Undergraduate Research Club

The Undergraduate Research Club is dedicated to helping undergraduates find and make the most of research opportunities. The officers of the club are listed below. It meets via a WhatsApp link.

President: Esther Rotlevi  (Esther.rotlevi01@qmail.cuny.edu)

Esther is an honors student pursuing a double major in history and neuroscience while on the pre-medicine track. She is currently conducting research on misophonia, an under investigated psychiatric condition, under the mentorship of Dr. Usha Barahmand in hopes of fulfilling her passion for research.


Vice President: Shoshana Farber (shoshana.farber15@qmail.cuny.edu)

Shoshana is an honors student pursuing an applied mathematics degree and a career in health. She looks forward to diving into research topics that pique her curiosity and discovering more about her interests in the process. As Vice President of the research club, she hopes to be able to facilitate other peoples’ ability to do research while in turn learning more about research herself.


Secretary: Chaya B. Gordon (chaya.gordon160@qmail.cuny.edu)

Chaya is an HMNS student researching biological plasticity in Dr. Sebastian Alvarado’s lab at Queens College. She is investigating the impact of social status on coloration in the male African cichlid, Astatotilapia burtoni. She loves marine biology and has a fascination with cuttlefish. Her major is Biology, and she is on the pre-med track to pursue her dream of becoming a physician


Treasurer: David Abramov (david.abramov01@qmail.cuny.edu)

David is majoring in neuroscience and is a part of the honors program at Queens College while pursuing the premed track. He is looking forward to immersing himself in the study of research very soon. Loves biology and is bored with chemistry. Still figuring out the exact career path but is optimistic to join a lab and expanding his knowledge on topics of interest. He is excited to help fellow peers involve themselves in the same way!


Faculty Advisor: Dr. Matthew Civiletti

I teach in the Department of Physics, and my research specialty is inflationary cosmology. I have worked on exploring the consequences of supersymmetry to models of cosmic inflation, and particularly on how the constraints of Grand Unified Theories affect the predictive power of inflationary models. Since coming to Queens College, I have worked with undergraduate students on non-supersymmetric inflationary model-building projects. Our recent research concerns how to apply novel numerical techniques to cosmic inflation, focusing on simple and popular models. Through these projects, students learn the essentials of inflationary cosmology and various numerical techniques.