Class of 2020

Dr. Chen, a professor in the Department of Mathematics at Stony Brook University, is a mathematician of the first caliber, who in the last several years has made transformational contributions to the field of complex differential geometry as well as the most important breakthrough in Kähler geometry in the past forty years. He found a groundbreaking a priori estimate for Kähler metrics. With Sir Simon Donaldson and Song Sun, Dr. Chen proved the Donaldson Tain-Yau conjecture, the existence of special metrics on complex manifolds of positive curvature. In 2019, Dr. Chen received the Oswald Veblen Prize in Geometry, the field’s most prestigious honor given every three years by the American Mathematical Society. Dr. Chen along with Dr. Bing Wang, solved two long-standing problems: the Hamilton-Tian conjecture on the limiting metric of Kähler-Ricci flow, and a fundamental result on the existence of constant scalar curvature Kähler metrics. A Fellow of the American Mathematical and Society, Dr. Chen is a Simmons Fellow in Mathematics. He has received a $500,000 Simons Foundation Investigator Award, a prestigious five-year award given to a few distinguished scientists at the heights of their careers.

Dr. Crassidis, the Samuel P. Capen Chair Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University at Buffalo (UB), has received 65 grants totaling $36.5 million. He has written 239 journal and conference publications, two textbooks, and also served as co-author of the textbook, Optimal Estimation of Dynamic Systems, considered the standard reference. Dr. Crassidis directs UB’s Center for Multisource Fusion, the only U.S. fusion center, with an annual revenue of $10 million. Founder and director of the UB Nanosatellite Laboratory that designs satellites for the Air Force and NASA, Dr. Crassidis was the first to research practical and innovative solutions to resident space object attributes and to determining air leaks. He was the principal investigator on two NASA Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program missions and served as chair of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Guidance Navigation and Control Technical Committee, and General Chair of the Malcolm D. Shuster Astronautics Symposium. The AIAA gave Dr. Crassidis the Mechanics and Control Flight and Sustained Service Award.

Dr. Feltri, Professor of Biochemistry in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo and Acting Director of the Hunter James Kelly Research Institute, is an internationally renowned expert and pioneer in the field of myelin biology. Author of more than 100 articles, Dr. Feltri has made significant and remarkable contributions to our understanding of how specific signaling pathways and growth factors regulate brain development and function, particularly in demyelinating diseases including multiple sclerosis, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and Krabbe disease. She researches Schwann cells and the process of myelination and remyelination that modulates neuro-inflammatory repair after traumatic injury or disease. She developed the first mutagenesis tool for studying Schwann cell development and regeneration, and she was the first to employ a transgenic animal model which allows researchers to study Schwann cell biology during development, in hereditary neuropathies, after injury, in regeneration and in disease. Her fundamental research significantly contributes to the development of novel therapies for many neurological disorders. A member of the international Peripheral Nerve Society and a member of its advisory board from 2009-2013, Dr. Feltri was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2019.

Dr. Freudenheim, Professor and Chair of the University at Buffalo’s Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health in the School of Public Health and Health Professions, is an internationally renowned expert in nutritional cancer epidemiology. Dr. Freudenheim has conducted groundbreaking research on the factors that influence risk for breast cancer, including the role of diet, alcohol, and the physical environment. Author of more than 270 articles, she examines carcinogenesis from the molecular level to the individual and population levels. Her findings have helped shape the field of chronic disease epidemiology. Dr. Freudenheim’s research has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army since 1991, and by the National Cancer Institute for the past 15 years. She is an elected member of the American Epidemiology Society, whose membership is limited to the top 200 epidemiologic investigators worldwide, and she is a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. In 2005, she received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship, and in 2008 she was named the School of Public Health and Health Professions’ Outstanding Researcher.

Dr. Ghose, Professor of Computer Science at Binghamton University, co-founded and directs the Binghamton Center for Energy Electronic Systems, a National Science Foundation Industry-University Cooperative Research Center that yields research expenditures over $1 million per year. With 24 patents in building energy-efficient systems, he has attracted a $12 million Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) award and more than $6 million in federal, state, and industrial grants. He is co-author of two conference papers cited over 400 times each, “Analytical energy dissipation models for low power caches (1997),” and “MARSS: a full system simulator for multicore x86 CPUs (2011),” and his overall scholarly contributions have been cited over 1500 times. A recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Premier Inventor Award, Dr. Ghose also received the SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities and for Excellence in Faculty Service. A Fellow in the National Academy of Inventors, Dr. Ghose serves as chair for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Roadmap Committee on Heterogeneous Integration for High-Performance Computing and Data Centers and as editor of IEEE’s most selective journal, Transactions on Computers.

Dr. Goyal is a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor and founding director of the University at Buffalo’s (UB) RENEW Institute that harnesses the expertise of more than 100 faculty in seven UB schools and colleges to explore solutions to globally pressing energy and environmental problems as well as to the social and economic issues connecting them. His leadership has placed UB at the forefront of efforts to reduce water and air pollution and to find innovative, clean ways to produce, transmit, and store energy. Before joining UB’s faculty, Dr. Goyal was a distinguished scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. An internationally recognized materials scientist, Dr. Goyal was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018 for groundbreaking scientific advances and technological innovations enabling the worldwide commercialization of high-temperature superconductors. A fellow of the National Academy of Inventors, Dr. Goyal holds 87 patents, with additional patents pending. He has authored more than 315 peer-reviewed publications and co-edited six books, garnering more than 18,400 citations. Thompson-Reuters’ Essential Science Indicators ranked Dr. Goyal as the most-cited author worldwide in the field of high-temperature superconductivity from 1999­‑2009.

Dr. Holtgrave, Dean of the School of Public Health at the University at Albany and a SUNY Empire Innovation Professor, is an internationally recognized leader in HIV prevention, policy, and delivery of services. His 30-year career in public health has focused on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of HIV prevention interventions and the translation of those study findings to HIV prevention policy. He has produced over 300 publications, including five books or National Academy of Medicine reports. He has served as director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention-Intervention Research and Support at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as vice-chair of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS under President Obama. Dr. Holtgrave testified before a U.S. House of Representatives during a hearing on domestic HIV prevention. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he worked closely with the New York State Department of Health on a number of published projects related to COVID-19 epidemiology, prevention and treatment. In 2021, Dr. Holtgrave served part-time as a Senior Policy Analyst with the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy under an Interagency Personnel Act agreement.

Dr. Jiang, Professor in the Department of Cell Biology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, is a leader in the field of lipid biology, specifically the role of lipoproteins and phospholipids in the membranes of cells, and how this biology influences the development of cardiovascular disease. His work has revolutionized our understanding of the complex and intricate regulatory pathways of phospholipid metabolism, and has had a profound impact on our understanding of heart and vascular disease. Continuously funded as a Principal Investigator by the National Institutes of Health, American Heart Association and Veterans Affairs over the last two decades, he has published more than 170 peer-reviewed papers in journals such as Nature Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Science Translational Medicine, Circulation Research, Circulation, and many others. He has received numerous honors, including the SUNY Downstate Medical Center President Research Award (2002); the SUNY Promising Inventor Awards (2003 and 2005); the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities (2010); the SUNY Downstate Medical Center Excellence in Education Award (2015), and the Alfred Stracher Faculty Recognition Award (2018).

Dr. Levy, Professor and Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo (UB), is an international expert in neurosurgical interventions in cerebrovascular disease, especially the treatment of stroke, intracranial arterial stenosis, and aneurysms. Widely regarded as a pioneer in the field, Dr. Levy has published four books and 573 articles and developed new technology and approaches that have been helpful in treating people around the world with previously incurable cerebrovascular disorders. A member and fellow of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons, and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, Dr. Levy is one of 100 members of the American Academy of Neurosurgery and one of 12 members of the American Board of Neurosurgery. As principal investigator or co-PI, Dr. Levy has garnered more than 40 grants totaling nearly $10 million. In 2014 he earned the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities; in 2016 he received the L. Nelson Hopkins, MD Professor and Endowed Chair of Neurosurgery Award, and in 2018 he was recognized as “Teacher of the Year” by the residents and fellows at UB Neurosurgery for his dedication to teaching and mentoring. His many awards include the Hero of the Heart Award from the American Heart Association.

Dr. Limburg, Professor in the Department of Environmental and Forest Biology at the College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF), is an international expert in fisheries science and environmental economics. With over 40 years of academic service, Dr. Limburg is known especially for her work on otolithology and now hypoxia in the world’s oceans. She has performed research on the ancient fish of the Amazon, commercial cod stocks in the Baltic Sea, endangered species in the Grand Canyon, and the American Shad in the Hudson River. She is internationally known for her research in North America and in the Baltic Sea. Author of 115 peer-reviewed journal publications, she leads SUNY ESF with nearly 2,500 scholarly citations a year over the past five years. Her article “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital” published in Nature has alone been cited more than 20,000 times and is credited with making ecological economics (the integration of ecosystem modeling and economics together with social/institutional assessments) the mainstream approach. She has been the principal investigator for close to 50 grants worth millions of dollars. Dr. Limburg was instrumental in founding the U.S. Society of Ecological Economics, serving as its president and board member and as founding co-editor of its journal, Ecological Economics Reviews. A Fulbright scholar, Dr. Limburg was recognized with SUNY ESF’s Exemplary Researcher Award in 2010, and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2018.

Dr. Pindell, a professor in the Department of Art at Stony Brook University, brings a powerful voice for social justice to her pioneering conceptual art. She utilizes gridded, serialized imagery, along with surface texture, throughout her work, powerfully addressing social issues of homelessness, AIDs, war, genocide, sexism, xenophobia, and apartheid. In 1967, Dr. Pindell was the first appointed female African-American curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). In 1972, she co-founded the A.I.R. Gallery, the first artist-directed gallery for female artists in the United States. Dr. Pindell’s work has been shown at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, MOMA, the National Gallery of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. She has received the top awards in her field: a Guggenheim Fellowship (1987); the Most Distinguished Body of Work or Performance Award from the College Art Association (1990); the Distinguished Contribution to the Profession Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art (1996); and two National Endowments for the Arts Fellowships. She is considered to be one of the most significant artists of the second half of the 20^th century.

Dr. Rajan, the Erich Bloch Chair and Empire Innovation Professor in the Department of Materials Design and Innovation at the University at Buffalo’s (UB), has advanced the field of materials informatics by applying data science tools to nano-vaccine design; coupling new data mining and processing tools to accelerate materials design; discovering new superalloys; and pioneering quantitative methods in atom-scale chemical imaging. Dr. Rajan has secured $37.5 million in grants and research funding, and $2.9 million in a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to establish UB’s Materials Data Engineering Laboratory. He has served as director for the NSF’s International Materials Institute; as a member of the National Committee on Data Science and Technology and the Army Research Laboratory’s National Academy of Sciences’ Material Science and Engineering Panel Laboratory, as well as a member of task committees for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Dr. Rajan is the founding editor-in-chief of Materials Discovery Journal.

Dr. Saltz, the Cherith Professor and Founding Chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Stony Brook University, has performed groundbreaking work in bringing concepts from computer science and digital processing to clinical pathology, leading to significant improvements in diagnosis and patient outcomes. His innovative studies on whole slide imaging led to improved analysis of previously challenging cases of neuroblastoma and lymphoma, and in 2017 he received Food and Drug Administration clearance to use whole slide imaging for primary pathology diagnosis. He has developed pioneering artificial intelligence/deep learning methods to create highly detailed maps of tumors and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), and to reliably segment and classify cell nuclei. He used deep learning algorithms to identify the precise location and spatial arrangement of TILs and then showed that patterns relating to the spatial arrangement of TILs was strongly prognostic of cancer outcome in a pan-cancer manner. His work has been instrumental in shaping the growing field of bioinformatics, and he is credited with coining the term pathomics (from pathology and informatics), creating a field that did not exist before him. Author of more than 191 journals publications, Dr. Saltz is a Fellow of the American College of Pathologists and the American College of Medical Informatics.

Mr. Scheer, Professor of Print Media in the Department of Expanded Media at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, is a Fulbright Scholar and Co-Director/Founder of the Institute for Electronic Arts at the School of Art and Design. He currently serves as Vice President of the International Academic Printmaking Alliance based in Beijing China. Over the past 35 years, he has held more than 120 exhibitions in prestigious national and international venues, and his works are in more than 200 public and private collections worldwide. He is the leading American exponent in the development of digitally derived applications for a fine-art printmaking context. His current works, which span print media, video, and web-based projects, use technology to re-examine nature through interpretive collecting and visual recording. An invited visiting artist lecturer over 70 times in locations worldwide, including Europe, China, Australia, and New Zealand, Scheer has two books, numerous catalogs, and his work has been featured hundreds of times in various publications, including National Geographic, the New York Times, ArtNews, ArtForum, Science, Nature, Forbes, American Photo, DERSPIEGEL, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Interviews and discussions of his work have appeared on ABC News, BBC News, and Bravo TV. Among his many awards are the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Dr. Smith, Professor of Physiology and Pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, is an internationally prominent researcher in the field of Neuroscience. Dr. Smith identified a novel sub-type of GABA_A receptor, α4βδ, which emerges in the brain at puberty and after hormonal fluctuations in a rodent model of premenstrual syndrome, generating inhibition but also anxiety in response to a stress steroid. This inhibitory receptor reduces learning ability and can limit seizure activity but its effect on brain circuits, triggering “synaptic pruning”, is a necessary process to ensure optimal learning in adulthood. Dr. Smith’s research, continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health, sheds light on the mechanisms underlying diverse outcomes seen during human adolescence. Abnormal pruning and expression of the α4βδ GABA_A receptors are tied to a variety of disorders triggered by the onset of puberty, including anxiety, premenstrual syndromes and other mood disorders, remission of childhood epilepsy and certain diseases of the brain such as schizophrenia and autism. She edited Neurosteroid Effects in the Central Nervous System: The role of the GABA_A receptor and has published 149 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Smith, widely recognized as an accomplished researcher and an exemplary teacher, has rendered outstanding service to Downstate, Brooklyn, and the nation and beyond.

Dr. Tiffany, Empire Innovation Professor in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Psychology, is a globally renowned expert on the study of addictions. He has developed a cognitive model of craving—now referred to as the “Tiffany model”—that has shaped the way experts in the field conceptualize the relationship between craving and addictive behavior, particularly in relation to nicotine and tobacco. As a direct result of Dr. Tiffany’s research, the phenomenon of drug craving has been added as a diagnostic criterion in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the resource used to categorize mental disorders in legal, educational, and medical records. Dr. Tiffany demonstrates a breadth of expertise ranging from use of basic animal models to clinical interventions. With more than $12 million in grants, including seven highly competitive R01 grants from the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Tiffany has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles and an edited book collection. His cognitive model of craving has been cited more than 2,000 times, and his top five articles cited more than 600 times each. Among his awards, Dr. Tiffany was elected as a fellow of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco in 2018.

Dr. Wong, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University, has founded new approaches for the synthesis of metal oxide nanomaterials, novel strategies for adding chemical functionalities to carbon nanotubes, and innovative environmentally friendly solvents and processes. With $8 million in research funding, he has produced over 170 publications with 20,000 citations and 20 patents. Across his career, he has fostered collaboration with Brookhaven National Labs. A Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Royal Society of Chemistry, Dr. Wong has received the American Chemical Society Inorganic Award, a Sloan Fellowship, the Buck-Whitney Award, and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. In 2018, SUNY granted him the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities. Dr. Wong has served as the Executive Editor of ACS Applied Materials and Interface, as a Section Editor for Nanotechnology, and as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Chemistry of Materials.

Dr. Zamolodchikov, Professor in the Institute for Theoretical Physics, joined Stony Brook University as the first C.N. Yang – Wei Deng Professor of Theoretical Physics. His contributions to quantum field theory, statistical physics, and string theory have been at the forefront of world theoretical physics for more than 40 years. Dr. Zamolodchikov’s research is in the field of theoretical physics with specific contributions to conformal invariance, which has implications for the physics of solids and liquids. His landmark co-authored paper “Infinite Conformal Symmetry in Two-Dimensional Quantum Field Theory” had widespread impact on a broad set of problems, ranging from the behavior of two-dimensional materials such as nanosheets of grapheme to superstrings in space-time: it is credited with giving birth to the new discipline of conformal models. With a collaborator, he produced differential equations for the correlation functions of 2D conformal field theories, universally known as the “Knizhnik-Zamolodchikov equations.” His work has contributed to our understanding of critical phenomena and phase transitions and has had applications to quantum entanglement and quantum computation. With around 80 publications and approximately 20,000 citations, Dr. Zamolodchikov was named an American Physical Society Fellow in 2000; a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2012, and inducted into the National Academy of Sciences in 2016.

Dr. Zhang, Professor of Sociology at Buffalo State College, is a world-renowned scholar on social psychiatry and suicidology. His field work in rural China with specific attention to rural communities, gender differences, and mental health concerns helped identify the unique risk factors of suicide. Featured in Science in 2012, his Strain Theory of Suicide and measurement scales provided a new perspective to understand and intervene in suicidal behaviors. His Reference Theory, a social psychological theory to account for disputes and an approach to resolution, crossed disciplines to draw from a complex array of other constructs (e.g., depression, hopelessness, mental illness) and their measures from the field of psychiatry. Founding director of Buffalo State’s Center for China Studies, Dr. Zhang has authored six books and more than 200 refereed articles and book chapters. Zhang was awarded the Louis I. Dublin Award for Distinguished Contribution in the Area of Suicidology from the American Association of Suicidology. He has been awarded the Buffalo State President’s Teaching Award and the Chancellor’s Excellence Award in both Faculty Service and Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Dr. Broyles, Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at SUNY Cortland, has devoted nearly thirty years to honing his model of integrated research in teaching. Known for his deep insight into milkweed reproduction, Dr. Broyles works to incorporate research experiences across the wide range of courses he teachers; from Introductory Biology to specialized upper-division and graduate courses in the major, including topics such as Field History and Field Ornithology. Demonstrating an extraordinary ability to engage with students, both in the classroom and in the field, Dr. Broyles has mentored over forty innovative undergraduate research projects including work on birch leaf stoma, trillium reproduction, urban forests, partridgeberry and lichen diversity, thrush migration, carbon storage in trees, Native American trail-marker trees, and jack-in-the-pulpit species identification. In addition to his teaching at SUNY Cortland, he volunteers his expertise to garden clubs, retirement centers, YMCAs, and nature centers, and he teaches high-school science teachers at the Raquette Lake facility in the Adirondacks, using the surrounding environment as his classroom. Dr. Broyles has received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the SUNY Cortland Rozanne Brooks Dedicated Teaching Award.

Dr. Howe, a professor in the School of Business at SUNY Geneseo, creates a highly interactive classroom setting where students develop essential proficiencies for their future profession. His student-centered pedagogical approach, constant improvement of student outcomes, and extensive student support and mentorship have fostered beneficial relationships with alumni, who support students through guest lectures, networking events, and internships. As an engaged scholar, he has authored several books, textbooks, book chapters, and over a dozen journal articles as well as given American Accounting Association presentations on teaching methods. Dr. Howe serves as a paradigmatic representation of the transformative nature of the Liberal Arts. In 2011, Dr. Howe was inducted into the Northeast Region American Accounting Association Hall of Fame, and in 2017, he received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Dr. Jabot, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at SUNY Fredonia, has made outstanding contributions in teaching, research, and service. Dr. Jabot’s caring and engaging classroom environment has fostered valuable relationships and mentorships with students, who consistently report that his passion for science education is infectious. His leadership in helping to integrate science programs into Fredonia’s School of Education was highly regarded by his colleagues. He has worked tirelessly to provide science professional development for the state’s elementary and middle school teachers, work consistently supported by coveted competitive funds from the Title II B – Mathematics and Science Partnerships (MSP) program.  He has served on the statewide science steering committee and on the science learning standards development committee, where he played an instrumental role. He is a Subject Area Representative for the Science Teachers Association of New York State; an Elementary, Intermediate Level and Physics Science Assessment Liaison for the New York State Department of Education; and an Executive Board member for the New York State Chapter of the American Association of Physics Teachers.  Dr. Jabot’s regional and national contributions to science education are reflected in his superb research output of over 50 scholarly publications, more than a dozen grants, numerous presentations at professional conferences and awards. He has served on advisory committees, centers, councils, conservancies, foundations, institutes, and working groups.

Dr. Rocco, a professor in the Department of Humanities at SUNY Maritime College, has been a transformative pedagogical force, elevating faculty practice and helping to advance the College’s strategic plan. He received the 2006 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the 2018 SUNY Maritime Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Dr. Rocco is the recipient of two Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) to build a Digital Scholarship (DS) Lab in the Stephen B. Luce Library and to create DS Teaching Cohorts across disciplines. As Faculty Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) and Director of the Digital Scholarship Center at Maritime College, Dr. Rocco built the Maritime and Naval Studies (MNST) Master’s program as well as sponsored digital scholarship and assessment workshops. As Coordinator of MNST, he has mentored and advised every student, tripled the program size, and developed a Deck License program that allows students to attain Coast Guard certification.

Dr. Singer, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences and Science Education at Buffalo State College, has long believed that opportunities to participate in research during the undergraduate experience were essential to the success of her students. Dr. Singer established and directed Buffalo State’s Office of Undergraduate Research, developed a student research conference, and the Undergraduate Summer Research Program. She undertook a multi-year effort aimed at developing and field-testing a methodology for measuring student learning and related student outcomes for the summer program known as EvaluateUR. This evaluation methodology, developed with input from faculty across disciplines, focuses on 11 student outcomes to better inform program impact and ultimately, refinement. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funded the scaling of EvaluateUR to the national level, modifying it for use in a broad range of undergraduate research experiences. The NSF and United States Environmental Protection Agency support Dr. Singer’s applied sedimentology research program that involves undergraduate research. Dr. Singer has published 100 abstracts, 20 peer-reviewed papers, and several reports. Dr. Singer is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. She served as a program officer in the Division of Undergraduate Education at the NSF and as President of the Council on Undergraduate Research.

Dr. Tally, a professor in the School for Graduate Studies and a faculty member at Empire State College (ESC), has received several major awards, including a 2018 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and a 2002 Empire State College Susan H. Turben Award for Excellence in scholarship, the college’s highest scholarship award. Dr. Tally’s work with ESC’s Corporate College partnership with Verizon employees helps first-generation college students succeed in higher education. Many of the program’s graduates have advanced to graduate school or to higher-level management positions. Dr. Tally brought state and national awareness to the pedagogy of teaching with special populations of inner-city working adult students. Dr. Tally has written or edited four books, contributed chapters to 18 additional books, published a refereed journal article, and made over 30 presentations at national and international conferences. She’s also led new program development, served extensively in college governance, and assumed many faculty leadership roles.

Dr. Bueche, Professor in the Department of Human Ecology at SUNY Oneonta, is an internationally recognized expert in nutrition and dietetics. She developed and directs Oneonta’s Master of Science in Food and Nutrition program, which is recognized in the field as a national model. In addition to developing eight of the program’s courses, she has created faculty-led study abroad programs in Ecuador and Peru that serve impoverished and at-risk children, providing experiences beyond the classroom that require students to confront and work to solve real-world issues such as food injustice and hunger. Her programs have also been instrumental to the improvement of dietetics teaching in Ghana. Dr. Bueche’s development of a distance-based dietetic internship was a cutting-edge approach to solving the shortage of graduate-level dietetic internships, earning her the regional and state Outstanding Dietetic Educator Award. As SUNY Oneonta’s Faculty Athletic Representative, Dr. Bueche designed an “Academic Game Plan” that dramatically increased the academic performance and standing of the college’s athletes; her innovative approach increased student athlete retention to 97 percent, leading to its adoption by other colleges. Dr. Bueche is credited with raising the national standards for the education of all future dieticians through her service on the Board for the Accrediting Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics, and her contributions to the profession have earned her regional and national awards. She continually demonstrates exemplary national and international service to her field, thereby promoting the health and wellbeing of all those served.

Dr. Drout, Professor of Psychology at SUNY Fredonia, is a tireless and dedicated teacher with an outstanding record of service. She has served in key roles at Fredonia, including Director of the General College Program and General Education Activity Director for a campus Title Ill grant. She is active in governance at the campus and SUNY-wide level and known for her work on student outcomes assessment, both locally and nationally. Dr. Drout’s service contributions at the international level are considerable. Awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Japan, Dr. Drout has since been very active in the regional chapter, serving as Board member, Vice-President, and newsletter editor, and creating collaborative engagements with Japanese scholars and students. She was instrumental in developing a dual-diploma program with Izmir University in Turkey, and her scholarly work in the field of victimology has provided research opportunities for students. Dr. Drout has promoted diversity and inclusion, and has been an advocate for women’s right. She is active in the American Psychological Association's Division 35 Society for the Psychology of Women, and served as co-chair. She is the recipient of the Fredonia President's Award for Faculty Excellence (2012) and SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service (2017).

Mr. Hewlett, Professor in the Department of Science and Technology at Finger Lakes Community College is a respected national leader on community college scholarship and research.  Professor Hewlett founded the Community College Undergraduate Research Initiative (CCURI), a network of 42 schools teaching more than 6,000 students a year and the nation’s leading organization in providing research experiences to community college students. As primary investigator for sixteen grants totaling more than $23 million, Mr. Hewlett has established and expanded CCURI and supported bio-manufacturing education and workforce development. Author or co-author of four academic books, Mr. Hewlett focuses on the successes and challenges of preparing the next generation of scientists and shares his own experience using research to teach, for example, in travel courses to study volcanic activity on Caribbean reefs. Mr. Hewlett is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching as well as the Chancellor’s Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities.

Dr. Mackenzie, was a Professor in the Department of Animal Science at SUNY Cobleskill and was a nationally renowned animal behaviorist, canine trainer, author, expert witness, consultant, and educator. With significant contributions to the fields of canine behavior, management, and training spanning his 40 years of service, Dr. Mackenzie's influence extended well beyond SUNY Cobleskill. Local and state law enforcement teams, as well as national canine organizations, have benefitted from his vast experience in training military and police dogs and his books, Decoy and Aggression: a Police K9 Training Manual; Aggression Control: Teaching the 'Out'; and Police Officer's Guide to K9 Searches, have further contributed to his reputation as a “giant in the field.” Dr. Mackenzie was a court-recognized expert in animal behavior at both the state and federal levels in both criminal and civil cases, and a frequent instructor at police and search and rescue dog seminars across the United States and Canada. Under his direction, SUNY Cobleskill launched Canine Training and Management, one of only a handful of degree programs in the country shaping training techniques across tracking, search and rescue, and canine behavior. External recommendations for this appointment—from Homeland Security and Emergency Services; K9 Search Midwest; the Northeast Wilderness Search and Rescue; the Deputy Coroner of Park County, Colorado; and the National Canine Facility—show the breadth of his service and the impact that he made. In 2015, Dr. Mackenzie received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, and in 2017, he was recognized as the North American Working Dog Association's Master Trainer of the Year; a distinction held by only three trainers in New York State.

Ms. Maloney-Titland, Professor in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Rockland Community College (RCC), is a professional actor/director who has directed more than 200 productions over her 30-year career. As a former Vice President and longstanding member of the Penguin Repertory Theater Company, Ms. Maloney-Titland has built a challenging professional internship program for her students. She has established collaborations with Concern Worldwide US, engaging them in philanthropy to benefit RCC scholarships. She has also advocated for the participation of the differently abled, engaging them in key roles in her productions. Her productions themselves are often fundraisers for worthy charities including AIDS Awareness, Autism Speaks, diabetes research, and others. Professor Maloney-Titland has twice received the Arts Council of Rockland Award for Arts Educator as well as the Rockland Community College Foundation’s Leadership Award and Person of the Year. She founded the Rockland Shakespeare Company and serves as its co-artistic director. In 2009, she received the United Way Volunteer Award for extraordinary volunteerism and service to the organization and other non-profits in Rockland County; in 2011, she received the County Executive Arts Award for exemplary and dedicated service to the arts; and in 2019, she received the NAACP Top Honoree, West Nyack, NY, for service to the community and youth organization. She is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities and the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service.

Dr. Mandell, Professor in the School of Social Science and Public Affairs at Empire State College (Empire State College), is a nationally and internationally recognized leader in the field of adult learning and a pioneer in the field of prior learning assessment (PLA). Dr. Mandell co-created Empire State College’s Master of Arts in Adult Learning. He served founding director of the Mentoring Institute and continues to offer his expertise to the College’s Center for Mentoring, Learning and Academic Innovation. He is the author of All about Mentoring and co-edits PLA Inside-Out, the international online journal of theory, research, and practice in PLA, and he leads the PLAIO international advisory board. Dr. Mandell is the co-author or co-editor of five books: Adult Learning in the Age of Trump and Brexit; Adult Education on of Dewey’s Experience and Education; Principles; Practices and Creative Tensions in Progressive Higher Education; From Teaching to Mentoring: Principle and Practice, dialogue and life in adult education; Portfolio Development and the Assessment of Prior Learning, now in a second edition, and more than 35 articles—these publications have advanced the fields of adult learning, faculty mentoring, and PLA internationally. He is also a generous member of the Council for Adult Experiential Learning. He is a recipient of the Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Professional Service and for Excellence in Teaching, Empire State College’s Excellence in Teaching Award, and held the Susan Turben Chair of Adult Learning and Mentoring (2008­-2009). He received the City University of New York Alumni Achievement Award, the Eugene Sullivan Award for Leadership from the Adult Higher Education Alliance, and the National Institute for the Assessment of Adult Learning’s Achievement Award.

Dr. Schneider, Professor in the Department of Kinesiology, Sports Studies, and Physical Education at SUNY Brockport, combines his scholarship with a tireless commitment to transform the way that sport management programs are structured and delivered.  With 84 peer-reviewed publications and more than 150 presentations (including 60 international in 30 different countries), his creation and promotion of a flexible content approach to sport management has advanced the field at universities and sport-based organizations throughout the world. When sport management programs emerged several decades ago, they were located in business, recreation, physical education, or hospitality and tourism departments. This variance made it difficult for the field as a whole to sustain curricular consistency. Through his publications, presentations, and consultations, Dr. Schneider has brought greater coherence to the field by introducing a flexible, interdisciplinary, curriculum model, which allows for the sport management major to be housed in a single department, but requires students to take courses in other disciplines. His model emphasizes the importance of experiential learning in multiple settings, integrity, and professional standards. Versions of Dr. Schneider's flexible curriculum model were adopted by institutions throughout the U.S. and internationally, with support from Dr. Schneider regarding adaptation. Dr. Schneider has authored five field-shaping textbooks, including Ethics of Sport and Athletics: Theory, Issues & Application which is recognized for its groundbreaking approach to managing ethics in sports organizations. He has served on the editorial boards for 22 international or national peer-reviewed journals, and since 2012, he has served on or chaired the program committees for 11 international conferences, including the Athens (Greece) Institute for Education and Research. Dr. Schneider has helped build Brockport’s highly regarded Sport Management major and his service to the profession--speaking and consulting, and engaging university officials and leaders in sport organizations—has helped countless institutions and the students they serve.

Dr. Videto, Professor in the Department of Health at SUNY Cortland, is a national expert on school-health education.  She is co-author of the seminal book, Promoting Health and Academic Success: The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child Approach, and co-editor of the book, Assessment and Planning in Health programs, now in its second edition. She has received 17 grants, including from the U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, National Education Association Health Information Network, and New York State Education Department School Health Systems Change Project.  She has made over 116 presentations at professional conferences, developed nine resource manuals for K-12 teachers, served as editorial reviewer for several professional journals, and as consultant and trainer for the New York State Health Department. For nearly 20 years, Dr. Videto has led School Anti-Violence in Education Workshops for Health Education, Elementary Education, and Physical Education majors. She is the recipient of the Delbert Oberteuffer Mortar Board for her national leadership in health education. She received a Presidential Citation from the American Association for Health Education and inducted as an AAHE Fellow in 2013. The NYS Federation of Professional Health Educators honored Dr. Videto with its Dedicated Service Award and she is the recipient of the Amazing People Award from the Health Education Section of NYS Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance for her outstanding contributions and commitment to professional excellence.

Ms. Wilson, Professor in the Department of English and Creative Writing at SUNY Oswego, has demonstrated excellence in and commitment to service at the local, State, and national level. Professor Wilson’s understanding of and approach to service is inseparable from her work as a fiction writer; for her, service establishes connections and gives meaning to the world. Her first book From the Bottom Up won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and her second Wind: Stories was a Pulitzer Prize nominee, and her short story “Bullhead” was read on National Public Radio in 2008. A contributing Editor for the Writer’s Chronicle from 2011 to 2014, Professor Wilson brings together her scholarship and teaching, to establish and build connections across disciplines, among students, and with the broader community. She is Creator and Director of the Smart Neighbors Project, engaging students from multiple disciplines with external partners to promote and support local business and nonprofits. The funded project is part of a four-SUNY campus collaboration committed to increasing the number of SUNY faculty and students engaged in pedagogical best practices through Common Problem Pedagogy. She is also the creator of Oswego’s Grand Challenges Project, connecting the entire campus to collaborate with a shared focus on one challenge—fresh water for all. The Fresh Water for All project is a two-year curricular and extra-curricular commitment by SUNY Oswego to focus on the issue that connects the campus to SUNY Oswego’s place on the shore of Lake Ontario, as well as to local, national, and global communities. Professor Wilson shares her knowledge and expertise nationally, often invited to speak on topics Professor Wilson gives workshops and lectures at institutions in and out of NYS related to her expertise in collaborative best practice pedagogies as well as her award-winning scholarly and creative pursuits

Ms. Mugridge, Dean of University Libraries at the University at Albany (University at Albany), is internationally recognized for librarianship, particularly in the areas of technical services assessment, resource sharing, information literacy, and data management. With the University at Albany since 2013, Ms. Mugridge’s research focuses on increasing library quality and efficiency by examining efforts such as improved workflows, better training, reorganization, and the use of digital tools and cooperative networks. Author of Managing Digitization Activities: A SPEC Kit (2006), she has also edited five books—including Teams in Library Technical Services (2006), Cooperative Cataloging: Shared Effort for the Benefit of All (2011), Cataloging Collaborations and Partnerships (2013), and Assessment of Cataloging and Metadata Services (2018)—and three special journal issues of Cataloging and Classification Quarterly. She has published nineteen articles, more than 100 book reviews and conference reports, and made contributions to the Library of Congress. Ms. Mugridge has led key work at two organizations that have broad impact on professional standards and practices in her field, the Library and Information Technology Association and the Association for Library Collections and Technical Services (ALCTS), including service as editor the latter organization’s journal, ALCTS News.

Ms. Wells, the Library Director at the College of Optometry, has provided transformational leadership to the College’s library, creating one of the largest vision science collections in the world; executing a full library renovation; and implementing innovations such as SUNYOptSearch, Patron Driven Acquisitions, and a new library service platform.  She has regularly secured grant funding to invest in emerging technologies and electronic formats. Ms. Wells has provided valuable service to the National Library of Medicine’s MeSH taxonomy, the American Liver Association, and the National Association of Schools and Colleges of Optometry. Since 1997, she has held multiple offices in the Association of Vision Science Librarians. The NY/NJ Chapter of the Medical Library Association has acknowledged her work with two Outstanding Contribution awards and a Distinguished Service award. A recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service, Ms. Wells has also received the Chair’s Great Work Award, the highest award given by Rutgers University School of Library and Information Science. Ms. Wells is a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals Medical Library Association.