Geneseo’s Goldwater Scholars …
Where are they now? • Rebecca Surman ’93 (physics) Associate professor of physics and astronomy at Union College, with a focus on computational nuclear astrophysics. • Elizabeth Hile ’94 (biochemistry) Assistant professor in the department of physical therapy at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Health and Rehabilitation Services. She also is a specialist in neurology.
SURMAN
FLEMING
DEMARCO • Brian DeMarco ’96 (physics) Assistant professor of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, leading groundbreaking research on ultracold quantum gases.
COCINA
• Kurt Schillinger, M.D. ’96 DUFF (biochemistry) Cardiovascular fellow at Penn Cardiovascular Institute.
MECKLER
WEISS
GUCWA
RAINES
PETERSON
• Richele Abel Watkins ’98 (biochemistry) Stay-at-home mother for her two children.
• Kathryn Weiss, D.V.M. ’02 (biology) Veterinarian at Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in Red Bank, N.J. She begins an intensive animal neurology internship at Canada West Veterinary Specialists in Vancouver this summer.
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• Matthew Fleming ’04 (biochemistry) Completing his doctorate program in cellular and molecular physiology at Yale University and is beginning post-doctoral work at Yale researching potential treatment of the leading genetic cause of mental retardation. • Daniel Welchons, M.D. ’06 (biochemistry) General surgery intern at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School. • Scott Meckler ’06 (math) Marketing analyst at Vistaprint, a marketing, printing and promotional materials resource to 9 million customers.
• Michael Duff, M.D. ’97 (physics) Radiation oncologist at Cancer Care of Western New York.
• Amy Cocina, M.D. ’99 (biochemistry) Internist at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
• Summer Raines ’03 (biochemistry) National Institutes of Health-supported post-doctoral candidate at the University of New Mexico for a dual component of biochemistry research work and teaching, with a focus on underserved populations.
• Amy Zielinski Becker ’06, M.D. (biology) First-year resident in internal medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, N.Y.
• Jessica Gucwa ’07 (biochemistry) Doctoral candidate in cellular and molecular medicine at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute graduate center. • Ben Peterson ’12 (biochemistry) Aspires to become a university professor.
Surman says her experience at Geneseo not only motivated her to choose to teach at an undergraduate institution, but also inspires the way she teaches. “My experiences at Geneseo have absolutely shaped how I approach my job as an instructor, academic adviser and research supervisor,” says Surman. “I try to model my teaching style after my favorite Geneseo professors, who taught intellectually demanding courses with great passion for their discipline and equally great concern for their students.” Such desire is contagious. Fleming will soon defend his doctoral dissertation at Yale University and is continuing to research how a specific type of drug may be able to treat fragile X syndrome, the leading genetic cause of mental retardation. Fleming aspires to teach cellular and molecular physiology at a research institution, but never considered that path until he came to Geneseo. He says he wants to share the same excitement with students that Geneseo faculty shared with him. Raines is also preparing for a career in teaching that blends research with outreach to provide better science education for under-represented populations and minorities. (Read her profile on page 11). ••• Potential to make a difference Peterson, Geneseo’s latest Goldwater scholar, isn’t sure what his focus of research will be — cell metabolism or neurobiology. He’s just getting started. But he knows he wants to teach and to keep asking questions to “contribute to the body of science as a whole.” That nature of inquiry can be tedious, says DeMarco. He knows the countless hours every scientist spends tightening nuts and bolts for experiments. He also knows the reward. As a Geneseo student, DeMarco didn’t know he would transform the way the world can study superconducting physics. But he believed he could. He passes that message on to his own students, and, by example, to Geneseo students including Peterson. “You, as an individual, can really have that opportunity,” says DeMarco. “I tell my students that now … You can really have a big impact — and it can be you who does it.”
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View more Goldwater photos online go.geneseo.edu/goldwater