Happy New Year!
This issue marks the end of my first year at CCNY. The time has flown by! A tumultuous year in more ways than one, we’ve all faced many different challenges. As I look back on the year, all the elements that attracted me to CCNY – the high research activity, the students, faculty and staff and the commitment to the community are all still in place and going strong.
Despite the uncertainties in grant funding, research at CCNY remains resilient and robust. Metrics from FY 25 show that it was a relatively successful year with over 400 proposals submitted, 135 proposals funded with approximately 240 active faculty. These awards support CCNY faculty as they continue to engage in exciting and meaningful research and creative projects despite the uncertainties surrounding funding. The Office of Research remains ready to support researchers pursuing their projects and ideas in all areas.
This issue of the RICC showcases some of our faculty, who were recognized for their scholarship in 2025. We also include profiles of two new faculty members who are hitting the ground running and pursuing innovative ideas with their students.
We highlight the Stuart Z. Katz Professor in the Humanities and Arts, Antonio Tibaldi, who recently received a 2025 Guggenheim fellowship for his project filming the documentary, ‘Fiori (Freedom).’ The profile highlights his innovative and intimate approaches to filmmaking.
We are also highlighting CCNY faculty who received funding through the Google Cyber NYC Institutional Research Program. Distinguished Professor, Yingli Tian, is developing machine learning methods for differentiating AI-generated images from real ones. Distinguished Professor Rosario Gennaro and Assistant Professor Tushar Jois are addressing issues of secure computation, both from the cost perspective and under dynamic cloud conditions. Jois is also collaborating with Associate Professor Fazio on creating a messaging mesh for protestors when their governments shut the internet down as we saw most recently in Iran. Herbert G. Kayser Professor of Computer Science Zhigang Zhu with BMCC Professor, Hao Tang, is developing technology for the visually impaired to enable secure image sharing. Overall, it’s fascinating to read how our colleagues are developing computational methods and approaches for the benefit of society.
Lastly, in this first issue of the new year, we also touch upon an area that is dominating our national and global conversations, Artificial Intelligence. AI has permeated our culture in many ways, from the stunning advances of AlphaFold in predicting protein structure to the near ubiquitous presence of chatbots and generative AI. We highlight two new faculty members in Computer Science who are using AI in interesting and exciting ways and add to our impressive roster of faculty in the area. Assistant Professor Saptarashmi Bandyopadhyay is using AI to improve AI and next generation AI agents, with applications in energy and the smart grid, life sciences and many other areas. Assistant Professor Arthur Paul Pedersen works at the interface of artificial intelligence and cognitive science, focusing on areas such as intelligence analysis, cybersecurity threat modeling and risk assessment, art authentication and attribution.
I encourage you to read about these CCNY professors who are working at the forefront of their respective fields. I am excited to see where their work leads them in 2026!
Ishita Mukerji
Associate Provost of Research