Stony Brook Graduate Students Receive over $2.2 Million in Grants and Awards

STONY BROOK , N.Y. - The 2005-2006 issue of the Graduate Student Achievements (GSA) was recently released and reports Stony Brook graduate students to have received over 299 different national and international fellowships, awards, and research grants summing up to over $2.2 million.

"I am very proud of them," commented Stony Brook University President, Dr. Shirley Strum Kenny, in hearing the news. "They are learning while producing knowledge; and that is a great combination."

The publication is annually produced by the Graduate School , listing the achievements of current graduate students by program. It has been published each academic year since 1991. The GSA is of great importance because it allows the University to gauge the success of students and the mentors who support them. It is sent out to several influential officials including university administrators, and New York State politicians. Astonishingly, the total achievements are underestimated since the publication depends on the submission of the information from departments.

A total of 621 students submitted information on their achievements during the 2005-2006 period. The grants awarded came from numerous prestigious organizations, with the top three grants going to Siolas Despina, Gregory Hannon, Ramona Walls, and Mark Neider.

Dr. Hannon and Siolas Despina from the Department of Genetics received the Breast Cancer Research Program Idea Award of $500,000. Siolas, a 4th Year Graduate Student, has been researching to improve the understanding of cancer biology to enable the provision of better therapeutics with Dr. Hannon acting as her advisor. Dr. Hannon spearheads research at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, on the detection of genes modifying sensitivity to proteasome inhibitors using a SHRNA library in breast cancer. Ramona Walls, from the Department of Ecology and Evolution, was awarded a Pre-Doctoral fellowship of $425,000 from the National Science Foundation; while Mark Neider, from the Department of Psychology, received $153,000 under the Beckman Institute Fellows program.

There were a total of 561 publications, research reports and reviews during the one year period. In addition, 726 abstracts, posters and workshops for conferences, colloquia, and symposiums were reported. In addition, 119 internships, professional and post-doctoral appointments in numerous prestigious organizations were attained. The creative arts were also greatly successful with 79 exhibitions, performances and recordings reported. Other achievements included software development and patents. The publication is available for viewing electronically at http://www.grad.sunysb.edu/current/gsa.shtml.