2025 School of Arts and Sciences

Outstanding Undergraduate Student

Lena Paolicelli

The School of Arts & Sciences Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award recognizes the accomplishments of an exemplary student. To qualify, a student must be a senior who has earned a minimum 3.5 GPA, exhibited a strong master of understanding/ performance element in their discipline, and demonstrated a significant service element related directly to their department or program.

Lena Paolicelli exemplifies success as a student. She is a neuroscience major with minors in biology and pre-professional health and has a 3.88 GPA. In fall 2022, she was on the Presidential List and has consistently made the Dean’s List with Honors each semester since. Her academic success has led to her inclusion in the Brockport Honors Program and Biology Honors Program.

Lena’s academic success goes beyond coursework as she has presented her research and insights at two Scholars Days as well as the Rochester Academy of Sciences (2024). She has also participated in Brockport’s Summer Undergraduate Research Program and will be presenting at the SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference.

Athletically, Lena is also very successful. She was a member of Club Gymnastics and the D3 Women’s Tennis Team, where she was named to the E8 Women’s Tennis Sportswoman of the Year Team in fall 2024.

Lena is also passionate about giving back to the community. She volunteered with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. School No. 9 in the Rochester City School District and traveled to Ecuador on a mission trip. She has also given back to her peers by working as a lab teaching assistant and tutor for general chemistry and serving as President of the Biology Club.

In the future, Lena hopes to obtain her doctorate in neuroscience, with a career goal of conducting translational research on spinal cord injuries or neurodegenerative diseases.

Outstanding Graduate Student

Asch Nighthawk

The School of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Graduate Award is presented to an outstanding graduate student who has completed or is completing a program of study within the School of Arts and Sciences in the academic year of nomination. The nominee must have a minimum GPA of 3.85 and significant scholarly activity in their field of study.

Asch Nighthawk earned her Master of Science in Environmental Science and Ecology and graduated with a 4.0 GPA in Winter 2025. They began their higher education journey at the University of Portland, where they received their Bachelor of Science in Biology. In addition to this award, Asch was the recipient of the Graduate Distinguished Scholar Award.

Asch is dedicated to learning more about Earth’s ecosystem and the birds that may inhabit them. Their passion for nature has led them to receive the Northern New York Audubon Grant (2023 and 2024) and the American Ornithological Society Student Research Grant (2024). These grants provided the opportunity to research the Eastern whip-poor-will for their thesis. Asch was able to research breeding ecology and behavior that would help them assist in conservation throughout New York State. They also presented this research at local and global conferences, including the American Ornithological Society Conference in 2024. Asch also teaches less experienced volunteers at the Braddock Bay Observatory about proper techniques for bird banding.

After graduation, Asch will travel outside the mainland United States to continue their exploration of birds and ecosystems worldwide, including Europe and Micronesia, a region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Afterward, they will pursue a doctoral program abroad to pursue a career researching nocturnal birds globally.

Departmental Scholar Awards

The Departmental Scholar Awards are presented in recognition of outstanding achievement within the academic majors. Although award criteria differ among departments, faculty from each academic major nominate and select the Departmental Scholar based on performance in the classroom, scholarly activity outside the classroom, and commitment to the discipline and/or profession.

DEPARTMENT	RECIPIENT
AFRICAN AND AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES	Imari Houston
ANTHROPOLOGY	Kelsey Tucker
ART	Reigan Goodspeed
BIOCHEMISTRY	Kachiri Guzman
BIOLOGY	Daniel Morgan
CHEMISTRY	Troy Smith
COMMUNICATION	Jayden Brummert
COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEMS	Adam Thomas
COMPUTER SCIENCE	Nicole Limer
CRIMINAL JUSTICE	Katelyn Cyganovich
DANCE	Cassiedy Davis Quintero
EARTH SCIENCES: EARTH SCIENCES	No recipient
EARTH SCIENCES: GEOLOGY	Nicholas Mills
EARTH SCIENCES: METEOROLOGY	Mathew Quinn
EARTH SCIENCE: WATER RESOURCES	No recipient
ENGLISH	Andrew Ogden
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND ECOLOGY	Sydnee Jerome
HISTORY	Anna Dileo
INTERNATIONAL STUDIES	No recipient
JOURNALISM AND BROADCASTING	Madison Rottingen
MATHEMATICS	Katelyn Marie Roland
PHYSICS	Allison Blum
POLITICAL SCIENCE	Vianne Scheidecker
PSYCHOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, AND NEUROSCIENCE: NEUROSCIENCE	Lena Paolicelli
PSYCHOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, AND NEUROSCIENCE: PHILOSOPHY	Jacob Deutscher
PSYCHOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY, AND NEUROSCIENCE: PSYCHOLOGY	Melissa Mujicic
SOCIOLOGY	Emily Akyuz
THEATRE	Sonni Amoroso
WOMEN AND GENDER STUDIES	Sofia Magnante