Fordham chemistry professor helps research Russian meteor

Frame grab of the meteorite contrail made from a video, on a highway from Kostanai, Kazakhstan, to Chelyabinsk region, Russia, Feb. 15, 2013. (Credit: asha gazeta/www.ng.kz/AP)

Once again, a Fordham professor has played a part in important research about meteors.

Scientists have been studying data on the meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February – the largest asteroid in more than a century to enter the earth’s atmosphere. Three studies published earlier this month suggest that such occurrences could be more frequent in the future. 

Jon M. Friedrich. 

Photo by Janet Sassi

Jon M. Friedrich, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, was one of 57 researchers from nine countries present a comprehensive overview of what occurred that day in a report published on Nov. 6 by the journal Science. The report is lead by Dr. Olga Popova of the Institute for Dynamics of Geospheres of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and by NASA Ames and SETI Institute meteor astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens, who participated in a fact finding mission to Chelyabinsk in the weeks after the fall. 

Fordham’s Chemistry lab examined the “shock history” of the rock before it entered the atmosphere.

“We were able to determine that it experienced an impact at some place before it impacted the earth,” Friedrich said. “It happened at some point in the past. These rocks haven’t changed much since they formed 4.5 billion years ago, but we were actually able to determine this by looking at the fabric of the rock. We were able to determine that it had been hit pretty hard in the past.”

Friedrich said the analysis conducted in his lab helped determine how meteorites entered the atmosphere, which, in turn, plays a pretty important role when it comes to understanding the extinction events and catastrophic events that could happen.

“The better we understand this, it allows us to figure out how to defend ourselves should it arise,” he said.

Earlier this year, Fordham’s chemistry lab analyzed the Sutter's Mill meteorite.

-Gina Vergel

Fordham Faculty Share Inspiration for Research

It’s a question that academics get asked over and over: What do you research?

Six Fordham professors recently took that question and answered it in video form. Working with Fordham’s OpEd Public Voices project, they recorded themselves talking about the spark that lit the proverbial flames fanning their research and submitted them to the Huffington Posts’ “The Moment I Knew” series.

The feature is a collection of user-submitted videos where readers tell the stories of life-changing moments they have experienced. And while we’d love to explain how say, Peggy Andover, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, discovered her passion for studying non-suicidal self injury, or why Christina Greer, Ph.D., assistant professor of political science decided to write a book about black ethnic identity, perhaps it’d be best if we let them do the talking.

For their stories and those of Kristen Swinth, Ph.D., associate professor of history, Daniella Jopp, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, Oneka LaBennett, Ph.D., assistant professor of African and African American studies and women's studies, and Susan Greenfield, Ph.D., associate professor of English, check out the “The Moment I Knew."

—Patrick Verel

Fordham Alumnus Named President of Renowned Cancer Center

Ronald A. DePinho, M.D., a 1977 alumnus of Fordham College at Rose Hill, has been named the sole finalist to become the next president of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Texas System Board of Regents announced on May 11.

“Doctor DePinho is a distinguished scientist and proven administrator capable of leading the nation’s premiere comprehensive cancer center,” said Gene Powell, chairman of board of regents. “He has an excellent background in teaching and research and a demonstrated ability to work effectively within complex medical institutions. The board is extremely confident he has the ability to advance the institution's mission ‘to make cancer history.’”

The son of Portuguese immigrants, DePinho earned his bachelor’s degree in biological sciences at Fordham College at Rose Hill, with a minor in art history, before earning his medical degree with distinction in microbiology and immunology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he later served as a member of the college’s faculty.

A renowned cancer geneticist, DePinho is currently director of the Belfer Institute for Applied Cancer Science at the Dana-Farber Cancer Center and professor of medicine (genetics) at Harvard Medical School. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

DePinho’s focus includes the fields of cancer research, aging and chronic degenerative diseases. He is a leader in using lab mice as a model of human disease, genetically manipulating and engineering the mice to understand the molecular underpinnings of complex human disorders, most notably cancer and aging.

In 2002, DePinho received the 43rd Clowes Memorial Award from the American Association of Cancer Research, in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in research.

More recently, he appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss his research of reverse aging in mice.

Once officially approved by the board, DePinho will become the fourth president in MD Anderson’s 70-year history.

“This is what makes this country great,” DePinho told the Houston Chronicle, “that the son of uneducated Portuguese immigrants could become president of the nation’s premier cancer center.”

DePinho was profiled in the fall 2003 issue of FORDHAM magazine.

—Miles Doyle

Fordham Students Earn Spots in Prestigious Summer Program in Athens

Facade of the Gennadius Library
(Photo via www.ascsa.edu)

Two Fordham doctoral students have earned full scholarships to a distinguished summer program at the Gennadios Library, which is part of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece.

Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students Matt Briel and Jon Stanfill were the only two students who received scholarships for the entire program, said Nancy Busch, Ph.D., dean of GSAS and Chief Research Officer/Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs for Fordham.

“It is the most prestigious opportunity to study Medieval Greek,” Busch said.

In the month-long Medieval Greek Summer Session, Briele and Stanfill will partake in daily analysis and translation of Byzantine texts; paleography; introduction to the bibliography of Byzantine philology and collections of the Gennadius Library; visits to area museums, libraries, sites, museums and monuments outside Athens. The pair will also get individual tutorials and assignments determined by their specific needs and field of study.

The objective the summer session program is to familiarize students who have a sound foundation in Classical Greek with Medieval Greek language and philology by exposing them to primary sources, different kinds of literary genres and electronic tools, drawing on the resources of the Gennadios Library. The library houses 117,000 volumes and archives and is devoted to post-classical Hellenic civilization.

—Gina Vergel

Vote for Fordham’s Funded Research Scholar Award

Do you know someone at Fordham who’s doing amazing research in the humanities, sciences or social sciences and professions? If so, the Office of Research wants to hear from you.

The first ever “Funded-Research Scholars” award will be presented at a ceremony on March 29, at “Growing Research at Fordham Day & Night” a series of panels, displays, presentations and receptions that will be held in McNally Amphitheatre and the Law School Atrium at Lincoln Center.

Participants will see a snapshot of research being conducted by colleagues and collaborators, student research assistants, administrators and support staff.

To see the list of eligible faculty and submit a nomination(s) in any or all of three areas that will be awarded, visit

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FundedResearchScholars2011

Voting closes at noon on Friday, March 4. For more information, visit the event website.

—Patrick Verel

Fordham Research Asks: Are The Kids Alright?

On Wednesday, Feb. 9, three of Fordham’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences faculty—one psychologist, one theologian and one sociologist -- presented their original research around the issue of children and their mental and physical well being.

The event, “Are The Kids Alright?” was coordinated by the Office of Research to help showcase the growing research among Fordham faculty.

Laura Sosinsky, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology, (center) presented an ongoing longitudinal study on how a cohort of first-time Bronx mothers are choosing childcare before and after the birth of their child. Sosinsky said her study was inspired by the fact that, while rates of new mothers returning to the workplace has risen, the child care choices for women have not kept pace.

Matthew Weinshenker, Ph.D., assistant professor of sociology, (left) presented his research on “Evening Dads, Couch Potatoes and Others,” a look at fatherhood in the United States and how different categories of fathers engage with their children. He said he hopes the study promotes a better understanding of what behaviors promote father-child involvement.

Charles Camosy, Ph.D., assistant professor of theology with an emphasis in Christian ethics, (right) presented research on neonatal ICUs and the financial and moral cost of saving young lives. Camosy recently published a book, Too Expensive to Treat? Finitude, Tragedy and the Neonatal ICU (Eerdmans 2010), which explores the moral issues of health care rationing in the United States.

All three presenters were recipients of Fordham Faculty Research Grants.

—Janet Sassi

Fordham Senior To Present Research at Biophysical Society

Congratulations to Stacey Barnaby, a Fordham University at Rose Hill senior and chemistry major, who has received The Biophysical Society student travel award to attend the Biophysical Society's 55th Annual Meeting at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland, March 5 through 9.

Barnaby is one of 48 students worldwide to receive the award, which is based on scientific merit, with priority given to those who will present a paper at the conference. Her paper, "Ellagic Acid Nanotubular and Poly-Cationic Conjugates as Nano-Carriers for Delivery into Mammalian Cells," will be presented in poster format at the convention.

Barnaby has been doing research in the laboratory of Ipsita Banerjee, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry and her mentor, for more than a year. She and the other winners will also be recognized at a reception on Saturday, March 5.

—Janet Sassi

FordhamScience: The Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station

The Calder Center was established in 1967 for ecological research and environmental education. Its 113 forested acres offer undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to develop hands-on skills in field biology and environmental studies. The Calder Center is one of the few field stations in North America with relatively undisturbed communities near a large urban center.

The center's research faculty and scientists from other research institutions direct a diversity of research programs, including work on ecosystem responses to loss of eastern hemlock due to exotic insects and climate change, ecology and epidemiology of vector-borne diseases, avian population dynamics, urban wildlife ecology, behavioral and biochemical adaptations of mammals to extreme environments, the role of ectomycorrhizal fungi in forest soils and their responses to control burning and wildfire, and the role of benthic algae in stream food webs.

Fordham University's partnerships with the Wildlife Conservation Society and the New York Botanical Garden foster collaboration between Calder Center researchers and scientists at these institutions.

Calder Center Background and Research Profiles

Fordham's Calder Center Named State Entomology Lab

Calder Director Measures Aquatic Health in Upper Mississippi

Scientist Charts Effects of Climate Change on Hibernating Chipmunks

Fordham Plays Key Role in Gathering Pollen Counts That Reach a Wide Audience

Calder Center Awarded NIH Grant to Study Tick Pathogens

Fordham Biologists Create Index to Measure Tick Risk

Calder Center Photo Gallery












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Student Research Fair

Undergraduate researchers from across the University will discuss their work and have it judged by faculty experts at the annual Research Fair at Lincoln Center on Thursday
November 13, 2008.

The fair, sponsored by the Office of the Dean at Fordham College at Lincoln Center, and the Department of Natural Sciences, will highlight the work of 18 students at a poster session, and five students presenting abstracts, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Lowenstein Plaza, followed by an award ceremony from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. in the Cafeteria Atrium.

The event is free and open to the public.

Fordham Faculty “Get Funded!”

Guest Post:

James S. Wilson, Director of Faculty Development
Office of Research

On Wednesday, Oct. 22, 100 Fordham faculty came out with their co-researchers, community collaborators and graduate students to “Get Funded!”

A full day of skills based workshops led by Michaela Kiernan, Ph.D., of Stanford University, “Get Funded!” gave attendees the opportunity to hone their research writing, graduate from mere grant submission to grantsmanship, and in so doing consciously create their career path rather than follow each foot as it falls.

“This is a tough funding environment,” Kiernan coached our colleagues, “but my position at Stanford is 100 percent soft money—if I didn’t do research, if I couldn’t get grants, I wouldn’t have a job. It can be done. You can do this!”

Kiernan covered concrete steps to convert one’s writing into the format and style grant reviewers prefer to receive. Grant and fellowship applicants don’t fully realize how critical this is to getting funded until they understand the review process.

“Because of sheer volume, your first audience will be a computer. If you haven’t taken the care to ensure that your proposal meets an agency’s criteria—for length, number and type of documents, the form of attachments—all your hard work may never be read,” Kiernan warned. “Once your proposal does go before a human being, your initial reviewers will probably have no more than ten minutes before they need to make a decision whether to send your proposal forward for further review.”

To learn how to capture and command reviewers’ continued attention, Kiernan advocates:

• using her six steps to conciseness and clarity;
• serving on an agency’s grant review committee;
• forming peer groups within and across disciplines in order to critique each other’s abstracts; and
• relying on Fordham’s Grant Officers to be a critical second set of eyes from outside their field of study that are focused solely on a proposal’s preparation.

To do all that on top of teaching and administrative duties is a challenge, but one that was both recognized and addressed in the afternoon’s final workshop: “Developing Your Academic Plan.”

“I anticipated feeling anxious about all I haven’t done, but the workshops weren’t that way at all,” one Fordham faculty member commented, a sentiment echoed by her colleagues: “presenting general strategies rather than just descriptions of grants was particularly helpful,” “very motivating” and “Kiernan is excellent!”

Make getting funded part of your academic plan—please contact James Wilson, director of faculty development, at ajawilson@fordham.edu or (718) 817-4964 and “Get Funded!”