More than 130 faculty and staff were honored at the Annual Awards and Recognition Dinner on November 8. President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD and Provost Michael A. Bernstein hosted the event that celebrated faculty achievements and Chancellor’s Awards and Presidential Mini-Grants recipients.

“Tonight we celebrate outstanding individuals whose efforts have gone far beyond the expected and who have made Stony Brook University a showcase for excellence,” said President Stanley. “Your contributions enhance the lives of our students and our reputation throughout SUNY and among our AAU peers. It is because of your dedication and vision that Stony Brook has accomplished so much in only 60 years.”
President Stanley began by recognizing the individuals who received Presidential-Mini Grants. Through these mini-grant awards, the University helps bring to fruition ideas and projects that will improve “our research and our ability to work together with a greater understanding of one another,” he noted.
Provost Bernstein then took to the podium to highlight three individuals who had earned very prestigious awards but could not attend the dinner: Alexander Zamolodchikov, professor in the CN Yang Institute for Theoretical Physics, was inducted into the into the National Academy of Sciences; Alan Alda, visiting professor in the School of Journalism, was awarded the National Academy of Sciences’ Public Welfare Medal; and paleoanthropologist Meave Leakey was awarded the Hubbard Medal, the National Geographic Society’s highest honor.
He also took a moment to acknowledge Dr. Aniko Paul, widow of Distinguished Service Professor Peter Paul. For nearly fifty years, Peter Paul was a prominent member of the Department of Physics and Astronomy and of Brookhaven National Laboratory. With his death in March of this year, he left behind a legacy that will be remembered for years to come. “Tonight we honor Professor Paul not only for his work with the Stony Brook team that won the 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics but also for his lifetime of contributions to the growth of his department and his field and for his impact on thousands of Stony Brook students,” said Bernstein.
After the Deans of each college took turns honoring their faculty, President Stanley returned to the podium to acknowledge the 2016 appointments to Distinguished Faculty and the 2017 recipients of the Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence.
The Honorees
Presidential Mini Grants
Stony Brook University Art Crawl: Samantha Clink, Janice Costanzo, Jinyoung Jin, Karen Levitov, Kristen Nyitray, Katherine Schwarting, Lorraine Walsh
Bringing Diverse Authors to Writers Speak and to the Undergraduate Creative Writing Minor: Anthony DiPietro, Emily Gilbert, Zinnia Smith
sheReads-to-Earn: Alfreda S. James
Using Diversity to Bridge the Barriers Between Academic Disciplines: Jay Levenson
Race, Love and Labor: Dialogue through Photography: Karen Levitov
Minority Health Symposium: Inel J. Lewis
Mini Grant Recipient: Bridging the Gap Between Red Watch Band and Chinese International Students: Kerri Mahoney
Band Together – Microaggressions Video: Chris Parks
The Lives of Migrant Workers and Refugees: A Human Right Film Festival: Mireille Rebeiz, E.K. Tan
Empowering Students with Disabilities and Creating a More Inclusive Environment Using Participatory Action Research: Rebecca F. Reed
Mentoring Experiences Among Muslim College Students: Harriet Waters, Nabiha Zakir
Fostering Peer Mentoring Relationships between the Center for Inclusive Education and the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Honors Program: Karian Wright
Chancellor’s Awards
Wiliam S. Bernhard, Excellence in Adjunct Teaching
Monica Bugallo, Excellence in Teaching
Yuefan Deng, Excellence in Teaching
Paul Fisher, Excellence in Faculty Service
Elizabeth Gasparino, Excellence in Professional Service
Kenneth Gladky, Excellence in Professional Service
Karen Kernan, Excellence in Professional Service
Dimitri Kharzeev, Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity
Bonita London-Thempson, Excellence in Faculty Service
Laszlo Mihaly, Excellence in Faculty Service
Ute Moll, Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity
Anthony Olivo, Excellence in Professional Service
Margot Whittemore Palermo, Excellence in Adjunct Teaching
Darlene Prowse, Excellence in Professional Service
Chandrani Roy, Excellence in Professional Service
Warren Siegel, Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activity
Toni Sperzel, Excellence in Professional Service
Wendy Tang, Excellence in Faculty Service
Robert Watson, Excellence in Professional Service
Faculty Achievements

Alexandre G. Abanov, APS Fellow
Anissa Abi-Dargham, National Academy of Medicine/Institute of Medicine
Alan Alda, National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Double Helix Medal, David Mahoney Prize
Thomas Allison, DOE Early Career Award
Jennifer Anderson, John M. Murrin Prize in History
Marie Badalamente, The Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research/Orthopaedic Research Society Richard A. Brand Award
Aruna Balasubramanian, Google Faculty Research Awards
Gábor Balázsi, Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA – NIH)
Michael Bender, David R. Smith Leading Scholar in Computer Science
Peter Brink, Distinguished Service Professor
Patricia Bruckenthal, Advanced Diplomat
Rebekah Burroway, SAGE Teaching Innovations and Professional Development Award
Mallory Catlett, Creative Capital Award
Latha Chandran. Distinguished Teaching Professor
Robert Chase, Research Fellow, Humanities Institute, University of Connecticut
Jing Chen, National Science Foundation CAREER Award
Fu-Peng Chiang, Life Time Achievement Award, for “Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Optical Methods of Experimental Mechanics” from the European Society for Experimental Mechanics (2016), at the International Conference on Experimental Mechanics, Rhodes, Greece
William Chittick, Distinguished Professorship
Rezaul Chowdhury, National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER)
Vitaly Citovsky, Faculty 1000 Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year
Richard Clark, Elected to SBU Chapter of National Academy of Inventors
Michael Bender, David R. Smith Leading Scholar in Computer Science
Petar Djuric, EURASIP Fellow
Axel Drees, APS Fellow
Congwu Du, CEBRA (Cutting-edge Basic Science Award)
Jared Farmer, NEH Public Scholar Fellowship
Michael Ferdman, Google Faculty Research Awards, David R. Smith Young Scholar in Computer Science
Iris C. Fineberg, Distinguished Scholar and Fellow of the National Academies of Practice
Daniela Flesler, National Endowment for the Humanities
Laura Fochtmann, Distinguished Service Professor
Michael Frohman, Distinguished Professor, Association of American Physicians, AAP
Anshul Gandhi, Google Faculty Research Awards
Perry Goldstein, Distinguished Service Professor
Lorne Golub, Fellow National Academy Inventors (FNAI)
Elyse Graham, Residency, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Residency, National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Samuel Grushevsky, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award Simons Fellow in Mathematics
Sonia Harmand, Prix La Recherche Vanity Fair Magazine (France)
Joshua Teplitsky, Israel Institute Faculty Development Grant
Nima Honarmand, Google Faculty Research Awards
Chuan Huang, NARSAD Young Investigator Award
Shu Jia, DARPA Young Faculty Award
Christopher Johnson, Air Force Young Investigator Program
Tiffany Joseph, Woodrow Wilson Foundation Nancy Weiss Malkiel Junior Faculty Fellowship, American Sociological Association Funding across the Discipline Grant
Chang Kee Jung, Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Corrine Jurgens, Fellow, Heart Failure Society of America
Robert Kaplan, Senior Lecturer in the College of Arts and Sciences
Kathleen Kasten, National Network of Libraries of Medicine – Medical Library Project Award
Arie Kaufman, LI Technology Hall of Fame, Most Innovative Patent Award
Paul Kelton, Choice Top Academic Title 2016 for Beyond Germs: Native Depopulation in North America (co-edited with Catherine Cameron and Alan Swedlund)
Stephanie Kelton, POLITICO 50
Hyungjin Kim, The Conquer Cancer Now Award
Michael Kimmel, Novo Foundation, Center support 2015, refunded 2017
Joanna Kiryluk, Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER)
James Konopka, American Academy of Microbiology Fellow
Susan Lane, Alpha Omega Alpha Fellow in Leadership Award
Meave Leakey, Hubbard Medal
Matthew Lerner, Biobehavioral Research Award for Innovative New Scientists, NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Teacher of the Year, Stony Brook Department of Psychology
Daniel Levy, President’s Distinguished Travel Grant
Shan Lin, NSF Career
Jun Liu, James E. Alatis Award for Service to TESOL
Marci Lobel, Distinguished Leadership Award, American Psychological Association
Manuel London, Distinguished Professor
Louis Manganas, Child Neurology Society/Foundation PERF Research Grant
Irene Marchegiani, AATI Distinguished Service Award
Joseph Marino, LI Technology Hall of Fame, Most Innovative Patent Award
Clark McGrew, Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Klaus Mueller, IEEE Awards, Computer Society Golden Core Award, IEEE Awards, Computer Society Meritorious Service Certificate
Sharon Nachman, Herman and Gertrude Silver Award and Lectureship
Elizabeth Newman, James Deetz Book Award
Min Hoai Nguyen, Google Faculty Research Awards
Alexander Orlov, Sigma Xi, Distinguished Lectureship
Omkant Pandey, ACM CCS Test-of-Time Award
Peter Paul, Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Srinivas Pentyala, Grand Award
Rowan Ricardo Phillips, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award
Anurag Purwar, SAE Top 100 Create the Future Design Award
Lorna Role, Distinguished Professor
Michael Rubenstein, Research Fellow, Banff Research in Culture residency, “On Energy”
Christian Schnell, National Science Foundation CAREER Award
Mary I. Scranton, Sustaining Fellow, Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
Markus Seeliger, Excellence in Early Career Research Award, Innovations in Research Education Award, First Place Winner
Carlos Simmerling, Fellow of the American Chemical Society
Scott Smolka, Distinguished Professorship
Joshua Teplitsky, Israel Institute Faculty Development Grant
Jason Trelewicz, NSF Career
Kathleen Kasten, National Network of Libraries of Medicine – Medical Library Project Award
Fusheng Wang, EDBT Test of Time Award
Michael Wilking, Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Kathleen Wilson, Distinguished Professor
Patricia Wright, Phi Beta Kappa Scholar
Chiaki Yanagisawa, Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
Yuanyuan Yang, Distinguished Professor
Alexander Zamolodchikov, Member, National Academy of Sciences
For a complete list of faculty achievements and Chancellor’s Awards received by the honorees, please visit stonybrook.edu/provost/faculty/awards/.
For more details on the awards received by the Mini-Grant recipients, please visit stonybrook.edu/pres/minigrants/.
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