46 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • FEBRUARY 18, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Queens College launches
Big Ideas online video series
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A new online video series, “Big Ideas
at Queens College,” is spotlighting faculty
research being conducted at the CUNY
school through in-depth interviews.
Th e series, conceived by Queens College
President Frank H. Wu, will introduce
viewers to faculty members who are
conducting a wide range of research on
impactful topics such as racial disproportionality
in special education; monitoring
COVID-19 in New York City’s wastewater;
exploring the COVID-19 pandemic’s
impact on maternal health; studying historic
climate trends to predict future hazards;
and more.
A trailer for the new series premiered
on Th ursday, Feb. 11. Season one episodes
will air on Th ursdays at 7 p.m. through
May 6 — with the exception of April 1
— on the college’s YouTube channel and
Facebook page.
“Here at Queens College, our faculty are
at the forefront of creating knowledge of
great importance to our community and
to society,” Wu said. “In our new series,
‘Big Ideas at Queens College,’ we are highlighting
outstanding educators and their
amazing research. Our vision for the project
was to create a means to communicate
this work to a worldwide audience —
it presents opportunities to engage other
researchers, spurring the development of
new collaborations; inspires bright young
minds to pursue a course of study with
these professors; and provides local and
global communities with an understanding
of why the work we do at Queens
College is so vital to the greater good.”
Upcoming episodes will feature
the following guests:
• Professor Lenwood Gibson, special education,
School of Education, discusses
combating racial disproportionality in
special education
• Professor John Dennehy, biology, School
of Math and Natural Sciences, discusses
his project monitoring the presence of
SARS coronavirus in NYC wastewater
• Professor Yoko Nomura, psychology,
School of Math and Natural Sciences,
discusses how the health of mothers
plays a major role in the overall health
of children, and further, how disparities
in the health of expectant mothers
infected with COVID-19 are based
on racial and socioeconomic categories
• Isabel Cuervo, psychology, School of
Math and Natural Sciences, discusses
involving domestic cleaners in a study
of their workplace hazards
• Professor Francesc Ortega, economics,
School of Social Sciences, discusses estimating
and quantifying the importance
of undocumented workers to the U.S.
economy
• Professor Daniel Kaufman, linguistics,
School of Arts and Humanities,
discusses his project documenting
and preserving the world’s endangered
languages
• Professor Natalie Bump Vena, urban
studies, School of Social Sciences, discusses
how the aging NYC infrastructure
will continue to deteriorate and
cause more damage to those who face
environmental racism
• Professor Maral Tajerian, biology,
School of Math and Natural Sciences,
discusses understanding the limits of
brain plasticity as it relates to pain
• Professor Sebastian Alvarado, biology,
School of Math and Natural Sciences,
discusses how epigenetic processes and
molecular plasticity contribute to evolution
via a dialogue between genes and
the environment
• Professor Stephen Pekar, earth and
environmental sciences, School of Math
and Natural Sciences, in a special Earth
Day presentation, discusses understanding
our future by studying past
climate change
• Professor Desiree Byrd, psychology,
School of Math and Natural Sciences,
discusses the importance of diverse representation
in psychological studies
• Ying Zhou, executive director, Tech
Incubator at Queens College, discusses
how the incubator helps accelerate the
economic development of Queens and
New York City by building a collaborative
ecosystem to support entrepreneurs
seeking to develop sustainable ventures.
Astoria resident
promoted to
associate at
engineering fi rm
BY QNS STAFF
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
D&B Engineers and Architects, an
engineering fi rm specializing in civil
and environmental engineering, water
supply and construction management,
announced the promotion of three of
its employees, including Astoria resident
Matthew Th ogersen.
Th ogersen, an engineer in training,
was named an associate at the fi rm and
will retain his responsibilities as project
engineer at the company’s Woodbury
offi ce, where he oversees a pump station
.Th
e Astoria resident joined D&B in
2013 as a member of the fi rm’s wastewater
design division. He was recently
awarded the Young Engineer of the
Year Award from the American Society
of Civil Engineers.
“I am proud to say that I have worked
with Matt for the last seven years at
D&B,” said Joe Marturano, the senior
vice president and director of wastewater
at D&B. “He is a true asset to the fi rm
and I wish him many more years of success
and a great career as he continues to
grow at D&B.”
Two others, Anthony Cucuzzo of
Mount Sinai and Matthew Hoskins of
Syracuse, were also promoted to an
associate position at D&B.
Th e company, which has been around
for the past 55 years, works with partners
to develop new approaches for
solving challenges found in wastewater
management and drinking quality
issues. D&B services clients in both the
public and private sector.
Photo courtesy of D&B Engineers and Architects
Matthew Thogersen
Courtesy of Queens College
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