E A R T H & A TMo SPH E R IC SCIENC E S - The City College of ...

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Kyle C. McDonald / Professor
Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department / Spring 2011
Dr. McDonald is a highly respected researcher
with over 20 years’ experience in microwave remote
sensing of terrestrial ecosystems. Following
a long association with NASA’s Jet Propulsion
Laboratory at Caltech, he has joined City’s faculty,
where he was awarded the Terry Elkes Professorship.
His research activities have involved
the application of microwave remote sensing
techniques for monitoring boreal wetlands and
seasonal dynamics in boreal-arctic ecosystems as
related to ecological and hydrological processes.
Dr. McDonald holds a doctorate in Electrical
Engineering from the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor and degrees from Georgia Tech and
Johns Hopkins. He was attracted to City by
the opportunities for interdisciplinary research
being generated by the CUNY Environmental
CrossRoads Initiative, the CREST Institute, and
the Sustainability in the Urban Environment
program. “Environmental science is taking off at
CCNY and CUNY, and it is exciting to be part
of shaping an institution’s future.”
Ana Carnaval /Assistant Professor
Department of Biology / Fall 2010
Dr. Carnaval holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology
from the University of Chicago and did a
post-doc in Evolutionary Biogeography at UC
Berkeley. Her lab studies spatial patterns of biodiversity
and their underlying evolutionary and
ecological processes, with the aim of improving
biodiversity prediction and conservation in
tropical regions. She conducts extensive field
work on biogeographic changes in the Brazilian
Atlantic rainforest, in cooperation with teams
from UC Berkeley and Brazilian universities.
Dr. Carnaval is a new member of the NOAA
Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and
Technology Center (NOAA-CREST), based
at CCNY. Her lab has also received an NSF
grant to study montane phylogeography in
the Atlantic Rainforest.
Dr. Carnaval was recently invited to the White
House for the launching of the NSF’s Flexibility
in the Workplace policy, which promotes support
and retention of women and girls in STEM careers.
Christine Klusko /Administrative Coordinator
Department of Biology / Fall 2010
Christine Klusko is a true CUNY product. She
holds a BA in English and an MA in Corporate
Communications from Baruch College, where
she was a basketball player and then Director of
Operations and Assistant Coach to the women’s
basketball team. She also served as Office Manager
in Baruch’s Office of Communications and
Marketing and as an adjunct faculty member in
its Departments of Marketing and International
Business and Communications Studies.
Ms. Klusko intends to apply her organizational,
communications and leadership skills to her work
in the Department of Biology. “I would like the
office to be an accessible facility which helps
both faculty and students and effectively represents
the department to the world beyond City,”
she says. One of her specific goals is to facilitate
the formation and functioning of student clubs
within the department. “I love the fact that there
is always a new challenge, and CUNY offers
many areas in which to grow and learn.”
Kamilah Ali / Assistant Professor
Department of Biology / Fall 2010
“I was looking for a university where there
would be good opportunities to continue my
cardiovascular research,” says Dr. Ali. “The research
emphasis of CUNY’s Decade of Science
convinced me that City College was the place.”
Dr. Ali holds an MS and a PhD in Pharmacology
from Yale. In the course of her graduate
work she focused heavily on biochemistry and
physiology. She came to City from the University
of Kentucky, where she was a Research
Assistant Professor in Nutritional Sciences.
Dr. Ali’s current research is on Apolipoprotein
D (apoD), a minor protein associated with HDL
cholesterol. Her purpose is to determine the
role of apoD in atherosclerosis. In this work,
her lab uses mice and cell culture studies to
determine whether apoD plays a role in the
formation of atherosclerotic plaques in blood
vessels or helps modulate plasma cholesterol
levels by decreasing the levels of oxidative stress
or inflammation in blood vessels.