SBU Alumni Association Holds Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner

STONY BROOK, NY - The Stony Brook University Alumni Association held its 25th annual Distinguished Alumni Awards Dinner on November 15. The dinner was held at the Flowerfield in St. James with an attendance of 229 guests.

The Alumni Association awards alumni who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to the University, to knowledge and to the public's service. The Stony Brook graduates honored this year were: Michael R. Anastasio; Wai Lam; Willard S. Moore; Frank Otto; and Hava Tirosh-Samuelson.

"We have the privilege of celebrating what this great university is all about as we honor the successful alumni by celebrating their achievements and the institution that shaped their career," wrote Maria Emanuel Ryan, President of the Alumni Association. "These recipients are shining examples of the professional heights that a Stony Brook University education can set the foundation for."

Anastasio earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Theoretical Nuclear Physics from Stony Brook University . Since his graduation, he has become the Director of the two largest research laboratories in the US . He served as the Director of Lawrence Livermore National Labs from 2002 to 2006, and on June 1, 2006, Dr. Anastasio became the Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The Laboratory is a principal contributor to the Department of Energy's programs to maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and to reduce the international dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction.

Wai received a Bachelor of Engineering Degree at Stony Brook in 1982 and is one of the founders of FalconStor which is ranked in Long Island 's top 75 companies. He came to FalconStor from Computer Associates International, Inc. As Vice President and Architect at CA, he was responsible for the eTrust Internet security product strategy and design. Mr. Lam joined CA in 1996 with its acquisition of Cheyenne Software, Inc., where he was Director and Architect of the HSM product line. Wai as been intimately involved in forming the Asian American Alumni Network and has assisted in mentoring students. Mr. Lam also received a Master of Science degree from UCLA in 1984.

Bill Moore was the very first recipient of a Ph.D. from the department of Earth & Space Sciences - now known as Geosciences. He is renowned throughout the field of Chemical Oceanography & Marine Geochemistry. His studies have stimulated major new research programs of river and groundwater runoff into the ocean. His contributions have helped lay the framework for our understanding of chemical cycling at the Earth's surface.

Frank received his Bachelor's & Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stony Brook. He has been with EDO Corporation for over 27 years after spending some time at Grumman. He is now on numerous Boards of Trustees including the National Defense Industrial Association headquartered in Washington & chair of the Long Island Forum of Technology.

Dr. Tirosh-Samuelson graduated from Stony Brook with a BA in Religious Studies. She continued her education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has specialized in the field of Jewish Intellectual history. She is the leading scholar of the relationship between science and religion and is among the first scholar to have introduced gendered perspectives to the study of Jewish Philosophy. She was a visiting scholar at Oxford College in 2006.

Pictured left to right: Recipients of the Distinguished Alumni Awards Michael R. Anastasio, Wai Lam, President Kenny, Frank Otto, Hava Tirosh-Samuelson, and Willard S. Moore.