Flagship Institutes and Centers

Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies (MMA)

CUNY's Institute for Macromolecular Assemblies (MMA) coordinates existing and new molecular-level research for both natural and engineered macromolecular assemblies of biological and medical importance, promotes graduate and undergraduate educational programs in these areas across the university, and seeks both public and private support for macromolecular investigations.

Positioned at the interface of chemistry, biology, physics, and engineering to address fundamental and applied questions at the frontier of life sciences research, the MMA's goals that include identifying new molecular targets for drug design, delineating molecular signals of cellular metabolism, understanding protein-nucleic acid interactions in animals and plants, characterizing macromolecular assemblies associated with microbial virulence, designing polymeric biomedical materials for drug delivery, building self-assembling materials for light harvesting, imaging, and sensor applications, and identifying natural polymer complexes that promote plant resistance to microbial and environmental stresses.

The infrastructure of the MMA is supported by New York State's Generating Employment through New York Science (Gen*NY*sis) program, CUNY's Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, and the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The Institute for Sustainable Cities

The CUNY Institute for Sustainable Cities seeks to create awareness and understanding of the connections between the everyday lives of urban citizens and their natural world, leading to the discovery and use of cities like New York as a learning laboratory to create a sustainable future for cities worldwide.

The Institute's Knowledge Network, an online resource comprised of environmental topic primers, an extensive bibliography of resources, and links to related organizations, gives students and educators access to an abundance of information about the environment and urban sustainability. Our Institute commissions experts in environmental education to create course modules and lectures made available through the Knowledge Network to all educators in the CUNY system for use in their classes and curriculum. The Knowledge Network is an ideal course companion and academic resource for students, and serves as an interactive repository for urban sustainability research data available to researchers, educators, students, and citizen scientists worldwide.

The Energy Institute

Formerly the Institute for Sustainable Energy Technologies and successor to the Clean Fuels Institute, which had been studying the economic and environmental impacts of alternative energy sources. The Institute will develop sustainable energy technology to generate electricity from renewable, but intermittent, sources as well as existing nighttime overcapacity, store it efficiently and deliver it on demand.

Initially, the Institute's work will focus on developing flow battery applications for use in buildings and transportation. Flow batteries are rechargeable batteries in which chemical energy is converted to electricity as it undergoes a redox (reduction-oxidation) reaction while passing between a membrane that separates two different electrolytes. To be technologically viable, such batteries would require unprecedented energy densities, rapid recharge rates and long useful lives.

Cooperative Remote Sensing Science & Technology Center (NOAA-CREST)

Since it's founding in 2001, the NOAA-Cooperative Remote Sensing Science and Technology (CREST) Center has been ahead of the curve on issues pertaining to assessment, monitoring and stewardship of Earth and the environment keeping in view with NOAA's goals and mission. CREST is involved in ground breaking research in areas related to satellite remote sensing; ground-based field measurements; data processing and analysis; modeling and forecasting; satellite algorithm development; and calibration and validation of satellite products. CREST's research in support of NOAA's missions is generating technologies, sensors and data management techniques that will serve Earth and Atmospheric Science worldwide, while tackling problems rooted in the region. Some of the projects that are conducted at CREST are: Air Quality in Northeast, Flash flood forecasting, snow and sea ice cover estimation from satellite, coastal water quality monitoring from space, drought prediction, and rainfall estimation.

The consortium of universities that CREST has assembled covers the eastern corridor of the United States from New York State to Puerto Rico. By their locations and histories, CREST's partner universities are ideally suited to furthering the Center's science and educational mission.

The Center's productive research environment has led to over 100 peer-reviewed journals papers and 200 seminars with over 20 ongoing research projects, encompassing over 50 tasks. They involve 70 students and the collaboration of 33 NOAA scientists. Overall, CREST has significantly impacted over 200 undergraduate and graduate students. Over the past seven years, this has included $19 million from NOAA, $5 million from NSF, NASA and the Office of Naval Research, and $6 million from other sources.

Center for Advanced Technology in Photonics Applications (CUNY CAT)

The CUNY CAT is a designated New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR) Center for Advanced Technology with the mission of promoting economic development to the state. This is accomplished by arranging collaborations between New York State companies and CUNY researchers. These assist New York State companies develop new products, reduce expenses, increase productivity, improve staff capabilities, create and retain jobs and overall to generate economic impact. The CAT is a broad-based interdisciplinary program, drawing on faculty from all CUNY campuses. Financial incentives from New York State and CUNY make this program attractive to both faculty and industry.

The CUNY CAT regularly issues competitive RFPs to the CUNY community for projects with companies and for laboratory equipment grants. The CAT also assists companies to obtain grants and funding by matching researchers with companies for SBIR and STTR submissions. CUNY faculty involved in preparing these proposals may receive a stipend for their efforts.

Center for Exploitation of Nanostructures in Sensors and Energy Systems (CENSES)

A new NSF-funded center at City College, the Center for Exploitation of Nanostructures in Sensors and Energy Systems (CENSES), seeks to enhance and develop research expertise associated with sensors, and energy generation and conversion systems, in order to serve as a national resource center in these critical areas, and to be available for collaboration in research and development efforts with potential partners.

With a $5 Million, 5-year budget, CENSES will focus on three research programs. The first program focuses on nanomaterials and nanostructures for sensor applications, including mid-IR sensors based on semiconductors, environmental sensors from single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) and liposome-based arrays with nanoparticle markers for toxin detection. Program two exploits nanomaterials and nanostructures in energy systems, with projects concerned with battery electrode nanomaterials, SWNTs with attached electrocatalysts for fuel cell applications, and hybrid quantum well/quantum dot high-performance solar cells.

The third program focuses on emerging technologies, focusing on areas such as biologically inspired self-assembled nanostructures, cobalt-oxide-based thermoelectric materials, and femtosecond (1 x 10-15 seconds) time-resolved scanning tunneling microscopy.

The CENSES project includes an extensive educational improvement plan, that integrates research and education, much of which will be implemented in connection with the CUNY School for Professional Studies.

CUNY High Performance Computing Center

The CUNY High Performance Computing Center (HPCC) is located on the campus of the College of Staten Island. The HPCC goals are to:

• Support the scientific computing needs of university faculty, student, staff, and their public and private sector partners;
• Create opportunities for the CUNY research community to develop new partnerships with the government and private sectors; and
• Leverage the HPCC's capabilities to acquire additional research resources for its faculty and graduate students in existing and major new programs.

CUNY Institute for Demographic Research

The CUNY Institute for Demographic Research (CIDR) is a CUNY-wide initiative, bringing together a core commitment from four campuses-Baruch College, the Graduate Center, Hunter College, and Queens College-and affiliates, to date, from seven campuses. CIDR aims to have strong linkages, both formal and informal, with other demography-oriented institutions and agencies in the New York area. CIDR is housed at Baruch College, located at 22nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.

Other CUNY Centers and Institutes

Database of New York State Foundation for Science, Technology, and Research (NYSTAR)-funded Core Facilities and Research Centers

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