The CUNY Institutes of CCNY– State-of-the-Art Research Impacting the Region, Nation, and the World
In this issue of the RICC, we highlight the eight City University of New York (CUNY) Institutes that are led by CCNY faculty and are located on CCNY’s campus. These institutes provide CUNY-wide research opportunities for faculty and students, employment, internships, and special events for the community, reflecting both CUNY’s and CCNY’s support of state-of-the-art research and education.
CCNY institutes span forty-two years of existence at the campus and have been continuously agile, remaining at the forefront of their fields, with collaborations across the university, nationally, and globally.
A very timely topic is the focus of the CUNY Remote Sensing Earth System Institute (CUNY CREST). The Institute researches the effects of climate change, focusing on understanding, preventing, and predicting the future climate challenges globally.
The Dominican Studies Institute began with an initial mission to produce and disseminate scholarly information about Dominican people that emigrated to the United States. Over the years the scope has expanded to also include research conducted in the Dominican Republic on its people, and other Dominican diasporas across the world.
The Energy Institute develops sustainable and economical energy technologies aimed at reducing America’s carbon footprint and dependency on external energy resources. The institute also conducts intensive research into energy storage to address the gap between the surge in renewable energy technology and the development of energy storage that is lagging behind.
The Benjamin Levich Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics, is renowned as an interdisciplinary research center at the intersection of physical chemistry and fluid mechanics, with the goal to increase our understanding of aerosols and by extension, can be applied to coronavirus.
Life Sciences research is also the focus of the Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies (MMA). One of the Institute’s missions is to investigate natural and engineered large molecules of biological and medical importance.
The CUNY Institute for Transportation Systems (CITS) supports the creation of transportation systems that prioritize sustainability and efficiency. CITS prepares engineers and transportation planners and is involved with the NYC Connected Vehicle Project (CVP), an initiative to end traffic-related deaths and road accidents through the creation and rollout of connected vehicle technology.
The Institute for Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Lasers (IUSL), one of a few organized ultrafast phenomena research programs in the world, is devoted to advancing research and education involving photonic, laser, and optic technologies for science, medical, engineering, and industrial applications.
Finally, the CUNY Institute for Urban Systems (CIUS) uses research, education and policy advisement to assist cities adjust to changes in infrastructure. Currently, CIUS is focused on the Rangel Initiative, a timely initiative to advance New York City’s infrastructure into the high-tech age.
These eight Institutes with wide-ranging research focus and initiatives provide CCNY faculty staff and students the opportunities to address real-world concerns and impact societal challenges facing the region, the nation, and the world. Additional details may be found in this issue of the RICC devoted to our state-of-the-art CUNY Institutes!
Rosemarie D. Wesson, Ph.D., P.E.
Interim Associate Provost for Research
Professor Chemical Engineering