Cristianna Colella
Director of Curriculum DesignCristianna is a developmental biologist and translational researcher with a long-standing teaching and mentoring career in STEM: beginning in 2014 as an instructor and inquiry-based curriculum developer at Queensborough Community College, then as an Adjunct Lecturer of Cell Biology & Physiology at Queens College, where she has taught consecutive semesters since 2016.
During her graduate career, Cristianna studied gene regulatory and signaling mechanisms that mediate body patterning during early embryogenesis, and then served as an investigator at NYU Winthrop Hospital, where she evaluated the efficacy of intermittent fasting on weight loss and metabolism as well as the molecular underpinnings of time-restricted feeding. She is an active contributor to Springer International Publishing's Behavioral Science and Evolutionary Psychology encyclopedias and two-time cell and molecular biology judge in Regeneron's Long Island Science and Engineering Fair. Cristianna particularly enjoys mentoring students in support of their independent research goals, and has overseen student research showcased in numerous science and engineering fairs. Two of her favorite projects involved the engineering of a custom 3D-printed spectrophotometer and fully-automated photobioreactor using an Arduino microcontroller. When she is not teaching, Cristianna enjoys reading short stories, making botanical artwork, custom tee shirts and playing with her 3D printer. Starting summer 2023, Cristianna is joining STEM Scholars as our Director of Curriculum Design. |