She showed them how it’s done.
CUNY Associate Vice Chancellor and University Vice Provost for Research, Rosemarie Wesson, spoke to Hunter College’s John P. McNulty Scholars on February 25, in a wide-ranging lecture that described her duties at the university and her journey as a scientist and engineer.
The John P. McNulty Scholars Program gives support, mentoring, and enrichment for students who are potential leaders in science, technology, engineering, and math. Part of that enrichment is hearing from practitioners in CUNY and beyond.
Wesson, a chemical engineer educated at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Michigan, presides over research for the entire university. She helps students and faculty members learn about and apply for research opportunities and further grow the CUNY research enterprise. The office distributes a well-regarded newsletter, Research in Focus. She also supervises commercialization efforts and polices ethics surrounding grants.
Wesson followed a circuitous path to becoming a research scientist. As a high-school student in the Midwest, she enjoyed math and science. At MIT, which she attended almost by accident, she dabbled with becoming an actuary but found she loved organic chemistry and especially polymers. Her research led her to a PhD and jobs at Dow Chemical Company; later, she taught at Louisiana State University and directed programs at the National Science Foundation, among other activities. She has been at CUNY for 10 years.
Wesson said her choices didn’t always follow a prescribed plan.
“When people would always ask, ‘What do you want to be when you grow up?’ My answer was, in elementary school, ‘I want to be a truck driver,’ because truck drivers got to drive across the country, go anytime, anywhere they wanted,” she said.
Wesson said that, fortunately, Hunter science students had alumni role models that they could emulate, like our two Nobel Laureates in Medicine, Rosalyn Yalow ’41 and Gertrude Elion ’37, and renowned carbon scientist Mildred Dresselhaus HCHS ’47, HC ’51.
McNulty Scholars said they were grateful for the opportunity to hear from scientists such as Wesson.
“Hunter is a massive building. There are thousands of kids here. So, it’s kind of hard to find somewhere where you can get a support group,” said Anna Ponomarev, a third-year biochemistry major. “But the McNulty Program feels like a dedicated community. Everybody is friends with everybody. It’s nice to get together once a week and just do an activity together. It makes you feel like you have a place in Hunter.”
Maliha Tasnim, another third-year biochemistry major, likes the variety she encounters in the program and at lectures. “It’s really nice to see excellent persons in physics and other fields,” she said.
About the John P. McNulty Scholars Program
The John P. McNulty Scholars Program aims to encourage undergraduate women who are motivated in science and math to aspire to leadership positions across industry and academia. McNulty Scholars receive leadership training and are financially supported for up to two years with a stipend as well as funds to support conference attendance. Scholars selected for this competitive program excel in the classroom, their laboratories and their communities. Post-graduation, the Scholars have continued their scientific research, accepted jobs in industry, and pursued PhDs, MDs, and MA degrees in a variety of fields.
