The nominees for the 2009-10 Executive Board of the GSAS Graduate Student Council are indicated below.

Nominees for the 2009-2010 Graduate Student Council Executive Board:

Nominees for President:

I joined the NYU Graduate Community in fall of 2005 to pursue Doctoral studies in Developmental Biology and Genomics. The past few years as a New Yorker have been a real adventure for me. I have tried to balance my career interests and explore the diversity this bustling city has to offer, simultaneously. Looking back I realize, that I was always enthused to work for the community around me. During my college years in India, I spent a lot of time working closely with cancer patients and rural population, organizing vaccination and blood donation camps. Social work to help the underprivileged and my scientific interests in understanding molecular nature of the disease was blended to be my primary focus. Soon, I realized that a huge gap existed regarding scientific communication between the academia and the common man. Immediately after my Master’s degree, I was offered an opportunity to join N. Wadia College of Arts and Science as the youngest Lecturer in Zoology Department. Working with students, senior educators and attending teachers’ workshops helped me discover my passion for teaching. As a next step of my career, I decided to train myself as an academician with an aim towards bridging this gap.

At the start of 5th year of Ph.D., I have learnt how to effectively juggle genomics research along with Adjunct teaching position for Master’s program and responsibilities of part-time instructor/ tutor for the HEOP Program at the Steinhardt School, helping students who need a little extra help to face the challenges of higher level undergraduate biology courses at NYU. Summer of 2008, I joined the Executive Board of the NYU Graduate Student Council as the Secretary. During the previous year, on numerous occasions I participated in various committees and events aimed at improving graduate student life and teaching around the campus. Additionally, teamwork with the intuitive administrative staff of GSAS, my ex-colleagues on the GSC Board and student group representatives has strengthened my organizational and leadership skills. As a final stepping stone of my graduate life in this esteemed institution, I would like to serve the Graduate student community as President of the GSC. I aim to communicate student related issues with respective committees with an aim to positively improve Graduate Life at NYU. I would also like to share my current perspectives along with ideas of the forthcoming members of the Executive Board towards building a lasting framework for the graduate student Constituency and stronger Alumni, here at the Washington Square and soon overseas. If trusted with the opportunity, I promise to live up to all expectations of my fellow students and respected academicians at NYU.

Pengcheng Song: Doctoral candidate in Chemistry

Pengcheng Song is a third year doctoral student majoring in Chemistry in Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, New York University. Before attending NYU, Pengcheng graduated from Academic Talent Program of Tsinghua University with bachelor’s degree. Prior to entering into NYU in 2007, he also received a master’s degree in Physics at the Tsinghua University. He was granted with an Excellent Volunteer of China Award in 2002 and was elected as President of ATP program in 2004.

After joining NYU, he was elected as President of Chemistry Graduate Students Organization (CGSO) 2008-2009 board and also the Senior Vice President of Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) 2009-2010. He organized the largest event of graduate students in Chemistry Department history and hosted the 2009-2010 election with a more than 90% voting rate. As a member of GSAS, he was invited to give a keynote speech in "Graduate School Transition Seminars" section of GSAS new student orientation.

Pengcheng also excels in website and graphic designs. He is the graphic designer of "Happy Birthday! Dear China!" show of CSSA in Lincoln Center and was also the director of CSSA website design.

Target:
Leading new board of GSAS Graduate Student Council for better GSAS.

Better community -----The goal of GSAS Graduate Student Council is to serve all the students in GSAS both in academy and campus life as the bridge not only between  administrators and students in GSAS, but also the link among students from different departments of GSAS, even more the other colleges in NYU.

Better performance ----- New board is aiming to unite all the students to present a better performance in on and off-campus events. We will make good communications among alll the students of GSAS to keep us staying close. We will also network with GSC from other Universities in NYC to create deeper and broader connections.

Nominees for Vice President:

Katherine Lau: Master's degree candidate in Psychology

My interest in psychology and writing research papers date back to my years in Rutgers University, where I excelled in Research Method in Psychology, Sensation and Perception, Conditioning and Learning, Thinking, and Adolescent Development. Upon my graduation year, I had the opportunity to work as an intern, to teaching assistants for special students at Douglass Specialty School. I’ve also worked at Group Homes for children and adults. These experiences were very valuable to me but also caused me to consider the question of where the divisions between Special Education and Clinical Psychology lie. In the realm of psychology, I have developed special interests in the field of psychotherapy and other related clinical theories and interventions, sharing a common goal of producing and applying scientific knowledge to the assessment, understanding, and amelioration of human problems. I had even been taking two courses in research method in the design of the cognitive system early in development. I coordinated with the lab assistant and Dr. Alan Leslie to run experiment with babies where we measured looking times and with preschool children where we used other kinds of tests. Another particular interest of mine is writing and conducting research papers. I valued my experience in editing, sales & marketing, and working for Wiley Publishers for seven years. Management at P/T division was sufficiently impressed with my work and granted me two promotions during this period of time. I increased the sales volume and profit margin appreciably whilst at Special Sales, and I would like to repeat that success in Graduate Student Council.  I have a strong academic background in sales, marketing, and psychology, and think that I could apply my combination of knowledge and experience to facilitate a stronger sense of community across the Graduate School of Arts and Science. I’m also an affiliate member and a journalist of Communications Committee at FAPC (Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church). Currently, I’m leading a small group to research and explore alternative worship in NYC monthly.

Length of time at NYU:
SCPS – May 2003 to October 2007: Certificate in Publishing/Editing
GSAS – January 2009 to Present: Psychology, M.A.

Taj Tsonga: Master's degree candidate in Journalism

Taj Tsonga is currently working toward a Master of Arts in Journalism at New York University, through which he hopes to draw on his personal and professional experiences to help expose problematic local and national issues. Taj if elected will come to graduate student council with several years of  experience within higher education. He has held professional contracted positions at Columbia University and New York University before deciding to return to school fulltime to further his education. "If elected I look forward to representing the issues of my fellow graduate students and will utilize my professional relationships I have developed at New York University over the years to eliminate unwanted administrative delays." 

 

Nominee for Treasurer:

Aviv Madar: Doctoral candidate in Biology

A bit about me: I am a Doctoral candidate at the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at NYU. My research focus is interdisciplinary in nature; it involves the application of principles and methods from Mathematics and Computer Science to solve Biological problems. I consider myself intelligent, spicy, and someone who loves to travel and exploring new cultures.  I love cooking (everything), movies, a good workout, engaging conversations, and interesting people. 

My previous volunteering opportunities: I enjoy volunteering in my community. Doing so made me realize a simple fact, the more time and effort I give the more I receive in friendship, appreciation, and most of all self-fulfillment. As a high-school student I volunteered in a local community center and served as a friend and guide to young children from financially challenged families. It was enriching to help boost their confidence and self-image. As an undergraduate student I continued to volunteer, this time as part of a bigger statewide volunteering project – “Perach” – which paired kids with various challenges with University students. My contribution was tutoring high-school students, helping them prepare for major exams, exams they dreaded, and show them how they can excel and succeed in the subjects they initially considered beyond their reach. I was very honored to hear my pupils report to me their exam scores with a voice to match no other, a voice of newly earned self-respect. As a graduate student I have already served as a member of the Office for International Students and Scholars (OISS) advisory board, aiming to provide key input as to the needs of my fellow international students. Serving the OISS was a great experience. Through this experience I learned how a large office within NYU is structured, gained insight into the highly diverse group of students at NYU, and learned how to work in a mixed-team where each member comes from a different culture.

Qualifications: As an Israeli citizen I was required to serve in the military. I served for four years, most of which as a logistic officer commanding the logistic department of my unit. During those years I managed my unit’s resources (mostly done in Excel), e.g. food, munitions, transportation, all under restrictive budget constraints. This job required me to work together with people within the unit, as well as out of it, people of various ranks, positions, and personalities. Thus, I have experience in working as part of a bigger team, and managing a large budgetary account, an account that follows strict rules and regulations. If chosen by my fellow members of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) as the Treasurer, I vow to do my utmost to insure efficient, responsible, and fair distributions of funds under my supervision.

 

Nominee for Secretary:

None.

 

Nominee for Student Senator:

Lily Vosoughi : Master's degree candidate in Journalism

My name is Lily Vosoughi and I am a first-semester grad student at NYU’s School of Journalism, with a concentration in the News & Documentary Program.  As a 24 year-old Associate Producer at ABC News’ Good Morning America, I have acquired both leadership and communication skills that have strengthened my ability to work with people of all disciplines and interests.  I have also gained fluency in varied leadership roles by working and representing dynamic groups of people in an array of organizations.  Among my proudest and most valuable experiences are: my former work as an ambassador for the American Cancer Society, teaching English as a community leader to underprivileged adults and child immigrants at the NYC International Center, and, leading debates on the Mock Trial Team as an undergraduate student.  I believe that as a GSAS Student Senator, I can offer the graduate student body a leader that facilitates communication within and among all of the schools of discipline at NYU.  I firmly believe I can most effectively function to serve as the voice for the community and prioritize the representation of concerns raised by each graduate school before the university’s council, senate or any other public forum for that matter.  

Furthermore, I believe that as a young Persian woman, I can lend a gregarious and distinctly unique perspective that can provide diversity to the GCS Executive Board.

I hope to have the opportunity to serve as a fellow leader and student senator in efforting  progress and improvement over the course of my academic journey here at NYU

Nominees for Alternate Senator:

None.

The GSAS Graduate Student Council works in partnership with the Graduate School's Office of Academic and Student Life, located at One Half Fifth Avenue, Garden Level, NY, NY 10003, (212) 998-8060 or gsas.studentlife@nyu.edu

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