The Hunter Envoy

Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Features

Every time a Hunter student or faculty wins a grant, the department of Communications takes great pains to showcase their achievements on the front page of the college's website. Many students and visitors have astutely noted that a large number of featured individuals are affiliated with the science departments.

It is not a coincidence. Members of the science disciplines generally enjoy access to greater opportunities for funding when compared to other disciplines, and Hunter College faculty do not squander their opportunities. In a recent self-study report, the faculty of Physics and Astronomy department reported that they had collectively secured approximately $1.5 million from grants in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. The Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Geography and Psychology departments had also garnered respectable figures.

It is generally accepted among those in the science departments that a constant supply of funding is required in order for a research lab to sustain long-term viability. While most institutions provide start-up funds to fledgling professors to establish their office and their research lab, few institutions provide large, long-term, direct financial support afterwards. Unfortunately, most science research laboratories conduct expensive, long-term research. Therefore, grants effectively determine the livelihoods of professors, researchers and students working directly under them.

Doctoral candidate Murat Cevher is one person who recognizes the importance of grants. When he is not teaching a Chemistry lab section, he is actively engaged in breast cancer and gene regulation research. He is one of the many researchers working in Professor Frida Kleiman's Biochemistry research lab, which is funded primarily by generous grants from various sources.

Professor Steve Greenbaum of the Physics and Astronomy department uses grant funds to conduct materials science research in cooperation with various institutions and laboratories throughout the country. In a statement, he explained that his group "investigates new materials at the cutting edge of renewable and alternative energy development. These include the components of lithium ion batteries, supercapacitors, and hydrogen fuel cells." While Professor Greenbaum's research is promising in its own right, his research also helps realize some of the goals brought forth by the 2009 American Reinvestment and Recovery Act such as new generations of batteries that can be used in plug-in hybrid cars and help reduce automobile emissions.

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