Celebration & Recognition of Excellence Weekend
Event Details
Events are held by various departments and groups across campus, with the opportunity for the Clarkson community to learn about and celebrate the historical significance of the weekend, and hear from a keynote speaker. Highlights include:
- STEM QuESTS Challenge: The Institute for STEM Education’s STEM QuEST competition, where students were challenged to create an inspiring hands-on experience for middle or high school students that will spark an interest in STEM. Three teams were selected to receive $1,000 for developing a lesson plan that could be used in classrooms and STEM Camps throughout the North Country; an additional grand prize-winning team received $1,500.
- Research & Excellence Awards / Research & Projects Showcase (RAPS), which highlights the groundbreaking and sponsored research activity by Clarkson’s undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty. The 2024 Research and Projects Showcase consisted of 148 presentations. A total of 101 undergraduate and 47 graduate students presented their research work in either an oral or poster format. Session high scorers in each category were invited to participate in a live pitch-off session, with the overall top three presentations receiving up to $1,000.
- Academic and Departmental Awards. High-achieving students have a personalized award presentation where their accomplishments are recognized.
- University Recognition Day & Phalanx: Academic, University Service and Leadership Awards and Phalanx Induction takes place, and is the culmination of the weekend’s activities. This ceremony is the culmination of the weekend’s activities and serves as the current rendition of the long Clarkson tradition of “rising” as an entire body, as well as the announcement and induction of the next cohort of Phalanx, Clarkson’s highest honor society. The 2024 keynote speaker was Kolby T. Ziemendorf, who is a founder of 46 Climbs, a non-profit dedicated to taking positive action to overcome suicide and mental illness by challenging individuals across the country to set both physical and fundraising goals during an annual week climb event.
- Diversity and Inclusion Awards and Banquet. This invitation-only banquet honors all student organizations and individuals that have promoted growth in the area of diversity on this campus and the surrounding community.
2024 CREW Recognitions
Grand Prize Winner ($1,500)
Connect 4 - Kouboura Abakar, Essence Raymo, Apriah Scruggs-Muhammad, Nabitou Cisse
Winning Finalists ($1,000)
CAPros - Mahnoor Ali and Matthias Schmidt
Environ - Mahender Singh Rawat and Victor Manuel Melgarejo Cazares
Lefties - Yemi Afolayanka, Parker Hyser, and Matt Uon
Graduate Oral Presentation High Scorers
Biomedical and Health Science - Ankita Samanta
Biosciences - Pierce Warburton
Chemistry, Physics, & Biosciences - Jehad Abdelnabi
Computer Science and Computational Modeling - Ajan Ahmed
Sustainability - Miranda Wolf
Graduate Poster Presentation High Scorers
Biomedical and Health Sciences - Abrielle Swartz
Biosciences - Mohammad Zahir Uddin Chowdhury
Chemistry, Physics, and Biosciences - Kelechi Okere, Thomas Robbins, Philip Hekeler, and Joshua Sember
Undergraduate Oral Presentation High Scorers
Bioscience - Gabriella Ballestas
Material Science - Robert Davis
Computer Science, Math and Data Analytics - Annemarie Bernardi
Engineering and Sustainability - Sarah Fish and Abd Ur Rehman
Civil Engineering - Connor Chawgo, Quinn Risen, Anwesha Das, Dylan Farr, Gavin Stayton, Liam Gildea, Michael Quinn, Miles Hall, Troy McDonald
Psychology and Social Sciences - Sydney Jarvis
Undergraduate Poster Presentation High Scorers
Biomedical and Health Sciences - Natalie Romano, Sina Lufkin, Kathryn Murphy
Biosciences - Tyler Smith
Chemistry, Physics, and Material Sciences - Irini Konstantinou, Thi Thuy Hoang Tran
Computational Modeling, Computer Science, and Data Analytics -
Andrew Davidson, Avijit Chakrobarty
Material Science, Environmental Science and Engineering - Reilly Avila, Jonathan Sanchez-Salgado, Abigail Mortimer, Bethany Almeida
Humanities, Social & Behavioral Science - Jordan Summerfield, Sydney Jarvis, George Skane, Sarah Jane Gascoyne
Session High Scorer in Sustainability - Maria Suffredini, Rochelle Daniels, Celia Darling, Caroline Dodd
Session High Scorer in Student Projects, from the ME 445 & ME 446 courses: Connor Galton, Tyler Esola, Timothy Elicks, Jacob Cassi, Taylor Clayton
Top Graduate Elevator Pitches
3rd Place: The Influence of Speech Emotionality on ASR Metrics and Recognition Accuracy - Ajan Ahmed
2nd Place - Delta-Mediated Cytoneme Dynamics in Drosophila Bristle Cells - Abrielle Swartz
1st Place: One-step rapid phosphate detection in eutrophic water - Jehad Abdelnabi
Top Undergraduate Elevator Pitches
3rd Place: 3D Culture and Analysis for In-Vitro Intervertebral Disc Cell Phenotyping - Natalie Romano, Sina Lufkin, Kathryn Murphy
2nd Place: Attached snow groomer with cross country ski tracks - Connor Galton, Tyler Esola, Timothy Elicks, Jacob Cassi, Taylor Clayton
1st Place: LEED for Communities Recertification in the New York Olympic Region: A Look at Sustainable Holistic Planning Systems in Rural Communities -
Maria Suffredini, Rochelle Daniels, Celia Darling, Caroline Dodd
Sustainability Award Winner (Graduate Posters)
Sustainable Waste-Derived Adsorbents Based on Nanostructures for Phosphorus Removal from Eutrophic Water - Ulfet Erdogan Uzunoglu
Sustainability Award Winners (Undergraduate Posters)
Waste to Resource-Technical Assistance, Community Campaigns and Food Audits to Repurpose Food Waste as a Resource - Rebecca Leonard
LEED for Communities Recertification in the New York Olympic Region: A Look at Sustainable Holistic Planning Systems in Rural Communities -
Maria Suffredini, Rochelle Daniels, Celia Darling, and Caroline Dodd
Motivation and Inclusivity: An Exploration of Pathways to Non-Prejudiced Perspectives and the Development of a New Measure - Jordan Summerfield, Sydney Jarvis, George Skane, and Sarah Jane Gascoyne
Commercialization Award Winner (Graduate Posters)
Wearable electrochemical sensor for the detection and degradation of Paraoxon -
Nishi Gondhiya
Commercialization Award Winner (Undergraduate Posters)
Infrared Ski Waxing Process - Ryan Morse
Coulter School of Engineering and Applied Sciences / Institute for a Sustainable Environment Awards
Thomas E. Robinson and Theodore P. Waffle – Outstanding Senior Award
Lyle S. Trimble – Pablo Guttman Memorial Award
Brynn Farley – R. Shankar Subramanian Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Achievement in Chemical Engineering
Wafi Aziz – Dr. Lewis J. Derzansky MS’68, PhD’73 Memorial Graduate Scholarship Endowment
Abigail L. Mortimer – The Hendrickson Family Trust Award
Thomas Ryan Hoey – Charles Martin Clark Memorial Prize
Emma Rose Bloom – Civil & Environmental Engineering Award for Writing
Anne Cherkowski – The Arthur L. Straub Memorial Award
Tayyab Adnan Habibur Rahman – Outstanding Teaching Award for Graduate Students in Civil & Environmental Engineering
Maxim James Baker, Isabelle Ruth Brown, Dylan T Farr, and Cooper Hugh Shepardson – Keith M. Russ Civil & Environmental Engineering Awards
Liam Allen and Anthony John Felix – The Norbert L. Ackermann Endowed Fund Awards
Mahender Singh Rawat – Paul Rodgers Memorial Fellowship Fund
Keith Chang and Nathan Nguyen – The William A. Dart Award
Derek Pelkey – The John B. Russell Memorial Award
Trong-Linh Vu – The Ben Schilling ‘18 Graduate Student Award
Alexander Black – James E. Fassett Memorial Scholarship
Thomas Bondaruk – Junior Aerospace Engineering Award
Dante Cusolito – Senior Aerospace Engineering Award
Ryan Teplitzky – Junior Mechanical Engineering Award
Emily Pecora — Senior Mechanical Engineering Award
Grace Ameis — Robert E. Rosati ‘52 Award for Excellence in Mechanical Engineering
Paige Arden Palmer — Mary King Dyson ‘07 Memorial Leadership Award
Christian Kubica — The Norman L. Rea Award
Miaread Coyne — the Myrna G. Sproul Memorial Award
Grace Mundinger — The Environmental Science & Policy Leadership Award
ShaSha Yang — Outstanding PhD Thesis Award
Ella Weldy — ISE/EHS Outstanding Service Award
Dorian Loeber—Physics Department Outstanding Freshman Award
Hayden Brandt—the Physics Department Outstanding Senior Award
Spencer Lassard—The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Science Freshman Award
Madison Morsey—The Gamma Sigma Epsilon George L. Jones Jr. Award sponsored by the chemical fraternity Gamma Sigma Epsilon
Hailey Morrissiey—Raymond R. Andrews Achievement Award
Tyler Bechard—The Dr. George L. Jones Jr. Memorial Scholarship Award
Peter Biggers, Carolyn Colosi, Joza Drexler, Spencer Lassard, and Drew Reigelsperger—Egon Matijevic’ Endowed Chemistry Scholarships
Nnamdi Ofodum—Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award
Ilya Sterin—Outstanding Graduate Student Award
Tyler Bechard—Stig E. Friberg Award for Undergraduate Research
Maryangela White—the Hamlin and Darraugh Computer Science Outstanding Senior Award
Tyler Yankee—The R. Gerald Bradshaw Computer Science Outstanding Junior Award
Alexander Odom—the James Lynch and Jan Searleman Computer Science Outstanding Sophomore Award
Xinchao Song—the Computer Science Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award Award
Cary Keesler—the Miller and Davis Computer Science Service Award
Kelsey Sheehe and Leah Tracy—David Powers Senior Award
Aengus Andrew and Shreejit Poudyal and Nathan Smullen–the R. Gerald Bradshaw Junior Award
Aaron Cook and Juilet Thisleton—The Scott Fulton Sophomore Award
Thevasha Sathiyakumar—Yazhan Jiang Award
Lucas Adams—the Miller/Davis/Felland Service Award
Reh School of Business / Engineering and Management Awards
Brynn Hempstead and Madison Kagan — John W. Graham Jr. Leadership Award
Delaney Smith and Allison Swagulinski (Company: DefendHER)--Reh School of Business Dean’s Challenge for Business Innovation
Seth Albert and Nicole Wing — Ilse J. Shaw School of Business Freshman Award
Alyssia Bleau and Carter Rose — Ilse J. Shaw School of Business Sophomore Award
Bryn Myers — Andrew S. Ormsby Law Scholar Award
Karina Benzel – Eugene R. Yeager Jr. Memorial Scholarship and Award
Ming Cheung and Emma LaBarge — The Robert ‘65 and Elaine Birrell Accounting Award Sponsored scholarships
Eliza Hadlock, Blake Logel, Aliyah Lorainey-Henry – The James L. Dohr Accounting Scholarships
Kevin Rose - The James L. Dohr Accounting Award
Emma Crowningshield - Dr. Rajesh Sethi Achievement Award
Vincent Lavarnway - The Gregory P. Arnold ’73 Memorial Prize Award
Myranda Collette — The Elizabeth A. Kissel ’90 Memorial Endowed Award
Adam Johnson — The Kyle G. Reichley ‘85 Memorial Alumni Scholarship For Excellence in Business Analytics
Blake Logel - Ralph Janero Memorial Sponsored Scholarship
Mara Brown - The Hendrickson Family Trust Award
Jonathan Kent - Dr. Amy Zander Engineering and Management Award for Outstanding Career Potential
Zoey Kovach - Engineering and Management Activity Award
Kailey Johnson and Manon Stevens - The Dr. Charles T. Mosier ‘72 Memorial Scholarship Award
Megan Becker, Mickey Conway, Angelica DeGuardia, Noah Dussault, Alyssa Juliano, Gabriela McSwieney, Evan Mook, Jerry Orans, and Sara Trudeau — The Joseph Scaturro Endowed Scholarships
Samantha Haddad and Gabryella Redenti — The Richard Brady Legro ’82 Memorial Endowed Award
Vitesse Disney, Ethan Flamand, and Ethan Harmon — The Catozella Family Scholastic Achievement Awards
Alexandria Celia and Jerry Orans — Engineering & Management Emerging Leadership Award
Lewis School of Health and Life Sciences Awards
Nimanthi Abeyrathna–Biology Department Outstanding Graduate Research Award
Nimanthi Abeyrathna—Biology Department Graduate Teaching Award
Sydney Lopresti—Biology Department Outstanding Sophomore Award
Tyler Smith—Biology Department Outstanding Senior Award
Norman Haaker—Biology Department Outstanding Research Award
Isabella Pelkey—Biology Department Undergraduate Teaching Award
Natalie Romano—Biology Department Outstanding Leadership and Service Award
Ivy Freund—Craig Woodworth Award for Undergraduate Research in Bioscience
Nabiha Madre—The Psychology Research Award
Sarah Jane Gascoyne and Jean Paredes—The Psychology Research Assistant Awards
Sakena Kearse—The Psychology Professional Experience Award
Anja Martin—The Psychology Service Award
Yadhira Garcia—the Gary Kelly, Teaching, Mentoring and Leadership Award
Additional Academic Awards
Thomas Joseph Dubay — Arts & Sciences Award
Professor Sumona Mondal — Faculty Teaching Excellence Endowed fund in honor of Dr. Jack Carroll, Ania Keidong, Ceilidh Kiegle, Clarie McCarty, Garrett Simmons, Raine Tweedy, Haley Witucki — Robert John McGill and Dr. NYE Smith Major William W. Coleman Memorial Award
Gabriel Aquino, Makenna Cassin, Tyler Dixon, Natalie Hooper, Carter Lancto, Nathaniel Marzec, Maya Silverstein, Elizabeth Swartz, and Nicole Wing — Dr. Carl Michel Award
Aiden Privitera — Ilse J. Shaw Award
Frederick Anson, Luke Baringer, Quinn Bathgate, Jochanaan Fair-Schulz, Laurence Frenette, Naana Hutchful, Diego Lizotte, Riley Loughan, John Meuse-Sitar, Benjamin Ronning, Andrew Sammons, Arye Wolberg — Francis A. DeLucia Award
Michael Boysuk, Jasmine Daly, Marlah Hohlfelder, Ceilidh Kiegle, Louisa Moosbrugger, Gabriel Rutherford, and Garrett Simmons - Jerome D. Barnum Memorial Award
Carly Jane Beckstead, Marlah Ellen Hohlfelder, Cassidy Jean Marshal, Chastant Peter
Shontz, and Autumn P. Walker—Communication, Media & Design Graduating Senior Award
Raine Nicole Tweedy—Communication, Media & Design Junior or Rising Senior Award
Samantha Nicole Major—Communication, Media & Design Sophomore Award
Thomas Joseph Dubay—Peter ‘90 and Chandra Wargo Digital Arts & Sciences Award
Emma M. Fish—Digital Arts & Sciences Junior or Rising Senior Award
Cassidy Rose Fowler—Digital Arts & Sciences Junior or Rising Sophomore Award
University-Wide Awards
Moses Adejumo—Outstanding Teaching Award for Graduate Students
Reynolds 2nd Floor—Residence Halls Scholarship Award
Julia Thomas and Ella Weldy—Kristin Bandy Craig Honors Scholarship
Cathrine Koran—the Gary Kelly Outstanding First-Year Student Award
Meredith James—the Perkins Family Memorial Award
Quinn Risen—The ADK Experience Outing Club Award
Hannah Schweitzer—Bill Cotter ’73 Sponsored Media Prize
Allison Miller—Stephen Newkofsky H’03 Endowed Student Engagement Scholarship
Brandon Vanselow—the Ambassador of the Year Award
Myranda Collette and Gavin Eibye—the Deloitte Foundation, Along With Priscilla Scheib Gibbs (Suny ‘60) And Nelson F. Gibbs (Cct’59) Presidents Award
Sumona Mondal and Ashley Sweeney—the Award for Student Achievement Champion of the Year
Christian Yung Choy—Support Staff Award for Academic Excellence
The Career Center—Clarkson University Student Association Outstanding Service Award
Natalie Romano—the Dean William J. Farrisee Memorial award
Frederick Beck—the Elinor N. McGill Memorial Award
Abigail Vincent— the CUSA Outstanding Senator Award
Thomas Dunbar–John H. Koerner Jr. Intramural Award
Madelyn Barnum and Brendan Tersolo—Philip “Pinky” Ryan Memorial Award
Gabriela McSwieney and Michael Schroeder—The Martin A. Welt ’54 Family Awards
Kaelan Taylor---the Paul J. Pilon Memorial Award
Jack Donaldson—the Paul Hyde Memorial Awards
Luke Hayden and Theodore Hughes—The Clarkson School Award
Sadie Williams and Natalee Agresta—The Kristine M. Layn Endowed Memorial Scholarships
Tristan Gilbert and Isabella Pike—the Vern Clute Memorial Academic Achievement Award
Michael Garcia—The Martin Luther King Jr. Award
Lyanne Garcia-Boswell, Junior Tchapdieu, Winnie Waweru, Joshua White—the Diversity & Inclusion Overall Awards
Commendable Service Award
Stephen Bird
Troy Lassial
Rebecca Pelky
Deborah Shipp
Shantanu Sur
Marjorie Warden
Phillip White-Cree
William Williams
Tanvir Ahmed
Mahnoor Ali
Alayna Appolon
Kolade Ayeni
Vincent Bastien II
Ryan Bellinger
Cole Bennett
Willow Boyce
Nabitou Cisse
Miles Compani
Michael (Mickey) Conway
Cameron Cunningham
Kirby Davidson
Demi Dionne
Caroline Dodd
Jesse Dykes
Gavin Eibye
Yadhira Garcia
Liam Gildea
Grace Girard
Kimberly Gomez
Michael Green
Timothy Griffith
Anna Humiston
Jonathan Jewell
Isaac Kiiza
Diego Lizotte
Wyatt MacPherson
Eric Martin
Jerry Orans
Camryn Peets
Shreejit Poudyal
Thomas Robinson
Natalie Romano
Otho Sandwick
Kelsey Sheehe
Arnit Sinha
Tipu Sultan
Jordan Summerfield
Pijush Sutradhar
Matthew Syzdek
Angela Tewksbury
Brandon Vanselow
Abigail Vincent
Esma Wali
Jonathan Welbeck
Ella Weldy
Joshua White
Danielle Whitham
Miranda Wolf
Distinguished Service Award
Clarkson University Outing Club (CUOC)
Society for Women Engineers
Timber Bridge SPEED Team
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
Delta Upsilon
Clarkson University Emergency Medical Service (CUEMS)
National Society of Black Engineers
Clarkson Honors Steering Board
Ghanaian Students’ Community, Clarkson GSCC
Alpha Kappa Psi
International Office of Student Affairs
Ignite
Sustainability Club
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society
Friends of India Association
Bangladeshi Students Association at Clarkson University
(BSACU)
Clarkson University Graduate Student Association (CUGSA)
Communications, Media, and Design Department
Clarkson Association of Pre-Health Students
Underwater Robotics SPEED Team
Clarkson Club Television (CCTV)
Clarkson University Habitat for Humanity
The Re-Imagine Clarkson Faculty Task Force
Clarkson Women’s Hockey Team
Commendable Leadership Award
Tom Langen
Ashley Sweeney
Kouboura Adam
Tanvir Ahmed
Paul Akinyemi
Mahnoor Ali
Benjamin Almstrom
Caeden Bailey
Vincent Bastien II
Annemarie Bernardi
Tyler Brooks
Anne Cherkowski
Miles Compani
Michael (Mickey) Conway
Robert Davis
Demi Dionne
Sucharitha Dodamgodage
Caroline Dodd
Benjamin Ellis
Cayden Fernandez
Sarah Jane Gascoyne
Yadhira Garcia
Julia George
Kimberly Gomez
Adriana Gonzalez
Mohammad Hasan
Ryan Hulchanski
Alyssa Juliano
Meilin Lamanna
Danielle Lindsay
Haley May
Shubham Mishra
Olaoluwa Ogunleye
Michelle Pasiechnyk
Natalie Peacock
Camryn Peets
Gabryella Redenti
Thomas Robinson
Natalie Romano
Sydney Sandroni
Kelsey Sheehe
Tyler Smith
Juan Pablo Sola-Thomas
Matthew Syzdek
Ryan Teplitzky
Grace Towler
Abigail Vincent
Esma Wali
Ella Weldy
Joshua White
Danielle Whitham
Miranda Wolf
Class of 2024
Benjamin Ellis
Demi Dionne
Mahnoor Ali
Class of 2025
Juan Pablo Sola-Thomas
Grace Towler
Ryan Teplitzky
Cayden Fernandez
Abigail Vincent
Kimberly Gomez
Ella Weldy
Graduate Students
Olaoluwa Ogunleye
Miranda Wolf
Esma Wali
Faculty/Staff
Tom Langen
Ashley Sweeney
The Clarkson Distinction in Faculty Mentoring in Research & Scholarship Award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated an outstanding commitment to faculty mentoring in research and scholarship by actively assisting pre-tenure and mid-career faculty in developing their career(s). This year’s recipient is Stephanie Schuckers.
The Clarkson Excellence in Research & Scholarship Award is granted to a mid-career tenured faculty member that has had a significant impact on their chosen field of study. This year’s awardee is Sulapha Peethamparan.
The Clarkson Lifetime Achievement in Research and Scholarship Award is granted each year to recognize the career of a tenured faculty member celebrated internationally for a body of work that exemplifies the highest level of research accomplishment and has made a significant impact on his/her field of study. The recipient of the 2024 Clarkson Lifetime Achievement in Research and Scholarship Award is Susan Powers.
Faculty who received a patent for fiscal year 2023 include Sitaraman Krishnan for “Material Compositions and Methods for Porous Graphite-Polymer Composite Bipolar Plate” and Cetin Cetinkaya for “Method and Apparatus for Ultrasonic Delivery of Drugs and Contrast Agents” which was granted on December 26, 2023.
First-time grant recipients for fiscal year 2023 include:
Diana Aranzales
Ginger Hunter
Lennart Johns
KaHo Leung
Simona Liguori
Dana Olzenak McGuire
Laura Perry
Lauren Petley
Melissa Richards
Juby Varghese
Clarkson’s Million Dollar Club recognizes researchers who have been supported with $1 million or more in external sponsored research. New inductees into the Million Dollar Club include:
Sujan Fernando
Lennart Johns
Ka Ho Leung
Chunlei Liang
Chen Liu
Craig Merrett
The Multi-Million Dollar Club includes researchers who have received $5 million or more in external funding. This year’s newest inductee was Stefan Grimberg.