Suffolk County Community College Students Share Scientific Studies at Capitol

Left to right:  Senator Owen Johnson, Nabil Wahabi, Teofilo Vasquez, Raul Romero, Dr. John Jerome, Candice Foley Ph.D., and Nina Leonhardt.

Senator Owen Johnson was pleased to meet with Suffolk County Community College (SCCC) students Teofilo Vasquez, Nabil Wahabi, and Raul Romero.  All three participated in the SUNY Undergraduates Shaping New York's Future:  A Showcase of Scholarly Posters event which took place in Albany at the Capitol Buildings on April 13, 2010.

Teofilo Vasquez, a sophomore at SCCC, described the results of his studies of the effects of sugar and artificial sweeteners and their relationship to Alzheimer's Disease.  Teofilo, from Brentwood,  is majoring in Biology and Biotechnology, and is a member of the NSF STEM/CSTEP Summer BioPrep Program at Stony Brook University.  Mentor Candice Foley Ph.D., College Associate Dean For Curriculum Development, also attended.

Nabil Wahabi, a sophomore at SCCC from Bay Shore, presented his poster entitled "Designing and Installing the Radio Frequency Tuners for a 1500 MHZ High Energy Accelerator and Inspecting the Results via ClLAN and Gen-Mesh Computer Codes."  Nabil is majoring in Electronic Technology and has participated in a SCTEP Internship at Brookhaven National Laboratory.  His project explores the possible application of superconductors to radio frequency (RF) devices in the construction of research tools.  Nina Leonhardt, Associate Dean of Continuing Education and mentor to Nabil, attended as well.

Raul Romero, from Huntington Station, majors in Engineering Science at SCCC.  His Poster Title was “Nanopatterning with Self-assembled Polymer Masks on Silicon and Evaporated Gold Wafers.”  His project explores the possibility of a cheaper, simpler and faster approach to imprinting nanopatterns by use of argon ions rather than conventional photolithography methods developed by the semiconductor industry.  His mentor, Dr. John Jerome, attended the Capitol event as well.