York Valedictorian Makes Five for Five for Chemistry Dept.

The York College Valedictorian for the Class of 2016 has emerged and for the fifth consecutive year there is an affiliation with the Chemistry department.
York Valedictorian Makes Five for Five for Chemistry Dept.
Eunice Udensi, valedictorian of the Class of 2016
Eunice Udensi, a Pharmaceutical Science major mentored in the Chemistry department, came to York from her native Abia State, Nigeria four years ago and quickly acclimated to a busy college life of research and co-curricular activities.

Early on, her impressive GPA caught the attention of Amy Wolfe in the Academic Advisement Center, which led to tutoring jobs in the Mathematics lab and Academic Achievement Center, where then-director Steven Tyson, told her that with her grades she could become valedictorian of her class.

“I didn’t know what that meant,” said Udensi. “But I didn’t want him to know that I did not know. So I looked it up when I got home and told myself I would do it.”

While searching online for the meaning of the impressive word, Udensi also came across Tony Wan’s TV interview when he was York’s valedictorian in 2012. That sealed her commitment.

“I didn’t know about things to apply for,” said Udensi. But Dr. Tyson motivated me to apply for internships and came in on a Sunday to do a recommendation letter for me. He motivated me to apply for all these opportunities.”

“These opportunities” would go on to include a research internship at Stony Brook University; a Thurgood Marshall College Fund Leadership Institute internship and a dizzying list of awards received through York.

She received the Prof. Eugene Levin Scholarship for Excellence in Science and Paid Summer Internship; became a member of the Honors Program, Wells Fargo Scholar, and Mildred Cooper Scholar; and made the Dean’s List throughout her four years at York (2012-2016) and Sigma Alpha Pi 2014-2016.

Udensi, the second of five children in her family, also made time for membership in the Chemistry and the Pre-Med Clubs. She was tailor-made for rigorous academic work at York even before coming to York. Throughout her education in Nigeria, Udensi attended school Mondays through Saturdays and the summer months as well; and says it was “compulsory.”

“I felt at home when I came to York,” said Udensi, who now lives in Hollis, Queens. “The professors were very helpful.”

Among those “helpful” professors have been her research mentor, Dr. Ruel Desamero; and Dr. Yolanda Small, Dr. Adam Profit and mathematics professor Dr. Farley Mawyer. According to Desamero, Udensi shows great promise for medical school.

“She worked on studying the mechanism behind protein aggregation,” he said. “[It] is an interesting field because many diseases, like Type II diabetes, Alzheimer’s, Mad Cow, Parkinson’s…are caused by protein aggregation. While she was in the lab, she worked hard and learned techniques very quickly.”

The busy scholar was also accepted into the 10-week American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics-Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (ASPET-SURF) program at Sony Brook University in April 2015. Her mentor there, Dr. David Talmage’s research is based on type III neuregulin1-ERBB4 interactions.

At Stony Brook, Udensi researched on “Neuronal Type Specific Gene Therapy: Engineering Novel Cell Tropism in AAV.” I synthesized adeno-associated virus (AAV), which is specific to Trk A receptor and carries the gene responsible for the production of acetylcholine.

“Neuronal gene therapy with AAV, if feasible, will open doors for a lot of improvement in gene therapy for Alzheimer disease patients,” she explained.

Her research presentations at York have included, “As Certain as Day Turns to Night,” which highlights the experiments done by Heisenberg, Schrodinger’s Cat and the mathematical derivation of Schrodinger’s Equation; and “Zinc Fingers,” at the Natural Science presentation.

“Our students have the ability to do well,” said Tyson. "They just need someone to believe in them and give them opportunities.”

Udensi’s mother, Mrs. Kalu Udensi, still lives in Nigeria and will be watching her daughter’s valedictory speech . Her father, Mr. Udensi resides in the United States along with four of her siblings.

http://www.york.cuny.edu/news/york-valedictorian-makes-five-for-five-for-chemistry-dept

Beautiful Eye, Beautiful Brain, thumbs up, u've really make us proud.

In matters like this I breeze in just to check the name of the person. Just like always, I wasn't disappointed. O Nwanne m nwanyi.

Igbos are also on top of the high IQ/intelligent department

nice

nice

Here in 9ja one lecturer would swear he has to mount flag or else...

Congrats dear!

Congrats beauty and brain

One big buffon that doesn't have a WAEC certificate would walk the streets of London saying Nigerians are corrupt.

I wonder if that tall buffon a.k.a Sherifat actually understands the true meaning of corruption.

Any man who speaks from both side of the mouth is not just corrupt bt irresponsible and unworthy to be a leader.

God bless Nigeria

Name checkers... Food is ready

Ada Igbo, Congrats on this!
Some will say na part of APC promised Change

hardywaltz:
Igbos are also on top of the high IQ/intelligent department

. In every tribe there are intelligent people and there are the not so intelligent people. Intelligence is not peculiar to a particular tribe.

Where are the name checkers association

Strange, but I just learnt about the feature of
removing the background of a picture directly,
in Microsoft Office and found it worth sharing
here with the members of NCT. This feature
helps remove the background in just a few
clicks, and can help highlight the subject of
the picture, by removing the background. You
can remove the background of any picture
using Word, PowerPoint or even Excel: www.nct.com.ng/Thread-How-To-Remove-Picture-Background-With-Microsoft-Office-Word

NameCheckersAssociation- she's from the land of the rising "onwa"!

dis one go pain some people . .. but who cares?

#Proudly IPOB
#Proudly 5%

great....

Congrats to her!

that my future wife

Igbos and Nigerians are doing very well globally

If it was a Yoruba guy who puts a solar panel on the car .The headline will read Yoruba youth student (even though an old bald head ) constructs solar panel .

Fast forward to this topic ,it reads Nigerian student ,instead of a Igbo girl .

The more reason why the country should divide

Why always IPOB damn it!

Eunice Udensi, a Pharmaceutical Science major mentored in the Chemistry department, came to York from her native Abia State, Nigeria four years ago and quickly acclimated to a busy college life of research and co-curricular activities.



Igbo girls rock.

Proudly Igbo.

We doing Nigeria proud in diaspora.

Igbo amaka

Congrats. You rock.

Nwanne m nwanyi isogodu na promo

Beauty and Brains

Hot combination

Congrats dear.

Igbos !!!! SHE'S NIGERIAN NOT BIAFRAN...... Her Visa is Nigeria's, Nationality is Nigeria, Brain is Nigerian and not your fvcking stupid declimated falling co-operative

no time to check name cos nah surely doz from the East dey achieve such... Beauty and Brain what a wonderful combination

Joygalore:
Proudly Igbo.
We doing Nigeria proud in diaspora.
Igbo amaka

you're back from Nairaland prison and you can't even notify me

Rapsowdee01:
Igbos !!!! SHE'S NIGERIAN NOT BIAFRAN...... Her Visa is Nigeria's, Nationality is Nigeria, Brain is Nigerian and not your fvcking stupid declimated falling co-operative

Weed

Igbos are truly the most intelligent race in Africa, no be lie