02 FOUNDATION UPDATE
04 DAVA SOBEL ’64 UNCOVERING THE HUMAN STORIES OF SCIENCE
09 STAGING THE STORY OF BOBBY DARIN ’53
16 12 SUMMER INSTITUTES AND BRUNNER AWARDS RECENT RESEARCH AT THE MANNE INSTITUTE
18 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: SCOTT PERRY ’78
22
20 CLASS NOTES GIVING BACK: RODRIGO DULUC ’15
23 IN MEMORIAM
Dear Fellow Bronx Science Alumni,
With fall in the air, the fall 2025 semester of Bronx Science has settled into its normal rhythms - students are socializing on the courtyard, chatting in the hallways between classes and excited at the end of the day for teams and clubs. The energy as always is infectious.
A big change for the students has been the new state ban on cell phones in school. With minimal grumbling, Bronx Science students have managed the change so the hallways today look a lot more like the 1990s than recent times.
Seniors especially are diligently working on their college applications and Bronx Science alumni have been helping in myriad ways. Almost 200 alumni helped students practice their interview skills - both in person and virtually. We had four terrific young alumni who shared their insights on a panel to the senior class. We also have more than 200 alumni volunteers who will be reading and providing advice to students on their supplemental essays. We are so lucky to have such a passionate alumni community who is always so generous with their time and expertise to help our students.
We have a great year ahead - looking forward to seeing you all at a Bronx Science event.
Best,
Eleanor Coufos ‘99 President Bronx Science Foundation
Greetings from Bronx Science! The fall semester is well underway, and our students are already busy learning, creating and achieving wonderful things. But they were by no means sitting idle over the summer!
Bronx Science students traveled far and wide this summer, thanks to Foundation programs made possible by alumni like you. Here’s just a sample of what our students experienced:
As part of the summer Entrepreneurship Lab, students enjoyed a special tour and presentation at MIT, company site visits, a reception with 80+ alumni, and several of the city’s best historical sites and museums.
Thanks to a special invitation, students traveled to Korea (our school’s first international trip in decades!) to learn about Korean education, sample local cuisine, see cultural attractions, attend a baseball game and meet alumni living in Korea.
Arts Institute
students enjoyed the Barnes Foundation Museum and Philadelphia Museum of Art and lunched at Reading Terminal.
With the Government & Law Summer Institute, students visited Senate offices and think tanks, explored famed monuments and museums, and met 75+ alumni at a reception.
experiential learning programs such as these, as well as course materials, faculty training, extracurriculars, college counseling and student financial aid. With the help of our generous and engaged alumni community, our talented and hard-working students can receive a truly well-rounded and exceptional high school education.
Other Summer Institute students stayed local but explored new worlds right here at home, through visits to an array of companies (all arranged by alumni!) including The New York Times, Google, the New York Mets and Regeneron.
Read more about these trips and other Summer 2025 enrichment programs on page 16!
All of these adventures provided students with opportunities to explore different industries, cultures and cities – and their own interests and strengths, too. The Foundation is dedicated to enriching the education of all Bronx Science students: by funding
If you played any role –large or modest – in our school’s success last year, thank you. And if you’re just thinking about getting more involved with your alma mater, please don’t hesitate to dive right in. Whether you graduated five years ago or 50, you can make a meaningful impact on today’s students and reconnect to the school that helped shape who you are today.
We hope that all alumni will join our efforts by doing one (or all!) of the following in the 2025-2026 school year:
Make a gift
Volunteer with a student-alumni program
Attend an alumni event
Stay informed through our Alumni Magazine and Instagram (@bxsciencealumni)
We look forward to working together to help make amazing things happen at Bronx Science!
ARTICLE BY ANNA KOONZ ’25
Hurtling through outer space at twenty-one kilometers per second is an asteroid called 30935 davasobel. Its namesake, a celebrated science writer and proud Bronx Science alumna, channels a similar momentum.
Dava Sobel ’64 has published eight books and written countless articles for major publications. Her writing explores distant planets, travels to past centuries, and challenges conventional perspectives on science and history. It’s a career that both satisfies and shares Sobel’s profound curiosity about the world, transposing scientific facts into engaging narratives for readers of any background.
But for someone with a legacy (literally) etched in the stars, Sobel’s life journey began humbly as a young girl in the Bronx. And unlike an asteroid’s clear orbital path, she has never followed a predictable trajectory.
Sobel grew up with an unusual family dynamic. Her father ran a doctor’s office inside their home; patients entered at any hour of the day or night. This lifestyle
convinced Sobel against pursuing a career in medicine, but she embraced many other subjects across both STEM and the humanities.
Bronx Science offered Sobel “fantastic opportunities” and “freedom to explore” these diverse interests. She thrived in French with Mary Schwager and chemistry with Joseph Cherry. She especially enjoyed sophomore English with Jacob Luria, who encouraged her writing and imagination. “He gave
us room to write with great latitude,” Sobel recalled. “The assignments invited creativity.”
Outside of the classroom, Sobel participated in the guitar club and worked on a production of Fantasticks. She also actively protested for civil rights, inspired by her fellow classmates: fewer than 10 of the 867 students in her class were Black.
“I was very much a hippie… those were such hopeful, exciting times,” Sobel said with a smile. “If you say you went to Bronx Science, people assume the best things about you.”
In contrast, Sobel described her college diploma as “materializing at the end of a slog.” She started at Antioch but considered it “a very bad mismatch,” prompting a transfer to City College. She later switched to SUNY Binghamton due to complications with her husband’s student deferment from the Vietnam War. After three schools and five years, Sobel finally earned her degree in History.
Sobel began working as a freelance writer after college and interviewed the astronomer Carl Sagan for a local newspaper. Impressed, he wrote a recommendation letter for her to work as a science writer at the Cornell University News Bureau. “That was just the best job in the world… it really was an education in itself,” Sobel said. A lifelong learner, she was thrilled to meet with acclaimed scientists from many different fields and report on their research.
Over time, Sobel gained experience and became a science writer for The New York Times. Unlike the freedom she had enjoyed at Cornell, however, this job restricted her to one area of focus: psychology and psychiatry. Her only background in this subject? A single college class.
“It was very hard work, very stressful,” Sobel said. She remembered a conversation with her editor about a famous psychologist, Carl Rogers. “I looked at him with a raised eyebrow as if to say, ‘Who is that?’ He said: ‘Sometimes the depth of your ignorance staggers me.’”
Sobel was able to redeem herself by tackling a month-long assignment. She volunteered to live in a lab at Montefiore Hospital and write about her experience as a research subject. For twenty five days, the researchers maintained an environment with no sense of day, night, or time, analyzing how Sobel’s natural schedule adapted. Her weekly published articles captivated many readers and were even parodied in a satirical newspaper.
It was through journalism that Sobel eventually stumbled across the idea for her first book. In 1993, she was reporting on a symposium at Harvard about the invention of a means to determine longitude. The concept fascinated Sobel. It also piqued the attention of a publishing house editor who read her article and reached out soon after.
“He was thinking of starting a series of books about science for adults who would not identify themselves as being interested in science, which I thought was a brilliant idea,” Sobel said. This book would dive into a scientific instrument by recounting the centuries-long struggle to navigate the ocean and shed light on the little-known inventor of longitude, John Harrison.
Many people, including Sobel’s family, were skeptical of this project. It was a niche idea, the publishing house Walker & Company was small and family-owned, and her advance was less than the payment for a typical magazine article. But Sobel was not concerned about the book’s success or failure.
“ I was working on something that was so interesting to me, so satisfying, that I jumped out of bed in the morning to go to work. Very few people could say that, and that had value,”
Sobel said. “So it was my quirky little project, it was the family joke, and that was okay.”
In 1995, Walker & Companyl published Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time. Surprisingly, the book was wildly successful and became a best seller in the United States and internationally.
Sobel has since dedicated her life to pursuing several other “love projects.” She is most proud of Galileo’s Daughter, which reframes the “giant myth” about Galileo’s clash between science and religion. “I discovered he had two daughters who were nuns, and it just rocked me,” Sobel said. “What if he did everything he did as a believing Catholic?”
To answer this question, Sobel, though not Catholic herself, translated a collection of letters between Galileo and his daughter, Maria Celeste. She was especially interested in Maria Celeste’s life and the “tremendous inner conflict” of living in a convent while
her father was tried for heresy. Sobel concluded that the situation should instead be understood as a tension between science and authority – an insight that remains relevant today, she noted.
The process of writing Galileo’s Daughter also led Sobel to acknowledge her own biases.
“Having grown up Jewish in the Bronx, the thought of being in a convent enclosure was tantamount to life imprisonment. I thought, I am never going to be able to write this book with that attitude,” Sobel recognized. She decided to contact a modern monastery to learn more about their traditions and lifestyle. The mother abbess was “the most incredible and happiest person,” offering valuable insights that guided Sobel’s research.
Sobel experienced another awakening when writing The Glass Universe. This book spotlights the work of female astronomers at the Harvard College Observatory during the turn of the twentieth century.
“Those women were not only marginalized historically but also by me, to my chagrin,” Sobel said. “I kept being surprised by what they had achieved, and that much surprise was really troubling. Some of the women astronomers who were reading the book as technical experts had the same kind of reaction. It was stunning for all of us. So that’s what made me want to tell more stories about women in science.”
Her editor suggested a biography of Marie Curie. Sobel initially rejected the idea; Curie was already famous and well-recognized. “I don’t have anything new to say about her,” she remembered thinking. “And then I found out about the other women.”
In her most recent book, The Elements of Marie Curie, Sobel uses the narrative of Marie Curie’s life to highlight the forty five other female scientists who worked in the same lab. Many of them made their own significant scientific contributions, such as Marguerite Perey, who discovered the element francium.
Marie Curie had been a mentor to these women, and in turn, Sobel recognized several of her own teachers in the book’s acknowledgements. Three are from Bronx Science: Mary Schwager, Joseph Cherry, and Jacob Luria. Sobel valued how these teachers gave her a strong foundation in French, chemistry, and English, knowledge that remained relevant while researching and writing this book decades later.
Bronx Science has also long appreciated Sobel, inviting her to speak at the class of 2012 commencement ceremony. Sobel was happy to notice that the student body had diversified in terms of race and gender since her own time as a student.
“We were told at the entrance exam that boys would be admitted preferentially over girls in a ratio of 3 or 4 to 1, and everybody thought that was perfectly normal,” Sobel remembered. The demographics have shifted drastically since then, but “certain things hold constant” and the school spirit remains.
Sobel is an inspiration to current Bronx Science students as well as her wide readership spanning the globe. As an author, journalist, and editor of the Scientific American poetry column, she communicates complex ideas through a variety of mediums to people of all ages and backgrounds. In May 2025, the Planetary Society honored Sobel’s life work with the Cosmos Award for Outstanding Public Presentation of Science. The Cosmos Award is granted in memory of Carl Sagan to those who continue his legacy of making science engaging and accessible.
Sobel felt as if her life had come full circle, as it was Sagan who had initially encouraged her career in science writing. While she is only the sixth person to receive the Cosmos Award, she is the second Bronx Science alum, joining Neil deGrasse Tyson ’76.
Sobel identified passion and outreach as key motivators in her career. “Aside from the fact that I love what I do, I think people would feel better about science if it was not cordoned off the way it is.” She recalled fanmail from readers who had never previously been interested in science until understanding it through a storyline.
Sobel also appreciates how science writing draws power from blending STEM and the humanities, something that many people instinctively treat like water and oil. “John Harrison was a musician, Galileo wrote magnificent prose and poetry, and Madame Curie was very widely read,” Sobel pointed out. “We shouldn’t have to be sorted that way.”
Beyond her talent and hard work, however, Sobel credits her success to serendipity. “Chance things can have a tremendous effect on your later life,” she reflected, remembering past opportunities and connections and “all that fantastic good luck” that propelled her achievements. Some things fall into place through fate, she suggested, like a shooting star. Like an asteroid.
ARTICLE BY ALLEGRA MARK ’27
From Nobel Prize winners to inventors and scientists, Bronx Science is renowned for its distinguished alumni in STEM fields. But the Bronx Science experience prepares students for success across diverse interests and professional fields. This applies to the arts as well; Bronx Science fosters in students curiosity, creativity and tenacity, alongside opportunities to perform and delve into artistic pursuits which wellposition them to flourish after high school..
Such career paths include two-time Grammy Award winner, singer-songwriter, and actor Bobby Darin ’53, who made his artistic dreams a reality at a young age.
Darin was born Walden Robert Cassotto in East Harlem. His early years were marked by serious health problems; he suffered from rheumatic fever as a child, which permanently weakened his heart. Doctors told his family that he might not live past the age of sixteen. Rather than allowing this grim prediction to limit him, Darin used it as motivation to live ambitiously, determined to make a lasting impact in a short amount of time.
In his youth, Darin was constantly surrounded by the music of renowned big jazz bands and celebrated singers, making music a central and influential part of his family life. His early passion for music was further developed during his time at Bronx Science, where he learned to play multiple instruments, including the guitar, drums, and piano. In the 1950s, he began writing songs and performing in New York clubs. His big break came in 1958 with the infectious hit “Splish Splash,” which he co-wrote with radio DJ Murray Kaufman. The idea for the title came from a phone call Kaufman received from his mother, a frustrated songwriter who suggested the playful phrase that inspired the lyrics. The song became an instant hit, selling over a million copies and launching Darin into stardom.
He was determined to be a true entertainer, not just a passing fad. In 1959, he recorded “Mack the Knife,” a jazzy, swinging adaptation of a song from The Threepenny Opera. The single became his signature hit, topping the charts for nine weeks and earning him two Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year. With his sophisticated style, sharp suits, and charismatic delivery, Darin joined the ranks of America’s top performers almost overnight.
Despite his glamorous public image, Darin’s health remained fragile throughout his life. By the late 1960s, he began exploring new musical directions, embracing folk and protest music in response to the changing cultural landscape. He sought to express deeper messages through his art, showing a more introspective side of his personality.
Darin died on December 20, 1973, at the age of 37, following heart surgery. Though his life was short, his career was remarkably full. In just two decades, he recorded dozens of hits, dazzled audiences with live performances, and proved himself to be a gifted actor. His adaptability made him a rare kind of star. In 2010, Darin won the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a special Grammy Award that awards performers making a meaningful contribution to the music industry, even after their death.
The Broadway show “Just In Time” made its debut in April 2025. It tells Darin’s life story, with Jonathan Groff playing Darin in a vibrant, immersive nightclub setting. Directed by Alex Timbers the show features many of Darin’s most famed songs including “Beyond the Sea,” “Mack the Knife,” “Splish Splash,” and “Dream Lover.” While some critics believe that the musical doesn’t delve deep enough into the complexities of Darin’s life, such as his medical conditions and relationship troubles, many viewers agree that the performative aspect of his life is beautifully shown through the musical, displaying his ambition to make a big break in the music industry. Which is exactly what he did.
In July 2025, 20 Bronx Science students attended Just in Time as part of the Summer Arts Institute. “Jonathan Groff’s performance alone makes it worth seeing. He brings Bobby Darin’s charm and complexity to life,” observed Nicole Scotto, who led the Arts Institute. She added,
“The highlight was definitely when Jonathan Groff mentioned [Darin] graduating from Bronx Science. A bunch of our students clapped at the mention and it made all of us feel really special to be a part of the Bronx Science community.”
Despite a relatively short life, Darin left a lasting mark on American music by blending pop, jazz, and rock in a way that appealed to multiple generations. His smooth vocals and dynamic stage presence helped define the sound of the late 1950s and early 1960s, inspiring countless artists who followed. Beyond his hit songs, his fearless approach to performance cemented his legacy as one of the most influential entertainers of his era.
ARTICLE BY SARITA SATYANARAYANA ’27
At the heart of cutting-edge technology and transformative research projects is Bronx Science’s very own The Stanley Manne '52 Research Institute™, where scientific minds pursue their unbounded potential. The Institute boasts state-ofthe-art experimental instruments and laboratory equipment, making it the prime space to cultivate valuable skills and familiarize students with research-driven education. Here, two types of primary research programs are hosted: after school programs and summer programs.
The chief goal of the after school program is simple: to train students in as many research techniques as possible. A set curriculum guides students through a science-based course, allowing them to gain proficiency in the areas they wish to pursue. Students conduct pre-designed experiments that acquaint them with experimental conduct and methods.
After going through the after school program, many can choose to extend their work into the summer. This program is geared towards the students that have completed the skills-based curriculum and
want to conduct independent studies. The summer program is very intensive –it runs five days a week for six weeks –but the independence it grants is highly rewarding. These research programs help students gain confidence in the labs and immerse themselves in handson investigations.
Dr. Aaron Schwartz advising student researchers
Dr. Aaron Schwartz, the Bronx Science Foundation’s Research Fellow at the Manne Institute, plays a critical role in the success of the project. He oversees and coordinates the summer and after-school programs. Dr.
Schwartz is responsible for developing the rigorous curriculum that guides the students’ projects in the lab. Here, he brings in new research models that open various pipelines that students can choose to undertake at the Manne Institute. The Institute grows increasingly expansive each year, embracing a young cohort of students from Bronx Science and partner schools to engage in their revolutionary science facility. “It’s truly fulfilling. I see students who are a little timid in the beginning, but they start to gain confidence in the lab. Witnessing them catch this science bug is incredible,” says Dr. Schwartz.
In the school year lab skills group, students learn and apply different techniques with lab partners to conduct experiments. For Annalise Zhang ’28, the program sparked her interest in scientific investigations.
confidence in the lab and meticulous research serves as the epitome of the type of scientists the Manne Institute aims to produce.
At the Institute, Annalise and her partner conducted an experiment investigating the effect of different sugars on the growth of Kombucha bacteria. Kombucha – a brewed tea primarily composed of bacteria and yeast – uses sugar as its main food source. They applied fructose, glucose, and sucrose to the Kombucha and recorded the pH and optical density at 600 nanometers (OD600) biweekly to determine the growth. She and her partner found that sucrose spurred the greatest growth of the Kombucha bacteria. The experiment helped her “develop collaboration skills with other student researchers,” states Annalise. Her growing
Those that are extremely dedicated to their scientific investigations often attend the Institute during the summer. Coye Chen ’26, a year-long student, is an exemplary figure at the research program. She joined Manne in her sophomore year, but had initial apprehensions about taking the research class. “I had doubts about whether I would enjoy the research since I was just reading papers and doing statistical analysis. After joining the Institute, I was having so much fun doing hands-on work in a wet lab. It was a truly meaningful opportunity for me,” remarks Coye.
Last summer, Chen delved into the world of C. elegans, a trademark experiment for those working under Dr. Schwartz. She aimed to research the effect of ethidium bromide on C. elegans’ reproduction. Using an assay to observe the number
of eggs laid, Chen concluded that the chemical inhibits reproduction. This summer, she took these findings a step further. She extended her experiment to investigate the effect of different food sources on C. elegans' reproduction. She fed the worms different bacterial strains and quantified their proficiency in reproducing. Remarkably, both of these experiments were conducted on her own. Dr. Schwartz sees this as a primary aspect of the Manne Institute – “one of the coolest things about the Manne Institute is that we give our students a lot of ownership over their projects.”
C. elegans’ few neurons and similar nervous system to humans make them prime organisms to observe. Thus, they can provide useful applications to myriad scientific studies. For American Studies student Neha Pal ’27, these organisms even had the potential to make headway in understanding the relationship between human behavior and microplastics –one of the most ubiquitous pollutants in our atmosphere.
Conducting a year-round experiment, Neha first tested the effects of fluorescent microplastic beads on the neurological
behavior of C. elegans in five generations of the worms. However, she found a negligible difference in the worms’ behavior between the experimental and control groups. Her findings nullified her hypothesis, which spurred further research: if there was an insignificant difference between the behaviors of the two groups, what was happening on a biological level within those worms?
Neha conducted an epifluorescent microscopy assay to find the location of the microplastic beads within the wild-type C. elegans. Using imaging techniques from a convofocal microscope, one of the many tools at hand at the Manne Institute, she observed that the microplastics were building up in the worms’ digestive tract, mouth, pharynx, and other parts of the body. Over the summer, Neha repeated the epifluorescent microscopy assay with C. elegans that have genetic variations marking different
parts of the worms. Different strains of the C. elegans had alleles that coded for different fluorescent proteins. Using a confocal microscope, Neha observed the activity of the fluorescent proteins to derive locations of the beads in the worms. Her results showed microplastics accumulating in the intestinal cells and lumen, but it was not confirmed that the microplastics accumulated in the embryos, demonstrating uncertainty about the transgenerational effects of the beads. She was able to conclude that C. elegans ingest E.coli first, then the microplastics, despite them both being the same size. Neha’s curiosity to extend her experiments to other scientific fields allowed her to advance her proficiency in the lab and build critical skills needed to conduct nuanced investigations.
Saad Afeef ’26 found his participation in the school year research group played a pivotal role in helping him find his passion. “Working at the Manne Institute completely changed the way I approached science, biology, and even my career. Prior to Manne, I had a loathing for science due to how difficult the classes were for me. The Institute’s hands-on aspect let me truly go into the crux of biology and chemistry. It was my experience at Manne that inspired me to instead pursue bioengineering and join a lab similar to Manne at Queens College.”
Using a new model system called Planarian, Saad investigated how algal blooms influence Planarian behavior, specifically light sensitivity and motility. Planarians are small flatworms with remarkable regenerative abilities, making them ideal subjects for his project. Saad stimulated eutrophication (the process of increasing nutrient uptake, which causes excessive algal blooms and plant growth) into a group of Planaria and added algae and potassium phosphate to their environments. To test light sensitivity, he shined a UV light over the Planaria dish and used a spectrophotometer to measure the absorbance of light at different frequencies. To quantify motility, he simply counted how many times the organisms moved across a small box. Saad concluded that planaria in environments containing the potassium phosphate exhibited a significant decrease in motility.
For Saad and many others, this research project was enabled by the unique scientific and technological forum that the Manne Institute provides. “The lab possesses a lot of advanced equipment that you wouldn't even find in labs at some colleges in the city. The Manne staff were extremely helpful, answering a lot of my questions and helping me to better design and execute my project. It is truly hands-on.”
ARTICLE BY GWYNETH MAHASE ’26
Summer Institutes offer students a unique, free opportunity to explore a variety of academic and professional interests, meet with industry leaders, broaden their skill set and experience firsthand diverse working environments. These programs help students build familiarity and confidence with professional settings, writing, dress and conduct.
Last summer, our students participated in twelve Summer Institutes. These robust programs were only made possible thanks to the alumni volunteers who generously donated their time, expertise, professional connections and office space. We are deeply grateful to all those who played a role in making these fulfilling programs happen for our students.
In 2025, two cohorts of Arts Institute students were immersed in profound cultural experiences at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Neue Galerie, the Morgan Library & Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, the Drawing Center, Storm King, and the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia. They also enjoyed musicals such as The Great Gatsby, Operation Mincemeat, Just in Time (see pages 9–11), and Cabaret.
The Entrepreneurship Institute prepares students for careers in innovation and entrepreneurship. Students have the chance to be entrepreneurs themselves and create a business project for which they can win prize money. Last summer, students visited companies including Google, Uber, Microsoft, Cisco, AWS and DoorDash. They also traveled to Boston and Cambridge where they toured MIT with alumni, visited LabCentral, a premiere biotech lab, and the office of Toast, and networked with alumni in the region.
The Finance Institute enables students to explore many aspects of the finance industry, from investment banking and asset management to corporate finance and financial technology. Last summer, students visited Baron Capital Group, Summit Rock Advisors, PwC, the Federal Reserve of New York, IBM, Nuveen, Energy Capital Partners, and Blue Owl.
The Brunner Awards are financial stipends awarded to students to pursue a project or experience that furthers their intellectual growth. The Awards were conceived by alumnus Charles (Calvin) Brunner ’56 and allow students’ aspirations to become a reality despite possible financial barriers. Around twenty students per year are awarded. One
This institute exposes students to a variety of roles within the legal, legislative and public service sectors. Students met with the legal team at Port Authority of LaGuardia Airport, attended a sentencing at US District Court, and toured the law firms Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thatcher. The group also traveled to DC where they toured the Capitol and many museums, met with Senator Schumer's Head of Staff, visited various think tanks, had breakfast with President Bill Clinton’s former chief speechwriter and attended an alumni networking reception dinner. Madeleine Luo ’27 said, “The D.C. trip was inspirational. It was amazing to experience the inner workings of the government.”
The Media and Entertainment Institute exposes students to careers in media, journalism, entertainment, communications, marketing and more. In 2025, students made engaging site visits to NY1 News, The New York Times, Tik Tok, CNBC, A&E Media, the New York Mets, the Paley Center for the Media and Allison Worldwide.
Through the Medicine and Public Health Institute, students learn from industry leaders in healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotech and public health. Last summer students had incredible experiences visiting Regeneron, The Commonwealth Fund, Schrodinger, NYC Health and Hospitals, West End Labs, Fordham University and Montefiore Hospital.
such student, Livia Basche ’27, was able to participate in Brown University’s ‘Hands-On Medicine’ course over the summer. “It was fantastic. I’m really grateful for being able to take the initiative and choose my own project,” she said. “It helped me learn about myself and my future career.” Many students agree that the Brunner Awards result in engaging and enlightening experiences which exemplify our motto of ‘inquire, discover, create.’
included the Writing New York Institute (including the Writing Retreat program), Artificial Intelligence Institute, the Programming Academy, the Robotics Institute and the Research Institutes (see page 12 for more details on summer and school-year research programs at the Stanley Manne '52 Research Institute™.)
BY COOPER HALPERN ’27
When Scott Perry ’78 attended Bronx Science, the Internet, much less artificial intelligence, was yet to be officially created. Sitting in Mr. Walsh’s Physics class talking baseball with Michael Kay ’78, Perry would not have suspected that nearly 50 years later he would be a leader in the field of building and governing global Internet standards to strengthen trust in a new era dominated by AI. As the founder and CEO of the Digital Governance Institute, Perry is an architect of technological frameworks, working to reshape how people interact online.
As long as he could remember, Perry knew he wanted to attend Bronx Science. His father and older brother also attended the school, and he recalled their unmistakable school pride as contagious. Perry’s Bronx Science experience was transformative, clarifying the value of a strong public education — a pursuit he would follow when he matriculated to the University of Albany.
At Albany, he received a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems in 1982, landing him in his first job as a Programmer for IBM in Minneapolis. He then became a System Engineer, launching him into the realm of computer technology.
A few years later, Perry left his post at IBM and returned to New York, positioned to take over his father’s accounting practice. It was back in New York where Perry met his wife Joan, and together they decided to start a family in her hometown, Seattle. After a decade in both computer technology and accounting, Perry leveraged his unique resume and skillset for the emerging profession of technology auditing.
During the dawn of the public internet in the early ’90s, Perry first served as a manager for Deloitte, heading a specialty e-commerce security consultancy. Then the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act – a federal law enforcing technology controls over financial reporting systems of public companies – launched the growth of Technology Auditor as a generally accepted profession with Perry as a regional leader.
Nearly a decade later, Perry decided to form his own specialty CPA firm, focusing his practice on Internet trust. Here Perry was a leader in cybersecurity assurance, working with large companies and government agencies to audit digital certification authorities and ultimately protecting identities and websites for Internet browsers, government entities and private contractors.
Today, AI is causing a digital identity crisis by creating digital objects which cannot be discerned from authentic ones. Perry is using his expertise in cryptography to address the issue. His personal, full-service consultancy, Digital Governance Institute, is creating digital frameworks to solve this issue in collaboration with companies and governments across the globe. He also works with initiatives such as the Trust over IP Foundation and Decentralized Identity Foundation. He creates standards for digital credentials, allowing people, businesses, and governments to verify identities, credentials, and data across digital systems.
Most recently, Perry has been a core member of the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA), where he helps build the global rules for proving whether digital media is authentic. When a digital object, such as a photo, is created, C2PA automatically and inextricably links a digital ledger called a Content Credential to the object. “This credential functions almost like a nutrition label; it forever verifies its authenticity,” Perry explains. C2PA has been adopted into the recent line of Google Pixel devices and Google Photos, NSA programs, and even state governments.
Our rapidly expanding digital world requires a new, trusted architecture, and it's been Scott Perry’s career objective to make that happen. He summed it by reflecting, “I’ve always been just that kid from the Bronx, trying to measure myself with all the overachievers from Bronx Science that have made a real difference in the world.”
“ AI is creating a new revolution. However, it can't operate without guardrails.”
BY COOPER HALPERN ’27
Coming from a large Dominican family, Rodrigo Duluc ’15 was the first in his family to traverse the complexities of the American education system. He recalled his parents emphasizing the importance of a strong education as they visited more high schools than he could count. While he does not remember most of the schools he toured, he remembers his first time stepping through Bronx Science’s big green doors and taking in the place that would forever be ingrained in his soul. He was struck by the quality, both of the students and the teachers, and soon set his sights on the school. He reflected, “I feel that everyone has a couple of inflection points in their life where their life really changes. Choosing Bronx Science is one of the best decisions I have ever made; I wouldn't be where I am without it.”
While at Bronx Science, Duluc was a renaissance man, the embodiment of the holistic education which he received. He was both a dedicated scholar of the sciences, particularly engineering and coding, publishing his own application, and a competitive member of the speech and debate team, qualifying for the Tournament of Champions. Duluc’s true passion, however, was baseball; he played for and outside of Bronx Science as one of the top ranked players in the
state. He credits Bronx Science for providing the environment which allowed him to thrive in all facets.
“There was this whole supporting cast: my baseball team, debate coaches, my teachers, my friends. Each one was so instrumental without asking for anything in return.” Duluc continued, “I would describe my experience as one where I was leaving my comfort zone. In fact, I would say I couldn't have left it because I was never in it. I was never comfortable. I was always learning something new, pushing myself— my experience was phenomenal.“
After graduation, Duluc headed to Rice University, a school renowned for both its academics and its baseball. Admitted on a merit-based academic scholarship, he remembers visiting Rice as a high school senior and being offered a spot on the
NCAA Division I baseball team. Duluc recalled, “When we left the stadium, I just hugged my dad and started crying. He was crying in my arms, and I was crying in his. It was such a special opportunity to be able to pursue this sport at the next level, aside from the fact that Rice is a top 25 ranked program.” There, he discovered his affinity for economics and finance, an interest which would earn him a full merit scholarship to receive a master’s degree from the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University.
Duluc then stayed in Houston working as an analyst for J.P. Morgan on their energy investment banking team. He then returned to New York and join Nuveen to help build their energy infrastructure credit team, a team which provides private infrastructure credit solutions to companies in support of the growing demand for energy and power. As the second employee and the first associate on the team, Duluc has been at the forefront of the process of raising and deploying billions in capital. He stated, “We're continuing to grow, invest, fundraise, and hire. It's a really special experience; I'm getting to witness firsthand what it's like to build a business.”
Though a young alumnus, Duluc has gone great lengths to give back to Bronx Science and enrich the student experience that he valued immeasurably. This past summer, Duluc hosted the Bronx Science Finance Institute, spending countless hours planning and programming an unforgettable experience for students interested in this field. Duluc developed an unparalleled program, hosting speakers such as portfolio managers, managing directors, and even the CFO of Nuveen. Further, he enlisted part of his investment team to the institute to help educate the students on private credit investment analysis, an experience that few are able to enjoy at such an age.
“The kids were coming up to me, constantly thanking me, shaking my hand,” Duluc recalled. “It was incredible. I felt like I had just started to pay my debts to all the people who had helped me at that moment. That was the feeling I've been searching for and the feeling I will continue to strive for as I know my work has just begun.”
Mark Gottdiener ’60, Professor Emeritus at SUNY Buffalo, recently published Urbanism in the Digital Age. His new book builds on his extensive work in urban theory, addressing today’s challenges, including affordable housing, inequality, and climate change, and draws on international solutions. Gottdiener’s work has been cited over 13,000 times.
Maya Goldberg ’17 is pursuing a PhD in clinical psychology at Adelphi University and conducting research on young adult well-being post-pandemic. Her online study explores how the pandemic affected romantic relationships and emotional resilience in young adults ages 18–26. Learn more and participate in the survey here.
After a long career in software engineering and networking, Daniel Senie ’79 now performs across the country with his wife, Faith, as the folk duo Dan & Faith. Touring in their camper van, they share original songs inspired by the storytelling style of the late 1960s and early ’70s. Their latest album, Who We Are, has earned acclaim in North America, the UK, and Australia. Learn more at danandfaith.com, including links to hear their albums.
As the COO of Sama Fertility, Sudha (Priya) Haran ’09 has helped launch SimpleIVF and SimpleFreezing, new programs offering affordable, at-home fertility care. Sama Fertility recently announced their successful seed funding round to make IVF and egg freezing more accessible through transparent pricing and simplified treatment.
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We are saddened to share news that the following Bronx Science alumni have passed away. Our thoughts are with their friends and loved ones.
Jesse Farber ’45
Daniel Leo Gereb ’47
Jack Speyer ’48
Henry Brodie ’49
Herbert Kroner ’49
Rev. Fr. Constantine Eliades '50
Judy (Bein) Lesser '50
Arthur Lipper III ’50
Leo Stolbach ’50
Michael Kashgarian ’51
Edith Schwartz Kimmel ’53
Allen Goldman ’54
Edward Aqua ’55
Stephen Koppelman ’55
Fred Rosen ’56
Ralph Levine ’58
Drew Wollman ’58
Richard Alba '59
Cal Cohn '59
Lee Haber '59
David Greene ’59
David Price ’59
Peter D. Lowitt ’60
Howard N. Machtinger ’62
Florence Ledwitz Rigby ’62
Richard Mandel ’62
Ted Getzel ’64
Paul Beckerman ’65
Steven Rosenthal ’66
Robert Slayton ’69
Mitchel Turbin ’69
Larry Ticker ’74
Jon Silvestri '75
Leonard Pinsker ’80
Kery Murakami ’84