Hakima Bahri will conduct research at CSI in summer 2017.

This summer, Hakima Bahri, PhD, will take leave from her research post at L’Ecole Nationale d’Agriculture de Meknès in Morocco to conduct her research at the College of Staten Island (CSI). A well-respected professor and researcher in the field of botany and a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship, Dr. Bahri will spend summer 2017 working with Abdeslem El Idrissi, PhD, in his laboratory.

Dr. El Idrissi, Professor of Biology at CSI, met Bahri in Morocco while traveling with his students in the LSAMP/ CSTEP-Morocco summer research initiative.

“Clearly this project is going to add value to both research efforts here at CSI in my lab and will also provide more international visibility for the College. This will strengthen future collaboration with research institutes in Morocco and also add interest to this research program,” noted Dr. El Idrissi.

CSI students visiting L’Ecole Nationale d'Agriculture de Meknès in Morocco.

Dr. Bahri’s objectives are to “conduct a thorough chemical profiling of the two selected species using adapted extraction methods and advanced analytical techniques… perform bioassays to test for the effect of the extracted phyto-chemicals on some of the health ailments… [and] develop a linkage with the laboratory of Neurobiology of the CSI of The City University of New York to build institutional collaboration…,” according to her Fulbright application.

“I am glad that this effort has come to fruition. I thank Khatmeh Osseiran-Hanna, the CSI Foundation, Dr. Claude Brathwaite and Vivian Incera for their continuous support,” commented Dr. El Idrissi.

The LSAMP/ CSTEP-Morocco summer research initiative has been running for three years and allows ten CSI students to conduct ethnobotany and biomedical research in Morocco for eight weeks in the summer.

“I am very pleased with the international links Dr. El Idrissi’s group has developed and the opportunities these collaborations bring for CSI students. We are honored to host Fulbright scholar Dr. Hakima Bahri in our college,” noted Dean of Science and Technology Vivian Incera, Ph.D.