Nigerian student Eunice Udensi emerges as The New York College Valedictorian for the class of 2016
The
York College Valedictorian for the Class of 2016 has emerged and she is a
Nigerian.
Eunice Udensi, a
Pharmaceutical Science major mentored in the Chemistry department, came to York
from Abia State, 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 live with the aid of technology. Her father, Mr. Udensi and
her four siblings all reside in the United States.
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