The New York Section of the American Chemical Society which includes the Hudson Bergen subsection located in New Jersey but is a part of the New York Section with the five borrows in New York had a very successful SEED I and SEED II Project SEED.  The New York Section had more students participating in Project SEED than any section in the nation.

During the 2009 summer season, students from the New York Section did research at a large variety of colleges, universities, laboratories, hospitals and research centers. Students spent their summer working with scientists from New York University, Columbia University, the City University of New York, City College of New York, Rockefeller University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey Environmental Research Institute, the Center for Micro plasma Science & Technology, St. Peter’s College, Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center at St Barnabas Health Care System, the New Use Agriculture and Natural Plant Products, Cook College of Rutgers University, the Mass Spectroscopy Laboratory Food Science at Rutgers University, the Department of Geo-science & Geography at New Jersey City University, the Center for Computer Aids for Industrial  Productivity at Rutgers University, the Predictive Microbiology/Rapid Methods in the Department of Food Science at Cook College,  the School of Engineering at Rutgers University, the Department of Ceramic & Material Engineering, Fiber Optic Materials Research Program at Rutgers University, the Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences Institute of Rutgers University, the Chemistry & Chemical Biology of Stevens Institute of Technology, the Department of Material Science at Stevens Institute of Technology, Liberty Science Center , Department of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Department of Physics at New Jersey Institute of Technology, Department of Surveying & Technology Engineering at New Jersey institute of Technology, Department of Chemistry at New Jersey City University,  Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry at Seton Hall University,  Montclair  University, Hunter College, St John’s University and Brooklyn Institute of Technology.

Five students from the New York Section received the ACS Scholars award  of whom one is now studying Chemistry at St. Peter’s College and the other is studying Biochemistry also at St Peter’s College.  One student is studying Chemical Engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology and one is studying Chemistry at Montclair University.  Another one had to decline the scholarship because she received a ten year Millennium Scholarship from the Bill Gates Foundation.  She is now studying at Seton Hall University and is determined to continue her education until she gets her Ph.D.   Five students also received the SEED Scholarship. They are all studying at New Jersey City University, New Jersey Institute of Technology,  and St. Peter’s College

Twenty two Project SEED participants travelled to Washington D. C. to present at the  National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.  They were interviewed by scientists who marveled at the quality of their research. Many scientists offered to give them internships in the future.

All project SEED participants presented at the Fifteen Annual Posters Presentation that took place at Seton Hall University on September 21st. There were about a 100 project SEED students from the NY section and the North Jersey section.  The NY participants won 5 of the top 6 awards  The  program was very well attended and our students won many gold and silver  medals.

At the New York  Research Posters Presentation that took place at St. Joseph College on October 19th, fifteen students were from Project SEED. They competed against students from basically private or specialized  academies in New York yet project SEED students won Second place and an Honorable Mention award.  This is very good when we take into account that the students from Project SEED come from urban schools and there were only 3 awards given.

Participants from Project SEED were very successful and won many competitions. At the New Jersey Science and  Humanities Symposium, two students, were selected among the top five students who represented the state of New Jersey at the National Competition which took place in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

At the Hudson County Science Fair, two students won gold medals, 6 won silver medals and 4 honorable mentions.  At the Spring Competition that was held at the Hilton in New Brunswick, project SEED students won 4 of the 6 awards given.  New York section students won 2 gold medals and 2 silver medals.  One student won the top prize and represented the state at the national competition which took place in Alaska.

Over 98 % of the students who participate in project seed do attend college. Of those, 80% are pursuing careers in the sciences and  more than 50% of those  are in chemistry related fields.  The majority of them are studying chemical engineering.

I have a nice story to share with you. One of the past participants who did two summers of SEED I and II at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey attended New Jersey Institute of Technology  and studied Chemical Engineering.  Upon graduation as a Valedictorian, he was accepted in the Ph.D. program at Princeton University.  He finished the required courses and started the research for his thesis.  His mentor was so impressed with the quality of his lab work that he asked him where he learned those lab skills.  The student responded that when he was a sophomore in high school he did SEED I and II at UMDNJ.  Professor Jamie Link had never heard of project seed so he contacted me and wanted to know more about the program.  I talked with him and referred him to the ACS web site.  As a result, Dr. Link and his colleague Dr. Michael McAlpine are hosting 4 students next summer and will be project seed mentors.  This is a true success story and it is a pleasure to be part of it.

Thank you for your continued support, you and the ACS are opening doors of opportunities for young people who are the future of our nation and the world.

Nadia Makar

NY Section

SEED Coordinator