Dr. Stephen M. Damiani, WI, 1975, has pledged $50,000 to The National Youth Science Foundation (NYSFoundation), to create a fund that will support future delegates to the National Youth Science Camp (NYSCamp).
“NYSCamp has had an incredibly positive impact on my life as both a scientist and a person. Now it’s time to ‘give back,’ as my predecessors have wisely and generously done for me, and help to continue the excellent legacy at NYSCamp, for which I will forever be grateful,” Dr. Damiani said with his gift.
“There is simply no other comparable venue, that I know of for young scholars in the United States with the charm of West Virginia and West Virginians and the shared sophistication of cutting edge science as the NYSCamp!”
“Attending camp was both life changing and life shaping for me!”
Support of science education has been a high priority for Dr. Damiani throughout his career. In addition to the fund he created for the NYSFoundation, he is a Dr. Jospeh S. Damiani Memorial Medical Scholarship founder with the Jesuit Partnership, Wisconsin Province Society of Jesus, Milwaukee, WI, and founder of the Dr. Stephen M. Damiani Science Scholarship at the Academy for Academic Excellence at Lewis Center in Apple Valley, CA, which is affiliated with Goldstone Radio Observatory.
Dr. Damiani is in private practice in Endocrinology and Metabolism in Apple Valley, CA. He has served as a preceptor for medical and other health sciences students, currently from Western University of Health Sciences in Los Angeles. In addition to being a delegate to NYSCamp in 1975, he was a Westinghouse Scholar, and winner of the Southeastern Wisconsin Science Fair. He is a fellow of the American College of Endocrinology as well as the American Academy of Internal Medicine. He is currently serving as a 2010-11 Governor of the American Academy of Internal Medicine.
His avocations include abstract expressionist painting, and he has nurtured a life long interest in invertebrate paleontology. He collects and explores for Cambrian Trilobites throughout the Southwest. His endocrinology research at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Center dealt with the neurobiology of the gonadotropin hormones, which continues to fascinate him today. In his spare time, he enjoys mountain biking, hiking, nature photography and archeology.