Beginning Tuesday, August 6th, CUNY TV Digital Series presents the first season of “CUNY Laureates”, a documentary web series about the lives and achievements of thirteen CUNY graduates who went on to become Nobel Prize winners.

By reintroducing these exceptional minds to online audiences, we hope to emphasize the value of a high-quality public education and demonstrate how it can transcend all social and political boundaries, even today.


Episode 1 - August 6, 2019
Arno Penzias - The Sound of Creation
tv.cuny.edu/show/cunylaureates/PR2007756


The first episode of the series tells the story of Nobel Laureate Arno Penzias and the accidental discovery of Cosmic Background Radiation (CBR) in 1965. This groundbreaking achievement served as the strongest evidence of The Big Bang Theory and is widely considered to be one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of the 20th Century.

Episode 2 - August 13, 2019
John O’Keefe - Inner GPS
tv.cuny.edu/show/cunylaureates/PR2007757


In 2014, John O’Keefe won the Nobel Prize “for his discovery of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.” In this episode, we look at the inner mechanisms of the brain and explore what taxicabs, video games, and the brain’s hippocampus have in common.

Episode 3 - August 20, 2019
Rosalyn Yalow – The Public Good
tv.cuny.edu/show/cunylaureates/PR2007758


In 1977, Rosalyn Yalow won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine “for the development of radioimmunoassays of peptide hormones.” Ms. Yalow was the second American woman to ever receive the prestigious award. We look into the personal and professional details of her life, which reveal the underlying struggles of this remarkable woman and her efforts to achieve a lifelong goal of becoming a world-renowned scientist.


CUNY Laureates team

Show Creator/Series Producer – Petar Talijancic
Petar Talijancic is a Senior Videographer and Digital Series producer at CUNY TV. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy from The University of Belgrade and M.F.A. degree in Television Production from Brooklyn College, CUNY. Petar is a firm believer in the power of public education and his work often reflects this ideal. By creating “CUNY Laureates” and telling stories about ordinary young people with extraordinary dreams, Petar hopes to reach younger audiences and continue to build trust in public educational institutions.

Co-Producer - Joseph Montalbano
Joseph Montalbano is a graduate of Cornell University, where he earned bachelor's degrees in Film and Asian Studies. His work has been shown at several film festivals including the People's Award International Short Film Festival in Quito, Ecuador and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival/CAAMFest. Joseph has had a lifelong interest in the sciences, especially astronomy, and is thrilled to explore the stories behind “CUNY Laureates” in order to promote STEM to a new and diverse generation of young people.

Graphics and Animation by Adam Finger
Adam Finger is an Emmy Award-winning New York-based designer, CG animator, and art director. He currently serves as an Art Director and Graphics Technical Director for CUNY TV. Among his recent credits are the show openings for Black America (earning him an Emmy), PBS's Science Goes to the Movies and The Open Mind, as well as CUNY TV’s stage design and show graphics for the New York Emmy Awards ceremony. Adam received his B.S. in Digital Media from Drexel University and a Masters degree in Library Science, with a concentration in archiving, from Queens College. Work on “CUNY Laureates” allows him to explore his passion for both design and history.

The Host - Duane Ferguson
Duane Ferguson is a two-time Emmy-winning producer and videographer at CUNY TV. He is a graduate of Lehman College, where he studied Theater, Media and Psychology. Duane is an instructor at Bronxnet for their Production Studio course, as well as the director of the live TV music program “B-Side” on BRIC TV. His on-camera work for “CUNY Laureates” allows him to explore another side of his multifaceted personality – his passion for acting.

CUNY TV DIGITAL SERIES is developed and coordinated by Emmy Award-winning producer Jose Luis Orbegozo under the supervision of Susan Iger, CUNY TV's Director of Programming, and Gail R. Yancosek, CUNY TV’s Interim Executive Director