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Dr. Preethi Radhakrishnan is an Associate Professor at the Department of Natural Sciences at LaGuardia Community College (LAGCC). Dr. Radhakrishnan has a Master’s in Biotechnology from the University of Madras, India and a PhD in Animal Behavior from Macquarie University, Australia. Dr. Radhakrishnan conducted a 2-year post-doc at the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Central Florida before accepting a full-time position at LAGCC. Dr. Radhakrishnan currently runs an active Behavioral Ecology Research Lab (B.E.R.G) at LAGCC. Dr. Radhakrishnan’s research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underpinning sexually selected and life history traits in insects. Her current project involves studying the effects of alcohol consumption on reproductive fitness and sperm viability in Drosophila melanogaster.

 

Dr. Radhakrishnan’s research has been recognized at several major national conferences such as Sigma Xi Student Research Conference, 2014 (Student: Weily Lang, 1st place for poster presentation in the Undergraduate Division) and CUNY Animal Behavior Research Initiative (CABI), 2014 (Students: Brittany Johnston and Katherine Lam: 1st place for poster presentation). Dr. Radhakrishnan has received several PSC-CUNY research grants to support her research; in addition Dr. Radhakrishnan is a mentor for the CUNY Research Scholars Program (CRSP).

 

In 2013, Dr. Radhakrishnan received a New Scholars Program Grant from the Elsevier Foundation to pioneer the Women in S.T.E.M Program at LAGCC.  Since 2013, Dr. Radhakrishnan, as Director of the program has awarded more than 20 scholarships worth 30,000$ to aspiring women who wish to pursue careers in the field of S.T.E.M. These scholarships include research scholarships to conduct research with a S.T.E.M mentor, and child-care assistance scholarships. In addition, the program has been successful in attracting more than 2000 students across 4 different panel discussions and poster presentations, which advertise potential career opportunities, internship opportunities in S.T.E.M fields for women and hands-on experiential learning opportunities. Dr. Radhakrishnan is an active member of the Womensphere Foundation and serves as an ambassador for community colleges CUNY-wide to champion the cause of attracting more women into S.TE.M majors. 

 

 

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.