The red plastic cup has become synonymous with good times, popping up at picnics, parties, and tailgates all over the country. But single-use plastics are coming under scrutiny for their negative impact on the environment. Team Zero, composed of four TCNJ seniors, is on a mission to bring to market a comparable, but compostable version,…
School-Wide Sessions Undergraduate Research in the School of Science Tuesday, March 23, 6 pm School of Science Student Outcomes Wednesday, April 21, 6 pm Student-Led Virtual Tours of the School of Science, with Q & A with students Saturday, March 20, 3:00 pm Wednesday, March 24, 7:00 pm Wednesday, March 31, 4:30 pm Saturday,…
TCNJ Assistant Professor of Biology Melkamu Woldemariam, a plant biologist who specializes in molecular and chemical ecology, has been awarded a $1 million joint grant from the National Science Foundation and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture to support his research program and to engage undergraduate research collaborators in his work. Each year,…
TCNJ professors take a shot at explaining how a vaccine for COVID-19 has turned political.
Chemistry Professor, Dr. Abby O’Connor, has been selected to be a recipient of the 2021 WCC Rising Star award for excellence in the scientific enterprise. This year’s award recognized ten (10) exceptional women scientists approaching mid-level careers across all sectors [academic, industrial, government] who have demonstrated outstanding promise for contributions to their respective fields. The…
Abby O’Connor, associate professor in the department of chemistry, has been named a 2021 Rising Star by the American Chemical Society’s Women Chemists Committee. O’Connor is one of only 10 women to earn the distinct honor, which recognizes exceptional early- to mid-career women chemists across all areas of chemistry on a national level. The award…
Biology Professor, Dr. Leeann Thornton, has received a $200,000 two-year award from the US Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture. The title of her project was “CYP72A Enzymes as Regulators of Plant Responses as Regulators to Combined Abiotic and Biotic Stresses.” The project focuses on how understanding plant responses to environmental stresses…
It was a small gesture for a professor who made the most of a difficult semester teaching remotely. Logging in to his statistics class, Adam Shrager thinks he’s having technical difficulties when the usual Brady Bunch-style Zoom grid is blank. Then, nearly two-dozen students simultaneously appear in their video boxes — each holding a homemade…
With the race to a COVID-19 vaccine well underway, TCNJ’s resident immunology expert helps break down what it all means. Amanda Norvell, biology professor and interim dean of TCNJ’s School of Science teaches courses in molecular immunology, and the biology of human disease and prevention. Here are five things she says we should know about…
For more than a decade, TCNJ’s Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience (MUSE) has given students an invaluable opportunity to conduct research alongside members of the faculty. Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic and limited on-campus engagement this year, the program was a success with 70 students collaborating with 40 faculty members on 46 projects. The…
Three School of Science faculty members in the TCNJ Department of Physics have been awarded grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to support their research programs and engage undergraduate research collaborators in their work. Dr. David McGee, in collaboration with Associate Professor of Chemistry Dr. Heba Abourahma, received…
Two TCNJ Computer Science faculty members have each been awarded external grants to support their research programs. Dr. Sejong Yoon, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, received an award from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate to conduct a four-year study with his collaborators at Rutgers University. Dr. Andrea…
The members of the Class of 2024 began their college journey during the most unusual circumstances, but their dedication to higher education and their communities shines through in their admissions portfolios. TCNJ President Kathryn Foster officially welcomed this extraordinary group during the college’s virtual convocation ceremony on August 24. Among the interesting facts about the…
TCNJ chemistry professor Benny Chan was recently named a fellow by the American Chemical Society. Chan, who has been at TCNJ since 2006 was nominated for the honor by the ACS Committee on Minority Affairs, which he has been a part of for seven years. The group works to continue efforts to increase the outcomes…
Biology alumnus Aaron Lee (Fall 2019) has been selected by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) as a recipient of its 2020 Undergraduate Research Prize. The Undergraduate Research Prize (URP) is the Society’s most prestigious recognition of undergraduate achievement. The URP has been presented annually at the international Botany conference since 2015 for outstanding,…
Avi Shah of East Brunswick, New Jersey, has been awarded a Fellowship worth $8,500 by The Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi—the nation’s oldest and most selective collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines. Shah is one of 58 recipients nationwide to receive a Phi Kappa Phi Fellowship. Shah received a bachelor’s degree in biology…
Dear Members of the TCNJ School of Science Community, The School of Science stands in solidarity with Black people and acknowledges that historical, institutionalized, and present-day racism causes immense pain and harm to Black people in our country and to Black people in the TCNJ community. As we reflect over the last two weeks…
Turning their tassels in one of the most challenging times, members of the Class of 2020 are ready to leverage all they’ve learned as they enter the next phase of their professional endeavors. This diverse group will explore opportunities ranging from international veterinary school to the armed forces. Below are highlights of what lies ahead…
TCNJ student filmmakers channeled their creativity into eight films (and one original song) for this year’s Campus Movie Fest. Frontier, an animated Western, won the prestigious Silver Tripod award for Animation. Campus Movie Fest provides student filmmakers with all of the equipment, training, and support they need to make five-minute movies in one week. Students…
In a virtual celebration of scholarly work, TCNJ students showcased the fruits of their academic labors with paper presentations, panels, poster sessions, and more during the Celebration of Student Achievement on Wednesday, May 6. “TCNJ’s Celebration of Student Achievement is an annual student symposium that highlights both the research and creative activity that our students are…
Lauranne Lanz spied Jupiter through a telescope when she was just 4 years old, the first celestially significant moment in her life but not the last: The budding astronomer would eventually help identify a new class of galaxies. Super spirals, discovered in 2016 by a team of four astronomers including Lanz, assistant professor of physics,…
Matthew Mizuhara wants to talk about fireflies. Not the ones that flicker in New Jersey, but a species found in the forests of Thailand. During mating season, these insects stop flashing as individuals — here and there and anytime — and align all their internal light switches, beaming collective bursts into the darkness. There is…
Several faculty members from different departments in TCNJ’s School of Science are bringing different disciplinary perspectives to understand a range of effects of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Computationally Modeling Interactions between the Coronavirus Spike Protein and its Receptor to Understand What Makes this Virus More Efficient in Propagating Disease Dr. Joseph Baker, Chemistry…
Nicholas Tusay, a senior Physics major at TCNJ, has been awarded a highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation (NSF). Nick will graduate from TCNJ in May 2020 and then attend graduate school at Pennsylvania State University, where he will pursue a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics. The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship…
Dr. Howard Reinert, Professor of Biology at TCNJ, and his conservation research on rattlesnakes in the New Jersey Pine Barrens was featured in the April 26, 2020 episode of the PBS show Ecosense for Living – “Wild Crossings.” Professor Reinert’s work is featured beginning at the 23:00 mark. About PBS Eco Sense for Living Eco…
Students scattered in different rooms of the Education Building, gluing their eyes to their laptop screens. Teams of strangers or best friends laid claim to floor tiles with sleeping bags, pillows, and non-stop work. This site was nothing new for the annual HackTCNJ event. The 24-hour event is organized by computer science majors who are…
Student-led Physical Sciences Organization is Honored with Award from the National Office of the Society of Physics Students as an Outstanding Chapter The College of New Jersey’s chapter of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) has won an Outstanding Chapter Award for the chapter’s accomplishments during the 2018-2019 academic year. This is the second time…
Two TCNJ Biology faculty members have each been awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support their research programs. Dr. Nina Peel, Associate Professor of Biology, received an award from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) to study the contribution glutamylation makes to regulation of microtubule dynamics, including as…
Two School of Science faculty members have been awarded grants from National Science Foundation (NSF) to support their research programs and engage undergraduate research collaborators in their work. Dr. Gary Dickinson, Associate Professor of Biology, received an NSF award to study barnacle exoskeleton development and material properties with a collaborator at Colgate University (Dr. Rebecca…
The School of Science is pleased to welcome 11 new full-time faculty members for Fall 2019. Brief biographical sketches are listed below. Donna Bassolino (Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry) is a biophysical chemist and chemistry educator. She received her Bachelors in Chemistry and Biochemistry from Rutgers University. She continued at Rutgers for a Ph.D. in…
Chemistry professor Dr. Heba Abourahma was recently interviewed by the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Chemical & Engineering News about her symposium at the Society’s National Meeting & Expo held August 25-29, 2019 in San Diego, CA. Professor Abourahma co-organized a symposium titled “One Million Crystal Structures: A Wealth of Structural Chemistry Knowledge,” highlighting the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) work to bring…
Starting this year TCNJ will provide its students with even more opportunities for interdisciplinary learning. A new $600,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will allow a TCNJ team led by Professor and Department Chair of Computer Science Dr. Monisha Pulimood to investigate the benefits students derive from a new model of multidisciplinary, community-engaged…
Exceptional TCNJ sophomore and junior students who intend to pursue a Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. in science, mathematics, or engineering are encouraged to apply for Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships. The scholarship, which provides $7,500 per year for up to two years, is highly prestigious. Therefore, even those students with full scholarships are encouraged to apply. …
Dr. Wendy Clement, Associate Professor of Biology, has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support her research program and to engage undergraduate research collaborators in her work. The main goal of Dr. Clement’s research is to use honeysuckles to better understand the evolution and genetic regulation of a plant trait…
Recent Biology graduate Matthew Fertakos (May 2019) has been selected by the American Society of Plant Taxonomists (ASPT) as a recipient of its 2019 Undergraduate Research Prize. The Undergraduate Research Prize is considered the Society’s most prestigious award of undergraduate achievement, and it recognizes outstanding, independent research projects in plant systematics completed within the last two…
TCNJ’s Physics Department has been awarded a $245,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation program. The funding will bring a new piece of research equipment called a spatial light modulator system to the College. A spatial light modulator system is a digital optical projector that provides light fields necessary for…
During the week of June 10, 2019, TCNJ’s School of Science hosted a mobile version of the National Academy of Science’s “Summer Institute on Scientific Teaching.” The Institute was one component of the School’s ongoing inclusive excellence work. The week-long Summer Institute focused on active, student-centered techniques that help improve student learning and success for…
Recent graduate Terance Schuh ’19, a double major in Physics and Mathematics, has won the 2019 Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Research from the American Institute of Physics’ Society of Physics Students. The Outstanding Undergraduate Research Award is provided to students based on exceptional research achievement in any physics-related field. Students are chosen from among qualified applicants…
Whoever said scientists weren’t social has clearly never met our undergraduates. Since 2014, the Chemistry Department has hosted an annual spring formal where chemistry majors of all years don their dancing shoes and let loose. It started with numbers around the low 30’s and 40’s, but the older it gets, the bigger it gets. In…
Five TCNJ School of Science seniors have been recognized by the highly competitive Graduate Research Fellowship Program of the National Science Foundation (NSF). Two TCNJ seniors were awarded fellowships and three received Honorable mention awards. The awardees are: Fellowship Awardees Ahmed Mahmoud, Biology major, Faculty Mentor: Dr. Gary Dickinson. Graduate school: Weill Cornell Medical College (Pharmacology)…
On April 16 and 24, 2019, 54 juniors and seniors from the School of Science were inducted into two prestigious national honor societies. Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society and Phi Kappa Phi is the oldest all-discipline honor society in the United States. Phi Beta Kappa Inductees Name Major Wardah…
The 2019 Annual Barbara Meyers Pelson Lecture will be held on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. The lecture will be presented by Dr. Youngmoo Kim, Director of the Expressive and Creative Interaction Technologies (ExCITe) Center at Drexel University. In the presentation, titled “Pathways for Disciplinary Integration in Higher Education”, Dr. Kim will discuss integrative models that seek to bridge…
The School of Science and Department of Computer Science at TCNJ are honored to host Dr. Janice E. Cuny for our Spring 2018 Colloquium Series, on Tuesday, March 26, 2019 from 12:30-1:30 pm in the Education Building, room 212. The lecture will be preceded by a lunch reception at 12:00 pm. Dr. Cuny is a…
The American Association for the Advancement of Science announced today that Jeffrey Osborn, dean of TCNJ’s School of Science, has been named an AAAS Fellow. This is one of the highest honors in his field.
Kristen Vogt, a senior Chemistry major, has won the 2018 Priscilla Carney Jones Scholarship from the American Chemical Society. The $5,000 scholarship is awarded by the Society’s Women Chemists Committee. Paul R. Jones established the scholarship in memory of his wife, Priscilla Carney Jones, who faced difficulties as a female chemist early in her career.…
The Electronic Laboratory for Science and Analysis at TCNJ, or “ELSA”, will receive significant enhancements after the College was awarded a $650,000 competitive grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Major Research Instrumentation program. “ELSA” is TCNJ’s High-Performance Computing (HPC) cluster, which is named after the famous “Born Free” lioness and our mascot, the lion.…
Each summer, TCNJ supports a robust, 8-week, residential research program named MUSE (Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience), in which approximately 100 undergraduates engage in full-time, faculty-mentored research, scholarship, or creative activity. The summer MUSE program provides a cohesive set of coordinated activities and experiences designed to: (1) nurture student capacities to conduct original research in a…
Biology professor Kathryn T. (KT) Elliott was recently profiled by the American Society of Microbiology (ASM) about her experience organizing a themed session at the Society’s 2018 Annual Conference. Professor Elliott co-organized a six-paper session on science communication. In addition to leading the session, Dr. Elliott presented a paper on TCNJ’s award-winning “Tasting the Tree…
The School of Science is pleased to welcome eight new faculty members for the 2018-2019 academic year. Brief biographical sketches are listed below. Timur Akhunov (Visiting Assistant Professor of Mathematics) is a mathematician focusing on nonlinear waves. He discovered that educators in general, and mathematicians more specifically, are nice people during his…
Laurence (Larry) Bissett, a sophomore mathematics education major, has been awarded the Prospective 7-12 Secondary Teacher Course Work Scholarship presented by the Mathematics Education Trust of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM). The $10,000 scholarship, which is named in recognition of the outstanding contributions to mathematics education made by professors Frank Demana…
Exceptional TCNJ sophomore and junior students who intend to pursue a Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. in science, mathematics, or engineering are encouraged to apply for Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships. The scholarship, which provides $7,500 per year for up to two years, is highly prestigious. Therefore, even those students with full scholarships are encouraged to apply. Applicants…
Two TCNJ Chemistry faculty members have been awarded national-level grants to support their research programs and to engage undergraduate research collaborators in their work. Dr. Joseph Baker received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to study the structure and dynamics of bacterial type IV pilus protein filaments, and Dr. Abby O’Connor was awarded…
The National Science Foundation’s Campus Cyberinfrastructure program has awarded TCNJ a $500,000 competitive grant for a collaborative project led by the Division of Information Technology and the School of Science. This grant will fund strategic enhancements to TCNJ’s network infrastructure to enable and expand the innovative and diverse scientific research occurring at the College. Specifically,…
Biology majors Logan Barnes of the Men’s Swimming and Diving Team and Samantha Platt of the Softball Team were named the Dr. Harold W. Eickhoff Outstanding Senior Male and Female Scholar-Athlete award winners. The awards are presented to the two senior student-athletes who have achieved the highest grade point average in their class during…
The Department of Physics has won the 2018 TCNJ Mildred Dahne Award. This award is presented annually by the Faculty Senate and recognizes departmental or program excellence. Applications must demonstrate excellence and outstanding achievement in three of the six categories: Excellence in teaching and/or support of teaching Academic excellence Department impact Innovation…
On April 18 and 25, 2018, juniors and seniors from the School of Science were inducted into two prestigious national honor societies. Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest academic honor society and Phi Kappa Phi is the oldest all-discipline honor society in the United States. Phi Beta Kappa Inductees Name Major Claire Archilly…
Dr. Joseph Baker has been elected as a national Councilor of the Council on Undergraduate Research, or CUR. Professor Baker will serve a 3-year term as a Councilor in CUR’s Chemistry Division, beginning June 2018. Councilors compose the governing body of CUR. They attend the annual business meetings held each June, serve on divisional…
School of Science Hosts Distinguished Speaker on the Mathematics of Gerrymandering The School of Science and Department of Mathematics & Statistics at TCNJ are honored to host Dr. Moon Duchin for our Spring 2018 Colloquium Series, on Tuesday, February 27, 2018 from 12:30-1:30 pm in the Education Building, room 212. The lecture — “Mathematics…
Find out more about what our science faculty members do beyond the lab.
The new SigmaPharm Laboratories Organic Chemistry Suite, which is part of TCNJ’s new Chemistry Addition, was dedicated on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 at a ceremony in the new STEM Forum. TCNJ President Dr. R. Barbara Gitenstein and School of Science Dean Dr. Jeffrey M. Osborn both shared remarks outlining the importance and impact of…
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Dr. Jeffrey Y. Tsao The School of Science and Department of Physics at TCNJ are honored to host Dr. Jeffrey Y. Tsao for our Fall 2017 Colloquium Series, on Tuesday, October 24, 2017 from 12:30-1:30 pm in the Education Building, room 212. The lecture will be followed by lunch reception. Dr. Tsao is a Principal Member…
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Ewing Mayor Bert Steinmann, and TCNJ President R. Barbara Gitenstein took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony today to officially open the college’s new, state-of-the-art STEM building, Chemistry addition, and Forum.
In February 2017, the School of Science and Dining Services collaborated to host a campuswide, science-themed meal—Tasting the Tree of Life: Exploring Biodiversity through Cuisine. The event, which was nine months in the making, recently won Food Management magazine’s “Best Special Event” for 2017 in their Best Concept Awards. These Awards are “designed to recognize and celebrate out-of-…
Rebecca Goncalves, a senior chemistry major, recently won the 2017 Priscilla Carney Jones Scholarship from the American Chemical Society. The scholarship is awarded by the ACS’s Women Chemists Committee. Paul R. Jones established the scholarship in memory of his wife, Priscilla Carney Jones, who faced difficulties as a female chemist early in her career. The…
