This summer, undergraduate research is heating up on and off campus, thanks to support from the Scholars Pursuing Arts, Research and Knowledge (SPARK) Center, the Honors College and other funding sources. These program offerings ensure that every undergraduate has the tools to spark their curiosity—and immerse themselves in the University’s culture of research, creativity and innovation.

Honors College Students Explore the Past, the Future and Everything in Between

Vincent Calvagno, a history major and rising senior in the Honors College, is spending the summer doing research supported by two fellowships—an Honors College Summer Research Fellowship and a . Remarkably, he is the lone undergraduate in the group of 48 scholars from around the nation who received MHS fellowships this year.

History major Vincent Calvagno is researching water and property in the colonial era for his Honors thesis. He is one of just 48 research scholars selected by the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Calvagno is using the fellowships to comb through the archives of MHS, the , and for his Honors thesis project, “Aquatic Appropriation: Water and Property in Colonial New England.” Much of what he’s paging through hasn’t been unearthed in decades, sometimes even centuries. “It’s made me more thoughtful about how I bring the distant past to life,” he said.

With guidance from his research adviser, associate professor of history Michael Lacombe, PhD, Calvagno is working to discover the role that access to fresh water played in relations between colonists and the Indigenous population and to place it in the context of larger geopolitical trends of the colonial era. His findings may even shed light on current issues. “Our world is experiencing a rising water scarcity crisis right now,” he explained, “so in looking back into the history of water possession, I hope to potentially gain insight into some of the root causes of this problem.”

Calvagno isn’t the only Honors College student to receive two fellowships. Troy Cofie, a rising senior majoring in economics and minoring in mathematics and political science, won an award to do research with the University of Pittsburgh’s National Science Foundation-funded Mobilization and Political Economy Summer Research Program. He was one of only eight students chosen nationwide for this program.

Cofie is using the National Science Foundation and Honors College fellowships to conduct research for his Honors thesis, “Social Embeddedness and Legal Institutionalism: Alternative Frameworks for Economic Policymaking.” Mariano Torras, PhD, professor and chair of the finance and economics department, is the adviser for Cofie’s Honors College summer research project.

“A Diverse Group of Thinkers” Tackles Research Topics from Energy to Neuroscience

Honors College students Aruzhan Bissenbay, Nadirah Peakes and Mickeylia Walker are working with Professor Brian Stockman, PhD, who last year won a $311,000 National Science Foundation grant to explore the origins of life on Earth. Now, Dr. Stockman is supervising the three students as they tackle separate pieces of his . The impact of their findings could reach well beyond the scholarly community, generating real-world value for projects such as .

Much like other research partnerships at the University, Dr. Stockman’s student team exemplifies the richness of the Adelphi community. “I wanted a diverse group of thinkers,” he told Adelphi in 2024. Since then, he’s staffed his lab with students who bring a variety of disciplinary perspectives to their work. Bissenbay, an international student from Kazakhstan, is a mathematics major. Peakes is a computer science major, while Walker is majoring in biology and minoring in African, Black and Caribbean studies.

Elias Nauth, a junior psychology major and political science minor, is working with Michael Moore, PhD, associate professor of psychology, on “Trauma in the First Responder Population,” a project inspired by his work as an EMT on a volunteer ambulance squad. By identifying where trauma comes from and how it manifests, Nauth hopes to provide data that can guide future therapeutic treatments for first responders.

The other Honors College summer fellows are drawing on their studies in neuroscience, public health, physics and other fields to produce equally impactful work. Read more about their projects on the Undergraduate Summer Research and Fellowships page.

SPARKing Students’ Passion for Research

The SPARK Center is foundational to the Adelphi undergraduate experience. SPARK Summer Research Fellowships are designed to encourage important inquiry in fields outside the lab sciences, empowering Adelphi students to follow their passions wherever they lead—from the archives to the rehearsal room to the community center.

This summer, SPARK fellows are unlocking the brain’s secrets with projects focused on the relationship between socio-cognitive impairment and mental illness and how gaming can help older adults maintain cognition. They’re also exploring theme development in dance choreography, examining the role of AI in employee retention strategies, translating their coming of age into a story collection, and more.

There are many other fellowships available for Adelphi students interested in specific areas of research: the Landesberg Family Summer Research Fellowship for chemistry students, the Mary Klement Fellowship for physics students, and a Bhisé Center Field Research Travel Grant for global research. The 2025 Bhisé grant was awarded to Clara Ossandón Melo, a dual dance and psychology major, who is exploring dance and women’s empowerment in Butoh, a form of Japanese dance theater.

Maintaining Adelphi’s Global Reach Throughout the Summer

Adelphi’s commitment to global engagement is also evident in a Poland-based summer research program led by Justyna Widera-Kalinowska, PhD, professor of chemistry. Every year since 2014, Dr. Widera-Kalinowska has taken a group of Adelphi students to Poland to conduct research on nanotechnologies with top scientists at the University of Warsaw. The program is funded by International Research Experiences for Students grants from the

This summer’s participants are posting about their experiences in and outside the lab—including seminars, educational workshops, and trips around Europe, along with cutting-edge projects on green energy and sustainability—on the . Visit that page for more direct reports from Adelphi students on their research efforts.

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Speaking the Same Language in STEM

The latest research publication to emerge from this partnership is “,” co-authored by two ÇŃ×ÓĘÓƵ professors who are part of the —Daniel Silverio, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Chemistry, and Eugenia Villa-Cuesta, PhD, professor in the Department of Biology and associate dean for faculty affairs and academic advancement. This article digs into commonalities across scientific skills, practices and disciplines to promote teaching and learning, giving both educators and students a broader perspective on STEM.

Knowledge and collaboration across STEM practices is critically important—addressing complex scientific challenges, such as developing effective treatments for disease, as we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, and developing clean energy to combat climate change, requires the synergistic work of individuals with diverse backgrounds, expertise and perspectives. Most of these issues also require transferable skills and a multidisciplinary approach. Importantly, Dr. Silverio says that simply knowing information from different disciplines is necessary to strike up collaborations.

In short, STEM professionals must be able to “speak the same language” in science. “Learning to engage in the process of inquiry, as well as to communicate and collaborate effectively about your work, is just as critical—if not more so—in today’s world as having deep expertise in a specific discipline,” said Dr. Silverio.

But cross-departmental collaboration, and even interdepartmental collaboration, among STEM disciplines can be challenging. Professors in higher education often teach in silos, in compartmentalized atmospheres. They sometimes expect students to independently apply knowledge from course to course, discipline to discipline. Consequently, students can struggle to connect concepts from different scientific areas, which only perpetuates the siloed mentality.

Building a new framework for collaboration in STEM curricula

Any successful change movement relies upon a well-developed road map to achieve its goals. For the (STEM)2 Network, developing its road map meant examining and comparing the “guiding documents” for the disciplines of biology, chemistry and mathematics. “Guiding documents,” Dr. Villa-Cuesta explained, “are frameworks developed by discipline-specific organizations to assist in developing curricula for undergraduate courses by giving detailed information on what a STEM major should be able to do upon receiving their degree.”

Over several months, Drs. Silverio and Villa-Cuesta, along with other (STEM)2 Network faculty members, worked together to create a table that would visually compare the guiding documents. Though the guiding documents for all three disciplines were written for different audiences and different purposes, over time a pattern of shared commonalities in scientific skills and disciplinary practices emerged. These commonalities were then grouped into six general skill categories: Scientific Inquiry, Quantitative Skills, Laboratory and Computational Skills, Oral and Written Communication, Interdisciplinary Nature of Science, and Teamwork and Interpersonal Skills. This alignment of the guiding documents, Drs. Silverio and Villa-Cuesta and their co-authors hoped, would allow faculty to bring the interdisciplinary nature of science into their classrooms, fostering familiarity with what is valued and emphasized in other disciplines. In other words, it will help everyone speak the same scientific language.

“If knowledge is like water, professors traditionally are giving students buckets of it, but we need to help them build the piping that allows the transfer of that knowledge when and where it is needed,” said Dr. Villa-Cuesta. “Comparing the guiding documents of our scientific disciplines is a first step toward facilitating this process.”

Along with their co-authors, Drs. Silverio and Villa-Cuesta wrote a manuscript that elaborates on those six general skill categories and provides additional detail, including specific suggestions on how educators seeking more interdisciplinary teaching can implement these scientific skills in the classroom. The group’s article, “We Have More in Common than We Think,” was the culmination of this project. Its publication conveyed an important message: While STEM professionals might sometimes work in isolation and even compete with each other, more can be achieved by harnessing the shared values and skills in STEM and working in collaboration.

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Dr. Stockman conceived the project, , while on sabbatical at Rutgers University in 2023, where he became familiar with researchers involved with NASA’s efforts to develop ideas and definitions for identifying life that may not look much like what we see on Earth today. He began thinking about a shift of focus from his usual line of research to the consideration of how chemical reactions occurring billions of years ago on Earth might have set the stage for life. In particular, he wanted to consider how one of the core requirements of life, the ability to use energy, occurred in ongoing chemical processes as a lead-up to the emergence of primitive organisms.

Moving Molecules

Dr. Stockman and his team are studying how life might have started by focusing on energy, which is released by electrons moving between more and less excited states. Metals like iron could have helped early chemical processes channel electrons, leading to the creation of tiny chains of amino acids called peptides, which may have evolved into more complex molecules necessary for life. They’ll incorporate methodologies developed by recent to explore these questions.

“We’re specifically focusing on the aspect of the emergence of life involving energy,” he said. “Where did the energy come from? Energy is basically moving electrons around. Most of biochemistry is holding onto electrons.”

Dr. Stockman and his team are using AI to sort through vast databases of proteins that exist today to look for likely candidates that they might use as the next step in the project. Modern proteins are built from 20 amino acids, but Dr. Stockman’s team is focusing on 10 simpler, believed to have been present before life arose. These proteins will be tested to see if they can generate energy without the 10 additional amino acids produced by living organisms today. In that phase, the Adelphi team will build proteins having structures that might be compatible with energy use but include only the 10 amino acids that existed on Earth before the beginnings of life, then conduct tests to see how they function.

“We’re trying to omit the use of the 10 biotic amino acids to see if AI can tell us of a sequence that only has 10 prebiotic building blocks that seems to work well,” Dr. Stockman said.

“A Diverse Group of Thinkers”

When he took his grant application to the National Science Foundation, the reviewers got so excited about the prospect that the project could help scientists better understand the foundations of life that they actually encouraged Dr. Stockman to do even more testing than he originally intended. The grant awarded has allowed him to hire Adelphi and high school students through 2027, with the bulk of the project work occurring during the summer. The involvement of the high school students is in line with NSF goals.

“There will be at least two high school students per summer recruited onto the team,” Dr. Stockman said. “We’re trying to use this to matriculate students from underrepresented communities interested in STEM into Adelphi.”

The team, including Adelphi students who are chemistry, biology, biochemistry, computer science and math majors, will not only wrestle with an exciting subject, but, in working with AI and producing proteins, they will get practical experience in lab techniques and procedures that can help them launch careers. The fact that the team represents different disciplines brings multiple perspectives to the work.

“I wanted a diverse group of thinkers,” Dr. Stockman said.

In applying new Nobel Prize-winning techniques including applications of generative AI to advance the PrOBE the project, the team will be undertaking pioneering research that could produce breakthroughs not only about the emergence of life but beyond the core purpose of the project as well, including discoveries that could have a broad range of scientific and commercial uses.

Having enough understanding to identify what NASA calls emerging life is critical to projects such as the which will place a spacecraft in temporary orbit around Jupiter’s icy moon Europa to scout out the prospects for life and prepare for a second possible mission that would on the surface and test for chemistry related to life. The Adelphi project may help inform NASA in its efforts.

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Theater Tech With the Pros

Riley Oberting

Riley Oberting, now a senior double majoring in theatre technology and design and graphic design, got the opportunity to learn about sound design and lighting from professionals at the , the O’Neill is the country’s preeminent organization dedicated to the development of new works and new voices for the stage. He attended workshops and master classes and job shadowed sound designers.

The opportunity came about as a result of his work for Adelphi’s Department of Theatre. For 2023 and 2024, Oberting was awarded first place for his sound design at the . His win this year for his sound design for the Adelphi production of Men on Boats earned him a fellowship at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center.

Oberting said his experience at the O’Neill “has allowed me to expand my knowledge past what is taught at Adelphi [as well as] my professional network before I’ve even graduated … [and] has truly changed my perspective on theatrical and live sound and made me love it even more.”

Getting Political in D.C.

Vanessa Desrosiers

Vanessa Desrosiers, now an Adelphi senior, is majoring in political science and minoring in cybersecurity. She is on the pre-law studies track and is planning to take the LSAT and apply to law schools. This summer, she got an inside look at the workings of a public relations defense lobbying firm, , in Arlington, Virginia.

Her day as a research analyst intern at The Potomac Advocates consisted of calling and drafting emails to congressional offices, collecting National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and appropriations forms for clients, cyber reports, going to congressional hearings and drafting reports, working on the federal defense budget, and attending networking events, where she met a lot of people in the defense industry.

She said she had always hoped for an opportunity such as this one to come around. “This was a period of growth that I never expected but [was] so happy I got to experience,” Desrosiers said. Her long-term goal is to become a lawyer and then start her own nonprofit for immigrant kids.

Houston, We Have a Competition

Christopher Sciortino

Christopher Sciortino is an Adelphi senior studying computer science with a minor in mathematics. He has a passion for game development and a love of programming. When Kevin Liang, PhD, assistant professor of physics, put forth the idea of competing in a NASA competition presented to university students in the United States, Sciortino and six other students accepted the challenge. The students were asked to take one of NASA’s IPs (intellectual property) and come up with some type of invention with it. Not only does this require a business and marketing plan, but also writing skills, technical skills and teamwork. After presenting in front of NASA-appointed judges, they would determine a winning team and runner-up to be sent to California to the AMES Research Center to further continue their business.

Sciortino’s team came up with a mobile carbon capture device to reduce emissions from trucks. They were accepted and invited to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, to present their idea.

“When I said success stems from a good team, I meant it,” Sciortino said. “Not only did I work with amazing friends, but Dr. Liang was a crucial part of our success.” Although they didn’t win, Sciortino says he and his team learned a lot and made many great connections.

To Poland and Back

Faria Rahman Oyshi

Faria Rahman Oyshi is an international student and senior majoring in biochemistry Her love for cooking and baking led her into the field, where she now works in the stockroom and as a laboratory teaching assistant in the chemistry department. Recently, she had the opportunity to go abroad to Poland for her second consecutive summer, thanks to professor of chemistry Justyna Widera-Kalinoska, PhD’s and support from the College of Arts and Sciences Student Excellence Fund. During this trip, Oyshi conducted research at the University of Warsaw. This program allowed her not only to learn and execute research projects, but to learn about the scientific heritage of Poland. “For me, research has always been fun whilst also allowing me to contribute to the wellness of society and the environment,” Oyshi said.

The research project she joined focused on developing semiconductor electrode materials for photo-electrochemical water splitting, a field promising groundbreaking advancements in hydrogen fuel production. She had the opportunity to collaborate and strengthen her skills, allowing her to flourish and think outside the box.

“Conducting research in Poland for two consecutive summers not only allowed me to have hands-on experiences with advanced instrumentations and techniques, but also to shape and strengthen my research skills, building me as a competitive candidate for PhD programs and future research positions as a scientist.”

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Two examples are graduate students Mujjabi Ian Sebbowa and Peace Olutoye. Although they are in very different programs at Adelphi, they each share a common interest in inspiring a love of STEM subjects in younger students.

Teaching the Next Generation of STEM Students

Sebbowa, who will graduate with his MBA in December 2024, and Olutoye, who is getting her MS in Biology, spent the summer as interns at Arthur Morrison Mentors, a nonprofit that holds STEM classes for students in the Hempstead Union Free School District on Long Island.

MBA student Mujjabi Ian Sebbowa helping students develop professional skills with the STEMpower Scholars program.

As program coordinator for the STEMpower Scholars program at Morrison Mentors, Sebbowa led daily sessions to help students develop professional skills and created personalized practice plans for each student.

“Leading personal development sessions for the scholars has allowed me to apply concepts from my organizational behavior and leadership courses, helping me develop my coaching and mentoring abilities,” he said. “This experience has been particularly rewarding as it combines the business acumen I’m gaining from my MBA with the opportunity to make a positive impact on young minds in STEM fields.”

As a tutor for students from Pre-K to fifth grade, Olutoye designed and delivered lessons and hands-on experiments to help students grasp topics such as scientific methods, weather and climate.

“Morrison Mentors’ focus on STEM education for young students aligned perfectly with my desire to promote scientific literacy from an early age,” said Olutoye, who will graduate with an MS in Biochemistry in December 2024 and plans to become a researcher and biology teacher. “The excitement on a child’s face when they grasp a new concept or successfully complete an experiment is incredibly rewarding.”

Paid Summer Internships at Nonprofits

Sebbowa and Olutoye were members of this year’s class of Adelphi’s prestigious Jaggar Community Fellows, a competitive program that connects students with local nonprofits for paid summer internship placements.

Twenty-five graduate and undergraduate students won fellowships this summer, including Annabelle Ali, a communications major with a media studies concentration, who worked as a production intern at North Shore TV (NSTV). Other fellows interned at a wide range of nonprofits, including the American Cancer Society, the National Urban League, the Northwell Institute for Nursing, Community Counseling and Mediation, the Financial Women’s Association and the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association.

Biology Graduate Student Peace Olutoye mentoring students in STEM studies as part of her Arthur Morrison Mentors internship.

Senior Joe Sawma, a pre-med biology major and marketing minor, used his fellowship to combine his two passions in one internship. At Northwell Health’s Lions Eye Bank, a nonprofit fighting corneal blindness, Sawma not only shadowed surgical technicians but also pitched marketing campaigns to the hospital’s CFO.

“This internship has been extremely valuable and certainly indispensable to my Adelphi experience and future career goals,” said Sawma, who received Adelphi’s Outstanding First-Year Student Award in 2022 and won a prestigious Newman Civic Fellowship from Campus Compact the following year. “I’ve enjoyed coming to work this summer as every day has been a new experience and a new discovery for me.”

Researching Nanotechnologies in Poland

Summer internships took Adelphi students abroad as well. Chemistry major Joshuah Tavarez conducted research on nanotechnologies in Poland as part of International Research Experiences for Students (IRES), a program led by Justyna Widera-Kalinowska, PhD, professor of chemistry and director of the Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Works, and funded by the National Science Foundation. President of the Adelphi Chemistry Club on campus, Tavarez spent his summer conducting research at the Institute of Fundamental Technological Research, Polish Academy of Sciences.

“Our lab focused on the use of absorbents to purify wastewater,” Tavarez said. “Many people don’t realize how polluted water can be; pollutants can range from dyes to antibiotics.”

After graduation next year, Tavarez aspires to pursue a PhD in Chemistry and “help the world, using science.”

Launching an Accelerated Career in Finance

Closer to home, Monish Churaman interned as a global markets analyst at the financial services company SociĂ©tĂ© GĂ©nĂ©rale in New York City. Churaman, who received his degree in finance this May after completing Adelphi’s accelerated three-year business track, shadowed junior and senior analysts, completed his own projects, and participated in “Lunch & Learn” meetings with senior analysts.

“Working as a summer analyst at SociĂ©tĂ© GĂ©nĂ©rale has been nothing but an incredible experience,” he said. “I can confidently say that this is one of the best financial firms to work at, and an even better place to build the foundation of a banking career in my short time there.”

Churaman has had a great deal of success on the Adelphi campus as well. He received a 2024 President’s Student Leadership Award and won the 2023 Business Plan Competition with his partner Amita Radakichenane; they pitched an innovative business called SmileLab Printing Technologies, which would allow dental clinics to print crowns, bridges and dentures on-site instead of in a lab.

“This accelerated three-year business program has freed up a significant amount of time for myself, allowing me to get into the industry as quick as possible,” he said. “I can’t say enough positive things about the program, as my professors, advisers and other leaders at the business school have all played an integral part in shaping me into the person I am today and helping me move towards the goals I have set for myself.”

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Justyna Widera-Kalinowska, PhD, professor of chemistry, whose research interests range from nanotechnology to novel semiconducting materials and their hybrid composites.

As energy policy and industry leaders work to fortify the long-term security of our clean energy supply, Dr. Widera-Kalinowska has been busy investigating a better alternative to silicon. In collaboration with colleagues at the University of Warsaw, as well as former Adelphi undergraduates Stephanie Dulovic ’20 and Sophia Casto ’20 (who participated in this research as part of a National Science Foundation International Research Experiences for Students grant), she published her findings in the paper “Comparative studies of properties of CdSe/POMA hybrid films electrodeposited on HOPG, Au and Pt substrates,” which appeared in the journal Surfaces and Interfaces in July 2022.¹

The paper demonstrates that the choice of substrate material in the manufacturing process has a direct influence on the chemical structure and photoelectrochemical properties of the resulting semiconducting nanoparticles and polymers. Notably, Dr. Widera-Kalinowska and her team were able to establish that the combination of these semiconductors will yield the “most optimal hybrid materials for the most efficient conversion of solar energy into electrical energy”—a process that can be applied in everything from hazardous waste treatment to alternative energy sources and solar fuel production.

Dr. Widera-Kalinowska credits the project’s success to the power of collaboration, both with her students and with fellow scientists around the globe. Adelphi students played a vital role in shepherding the research to completion, gaining hands-on experience in advanced instrumentation and topics in photochemistry, material science and nanotechnology. They also spent several months in Poland working alongside experts in the lab. “My students were able to learn that science is an international language,” she said. “No matter our nationalities, partnerships like this make it possible for people to help each other find solutions that alleviate global concerns.”

In that spirit, Dr. Widera-Kalinowska is now planning a new research project with her U.S.-Polish team in the hope of developing additional hybrids that contain novel semiconducting materials. “We want to gain a better understanding of the basic working principles of these semiconducting nanohybrid materials,” she said. “Our goal is to make these materials more effective in their potential applications as alternative energy sources, tools of environmental remediation and producers of solar fuel.”

¹ Widera-Kalinowska, Justyna, and Stephanie Dulovic, Sophia Casto, et al. “.” Surfaces and Interfaces, vol. 22, October 2022.

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Funding for the six-year program, which will commence on November 1, 2023, will provide scholarships to a minimum of 25 high-achieving, low-income (Pell Grant-eligible) students with demonstrated financial need who will pursue undergraduate degrees in a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) discipline—biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computer science, environmental science, mathematics or physics—at Adelphi. In addition to this financial support, students will receive specialized academic and cocurricular resources to ensure their success and persistence toward graduation, as well as their preparation for careers and advanced studies postgraduation.

“There is a growing need for professionals across the STEM field and there are many future members of this workforce right in our own backyard,” Dr. Ward said. “In developing this grant proposal, my colleagues and I set out to create opportunities at our University for students who have shown great interest and aptitude in the fields that are most in demand.”

Using a cohort-based model, the program will recruit local, academically talented students with a grade point average of at least 3.0 for 12–13 spots in each of the Fall 2024 and 2025 incoming classes. Students accepted into the program will receive up to $15,000 per year for the four years of their undergraduate education, an amount based on the anticipated average unmet need after other financial aid is awarded. Adelphi plans to begin targeted recruitment efforts at two local high schools—Mineola and Freeport—where it has agreements in place.

Across Adelphi’s various STEM-related undergraduate degree programs, students in the program’s cohorts will be assigned a faculty, alumni and peer mentor for the duration of their program. They will come together to take a first-semester seminar, participate in cohort meetings throughout each academic year and conduct two summers of full-time paid research with Adelphi faculty members. Emphasizing research as an integral part of the program, the students will attend scientific conferences and will also work together as a multidisciplinary group on an environmental action plan at Adelphi.

“Upon completion of their degrees, students will have an interdisciplinary, multitiered and research-intensive STEM education that will prepare them for advanced studies or placement in the workforce,” said Dr. Ward. “In addition, we seek to instill in them an overall sense of belonging in their STEM discipline and provide the tools, experiences and networks to succeed in their future careers.”

In addition to Dr. Ward, several other Adelphi faculty members were involved in the development of the program and will support its execution:

• Matthew Wright, PhD, associate professor and chair of the Department of Physics;
• Tandra Chakraborty, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Biology;
• Melissa VanAlstine-Parris, PhD, associate professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry;
• Sung Hoon Kim, JD, assistant professor in the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science;
• Susan Kilgore, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences;
• Robert Bradley, PhD, professor in the Department of Math and Computer Science; and
• Salvatore Petrilli, EdD, associate dean for academic operations and general education in the College of Arts and Sciences.

“Faculty mentoring in student research is a hallmark of Adelphi education and a proven high-impact practice,” said Vincent Wang, PhD, dean of the ÇŃ×ÓĘÓƵ College of Arts and Sciences. “This magnificent grant breaks new ground with an intentional recruitment and retention strategy and a purposeful curricular design that ensures interdisciplinary learning in science, collaboration and problem-solving—all vital skills for success in today’s world.”

The project is funded by the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program, which, according to the NSF, “seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation and academic/career pathways of low-income students.”

More information about can be found on the NSF website.

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The project had two challenges. “One, we needed to make these more soluble reagents, and two, we needed to get a baseline solubility of the common reagents that are used today,” Dr. Silverio said. “Although researchers talk about solubility all the time, no one cites actual numbers.” Very little data measuring the relative solubility of HVI reagents exists, so the research team had to start from scratch.

In Dr. Hyatt’s lab, students developed techniques for synthesizing the compounds needed for their research. Dr. Silverio’s team worked on analyzing the solubility of the compounds.

Together, they found that compounds containing longer chains of carbon atoms were “more soluble in nonpolar solvents like ether and hexane” than those with shorter chains. The resulting article, “Ligand exchange of aryl iodine dicarboxylates to form reagents with differing solubilities” (Arkivoc, April 7, 2021),1 draws the conclusion that “novel HVI compounds can be used in solvents that otherwise would be unsuitable to traditional reactions with HVI reagents.” Drs. Hyatt and Silverio share authorship with 10 of the undergraduate students who conducted much of the research.

According to Dr. Hyatt, the project required students to learn research techniques that are rarely utilized in undergraduate labs. Students were carefully trained on different methods of producing the samples, for instance, which allowed them to discover that the ligand exchange method provided a high yield and low purity, while the oxidation method produced a low yield and high purity. This proved to be critical for the accurate assessment of the compounds’ solubility.

“Our students were doing a spectroscopic analysis on some of these compounds, which are closer to industrial techniques for analysis,” Dr.Hyatt said. “It’s not what undergraduate students would normally be doing in a lab.”

Senior Christina Callov was one of the students in Dr. Hyatt’s group. She was excited to be part of such a rigorous research project and was especially pleased with the training she and other students received and the results that training led to. “Every reaction I ran to produce HVI was successful,” she said.“When doing research, not every reaction works, so it was really nice to have such success with synthesizing these compounds.”

Vanie Seecharan, a junior and member of Dr. Silverio’s team, was lead author on the article. Before joining the project, she was torn between pursuing graduate school, medical school or both. “During the course of this project, I learned thatI love working in a lab, problem-solving and thinking about new experiments,” she said. “Through this research, I was able to find a new passion for chemistry, which has motivated me to pursue a graduate degree.”

While cataloging the relative solubility of HVI reagents will be useful for other researchers, Drs. Hyatt and Silverio believe it will also have important applications outside the lab. “This definitely isn’t one of those projects where you have some interesting results, but there are no practical uses,” said Dr. Silverio. “This is something that people are going to be able to use immediately, especially for industrial chemists who will finally have some data to work with.”

With results in hand, they are now studying reagents that could be even more soluble, such as liquid HVI compounds that could allow industrial chemists to run HVI reactions without the use of a solvent. “It turns out that it’s difficult to test the solubility of liquids,”said Dr. Silverio. “But we’ve come up with new methods that are giving us pretty reliable data.”

1 Seecharan, Vanie, and Lyse Armand, Jennifer Noorollah, Nirvanie Singh, Andrew Zhang, Kevin P. Freddo, Nicholas Spatola, Sailesh Prasad, Azka Chaudhry, Su Wint War, I. F. Dempsey Hyatt, and Daniel L. Silverio. “Ligand exchange of aryl iodine dicarboxylates to form reagents with differing solubilities.” Arkivoc, part iv, 7 April 2021, pp. 79-85.

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Coffee and science discussion during the Summer 2018 National Science Foundation International Research Experiences for Students research abroad program in Warsaw, Poland. Department of Chemistry students (left to right) : Stephanie Dulovic, Marisa McLeod, Kelly Zhu, Momoka Nagamine and Sophia Casto and (far left) Justyna Widera-Kalinowska, PhD, associate professor of chemistry.

For 16 years, Dr. Widera-Kalinowska has inspired and motivated her chemistry students in the Adelphi community with her passionate and positive outlook toward the essential subject. “Chemistry is powerful,” she said.

A year of sabbatical and the pandemic motivated her to write her NSF proposal. Dr. Widera-Kalinowsk had previously sought private donations and sponsors to support her studies. However, her determination to provide more student support pushed her to seek a more extensive grant. She was surprised and overjoyed seeing her proposal accepted.

Semiconductors Versus Climate Change

The Polish native completed her education at the University of Warsaw in her native country and she has maintained professional connections with former professors and colleagues at her alma mater. What began as a limited grant, bringing one doctoral student to Long Island, has grown. Now multiple Adelphi students have been given the opportunity to study material science in this historic Polish city. “Experience and practice are the best ways to flourish in science,” she said. “Many people think they are not good in science but that could be because they didn’t have the chance to practice. Opportunities like this can show them that this is meant for them.”

Dr. Widera-Kalinowska and her students will be working to create new materials that have to be engineered with special properties. Those materials could have unique properties when made by undergoing specific procedures, known as the nanoscale.

To be able to do this process continuously, they will have to be able to synthesize the materials in the nanoscale in such a precise way, thus cutting the same size and design of the material every time. They work with not just one material, but multiple materials to create an intelligently designed hybrid or composite of intercalating layers.

This design the scientists will be working on must be conducted minutely before it is made. Then they will have to be able to synthesize it repeatedly, following the same process. Once the material with desired properties is synthesized, it will be tested to ensure accuracy.

The properties that are expected from the materials are called semiconductors, as they must be able to conduct electricity, including that emitted by solar light. Capturing solar light efficiently enables them to produce substantial amounts of electrical energy.

Harnessing Solar Energy to Clean Polluted Water

This electrical energy can be created in two different ways. The first method is storing energy, known as photovoltaics. This is commonly used to create batteries. The second method is to use the energy from other forms of energetic resources. Dr. Widera-Kalinowska and her students will be using water to produce hydrogen gas. The harnessed solar energy will be used by the research group to create a novel green cleaning method by catalyzing the reactions caused by the degradation of harmful pollutants found in wastewater.

Visit to Marie Curie-Sklodowska’s birthplace and the Marie Curie-Sklodowska Museum. Curie-Sklodowska was the recipient of two Nobel Prizes in physics and chemistry. Department of Chemistry students (left to right) Stephanie Dulovic, Marisa McLeod, Kelly Zhu, Momoka Nagamine and Sophia Casto and Justyna Widera-Kalinowska, PhD, associate professor of chemistry, visited this museum during the summer abroad research visit at the University of Warsaw in Warsaw, Poland.

Moreover, this international collaboration will focus on developing visible-light-responsive nanohybrids for photocatalysis and photoelectrochemical solar energy conversion.

The goal is to create greener energy, which is crucial as the climate crisis continues to worsen. The rigorous course of study requires students who must be strong intellectually as well as able to accept the challenges of living abroad on top of the demanding work that awaits them.

“It is not easy going to another country with another culture and working in the lab. It is a lot for students,” said Dr. Widera-Kalinowska.

How Does Faculty-Mentored Research Change Lives?

Vincent Wang, PhD, dean of the College of the Arts and Sciences (CAS), says he is excited to learn of this initiative.

“Dr. Widera-Kalinowska’s NSF grant offers Adelphi students unparalleled opportunities for scientific inquiry, collaboration and cultural exploration,” he said. “Such opportunities exemplify the so-called high-impact practices. Science is increasingly international, as tackling pressing challenges facing mankind, such as climate change and epidemics, requires cross-national collaboration. This grant nicely embeds this feature, thanks to Dr. Widera-Kalinowska’s track record and her network. Faculty-mentored research is an effective way for undergraduate students to learn.”

The grant will also give students “many intangibles,” Dr. Wang said, such as living in a different society and learning a foreign language. “These push students’ boundaries for growth and development. I hope this grant inspires more CAS faculty and students to think of ways to enrich their Adelphi educational experience.”

Alexander Aragon ’18 said his experience working with Dr. Widera-Kalinowska’s lab changed his career path.

“By joining Dr. Widera-Kalinowska’s research group and then subsequently going to Poland as part of the NSF IRES (International Research Experiences for Students) grant, I was able to broaden my horizons culturally through exploring Poland while working at the University of Warsaw,” he said. “My experiences conducting this research allowed me to find my true passion for semiconductor research while working on hybrid materials for the degradation of organic pollutants through photocatalysis.

“The exposure to the vast world of science and how we do it from different areas in the world through collaboration has led me to pursue a long-term career in the sciences, and allowed me to get into the PhD program at Wake Forest University, where I am continuing to do semiconductor research for the treatment of wastewater,” Aragon added. “My long-term goal is to have my own research lab in the future.”

As Dr. Widera-Kalinowska said, “Chemistry when you spell it out is chem-is-try.”

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“The formations of molecules appeal to me in a similar way choreography does,” said Jones, who is from Kingston, Jamaica. “Some results are harder to achieve than others, but the process of understanding and working with the rules of the world can produce some amazing creations.”

Adelphi is a national leader in personalizing education and supporting the interdisciplinary experience. So students like Jones, who are multitalented and interested in multiple career opportunities, find the support they need here. For example, when a dance scheduling conflict made it difficult for Jones to complete his final chemistry credit, Assistant Professor Ivan Hyatt, PhD, solved the problem by inviting him to join his research group instead.

“It’s basically what I live for,” said Dr. Hyatt of supporting students’ interdisciplinary interests. “I just love it.” As a musician himself, he understands the connection between art and science on a personal and professional level.

“They both take that same type of meticulous behavior, constant repetition and practice—and knowing that you are going to fail over and over,” he said. “It just takes the determination to get it right. I think people who are successful in those fields are ones who can exhibit those behaviors and strive at it. That’s one of the things I saw in Taro.”

Even after the pandemic hit and Jones returned to Jamaica to be with his family, he finished his degree remotely and continued working with the research group over the summer.

Since the students couldn’t study their chemical reactions in the lab, they switched to modeling the reactions on a computer network that Dr. Hyatt set up in his apartment.

“We were doing quantum mechanics calculations—some of the highest level of mathematics and science—and quickly got in over our heads,” Dr. Hyatt said. “Very fortunately, Taro also had skills in computer programming and knew how to work with software that does three-dimensional animations. That was an incredible help.”

When the group had collected enough data, Dr. Hyatt asked Jones to write a draft of a research paper for publication. In February 2021, the in Arkivoc, a peer-reviewed open-access journal for research in organic chemistry. Jones had already contributed to in 2020, but this was his first time as lead author.

“That’s not something that usually happens—that an undergraduate starts a research project, writes the paper and publishes it within one year,” Dr. Hyatt said. “That’s pretty wild.”

With this experience under his belt, Jones applied to several chemistry PhD programs. Some acceptances have already rolled in.

“I encouraged him to apply to schools in metropolitan areas so he could audition and still keep his 40-hour workweek in chemistry research,” Dr. Hyatt said. “It’s going to be hard, but I already knew that Taro was fine with putting in the time and trying to pursue both of his passions.”

Jones is ready for the challenge, having juggled dance rehearsals and chemistry research at Adelphi.

“If there’s anything I learned from those four years, it was time management,” Jones said. “I might not feel fully prepared quite yet, but Adelphi has definitely put me on track to be ready when the opportunity arises.”

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