore. In reply, she said, “Give it one more year, my child. You might change your mind.” After another year of trying, my answer remained the same—I wanted to change my major. When she asked me what I wanted to change my major to, I grew anxious and realized I didn’t even think that far. I felt like my life was over because, for a short time, I had no idea what I wanted to be or do. One day, I came across an old photo of me and my friends (Sam and Ovie) that was taken while we were in the STEM Institute. I remember our robotics class being challenged to build a robot and program it to do a specific task as a team of 3. That memory gave me an idea to try out Computer Science. I was unsure of my decision at first, but I thought to myself I should at least try it out before I decide it’s not for me. Ever since I made this decision, I have not looked back.

Through the years, I had the opportunity to work at Microsoft for 3.5 years, which had opened up more opportunities for me after I graduated. I currently work as a Network Security Engineer for Presage Security and I hope to grow with this company as I grow in my career. I am active in the Information Security community of Twitter and I love that each day, I learn something new in my field. I am currently studying for the AWS Cloud Practitioner certification to further advance in my career. Outside of work, I am passionate about my own and other people’s privacy. I make it my mission to inform my family and friends about the things that I learn in information security so that they can keep themselves safe from any online dangers.

Larry Ramos was born in the Dominican Republic and moved to New York City at the age of 16. Not only can he have a conversation in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and understand cultural differences, but he can also assist students in exploring their passion for mathematics. While attending the STEM program at the City College of New York in the summer of 2012, Larry developed competence in mathematical strategies that intensified his excitement for the art of mathematics. Coming from a disadvantaged background where he barely had access to opportunities to practice and be exposed to mathematics, Larry had a free pass to explore his curiosity for mathematics and science. He spent the summer in Professor Pichardo’s precalculus class as well as in Mr. Kapoor’s physics class, learning strategies to approach STEM related problems efficiently and exploring pragmatical aspects of each discipline that would engender long-term benefits in Larry’s career.

Nowadays, Larry is a full-time graduate student at Teachers College, Columbia University, pursuing a dual Master’s degree in Mathematics Education and Special Education. Moreover, Larry serves as a Mathematics Tutor for the Harlem Children’s Zone, a non-profit organization that serves elementary, middle, and high school students from low-to-moderate income backgrounds. He teaches strategies to solve pre-algebra, algebra, and geometry using research based approaches.

His aspirations include: reaching the age of 65 without drinking a drop of coffee and establishing a foundation that focuses on early childhood development to provide educational opportunities for parents and children from underprivileged communities across the globe.

“I took part in a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) summer program at City College.  That experience would prove to be a defining moment. I learned a lot in math and physics than my other high school friends, and because of the support and great experience I had, I decided to study math at CCNY,” says Jian Liu.  

Jian Liu (刘健) is the Associate in Bilingual Education in the Office of Bilingual Education and World Languages (OBEWL) at the New York State Education Department (NYSED), leading different projects that support all stakeholders in English Language Learners (ELL) and Multilingual Learners (MLs) community. Before that, Jian was an Assessment Manager in the Office of Assessment at NYC Department of Education, leading different projects that relate to the assessments for NYC public schools, particularly the Specialized High School Admissions Test (SHSAT). Jian is also an adjunct assistant professor at New York University-School of Professional Studies. At an earlier stage of his professional career, Jian was a high school bilingual math teacher in Brooklyn. 

Jian, a Chinese immigrant, arrived from Beijing, China to New York in April 2005 with only basic knowledge of English. Within six months of entering the United States, Jian became a student leader in the Asian American Student Advocacy Project (ASAP), a youth leadership program at the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF). In 2007, Jian graduated as valedictorian and served as President of the Student Government at Lower East Side Preparatory High School (LESP), a transfer high school in Manhattan, and was awarded the 2007 Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Leadership Award from NYS Senator John C. Liu. In the spring of 2008, NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer recognized him for his volunteer and leadership work in under-served areas of the city by awarding him a Civic Leaders of Tomorrow Public Policy Fellowship for his demonstrated commitment to public policy and advocacy. 

Jian earned his B.A. from the City College of New York (CCNY) in Pure Mathematics, an M.A. from NYU-Steinhardt as a Teacher of Mathematics 7-12 and was a Math for America 2011 Fellow. In 2015, Jian earned his M.S. Ed in Bilingual Childhood Education from City College. In 2019, Jian received his M.S. Ed in Educational Leadership and Administration at The College of Saint Rose. 

Carmen worked as a Peer Mentor for the Bard Educational Opportunity Program for three years. She graduated with many awards and scholarships including the Bard College President Prize, the M. Susan Richman Senior Project Award in Mathematics, and the Hearst Foundation Scholarship.

Carmen got her bachelors in Mathematics from Bard College and presented her thesis on a mathematical-graphical model for living donor kidney exchange. Carmen realized she was more passionate about research related to advancing health and preventing diseases through biostatistical and epidemiological methods instead of engineering. Therefore, in the Fall of 2015, she started a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology and Biostatistics at CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH).

During her time at CUNY SPH, Carmen worked on projects designing statistical methods for quality control of The Cancer Genome Atlas database and as study coordinator of epidemiological pilot studies about breast cancer screening at Columbia Medical Center, Department of Epidemiology at Columbia. After graduating with her MPH in 2017, she transitioned as a Research Project and Data Manager of several NIH/NIC-funded studies examining breast cancer screening and prevention in a racially and ethnically diverse population at Columbia.

She is starting her Ph.D. in Biostatistics in the Fall of 2021, where she will be working on developing biostatistical and data science methods with application areas ranging from cancer, epidemiology, precision medicine, and health disparities (especially among Latinx populations).

The STEM Institute summer program gave Christopher a seamless transition from high school to college as he gained insight into engineering principles from a design standpoint. He came from a high school in Long Island that focused on Mathematics and Sciences to some extent and offered outstanding AP Level coursework. However, Christopher always felt he was lacking engineering-based lessons. While he learned Calculus and Physics, he never learned about engineering principles or how to apply those principles.

During his summer between graduating from high school and entering City College as a freshman, he received a project from the STEM Institute Summer Program. He learned to work with a small team to build a robot, created a decision matrix to decide what the best course of action was, and also communicated with the customer to deliver on requirements for the design and build. All these actions allowed him to get exposure to what engineering is really like. At first, he thought the lessons were very basic, and would only go so far into both his coursework and work in general, but the fundamentals carried over and proved important to his growth as an engineer. Being able to communicate well and deliver on requirements carried over to his internships at both New York City – Department of Transportation as a Traffic Signals Engineer, and as a Technical Specialist at Lockheed Martin. Christopher is now working in Operations for Amazon.

Taking the STEM Institute Summer Program ignited the fire that would help him develop soft skills as well as technical skills in the field of engineering. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at the Grove School of Engineering – The City College of New York.

Dr. Keisha Barry is a board-certified family physician in the New York City area. She is compassionate and dedicated to providing the best care for her patients. Her interests include ambulatory care, health equity/health disparity research, quality improvement, obesity medicine, women’s health, breastfeeding, and community health.

Keisha served as President of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA). While at Sophie Davis School, Keisha volunteered at Brookdale Hospital, Harlem Children’s Zone and multiple health fairs in Brooklyn and Harlem. She also received many awards and honors, including the Hyman Merenstein, MD Excellence in Family Medicine Graduation Award, the Richard L. Day, MD Award for Excellence in Pediatrics, and upon graduation, the Sophie Davis School cum laude. Keisha also graduated from SUNY Downstate College of Medicine with a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) and Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in May 2017. She has conducted extensive research on breastfeeding disparities in the Black community, becoming a Certified Lactation Counselor (CLC) to assist families in setting and achieving their breastfeeding goals. Keisha completed Family Medicine residency at Northwell Health in Glen Cove and is now an attending physician caring for patients in Central Brooklyn.

Kristoff is a rising senior at Stuyvesant High School, at his young age (17) Kristoff served as the Co-head of Operations at the NYC Aerospace and is a valuable member at the NY Academy of sciences.

After joining the STEM Institute in 2018, Kristoff has led his scientific passion to run free and continues to thrive. He holds the award for the national Genes in Space competition 2020.

“His research about the capillary action in microgravity will explore why pharmaceutical drugs are less effective in microgravity. Specifically, he will investigate whether spaceflight-induced changes in liver function may underlie the observed changes in drug efficacy. Results from his project will help improve understanding of how spaceflight affects drug metabolism and could aid the design of more effective treatments for astronauts on long-duration spaceflight missions.” – ISS National Laboratory

Kristoff’s piece of advice for other STEM Students is to take advantage of the advanced classes offered in High-School, be on the lookout to find the right mentors, and especially to persevere and never stop questioning.

“Without a doubt, the STEM Institute taught me the vital skills needed to make my dream a reality”- Kristoff Misquitta