Congratulations to our graduates!  The annual SoMAS Convocation occurred on Friday, May 18, 2018 at the Student Activities Center auditorium. Students gathered with their friends and family and SoMAS faculty and staff to celebrate the completion of their journey at Stony Brook University.

Interim Dean Larry Swanson provided opening remarks after the processional and Dr. Carl Safina gave the Convocation Address.

Awarding of Undergraduate Certificates

  • B.A. in Environmental Studies – Presented by Dr. Kamazima M.M. Lwiza
    • Joseph Acito, Alexandra Bonecutter, Matthew Gino, Valery Gonzalez, Edward Gorman, Maria Grima*, Sitong Guo, Sahiba Kaur, Jackson Kazdan, Zachary Kruskal, Isabelle Lamarre, Jesse Little, Giovanna Monti, Nicole Pyun, Conor Russell, Daniel Smalls
  • B.S. in Marine Sciences  – Presented by Dr. Kamazima M.M. Lwiza
    • Ashley Bean, Caleb Budd, Michael Cashin, Makenzie Conover, Darren De Silva, Amanda Dias, Ilana Dorsch, Christian Foito, Asdis Griggs, Isabelle Lamarre, Peter Larios, Sarah McTague, Taishi Misumi, Gregory Paul, Jennifer Stahl
  • B.S. in Marine Vertebrate Biology – Presented by Dr. Kamazima M.M. Lwiza
    • Alexa Albam, Anushka Anderson, Jordan Blue, Ariel Calle, Stephanie Flanagan, Shane Gallimore, Shannon Kanidinc, Emily Kollmer, Melissa Leone, Jocelyn Liu, Helena Nierer, Blondelle Quimi, Gabriella Riggio, Vijay Suthar, Michael Thompson, Victoria Uthman, Christopher Wozny
  • B.S. in Coastal Environmental Studies – Presented by Dr. Kate Aubrecht
    • Jade Blennau, Christina Giordanella+, Victoria Inestroza, Min Joo Jeong, Sophie Killy, Mary Mei, Michelle Nevins, Kristen O’Neill, Steven Ragusa, Brittney Scannell, Justin Valles, Electra Vasilopoulos, Shauna Wright
  • B.A. in Ecosystems and Human Impact – Presented by Dr. Kate Aubrecht
    • Brooke Arena, Victoria Inestroza, Minki Kim, Ashley Landrein, Zachary Paiva, Julia Petersen**, Elijah Stowe, Rachel Wanderman, Harrison Watters
  • B.A. in Environmental Design, Policy and Planning – Presented by Dr. Kate Aubrecht
    • Soo Hyun Ahn, Angelica Apolinaris, Bryan Benitez, Stephen Boncimino, Vivian Chokry, Jeffrey Ehrhardt, Michael Iorizzo III, Ji Won Kim, Daniel Panko, Stephen Schiavetta, Amy Su, Shenglin Wang, Shauna Wright, Zhiying Zhao
  • B.A. in Sustainability Studies – Presented by Dr. Kate Aubrecht
    • Kyle Bentley, Stanley Chen, Nicholas Fagone, Edward Gallagher Jr., Christina Giordanella, Nicolle Portilla, Jennie Ryder, Sean Wiedemann, Yuman Xu

+Second place in the SoMAS Undergraduate Environmental Essay Awards
*Recipient of the 2017 Evan R. Liblit Graduate Memorial Scholarship
**Recipient of the 2017 Evan R. Liblit Memorial Scholarship

Stony Brook Alumni Association Dean’s Choice Awards

  • Presented by Dr. Frank Roethel
    • Atmospheric Sciences – Matthew McDermott
    • Environmental Studies – Maria Grima
    • Marine Sciences – Peter Larios
    • Sustainability Studies – Ashley Landrein

Honors Recognized

  • Undergraduate Honors presented by Dr. Larry Swanson, Interim Dean
    • Brooke Arena Can Garden Peas Bioaccumulate a Common Livestock Pharmaceutical? Dr. Sharon Pochron, Advisor
    • Joshua Feldman Examination of Physical Approaches in Forecasting Non-convective Wind Gusts in the New York City Area Dr. Brian A. Colle, Advisor
    • Ashley Landrein Roundup® Formulation Type Impacts Earthworm Health Dr. Sharon Pochron, Advisor
    • Sarah McTague The Use of Hydrogen Peroxide for the Mitigation of Anabaena sp. Strain 90 and Strain 54 Dr. Christopher J. Gobler, Advisor

Awards Timothy Magnussen Memorial Scholarship

  • Justin Bettenhauser
  • Magdalena Wrobel

Petra M. Udelhofen Memorial Scholarship Award Presented by Dr. Brian A. Colle

  • Katherine McKeown

Nuria Protopopescu Memorial Award for Excellence in Teaching Presented by Dr. Robert C. Aller

  • Ryan Wallace

Pikitch Family Endowed Student Research Award Presented by Dr. David Black

  • Elisabeth Henderson

Best Thesis/Dissertation Awards – Presented by Dr. David Black

  • Best Dissertation: Cheng-Shiuan Lee
  • Best Thesis: Joseph Charnawskas

Master of Arts in Marine Conservation and Policy Certificates Presented by Dr. Glenn Lopez

  • Alexa Annunziata, Nicole Carone, Katherine Conroy, Jason Dumond, Christopher Meyer, Kaitlin Morris, Tyler Prichett, Cariann Wood

Master of Science and Doctoral Certificates in Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Presented by Dr. David Black

  • Master of Science in Marine & Atmospheric Sciences
    • Stephanie Adamczak*
      A Comparison of Short- and Long-finned Pilot Whale Thermal Ecology Using External Morphometrics, 3D Modeling, and Dive Behavior
      Dr. Lesley Thorne, Advisor
    • Ryan Connelly
      Predictability of Snow Multi-Bands in the Cyclone Comma Head Using a 40-Member WRF Ensemble
      Dr. Brian A. Colle, Advisor
    • Matthew Fuirst
      A Comparison of Herring Gull Foraging Ecology and Microbiome Along an Urban Gradient
      Dr. Lesley Thorne, Advisor
    • Justin Lashley
      Geomorphology of the Continental Shelf off of Watch Hill, Fire Island National Sea Shore, NY
      Dr. Henry J. Bokuniewicz, Advisor
    • Taylor Mandelbaum
      Development of a Model Climatology Tool to Assess Ensemble Variability and Uncertainty
      Dr. Brian A. Colle, Advisor
    • Emily Markowitz
      Distribution Shifts Associated with Changing Environmental Parameters in Two Demersal Species Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) and Black Sea Bass (Centropristis striata)
      Dr. Janet Nye, Advisor
    • Sarah Nickford
      Mechanisms Controlling the Summertime Interannual Variability of SST and Chlorophyll-a in the Northwest Atlantic
      Dr. Kamazima M.M. Lwiza, Advisor
    • Kaitlyn O’Toole
      Development of a Bio-optical Model for Application Towards Seagrass Restoration within the Peconic Bay Estuary (Long Island, NY)
      Dr. Bradley J. Peterson, Advisor
    • Zoe Smith
      Assessing Potentially Toxic Metals in Nitrogen Removing Biofilters
      Dr. Roy Price, Advisor
    • Raymond Sukhdeo
      The Interaction Between Arctic Sea Ice Decline and Atmospheric Blocking and its Relation to Temperature in the United States
      Dr. Ping Liu, Advisor
    • Arianna Varuolo-Clarke
      Topographic Influences On the North American Monsoon
      Dr. Kevin A. Reed, Advisor
    • Colin Wirth
      Passive Acoustic Monitoring of Marine Habitats
      Dr. Joseph D. Warren, Advisor

*Recipient of the 2017 Jerry R. Schubel Fellowship Award

  • Doctor of Philosophy in Marine & Atmospheric Sciences
    • Isaac Klingensmith
      Interactions of Mangroves and the Silicon Cycle in Coastal French Guiana
      Dr. Robert C. Aller, Advisor
    • Rebecca Kulp***
      Investigating the Effect of Habitat Type on Foraging Efficiency
      Dr. Bradley J. Peterson, Advisor
    • Albert Yau
      Documenting and Understanding Changes and Variability of Storm Tracks Under Global Warming
      Dr. Edmund K.M. Chang, Advisor
    • Wei Zhang
      Studies of the Influences of Aerosol on Boundary Layer Clouds Using Large-eddy Simulations
      Dr. Marat Khairoutdinov, Advisor
    • Xin Zhou
      Changes in Temperature and Precipitation Extremes in a Warmer Climate
      Dr. Marat Khairoutdinov, Advisor

***Recipient of the 2016 Jerry R. Schubel Fellowship Award

Minor in Environmental Studies

Alexa Albam, Alexandra Rivera, Vijay Suthar

Minor in Marine Sciences

Alexandra Bonecutter, Joseph Carbone, Tyler Corsello, Maria Grima, Min Joo Jeong, Shayla Nickles, Sheng Wang

Minor in Coastal Environmental Studies

Ariel Calle, Stephanie Flanagan, Eunice Wang

Minor in Ecosystems and Human Impact

Kyle Bentley, Darren De Silva, Amritjot Dhillon, Abigail Higgins, Sajjad Hussaini, Ashley Kappenmacher, Michael Moawad, Jacqueline Nikakis, Andrea Persaud, Yuman Xu

Minor in Environmental Design, Policy and Planning

Matthew Behar, Constantine Bournias, Peter Larios, Amanda Protopapas, Elijah Stowe

Minor in Environmental Humanities

Ricki Liu

Minor in Sustainability Studies

Imran Azad, Taylor Costello, Humira Ferdush, Matthew Fuchs, Allison Henry, Ricki Liu, Sean Lotz, Keiko Nagami, James Nevins, Pooja Pandya, Amanda Protopapas, Amanda Rooney

Minor in Geospatial Science

Michael Cashin, Kyle Castillo, Maria Grima, Sophie Killy, Sarah McTague, Helena Nierer

Photos of the Event by Kurt Bretsch are available on Google Photos

Photos of the Graduating Students are available on Google Photos

Many thanks to everyone involved in the event including Ginny Clancy, Christina Fink, Christina Ozelis, Diane Vigliotta, Tom Wilson, Kurt Bretsch, Steve Ortega, Mark Wiggins, Kim Knoll, and Eileen Doyle.