Welcome Message From Dr. Charles Hummel

Chairperson, Department of Life Sciences

On behalf of our faculty, I welcome you to the Department of Life Sciences.

Take this time to explore the variety of combined degree programs and concentrations that we offer. Your undergraduate study of the life sciences will prepare you for advanced study in the health and medical fields.

NYIT is strongly committed to the principle of access, making higher education possible for individuals who otherwise would not have the opportunity. Therefore when accepted into the life sciences program, students are advised carefully in order to find the most appropriate option of study that appeal to their interests, but, at the same time, is consistent with their aptitudes.

The faculty reinforce the early use of technology and Internet resources in your classes, laboratory experiments, and research. Some laboratory experiments introduce software into the experiments both for simulations and for collecting and integrating data.

All full-time life sciences faculty have doctorates in their area of expertise. A number of the life science faculty are engaged in scientific and educational research, both as on-campus and off, involving the upper-level students as part of their capstone course requirement.

• Dr. Eugene Mitacek has been engaged in studies at the American Health Foundation, and the School of Medicine at Stony Brook University Medical Center, as well as with researchers in Laos and Thailand examining the relationship between liver cancer, breast cancer, nutrition, and smoking.
• Dr. Charles Hummel has been studying the relationship between amino acid content and the age of bones using high performance chromatography as a possible tool to date the age of human bones. Dr. Claude Gagna's research involves the study of Z-DNA found in shark eyes. His work has developed new stain techniques to improve the visualization patents using new techniques in micro array technology.
• Dr. Grady Carney has introduced students to a variety of computer-aided chemistry projects.

Our students' success is the faculty's highest priority. Once again, we welcome you.

Sincerely,
Charles Hummel, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chairperson
Department of Life Sciences