Hunter College Biologist Derrick Brazill Receives Presidential Early Career Award

Date: June 13, 2005
Contact: Meredith Halpern, (meredith.halpern@hunter.cuny.edu)
Phone: (212) 772-4068

(June 13, 2005) At a White House ceremony Monday, June 13, Hunter College Biology Professor Derrick T. Brazill received the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government on young scientists – the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) – for his groundbreaking work in understanding how organisms monitor and regulate the density of cells in different tissues, which are important in further understanding fundamental processes in cell growth and development.

Brazill’s use of a simple organism in these studies allows him to incorporate his research effectively into the teaching of several undergraduate laboratory courses in cell biology, providing valuable hands-on experiences to students, a large majority of whom are underrepresented minorities.

Brazill, an assistant professor of biological sciences, is one of 58 young innovators this year to receive the PECASE. Established by the White House in 1996, the PECASE program each year honors approximately 60 scientists and engineers who, early in their careers, have already blended excellence in pioneering research and service to their communities through scientific leadership and outreach activities.

“I am especially proud of Derrick’s receiving a PECASE, the highest honor a young researcher can receive at this stage of his scientific career, and a very strong indication of the esteem in which he is held by the scientific community. He is a gifted teacher as well, committed to providing a quality education to our diverse student body while continuing his career as a first-rate researcher,” said Shirley Raps, chair of biological sciences at Hunter.

Brazill is one of 20 PECASE winners selected by the National Science Foundation (NSF) from among the most recent NSF Faculty Career Development (CAREER) Program awardees. The CAREER award, bestowed upon fewer than 400 scientists and engineers each year, is the NSF's most prestigious award for new faculty members. In 2004, Brazill received a $625,000 NSF CAREER Award over five years for his research to uncover and study the genetic regulation of cell density sensing by using the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum as a model.

A graduate of Stanford University, Brazill received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley.

For more information, contact Meredith Halpern, Director of PR, Hunter College, 212.772.4068.

About Hunter
With a highly diverse student population of more than 20,000, Hunter is the largest college in the City University of New York (CUNY) system and the first choice among all CUNY applicants. Founded in 1870, the College offers more than 170 undergraduate and graduate programs. Hunter is noted for its professional schools in education, health sciences, nursing and social work, as well as its excellence in the liberal arts. Heralded as the "Crown Jewel of CUNY" by The Princeton Review, Hunter College has a distinguished reputation for nurturing talented minority scientists and meeting the challenge of providing high-quality science education in the 21st century. The College also oversees the Hunter College Campus Schools serving gifted and talented students, preschool through grade 12. For more information about Hunter College, please visit our Web site at http://www.hunter.cuny.edu.

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