Dr. Erwin M. Cabrera has joined the professional staff at Farmingdale State College as Associate Project Director of the “First in the World” Research-Aligned Mentorship program (RAM).

Among his many responsibilities, Dr. Cabrera will develop a model to match RAM students to research opportunities; secure on-campus and off-campus research placements; create special events; and counsel students.

Before joining Farmingdale, Dr. Cabrera was Student Director/Recruiter for the NYU Sackler Institute Diversity and Outreach Initiative; alumni advisor to students in the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) Meyerhoff Scholars Program; and before that National Director for Filipino Intercollegiate Networking Dialogue, Inc.

He holds a PhD and MS in Neuro Pathology from New York University School of Medicine, where his work focused on the usage of proteomics, spectroscopy and biochemistry to understand the role of amyloid beta protein in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. He also holds a BS in Biological Sciences from UMBC, where he was member of the distinguished Meyerhoff Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Scholars programs.

Farmingdale’s “First in the World” program is funded by a $2.9 million grant from the US Department of Education.  It has a goal of improving four-year graduation rates by 20% over Farmingdale’s baseline for first-year and transfer students.  The program will support on-campus research and place faculty and students in mentored research experiences off campus in national laboratories, research universities, business accelerators, and other research venues.