Category Archives: Campus Life

RockEDU’s Remote Outreach Makes Science More Accessible

Audrey Goldfarb Science Saturday, Rockefeller’s annual campus-wide festival of science education and exploration, is a gem of RockEDU’s community outreach. Last year, as COVID cases began to spike in New York City, RockEDU was forced to pull the plug on … Continue reading

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Surviving a Pandemic, Six Months Out

Audrey Goldfarb “How are you?” is more of a formality than a genuine question. Any response other than a variation of “Good! How’re you?” is unexpected. I personally find maintaining a façade of blue skies to be emotionally draining, so … Continue reading

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Black Lives Matter at The Rockefeller University

Natural Selections Editorial Board The appalling and tragic murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis during a pandemic that was already disproportionately affecting Black communities provoked a global re-awakening for justice for Black people. This seeking of justice has not excluded … Continue reading

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Graduating Class of 2020

Megan E. Kelley On Thursday, June 11, The Rockefeller University held a virtual convocation for the conferring of doctorate degrees upon thirty graduate students. This streamed ceremony was the culmination of years of dedication, hard work, and perseverance by the … Continue reading

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Reopening Rockefeller

Natural Selections Editorial Board At 5 p.m. on March 18th, 2020, The Rockefeller University shut down its campus due to the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the New York City area. A reduced staff maintained the most essential operations, … Continue reading

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Musings on a Ph.D.

Sarah Baker A few weeks ago, I earned the opportunity to defend my thesis, the terminal task in receiving my Ph.D. While everyone’s path is different, the journey for me has been a rollercoaster of both academic and emotional development, … Continue reading

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A Different Kind of Outbreak

Anna Amelianchik Before the novel coronavirus resulted in travel restrictions, event cancellations, and toilet paper shortages, The Rockefeller University community faced a different kind of outbreak: The Outbreak challenge. The Outbreak is a team-based six-week step and fitness challenge that … Continue reading

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Sustainability at Multiple Levels

Audrey Goldfarb Individual action to fight climate change and habitat destruction is important. Plastic waste from just one person can have devastating consequences on wildlife, as exemplified by viral footage of a sea turtle with a straw stuck in its … Continue reading

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Health: On Mindful Meditation and The Skill of Being Present

Anna Amelianchik If you are determined to make 2020 your healthiest year yet, now might be the time to add one more item to your list of New Year’s resolutions. While better nutrition and exercise can bring you closer to … Continue reading

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CRISPR In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Rocks the Boat

Audrey Goldfarb Dr. Jeremy Rock heads the Laboratory of Host-Pathogen Biology located on the south side of the River Campus Research Building. Rock studies Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), a bacterium that exclusively parasitizes humans. Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of … Continue reading

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First Year Reflections

Audrey Goldfarb Unbelievably, less than a month remains in the 2019 fall semester. The last few months have been a whirlwind of rotations, classes, and transitions for the first-year class. Though Rockefeller students tend to present as confident, curious, and … Continue reading

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Tim Blanchfield, Rockefeller’s Fitness Guru

Sarah Baker “Don’t put anything off. Do it today. Don’t wait.” This is the advice that Timothy Blanchfield, the Fitness Manager of The Rockefeller University, has for the Rockefeller community. If you have been to Rockefeller’s gym in Founders Hall, … Continue reading

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New Member Guide to Campus

The Natural Selections Editorial Board We welcome all of the new members of our community to The Rockefeller University! Here are resources you may find of interest: Markus Library Located in Welch Hall (enter the Founder’s Hall lobby and walk down the … Continue reading

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Graduating Class 2019

Sarah Baker On June 13, 2019, The Rockefeller University will add thirty new alumni to its community, each with a freshly obtained Ph.D. The road to a Ph.D. is not an easy one and requires a combination of hard work, … Continue reading

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Natural Selections Interviews Rockefeller’s Viviana Risca

Natural Selections Interviews Rockefeller’s Viviana Risca, Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Genome Architecture and Dynamics Alice Gadau At the age of fourteen, Viviana Risca spent her summer break unlike most teenagers. Every morning, she took the train from Long … Continue reading

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Rockefeller’s Campus Gets an Upgrade

Sarah Baker The Natural Selections Editorial Board in front of the new President’s Office and Dean’s Office building. Excitement abounds at The Rockefeller University as we prepare for the grand opening of the new $500 million Stavros Niarchos Foundation—David Rockefeller … Continue reading

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Rockefeller’s Resolutions for 2019

Sarah Baker The Ancient Babylonians are thought to be the first people to make the equivalent of what we think of as a New Year’s resolution. Four millennia ago, they would make promises to the gods that they would pay … Continue reading

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Science (Policy) for the Benefit of Humanity

Sarah Ackerman Science policy is a broad subject, which is vitally important to all scientists and members of society. It encompasses many topics ranging from NIH grant funding, to restrictions on new technologies, such as CRISPR or stem cells, to … Continue reading

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Rockefeller Mutant Takeover

Alice Gadau “What about ‘Spooktacular’?”, “I like spooky scientists!”, “What about something with CRISPR?”, “Oh! I got it ‘CRISPR Gone Wrong’!”—and that is how, in the back of yellow cab, Donovan Phua came up with the theme for this year’s … Continue reading

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Mental Health Awareness

Sarah Baker Mental Illness Awareness Week (MIAW) falls on the first full week of October, meaning that this year it will occur October 7-13. MIAW was established by Congress in 1990 after the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) pushed … Continue reading

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