York … A Place Providing Opportunity, says President of the Simons Foundation

David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation and founding director of the Center for Computational Astrophysics at the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute, hosted his lecture series “Genetics and Immunity” at York College on Tuesday.

Spergel’s day at York College was a return home; he is no stranger to the college. In addition to his many visits, his father, Martin, is a founding faculty member who served as chairperson of the Department of Natural Sciences from 1985 to 2005. While Chair, he served as York College’s sole representative to the City University Council of Science Deans and was instrumental in bringing the USFDA Testing Laboratories to campus.

“I remember when my dad got the York offer — it was at Fort Totten. I was 8 at the time, and my mother brought a cake out to celebrate. We didn’t get cake for dessert that often, so I knew this was something special,” he recalled.

Spergel spent most of his day on campus, first enjoying lunch with a small group of students and faculty members, followed by a meeting with interim President Claudia Schrader, and then the lecture with guest speaker Duscan Bogunovic, Ph.D., a professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University committed to investigations in human immunology and genetics.

When Spergel thinks of York College, the word that comes to his mind is opportunity. “I think of it as a place providing opportunity for New Yorkers.”

The Simons Foundation is very committed to enhancing opportunities for New Yorkers. Earlier this year, in the State of the State Address, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced CUNY is receiving $75 million from the Simons Foundation and Simons Foundation International, the University’s largest-ever donation. The gift earmarked $50 million to establish CUNY as a hub for computational science and $25 million to support CUNY’s participation in the Governor’s proposed Empire AI project.