Hostos engineering student Isamar Garrido-Rodríguez recently won a first-place prize in the 2015 CUNY Nobel Science Challenge in the Chemistry category.
The chemistry major’s essay was on understanding DNA repair mechanisms and their relationship to the development of human diseases.
Garrido-Rodríguez’s essay was judged on the academic quality of her work and its success in making the scientific concepts underlying the Nobel Prize winner’s work accessible to a general reader. She was also judged on an interview with the faculty judges.
The contest includes prizes in categories, including, Physiology or Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Economics and were announced the week of May 6.
CUNY undergraduate students were invited to describe, in 1,000 to 1,500 words, the scientific concepts behind the work. The essays were judged by distinguished CUNY faculty committee, and three prizes will be awarded in each category.
For her efforts, Garrido-Rodríguez won an Apple iMac and the prestige of penning the winning essay.
Last year, Garrido-Rodríguez won a second-place prize in the 2014 CUNY Nobel Science Challenge. That essay was on the development “super-resolved fluorescence microscopy.” She is also the President of the Hostos Physics Club and is the physics teaching assistant for Professor Yoel Rodríguez.
Garrido-Rodríguez, who was born in the Dominican Republic, is also a member of the Hostos Student Leadership Academy (SLA) and Collegiate Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP). She is also no stranger to excelling in college competitions, as Garrido-Rodríguez won the Hostos Essay Contest in 2014, the Juan Bosch Essay Contest in Spring 2014, as well as a Carlos Beltran Scholarship Award, and many others.
She is currently enrolled in the Joint Dual Degree Engineering Program with The City College of New York’s Grove School of Engineering, and plans to transfer to City College fulltime Fall 2016 after graduating in June from Hostos.
“I would like to pursue a master’s degree in pharmaceutical sciences or cosmetic sciences. As I second plan, I want to become a high school teacher. I am passionate, determined and perseverant. I have my goals well set, and I will try my best to achieve them,” Garrido-Rodríguez said.
About Hostos Community College
Eugenio María de Hostos Community College is an educational agent for change that has been transforming and improving the quality of life in the South Bronx and neighboring communities since 1968. It serves as a gateway to intellectual growth and socioeconomic mobility, as well as a point of departure for lifelong learning, success in professional careers, and transfer to advanced higher education programs. The College’s unique “Student Success Coaching Unit” provides students with individualized guidance and exemplifies its emphasis on student support services.
Recently named one of the top 10 finalists for the 2015 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, Hostos offers 27 associate degree programs and two certificate programs that facilitate easy transfer to The City University of New York’s (CUNY) four-year colleges or baccalaureate studies at other institutions. The College has an award-winning Division of Continuing Education & Workforce Development that offers professional development courses and certificate-bearing workforce training programs. Hostos is part of CUNY, the nation’s leading urban public university, which serves more than 500,000 students at 24 colleges.