ALUMNI MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS HONOR
GRADUATION SPEAKER ANDREW LO , 77 INSPIRE
08 CLASS OF 2025 VALEDICTORIAN & SALUTATORIAN
22 PLANNED GIVING: ESTATE OF MAURICE EISENSTADT ,48
WELCOME
Dear Fellow Alumni,
This June, we welcomed nearly 3,000 alumni during Alumni Reunion Weekend. In conversation after conversation, one thing in particular that stood out was how for so many of us, Bronx Science was where we experienced many things for the first time. Perhaps it was the first time you traveled overnight without your family or tried a new cuisine at the home of a friend or led a group of peers for the first time.
At the Foundation, we work to ensure our students have all the opportunities they need for these “first” experiences - big or small. Our Arts Initiative brings hundreds of students to visit museums, Broadway shows, ballet, opera and more. Over half of the students are going to their very first performance. We recently took students to Albany to learn more about how state government works - almost none of our students had ever been (and neither had some of our faculty on the trip). Our Summer Institutes bring students to tour and learn from top companies and organizations.
We know our students have the whole world ahead of them, we simply want to show them all the things that are possible so they can achieve the biggest dreams.
If you have not yet, please consider volunteering at a future Bronx Science program as one of your “firsts”. Hope everyone has a terrific summer and please come visit us at the next Bronx Science event!
Best,
Eleanor L. Coufos ̓99
BRONX SCIENCE
FOUNDATION UPDATE
At the start of 2025, the Bronx Science Foundation recruited a group of outstanding student leaders to join us in a series of participatory budgeting sessions. We asked: where should our dollars go to improve the Bronx Science experience? What programs, equipment or facilities would make a difference? And how can alumni play a tangible role in making Bronx Science even better for future students? Unsurprisingly, our students had terrific ideas. With their thoughtful feedback, we’ve identified a handful of projects that will make a significant difference in the student experience now and in the future. Those short-term priorities include: Career Ambassador Lunch Series: We will identify alumni career ambassadors across a variety of industries to speak to students about their industries and professional journeys at monthly luncheons.
Musical Instruments:
Over 200 Bronx Science students play in our orchestra or jazz, concert or beginner band, and many rely on playing instruments from the school, as it can be cost prohibitive to purchase their own. We sorely need new drums, guitars and brass instruments for these student musicians!
Student Leadership Conference: Bronx Science boasts well over 100 clubs and teams, and students are often thrust into leadership roles in these extracurriculars without any training. We plan to host an annual off-site leadership conference to train students in skills that will benefit them in these roles - and well into the future.
Local Buses for Athletic Competitions
Student Business Center: Our busy students often need to print various documents for classes and extracurricular activities - but the demand vastly exceeds our current printing set up. Students would like to establish a business center with fast, high quality, color printers in the cafeteria to meet student needs.
: Bronx Science student athletes are frequently pushed to miss classes to allow enough time for travel by MTA for their games in Queens, Brooklyn and even Staten Island. Buses for certain games would dramatically shorten the travel time for our students and increase their valuable time in the classroom.
This short-term student wish list costs a total of $235,000, and we can only make it a reality for today’s students with the help of alumni! We hope that all alumni will consider making a contribution before the fiscal year ends on June 30, 2025 to enable the Foundation to implement these projects and more for the 2025-2026 academic year.
We also asked our students to dream big and brainstorm with us about the next major advancements needed at Bronx Science. Two key projects stood out from this conversation:
Reimagining the Bronx Science Courtyard: After over 65 years, it’s time to re-envision the courtyard to make it a true extension of the school. A professional redesign and complete overhaul of the courtyard will include fresh surfaces and landscaping, more shade, designated areas for sports and expanded and comfortable seating and tables.
Student Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Manne Research Institute has provided much-needed additional lab space for student research – and opened our community’s eyes to the way in which bigger, updated facilities can transform our core programs. We now want to expand Bronx Science’s physical campus by building a space dedicated to robotics, AI and machine learning as well as a studentalumni entrepreneurship hub.
Major donors, such as those in the Atomic 100, will pave the way to making these big dream items happen for the Bronx Science community. Atomic 100 members make leadership gifts or multi-year pledges of $100,000 or more to the Foundation and are recognized with a personalized element on the Periodic Table of Donors hung prominently at school. To join this prestigious giving society or discuss how you may play a leadership role in bringing these capital projects to life, contact the Foundation office at 718.817.7800 or foundation@bxscience.edu.
As the school year comes to a close, we are so grateful to all those alumni who have helped keep Bronx Science strong through their gifts of time, talent and treasure. Whatever role you choose to play, thank you for being a part of the continued success story of our school!
GRADUATION SPEAKER ANDREW LO ,77
ARTICLE BY ANNA KOONTZ ’25
When Andrew Lo ’77 first entered Bronx Science, he was a young student who mixed up formulas and struggled to memorize his time tables. Now, he is returning as an esteemed economist, a professor of finance at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the keynote speaker for Bronx Science’s 97th Commencement Ceremony.
The graduation will take place on June 26th, 2025 at the historic United Palace Theater in Washington Heights, Manhattan.
751 graduating seniors will join faculty, family, and friends to celebrate the Class of 2025.
Before the graduates walk across the stage adorned with caps and gowns, Lo hopes to inspire them with a message about his own journey through high school and beyond.
“It’s just an incredible honor that I never expected,” Lo said. “Bronx Science may
have been the most influential force in my life that brought me toward where I am today, and I’m thrilled to be back.”
High school was a period of growth and self-confidence for Lo, after feeling like “a bit of a black sheep” throughout his childhood. As his family moved from Hong Kong to Taiwan to New York, Lo grew up in the shadow of two older siblings, both of whom excelled in mathematics while he received low marks. Lo felt pressured by the assumption that intelligence and success were synonymous with aptitude in STEM. No one recognized that Lo’s frustrations stemmed from a learning disability called dyscalculia, the numerical equivalent of dyslexia. However, Lo’s time at Bronx Science provided the perfect learning environment for him to discover his
strengths in mathematics and steer him towards his current career.
When Lo attended high school in the 1970s, Bronx Science had adapted its curriculum to reflect the increasingly popular “New Math” movement. This educational reform emphasized abstract concepts over memorization, replacing traditional requirements such as algebra, geometry, and trigonometry with groups, rings, fields, and isometries. For the majority of students, “New Math” was a confusing failure. For Lo, it was just what he needed.
“I could understand the concepts. So I went from being a C student in math to an A student pretty much overnight, which was a big shocker for me,” Lo said. He fondly remembers Ms. Henrietta Mazon’s senior year Calculus class, which taught him more than some of his college courses would later on.
Lo enjoyed a variety of other high school classes, such as a specialized physics course where he secured a ham radio license and several lifelong friends. He also dedicated much of his time to research. Lo’s biology experiment was a finalist in the Westinghouse Science Talent Search (now known as the Regeneron Science Talent Search). He won first place in the New York City Science Fair for creating an early form of Artificial Intelligence, allowing him to play Monopoly against a computer whenever his siblings excluded him from their games.
“I found all of the teachers to be amazing, but even more importantly, I found the students to be phenomenal,” Lo said when recalling his years at Bronx Science.
“Having classmates that were so smart and so keen to learn pushed me to areas that I never would have gone by myself.”
Lo next attended Yale University, where an economics class, originally taken to fulfill his social science requirement, inspired him to pursue a degree in the subject. He was fascinated by the idea of using mathematics in order to predict human behavior. The concept felt surreal and reminded him of his favorite science fiction series as a high schooler, the Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov.
Lo also continued to learn invaluable lessons from his fellow classmates. One friend, a history major and president of the Yale Political Union, needed Lo’s help to study for a required math course. “It was so funny. He was hopeless with precalculus, and yet when you talked to him about any issue under the sun, he could out-debate you,” Lo said. “Yale was the very first time where I actually met people that I thought were incredibly smart but could not do math or science, and it shocked me.”
Thanks to his many Advanced Placement credits from Bronx Science, Lo graduated college a year early. He next attended Harvard University to earn his PhD, then moved to the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to become an Assistant Professor.
Lo used his new role to further his passion for research. He studied a broad range of fields, including psychology, behavioral finance, and neuroscience. Through his studies, he finally discovered the name for the learning disability that had shaped his experience with math.
Now, as a Professor of Finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lo often reflects back and shares this journey with others.
“When I tell students my own story, they get inspired and share with me their experiences.
I’ve actually met many people who have had both dyslexia and dyscalculia and have struggled in the ways that I did. I’ve been really fortunate to identify some of these students, taking them on and mentoring them, and they’ve been some of my most successful students.”
Looking back on his career of over forty years, Lo is most proud not of his own achievements, but of his students’ accomplishments.
“Professionally, having a student is very much like personally having a child,” Lo compared. He expressed his deep gratitude for the
opportunity to teach and mentor a new generation of researchers, just as he feels privileged to have raised two children of his own.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Lo founded a quantitative investment management company called AlphaSimplex Group, and he has continued conducting research. His adaptive markets theory – “how psychology and economics and neuroscience and evolutionary biology all come together” – has garnered international attention and earned him a spot on Time magazine’s “100 most influential people in the world” list.
More recently, however, Lo takes pride in his contributions towards the biotechnology company BridgeBio Pharma. In 2015, he published a paper explaining how it would be less financially risky to establish a business that developed multiple drugs at the same time. A former student, Neil Kumar, read the paper and was intrigued. Over the next six months, Lo and Kumar expanded on the original research and ran around thirty-five additional simulations.
“At the end of that process, Kumar came into my office and said, ‘I just want to let you know I quit my job yesterday. I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna build this new company,’” Lo said, smiling and shaking his head. “That scared the hell out of me. I’ve never had that effect on anybody before in my life.”
Lo introduced Kumar to investors and helped launch the company, becoming a co-founder. BridgeBio Pharma quickly grew, and the company now has three approved drugs with several others in the pipeline. One drug currently in clinical trials treats a genetic neurological disorder called Canavan disease. Affected children experience developmental delays and regression, and usually do not live past the age of ten.
Last year, Lo had the privilege of meeting a father and his young daughter, “patient number 3” in the clinical trial. They convened at a coffee shop. Holding hands, the father and daughter walked up the stairs together to the store’s upper level.
“She would have been paralyzed by the time I met her, if it hadn’t been for this drug. And she was walking and playing,” Lo said. “It was a very, very emotional experience for me. It was the highlight of my professional career – to see something in theory put into practice and actually affect another person’s life.”
Lo’s numerous achievements in STEM are a reflection of his intelligence and success, fulfilling his childhood assumptions. But Lo has since learned that STEM is not the only path to greatness. Success can mean excelling in the humanities.
Success can mean walking up the stairs against all biological odds. Success can come in all shapes and sizes.
No matter what “success” looks like to the Bronx Science Class of 2025, Lo hopes that all alumni are able to stay grounded in Bronx Science’s invaluable and formative community. It was this community that nurtured his intellectual curiosity, boosted his confidence in math, and propelled his career. Lo continues to appreciate these influences today.
“I now see how special a place Bronx Science is, for all sorts of reasons such as the dedication of the teachers and the quality of the students,” Lo said.
“But I think the one thing that explains the value that I got from Bronx Science was the camaraderie of the students, who are drawn from all the boroughs of New York without regard to race, religion, or economic stature. The only thing that mattered was their academic pursuits and their quality of mind.”
He paused, briefly, perhaps transported back to high school memories. “It is something to be celebrated.”
Andrew Lo in Mrs Mazen's BC Calculus Class
CLASS OF 2025 VALEDICTORIAN AND SALUTATORIAN
ARTICLE BY DARA KING ’25
As the Class of 2025 prepares to graduate, students look back on their hard work, the community they’ve become a part of, and the interests they’ve developed to prepare for their future beyond high school. Two seniors in particular, Mary Loukaitis ’25 and Sebastian Merkatz ’25, are getting ready to share these reflective sentiments with their peers at graduation, as they have been named Valedictorian and Salutatorian, respectively. Speaking about the nomination, Merkatz said, “I’m deeply honored and so grateful. I love Bronx Science, and I’m so happy to have received this award. It was not something that I was expecting, and I think it’s a reflection of the work that I’ve put into this school and into my work. So I’m so thankful for it.” Loukaitis said, “I wasn't necessarily expecting it. I was just trying to get high grades, and when I found out recently, it was quite surprising.”
Over the course of four years at Bronx Science, Loukaitis earned a GPA of 99.104 and Merkatz earned a GPA of 98.7549. Taking challenging and introspective courses such as Post-AP Genetics and Holocaust Leadership, the two faced academic challenges true to the Bronx Science experience. Despite this, their teachers’ dedication and the resources offered by the school helped them to succeed.
“Linear algebra, taught by Mr. James Perna, is definitely the hardest class that I've ever taken, and it’s encouraged me to take advantage of all the resources that are offered to me,” Merkatz said. “Whether that was attending Small Group Instruction to ask questions or through watching videos that Mr. Perna provided as part
Valedictorian Mary Loukaitis ’25 and Salutatorian Sebastian Merkatz ’25
of the homework to really solidify my understanding, I have found Mr. Perna to have been incredibly helpful.”
Loukaitis agreed with Merkatz on the abundance of resources at Bronx Science, and in her experience, the help of a teacher gave her all of the resources that she needed for success. Referring to her time at the Manne Institute under the guidance of Dr. Tracy LaGrassa, with whom Loukaitis worked for the past three years, Loukaitis said, “I was trying to work with this procedure which had been published online, but the Manne Institute did not necessarily have all the materials at that time, so I had to improvise a bit. I was specifically trying to isolate embryos of C. Elegans; it was a really interesting experience, because I was able to observe the embryos divide under my improvised procedure,” Loukaitis said.
The wide array of unique classes offered at Bronx Science has been supplemented by teachers’ passion.
Merkatz, who took American Studies as a junior, believes that, “Ms. Salinda Lewis and Dr. Todd Davis really honed my writing skills and made the content so interesting and enjoyable. I found those paired classes so fascinating, and it was a really good interdisciplinary experience.”
Outside of the classroom, Loukaitis and Merkatz participated in a variety of activities centered on their interests. Loukaitis has taken part in work at the Manne Institute, Science Olympiad, and the NYU Center for Developmental Genetics, becoming a 2025 Regeneron Scholar. Loukaitis also enjoys creating art and she makes digital music. She combines original melodies from instruments “in order to create music that I can listen to when I work.”
Merkatz similarly appreciates artistic expression by DJing at events and parties, finding it a fun activity away from academics. Local politics are another of his interests; he has helped establish VOTE (Vote of Teens in Elections) in order to run voter registration drives in Bronx Science as well as eight other schools.
Merkatz interned for Shaun Abreu—a councilman of the 7th District of New York City—for two summers, where he was, “interacting with members of my neighborhood, picking up the phone, sending e-mails and hearing constituents’ complaints, and working with different city agencies and getting that first hand experience with public service, which was amazing.”
For Merkatz, volunteering also came in the form of working for and later Co-directing Science for Bronx, a free SHSAT tutoring
program run by Bronx Science students. This year, five of their students received offers to attend Bronx Science. When asked how best to get involved in the community, Merkatz said, “Think local, as there's a lot that can be done on a local level. People often have grand goals, which I think is great, but it's always good to start with something small, and I think grassroots efforts can always spiral into something bigger.”
They both agree on one thing, as Merkatz elaborated, “I’ve met people at Bronx Science from all walks of life, from all boroughs and from countless different neighborhoods, religions, and backgrounds. Meeting these people has expanded my worldview and has introduced me to practices that I would have otherwise not been exposed to.”
It is this community in the school that truly elevates and encourages every student to become their best selves. In such a fastpaced environment, it’s easy to lose faith in yourself after a misstep. Loukaitis advocated
that Bronx Science students should “stay motivated to not just develop the mindset that once you've scored a little lower on an exam or you got a grade that was lower than you wanted, to not just give up afterwards.” In addition, she stressed the importance of not overworking yourself to the point of exhaustion but concurrently finding personal meaning as motivation.
The two will carry these wise outlooks into college and continue to expand their knowledge in their majors and other interests. Loukaitis is heading to University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall of 2025, with an intended major in molecular biology while also concentrating more on her physics and chemistry courses.
Speaking about molecular biology, Loukaitis added, “I want to understand how living systems function. In high school and middle school biology courses, I received an overview of the characteristics of life but not necessarily how these characteristics arise or interact to produce what most of us consider alive.”
Merkatz will be attending Princeton University in the fall of 2025, intending to major in economics and minor in finance and applied mathematics. In the future, he also plans to become involved in government.
Mary Loukaitis and Sebastian Merkatz will deliver their speeches to the Class of 2025 at the Commencement Ceremony on June 26th, 2025.
Sebastian Merkatz ’25 running the Voter Registration Drive at Bronx Science
STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT HIGHLIGHTS THIS YEAR
ARTICLE BY LIZA GREENBERG 25
43 Bronx Science students were selected as national merit semifinalists for their exceptional performance on the Preliminary SAT.
NATIONAL MERIT RESEARCH CELEBRATION
Bronx Science hosted over 200 students in our annual research celebration, where students presented independent research projects they have developed over the course of the three-year research program.
This year, 12 students were named Regeneron Science Talent Search 2025 Scholars, the largest number of Scholars from one high school in the country.
In February, 53 Bronx Science students participated in the semifinal round of the NYC Metro Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) and two students advanced as National Delegates.
Of 32 Bronx Science students who won awards in the Terra New York City STEM Fair Finals Round, three were selected to represent New York City at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
Aissata Diallo ’25 and Sarah Lin ’25
Lisa Nikitina ’25 with her mentor, Dr. Elena Maryamchik, a researcher at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
ENGLISH SPEAKING UNION
Ruby Lahana ’27 won first place in the nationwide English Speaking Union’s 2025 ‘I AM Shakespeare’ Sonnet Writing Competition for her original composition, ‘Melancholic Notes’.
MOOT COURT
Student members of the performing arts group S!NG wrote, produced and directed an original musical, Medieval Madness.
The Bronx Science Moot Court team won the title of city champion for the first time in eight years. The team defeated Brooklyn Tech in presenting their case to three federal court judges and earned Moot Court their third championship.
Skylar Tom ’25
SPEECH & DEBATE
ROBOTICS
The Bronx Science Speech & Debate team had an outstanding season. At the Harvard National High School Invitational Forensics Tournament, students earned first place in Varsity Congressional debate and second place in Junior Varsity Public Forum debate. At the New York State Finals, Bronx Science placed second overall, with students placing first in Congressional debate and Lincoln-Douglas.
At the Tournament of Champions, the most prestigious debate tournament in the U.S., Bronx Science had two finalists and six semifinalists in Congressional Debate. Overall, Bronx Science had the most entries of any school for the fifth year in a row.
Robotics teams the Sciborgs and the FeMaidens competed at the FIRST NYC Regional in April, with the FeMaidens awarded the title of Regional Finalists and the SciBorgs receiving the Excellence in Engineering Award.
Eva Treinkman ’28, Vinnie Leem ’28 and Alice Malyukova ’28
Keir Horne ’26 and Jonah Bonin ’26
Angel Sumimoto ’25
MODEL UN TEAM
Amidala
SCIENCE OLYMPIAD
In January, the Science Olympiad team placed first at the NYC North Regionals Tournament, garnering a record-breaking 46 medals from individual competitors.
On May 18, the Model UN (MUN) team hosted their first middle school conference called SCIMUNC Junior.
Earlier in the spring, the team won best large delegation at the Global Citizens Model United Nations conference and won outstanding large delegation at the Columbia Model United Nations Conference.
Alma Arazi ’25,
Barta-Zilles ’25, Marisa Quigley ’26, Madalee Weissman ’25, Eliana Zaharopolous ’25 and Yyra Takat ’25 with New York State Assembly Member Inez Dickens
Emma Bell ’25, Amy Fineman ’25 and Eden Schachner ’25
Aidan Wong ’26
TRACK & FIELD
The Boys Cross Country team won the PSAL City Championship for the first time since 2019 after a stellar performance at the Suffern Invitational, Manhattan Invitational, and PSAL Borough Championships.
Ben Berman ’26, a member of the Varsity Cross Country, Indoor and Outdoor track teams, was named NY State Champion in the 3200 meter event, completing the near two mile run in nine minutes and five seconds.
Upperclassmen teammates on the Boys Cross Country team.
Kyle Lee ’26
Ben Berman ’26
Upperclassmen teammates on the Boys Cross Country team.
2025 MEISTER LECTURER: HOSEA SIU ,10
The Morris Meister Lectures, which celebrate the intellectual accomplishments of Bronx Science alumni, are held annually during Alumni Day and provide an opportunity to engage in intellectual discourse with fellow alumni.
ARTICLE BY ISABEL GOLDFARB ̓25
As this year’s Meister Lecturer, Professor Hosea Siu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology brought more than technical expertise in human-robot interaction. He shared a philosophy of learning grounded in struggle, adaptability, and a deep respect for the complexity of the human mind.
Siu’s academic career has been intentionally guided by interdisciplinarity and innovation. For him, true expertise lies not only in depth but in strategic breadth. “It can be very useful to be very good at one field and moderately good at one or two other things. Once you start intersecting, the number of people who are very knowledgeable goes down dramatically.” This belief in the value of intellectual cross-pollination shapes both his research and the advice he gives students today.
At the core of Siu’s work is the field of human-machine teaming, with a focus on how people and technology can interact more effectively. A pivotal moment in his career came when he began to rethink the typical engineering mindset. “There is always this notion that engineers want to build something super adaptable,” he explained. “But I’ve come to believe that the most adaptable is the human, not the
machine.” Instead of designing systems that eliminate challenge, Siu sees value in struggle itself. “Part of the learning is the struggle,” he said. “It can help people learn to do the task better.”
This approach also informs his teaching. Rather than minimizing difficulty, he encourages students to engage with it productively. His work recently expanded to teaching technology to high school students and displaced learners in Ukraine— underscoring his belief in the importance of access and empowerment.
Siu’s lecture centered on two themes: the democratization of technology and responsibility. “The future is a weird place. The present is a pretty weird place,” he noted. “There are a lot of things available to us now that can have a lot of impact… a whole bunch of code, large language models, etc.” While these tools offer remarkable opportunities for learning and innovation, Siu also recognized their potential misuse.
In a world increasingly shaped by rapid technological change, Siu believes the most important skill is the ability to adapt, reflect, and persist. His message is clear: meaningful learning is not about avoiding difficulty, but embracing it.
ALUMNI MEDAL OF HONOR:
JOE GIOVANNELLI ,74 & ROBERTA KOENIGSBERG ,75
ARTICLE BY COOPER HALPERN ̓27
At Alumni Day this year, Joe Giovannelli ̓74 and Roberta Koenigsberg ̓75 will be awarded the Alumni Medal of Honor in recognition of their valued contributions and unflinching dedication to the Bronx High School of Science.
Joe Giovanelli ’74 and Roberta Koenigsberg ’75 with their son Harrison Giovannelli ’17, Salutatorian at his Bronx Science graduation
Hailing from opposite sides of the Moshulu Parkway, both Joe and Roberta were integral members of the exceptional humanities curriculum at Bronx Science. Roberta served as an co-editor-in-chief of The Science Survey, a precursor to her law career to come. She recalled, “We would go down to Greenwich Village and physically lay out the paper. We used glue and set the
articles and pasted them down to then be printed. An experience that must be hard to imagine for the current digital journalists of The Science Survey.” Simultaneously, Joe was thriving in policy debate on the new Speech & Debate team founded a few years prior by Richard Sodikow ̓55. In 1972, Joe was on the first team from Bronx Science to attend the National Forensics League (now NSDA) National Championship, and on the first team to attend the Tournament of Champions in 1973. Also in 1972, Roberta took a chance on a Forensics elective taught by Sodikow, which soon resulted in her joining the team. Here, against the backdrop of competitive forensics, their lives first intertwined.
Joe and Roberta attended Columbia and Barnard College, respectively, finding themselves once again on a shared campus. “When we went to college there were dozens of Bronx Science alumni who went. And at the time when Barnard and Columbia were still separated by sex, we found a tight co-ed community within these high school classmates of ours. It was through this community that we started dating, and 40 years later, we’re still together,” Roberta reflected. They married in October of 1985; Mr. Sodikow was in attendance.
Right out of graduate school, Joe took his first position in the finance department of Columbia University, eventually rising to become Assistant Vice President. “I started there before personal computers. I had pencils, a giant eraser, and sheets of accounting paper,” Joe recalled. Little did he know at the time, this job would be the beginning of an efficacious 44 year career in higher education. After working for various prestigious colleges and universities across the Northeast, in 2017 Joe finally made his way back to Columbia University in which he served as a Senior Associate Dean at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons until his recent retirement. He credits his ability to work in finance and education simultaneously to a liberal arts education, one which started for him at Bronx Science. But for Joe, retirement has only been a next chapter.
“ Even though I'm retired I once again find myself working - working towards trying to make this world a little bit of a better place,” he stated.
Throughout his life, Joe had an inexorable desire for the advancement of society, including affordable housing. In Ancram, NY, where he and Roberta partially reside, Joe serves as the President of the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity of Columbia and Greene Counties and as a member of the board of the affordable housing committee for the Town of Ancram.
Following Barnard, Roberta attended the New York University School of Law as a Root Tilden Scholar. The Root Tilden program is widely considered to be the most prestigious public interest scholarship for law students in the United States, aiming to mold advocates and social champions—Roberta being a perfect example. After law school, Roberta found herself at a typical large firm, but soon opted to work at a small firm which did social justice impact litigation. It was here Roberta found her true legal callingdisability rights - and in 1994, she joined the Young Adult Institute (YAI). Serving in
a number of positions and culminating as Chief Compliance Officer during her 20 year employment at YAI, Roberta helped manage a multi-hundred-million dollar budget, aiding in the creation of dozens of programs and initiatives with far-reaching impacts on the developmentally disabled community. Roberta now serves as the Chief Administrative Officer for Adapt Community Network (formerly United Cerebral Palsy of New York City), taking strides in providing services and supports to to individuals with cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities. These two remarkable individuals forwent corporate careers to accomplish aims bigger than themselves. Joe stated, “At (Bronx) Science, this idea of working towards social good…was strongly encouraged. I believe the reason we
ended up working in the fields that we did, in part, is because of (Bronx) Science.” In a world where success is often measured by profit margin, Joe and Roberta demonstrate how success can be found in humanity and benevolence. They extend this dedication to social good to Bronx Science today through their extensive volunteering for the school.
Joe and Roberta have interviewed students at Project Accepted, judged countless speech and debate rounds at tournaments, helped parents transition to the school with their valuable perspective as alumni and parents and been a constant presence in the Bronx Science community for more than 50 years.
“When I first started at Bronx Science, Joe and Roberta offered to help. Little did I know, they literally meant help with anything and everything—they have hosted events for us in their home, helped champion our school and maintained close friendships that strengthen our school community,” said Eleanor Coufos ̓99, President of the Bronx Science Foundation.
In 2017, more than 40 years after Joe and Roberta walked across the stage, they sat in the audience during the Bronx Science Graduation Ceremony. They were listening to a speech by the salutatorian, their son, Harrison Giovannelli ̓17, which Joe and Roberta view as their greatest contribution to the Bronx High School of Science.
Joe Giovannelli and Roberta Koenigsberg truly are the embodiment of the spirit of Bronx Science. Through decades of contributions and dedication they have not only embedded themselves in the community, but in the history of Bronx Science.
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT:
DIANA ARIAS ,02
ARTICLE BY ALLEGRA MARK ̓27
The privilege of working with NASA is a dream for many aspiring scientists. Diana Arias ̓02 was one for whom that dream became a reality - and she credits Bronx Science with supporting their ambitions and helping them flourish in a STEMfocused environment.
Arias, now a project manager for the Behavioral Health and Performance Research Lab at Johnson Space Center, had always been captivated by the mysteries of space. “I have a vivid memory of watching a PBS special on the Apollo missions. I still have that image – being so fascinated by seeing people walking on the Moon,” said Arias. “From a young age, I had sort of thought about ‘What does it take to become an astronaut?’”
During her high school days, Arias was an exemplary student in an environment she felt was perfect for students with a passion for STEM fields. But Arias’ time at Bronx Science involved more than just STEM focused classes and activities. By immersing herself in courses like Yearbook Design and Art History, she gained fresh perspectives and a deeper understanding of the world—insights that would later shape her professional path. Regarding the school trips she attended as an art history student, Arias reflected, “[The trips] really opened my eyes to traveling outside of New
York and understanding that there's way more out there than I ever imagined. [The class] opened up my mind to different environments, different ways of looking at the world. It also made me very interested in traveling, which became an important part of my life as well.”
After powering through long commutes and learning the importance of sleep, Arias earned a spot in Dartmouth’s class of 2006 where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics. She then returned to New York to conduct research at Columbia University, focusing on children with various mental disorders. However, she felt a pull toward her true passion and dream career—space. “I was living in New York, everything was going great, but I found myself wanting a little more and trying to figure that out,” Arias recalled. “[I thought to myself], ‘Well, I've made it this far. How about I go for what I really, really want?’”
Diana Arias on the soccer team at Bronx Science
She then made the brave decision to leave her world in New York to earn her master’s degree at the International Space University in Strasbourg, France from 2010 to 2011. The program connected her to an internship opportunity at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where she continues to work today as a project manager in the Behavioral Health and Performance Research Lab.
Arias’ work focuses on astronauts being launched into space and how their behavioral activities are affected by that. This usually involves collaborating with different organizations, commercial companies, as well as the labs at Johnson Space Center to help astronauts successfully complete their missions. Some of her most memorable experiences include collecting MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) data from ground-based subjects, conducting research with SpaceX astronauts, and even getting the chance to try on a full EVA (extravehicular activity) space suit. Arias and her team have played a pivotal role in advancing the space industry’s understanding of how spaceflights impact human behavior and performance.
“I think the thing that I love the most in the space industry is being so connected or being a part of something much larger than yourself,” Arias reflected. “I think we're at a really, really exciting time and space right now, with a lot of these commercial companies coming online, with so many new and ambitious missions coming up. Even if it's a small part, being a part of some of these really giant missions is just super inspiring.”
Arias highlights the importance of using what you learn in high school to make the transition into the real world and using whatever opportunities come your way. “Getting letters of recommendation, writing essays… Everything usually has an application process,” Arias mentioned. “So get comfortable doing those kinds of things because it's not the last time it's going to happen. And if you are able to do well at applying to things, it will bring you some excellent opportunities.”
Diana Arias and other Alumni Foundation Members visit the NASA Johnson Space Center
PLANNED GIVING:
ESTATE OF MAURICE EISENSTADT ’48 A SURPRISE WITH BIG IMPACT
Estate giving is often the result of conversations with alumni over a number of years, as they share their passions and interests that will shape a legacy gift. Sometimes, however, planned gifts are more a quiet seed that was planted for Bronx Science, and only as time goes on do we see the fruit of the sentiment flourish. The generous legacy gift made by Maurice Eisenstadt ’48 is a perfect example.
Maurice attended Bronx Science in the “old building” and was involved with Arista, the Handball Club, Orchestra and Music Squad before his 1948 graduation. After earning his undergraduate degree, he studied at Columbia University’s famed and eclectic IBM Watson Laboratory (which later evolved into Hudson Laboratories) as a graduate student. There, Maurice met Frone Lund, who was working as a secretary.
The two eloped in 1961 to Scotland, and when they returned to New York a month later, Maurice arrived at his office dressed in full highland regalia, including bagpipes. He then taught himself to play the bagpipes in the Watson Laboratory Penthouse at 6:00 a.m. every dayeventually becoming proficient enough to play in the Broadway musical Brigadoon in 1963, in PDQ Bach at Carnegie Hall in 1966 and with the NY Philharmonic in 2007.
Maurice went on to work in Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Department of Medicine, Genetic Medicine Division, and published a number of peer-reviewed articles through his career in chemical physics. He maintained his robust musical passion along the way, performing well into his 70’s.
Maurice passed away in April 2021 and was predeceased by Frone. Prior to their passing, the couple made arrangements to donate the bulk of their estate to benefit a variety of educational and charitable organizations in New York. In Fall 2021, the Foundation received a wonderful surprise when the first estate gift arrived from Maurice Eisenstadt - but that gift was certainly not the last!
Over the course of the last five years, Bronx Science has benefited from a total of more than $850,000 from Maurice’s estate. This remarkable cumulative gift has been put to good use, underwriting resources and programs which help make it possible for today's talented and hardworking Bronx Science students to receive the opportunities they deserve. Two such programs include the Foundation’s Arts Initiative and Summer Arts Institute. The Arts Initiative and Summer Institute bring the rich arts and culture scene of New York, including museums, theatrical, musical and dance performances, and restaurants, to Bronx Science students. Though they live in New York, many of our students have not had the opportunity to enjoy these enlightening experiences, due to financial, logistical or family constraints. By participating in the Arts program during the school year or over the summer, students have the chance to find a new passion, get to know their city better, and expand their worldview. In light of Maurice’s multifaceted life as a scientist, musician and learner, we can’t think of a more fitting legacy.
Alumni at all levels of involvement with the school can make a meaningful impact by including Bronx Science in their estate plans. If you are interested in leaving your own legacy at Bronx Science, please contact the Foundation office at 718-817-7800 or foundation@bxscience.edu, or complete a Planned Giving Letter of Intent and mail it to: Bronx Science Foundation, 75 Bronx Science Foundation, Bronx, NY 10468.
The Foundation team would be delighted to have the chance to recognize you today for your intention to make a gift in the future! Alumni who make estate gifts, or notify the Foundation of their intention to do so, become members of the Creston Avenue Society and receive special invitations and recognition. Those who document planned gifts of $100,000 or more also become members of the Atomic 100 and receive a
Bronx Science students enjoying New York’s performing arts thanks to the Foundation Arts Initiative.
CLASS NOTES
Susanne Kalter DeWitt ’52 shared that a few years ago she published her memoir, "I Was Born In An Old Age Home."
Patricia Devaney-Coyne ’77 shared the exciting news that she has earned her doctorate in Education (EdD), specifically Nursing Education.
Demetrios “Jimmy” Halikiopoulos ’86 reflected, “I'm an eye surgeon with my own practice in Great Neck, NY. One of my dear patients [and fellow alumni] passed away in February and I want to remember her: Linda Mulé ’71. Every time she would come into my office we would reminisce about our Bronx Science days with fondness. She was an amazing woman with a strong and passionate spirit and heart. She was smart, too, of course.”
Erich Voigt ’85, director of the Division of General Otolaryngology and Sleep Surgery at NYU Langone Health, shared that he helped develop a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach for treating sleep apnea: hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HNS), delivered through surgical implant.
Submit your own class note today!
IN MEMORIAM
We are saddened to share news that the following Bronx Science alumni have passed away. Our thoughts are with their friends and loved ones.
Martin Kantor ’43
Jack Weinstein ’43
Henry Mandelbaum ’49
Avery Grant ’50
Joseph Zysman ’51
Robert Haber ’52
Howard Baum ’53
Linda Berns ’53
Joel Chezar ’54
Martin Feldman ’54
Terry Siegel ’54
Barry Gross ’55
Nita M. Lowey ’55
Jerry Wacks ’55
Peter Sandstrom ’56
Arnold Scham ’58
Cynthia List ’59
John Munzer ’59
Bob Epstein ’61
Marvin Murray ’62
Paul Beckerman ’65
Selma Goldstein ’65
Jerry Druckman ’70
Linda Mule ’71
Robert Deutscher ’73
James Byrne ’76
Debra (Bienthcs) O'Dell ’77
Michael Deacy ’78
Teresa Prendergast ’80
Gail Ann Mazin ’83
Andrew Siden ’87