Slepecky Award Winners

Year Name Department Title of Paper Advisor Award ($)
2025 Tessa DeCicco Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Defining Anatomical Relationships of the Tibial Tubercle to Inform Execution of Tibial Tubercle Osteotomy in Revision Total Knees Dr. Timothy Damron

Dr. Era Jain

$750
2024 Mariana Isabel Perez Lugo Nutrition Science Fish Oil Supplementation Mitigates Paternal Obesity and Enhances Offspring Metabolic Health in Obese Mice through its Effects on Adipose Tissue Dr. Latha Ramalingam $750
2023 Ruohan XU Civil and Environmental Engineering Design, manufacture, and testing of customized sterilizable respirator Dr. Zhao Qin $750
2022 Amber Vandepoele Forensic Sciences and Biochemistry Maximizing the Value of Evidence Through the Phylogenetic Differential Separation of Environmental Samples Dr. Michael Marciano $750
2021 Laurel White – 1st place Physics The Effect of Spin Priors, on the Determination of the Neutron Star Equation of State Using Gravitational-Wave Signals Dr. Duncan Brown $750
2021 Aliza Willsey – 2nd place Aerospace Engineering Investigation of Mycelium Growth Network as a Thermal Transpiration Membrane for Thermal Transpiration Based Pumping and Power Generation Dr. Jeongmin Ahn $350
2020 Julia Riley – 1st place Biology Elucidating Cellular Stress Responses of ALS-Linked Biomolecular Condensates Dr. Carlos CastaƱeda $750
2020 Heather Sosnoski – 2nd place Biology Cysteine Transporter Compensation Occurs in the Brains of System xc- Null Mice Dr. Sandra Hewett $350
2019 Yongna Lei Biology & Chemistry Effects of ALS-Linked Mutations on the Liquid-Liquid Phase Separation Behavior of Ubiquilin-2 Dr. Carlos CastaƱeda $750
2018 Katie Duggan – 1st place Civil and Environmental Engineering Analyzing the Toxicity of Cationic Polyacrylamide vs Cationic Starch on Aquatic Life Drs. Shobha Bhatia & Katharine (Kate) Lewis $750
2018 Meghan Lentz – 2nd place Physics Floquet Formalism and Perturbation Theory in the Low-Frequency Limit. Dr. Jay Hubisz $350
2017 Albanie Hendrickson-Stives – 1st place Chemistry Direct and Indirect Photolysis of Aromatic Pollutants in Aqueous Solution Dr. Tara Kahan $750
2017 Genevieve Starke – joint 2nd place Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Directionality and Pulsing of Acoustic Propagation to the Far-Field of a Supersonic Jet Flow Dr. Jacques Lewalle $350
2017 Anniya Gu – joint 2nd place Biology UBR-5, a Conserved Hect-Type E3 Ubiquitin Ligase, Negatively Regulates Notch-Type Signaling in Caenorhabditis Elegans Dr. Eleanor Maine $350
2016 Snigdha Chatterjee – joint 1st place Biology DDR1, An Arabidopsis Histone Demethylase Negatively Regulates Cell Death, Drought and Defense Against Pseudomonas Syringae Dr. Ramesh Raina $750
2016 Samantha A. Usman – joint 1st place Physics Observation of Gravitational Waves from a Binary Black Hole Merger Dr. Duncan Brown $750
2015 Kewei Xu Chemistry Computations on the Primary Photoreaction of Br2 With CO2: Stepwise vs. Concerted Addition of Br Atoms Dr. Mark Braiman $750
2015 Emily Tucci Biomedical & Chemical Engineering A Comparison of Two Different Push-up Styles for Use in Rehabilitation Practices Drs. Angela Zachman (ECS) & Frederick Werner (Upstate) $350
2015 Jessica Ciesla ESF – Chemistry Fatty Acid Content in Four Octocorals and Two Scleractinian Corals in Relation to Species and Depth Dr. Jonathan Cohen $350
2014 Katy Austin SUNY ESF, Env’tal & Forest Biology Effects of Nitrogen Deposition on Nitrogen Acquisition by Sarracenia purpura in the Adirondack Mountains, New York, USA Dr. Mark Teece $750
2014 Cambria Ziemer SUNY ESF, Environmental Resources Eng. Boundary Layer Conditions of a Shrub Willow Evapotranspiration Cover Drs. Wendong Tao (ESF) and Tony Eallondar-do (OBG) $350
2014 Kristin Susan Weeks Biology Nutrient Limitation of Bean Plant Performance Under Co-Stress: Herbivory and Soil Halogenation Dr. Mark E. Ritchie $350
2013 Korrie L. Mack Chemistry Reprogramming EF-HANDS for Design of Catalytically Amplified Lanthanide Sensors. Dr. Ivan V. Korendov-ych $750
2013 Korrie L. Mack Chemistry Reprogramming EF-HANDS for Design of Catalytically Amplified Lanthanide Sensors. Dr. Ivan V. Korendov-ych $750
2013 Nikolay I. Rrodionov Biomedical & Chemical Engineering Charge Distribution & Resurace Properties of the Tobacco Mosaic Virus 4-NM Central-Port Dr. Shalabh C. Maroo of MAE dept $350
2012 Vivian Yaci Yu Chemistry Expression and Purification of Recombinant Saposin B for Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) Purification Dr. Robert Doyle $750
2012 Samantha Balakirsky Biology Investigating the Roles of Lhx1a/Lhx1b/Lhx5 in Zebrafish Spinal Cord Interneuron Specification and Function Dr. Katherine Lewis $300
2011 Kristin Waller Civil and Environmental Engineering Recovery over TIME: The long-term response of lakes in the Adirondack region of New York to decreases in acidic deposition Dr. Charles Driscoll $500
2011 Danielle Hare Earth Science The effect of beaver dams on geochemistry of the hyporheic zone at varied depth and location over a range of discharges during flood recession Dr. Lauren Lautz $250
2010 Jessica L. Ebert Civil and Environmental Engineering The Dynamics of Hydrology and Mercury in Onondaga Creek During Storm Events Dr. Charles Driscoll $750
2009 Caitlin Keating-Bitonti Earth Science How warm was the early Eocene? Paleotemperature Reconstructions for the U.S. Gulf Coast from the Shells of Venericardia (Bivalvia) Dr. Linda Ivany $750
2009 Megan Anne Larson Biology The Geographic Distribution of Polyploidy in A Pacific Northwest Plant Dr. Kari Segraves $300
2009 Kelly Whitenack Chemistry The Synthesis and Characterization of Novel Microporous Hybrid Organic/ Inorganic Materials with the Potential of Hydrogen Storage. Dr. John Zubieta $300
2008 Lindsay Avery Chemistry Using Functionalized Dihydropyrones to Control Diastereoselectivity in the Dihydropyrone Diels-Alder Reaction. Dr. Nancy Totah $750
2008 Stephanie Gindlesperger Civil and Environmental Engineering The Evaluation of Historical Changes in Mercury in Onondaga Lake, New York. Dr. Charles Driscoll $250
2008 Jemella C. Raymore Biology The Role of Estrogen Receptor Alpha in Early Mouse Oocyte Differentiation. Dr. Melissa Pepling $200
2008 Amy N. Otuonye Chemistry Multifunctional Nanomaterials for the Absorption and Release of Drugs. Dr. Teddy Asefa $200
2007 Kelsey Breen Biology The Role of Estrogen Receptor Beta in Neonatal Oocyte Development Dr. Melissa E. Pepling $750
2006 Lisa Lahtinen Comm Sciences & Disorders The Effect of Contralateral Acoustic Stimulation on DPOAE with special attention to differences in DPOAEs for lower and higher-level noises Dr. Prieve $750
2005 Danielle Schuehler Chemistry n/a n/a $750
2005 Tiffany Jones n/a n/a n/a $50
2004 Danielle Jensen Biochemistry n/a n/a $750
2004 Kate Kowalski Civil and Environmental Engineering The Effects of Acidic Deposition on the Diversity and Recovery of Microbial Communities Dr. Andrea Costello-Staniec $100
2003 No prize given this year n/a n/a n/a n/a