Twenty-one new business-university research projects are underway across Upstate New York, backed by $3 million in innovation vouchers from the (C3).

That is a big step up from February’s first round of funding, which delivered $350,000 to five companies. C3 has since built a pipeline of 60 engagements with regional tech firms, says , vice president for research and principal investigator for C3.

C3 is the “front door” for companies across the Syracuse-Rochester-Buffalo corridor that need university expertise and equipment to develop and commercialize semiconductor technologies. Syracuse University leads C3 and administers its voucher program on behalf of partners including the University at Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, Cornell University, University of Rochester and Alfred University. C3 is part of the $40 million NY SMART I-Corridor award from the .

Companies in Syracuse Labs

Syracuse faculty are research partners on seven of the 26 C3 projects funded so far.

“These partnerships put real industry problems inside Syracuse labs, and that opens doors for our students. They can work on technology companies are taking to market and graduate with the experience and the connections that employers across this region are hiring for. That is what research should mean for a Syracuse education,” Brown says.

Faculty Partnerships

Five new projects pair companies with (ECS) faculty:

• works with Distinguished Professor and Professor , both of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. The company combines AI, bioacoustics and behavioral science to decode how wildlife communicates.
• partners with , assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science, to test BQPhy QuantumNOW, software that uses AI to speed up and improve chip manufacturing.

• and , assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, are testing whether a ceramic component from Shi’s lab can help Conamix’s lithium-sulfur batteries last longer.

• provides plant-based raw materials to , assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, whose lab is turning them into filters that clean wastewater from chip production.
• Syracuse-based ., which designs and prototypes a low-power, energy-saving, higher-speed chip that keeps memory and processing functions together, is working with four ECS faculty: Distinguished Professors and , and Professors and

Two first-round partnerships with ECS faculty continue:

• , a soft-shell robotic gripper startup co-founded by , associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering; the company tests prototypes of tunable soft robotic grippers for advanced electronics manufacturing.
• , a global manufacturer of mission systems, radio frequency components and microwave/microelectronic assemblies, partners with , William T. Frantz Endowed Chair in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. TTM is a manufacturer of technology products, including mission systems, radio frequency components, RF microwave/microelectronic assemblies and technologically advanced interconnect products.

The Micron Effect

Many of the companies seeking C3 funding are positioning for the wave of chip-industry demand they expect from Micron Technology’s $100 billion , now under construction in Clay, just north of Syracuse, Brown says. Micron says the site will be the most advanced memory manufacturing facility in the world, built to meet AI-driven demand.

“Micron’s investment is bringing new companies and new federal funding into the region. Our job is to make sure Syracuse researchers and students are part of that work, whether we are administering the program or partnering on the research,” he says.

The NY SMART I-Corridor is a federally designated Tech Hub of more than 100 businesses and higher education, economic development and community-based organizations positioning Upstate New York as a global leader in semiconductor manufacturing, innovation and workforce development.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration was established by Ìęthe and provides funding for regional technology development with matching support from the .

Five projects by students in the Maxwell School’s public health department have been accepted for presentation at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA) 2026 Annual Meeting and Expo in San Antonio, Texas, Nov. 1-4.

The projects were developed under the mentorship of public health faculty members Bernard Appiah, Brooks B. Gump, David Larsen and Bryce Hruska, along with several research collaborators. Together, the projects range from a first exploration of a public health topic in an undergraduate course to graduate-level studies built on years of ongoing faculty research.

Organized this year around the theme “Together We Thrive: Health Across the Lifespan,” the conference is expected to draw about 11,000 public health professionals, researchers, educators and students from around the world. APHA calls it the largest public health gathering of the year.

Postpartum Depression Coverage

One project grew out of Global Health Communication and Advocacy, a course taught by Appiah that asks students to analyze real advocacy and communication problems.

Public health undergraduates Fikayomi Okunzua, Hannah Fuchsberg and Aneesa Haque—along with Max Loccisano of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry—turned a class assignment into a research paper, “Postpartum Depression in US Southern States Newspapers: A Content Analysis of News Coverage of Burden, Diagnosis, Treatment and Race, 2016-2025.”

Their abstract was accepted for a roundtable. At the conference, Okunzua, Fuchsberg, Haque and Loccisano will field questions and walk through their findings conversationally with a rotating audience of public health professionals, researchers and students.

The students analyzed a decade of newspaper coverage of postpartum depression in Southern states, looking at how it addressed the condition’s burden, diagnosis and treatment, and its effects by race. Research has shown that postpartum depression disproportionately affects women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and women of color, particularly Black women.

“Our project was basically a summary of how no one has been educating or spreading information about postpartum depression,” Fuchsberg says. “It shows a huge gap in what is needed. In my career, I hope to create the content that doesn’t currently exist.”

“I’m really just excited to kind of bring more attention to postpartum depression and the care that we can bring to people who are facing it,” Okunzua says.

Comparing End-of-Life Policy

A second project, also accepted as a roundtable, began in a course taught by Hruska, an associate professor. Graduate student Eulena Banzer adapted a class project into “Medical Assistance in Dying as an Emergent Public Health Issue: A Comparison of Policy Landscapes and Ethical Frameworks in Canada and Oregon.”

Banzer’s research compares how Oregon and Canada have approached medical assistance in dying (MAiD), a practice that allows eligible patients to end their lives with medical support. Oregon’s law, in effect since 1997, allows terminally ill adults to take prescribed medication themselves. Canada legalized the practice in 2016, allows clinicians to administer it and has since seen use rise sharply.

Using APHA’s Public Health Code of Ethics, Banzer examined both policies through a public health lens rather than the bioethical framework typically applied to end-of-life law. She found that a public health approach surfaces concerns—for both patients and the broader population—that bioethical analysis alone can miss.

“Much of the existing literature around the ethics of MAiD policy focuses on individual rights and safeguards,” Banzer says. The population-level approach of the APHA Public Health Code of Ethics makes it easier to judge whether a policy addresses concerns raised by disability rights advocates and other interest groups, she says.

The “tenets of public health ethics,” such as permissibility, respect, equity and transparency, “allow for analysis of existing MAiD policies to be put in direct conversation with major critiques of such policies,” Banzer says.

Pesticide Exposure in Children

A third project, accepted for an oral presentation, examines how exposure to pyrethroids, a class of insecticide widely used in homes and on farms, is linked to children’s health. Graduate students Jane Apiyo Abok and Jannat Ara Disha worked with Gump, the Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health, and Larsen, professor and chair of the department, as well as several other researchers, on “Pyrethroid Exposures in Childhood: Associations with IQ and Depressive Symptoms Are More Pronounced Among Children Facing Concurrent Adversity.”

The study draws on Syracuse’s long-running Environmental Exposures and Child Health Outcomes cohort and examines pyrethroid exposure in more than 240 children ages 9-11. The researchers found that higher exposure was associated with lower nonverbal IQ scores and greater depressive symptoms, and that some of these associations were more pronounced among children already facing higher levels of adversity.

“Exploring the connection between pyrethroid exposure and childhood adversity is a relatively new area of research,” Disha says. “Being part of this work has been a valuable learning experience for us, and the opportunity to present our findings at APHA makes this even more rewarding.”

“Working on this project with Dr. Gump made me realize how important it is to consider environmental exposures alongside the conditions people live in, especially for children who may be more vulnerable to both environmental and social stressors,” says Abok.

Hannah Peters contributed to this story

On a lab bench at SUNY Upstate Medical University, Victoria Alwar ’27 spent her summer running tests to explore how a single genetic mutation disrupts electrical signals in the brain and heart. Gabriella Garcia ’26 explored challenges in behavioral therapy for children by testing setbacks through a video game simulation for adult participants. Annie Knobloch ’26 studied how different cannabinoid compound structures interact with human cannabinoid receptors.

All three Syracuse University students spent their summer down the road from campus, as participants in the . The 10-week fellowship, founded in 1994, draws nearly 40 students from across the country and works closely with . The two programs align their calendars, share social and professional development events and send students to present together at a joint Summer Research Symposium each year.

Over the past 10 years, 25 Syracuse undergraduates have taken part, making up as much as a fifth of the SURF cohort in some years. This year, it’s 14%.

, director of the SURF program, says Syracuse students have served as ambassadors for out-of-town participants over the years, and many continue working in their SURF labs throughout the academic year.

“There is no doubt that SU undergraduates play a vital role in the success of the SURF program, and in turn, they immensely benefit from the biomedical research environment at Upstate,” Herberg says.

SOURCE director Kate Hanson says the partnership contributes to a vibrant cross-institutional summer research community, bringing together students from Syracuse University’s five NSF- and NIH-funded programs, Syracuse University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and ForestryÌęstudents and a small number of visiting high schoolers for shared activities that culminate in the Summer Symposium.

“Students learn from each other and are able to explore a broad range of the incredible research being done on the hill,” she says.

Gaining a Sense of their ‘Future Self’

As part of the SURF program, students get hands-on time in a working biomedical lab, often collaborating for the first time with a graduate student or postdoctoral fellow alongside the principal investigator/mentor in one of six research pathways. Through the mentorship, students learn to design and run rigorous experiments, analyze data and read and interpret scientific papers.

Weekly seminars also expose them to the range of research happening across campus and to their mentor’s personal career stories. A journal club—the program’s only formal course—gives them practice presenting and critiquing scientific papers in small peer groups.

Herberg says all SURF students are passionate about research but many are unclear on the nuances between a Ph.D. and an M.D./Ph.D. program—which is where career-focused workshops and “meet the dean” luncheons come in.

“From the feedback we receive, these sessions provide critical advice that has helped many SURF students clarify or substantiate their future plans,” he says.

The Final Piece of the Puzzle

Alwar, a dual major in biology and neuroscience in the College of Arts and Sciences, says she came into the summer with “two pieces of the puzzle”: bench research through fellowships at SU and Upstate and clinical exposure from an internship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in 2025. But she hadn’t yet seen how a physician-scientist operates between the lab bench and the clinic.

“The specific structure of this program around dual identity (being paired with both a faculty mentor and a current physician) allowed me to get direct clinical experience alongside my bench work,” Alwar says.

She started the program thinking it would clarify what she wanted to study or which career path to pursue. Instead, she realized what kind of work environment she thrives in: one built on guidance and collaboration, where mentorship is within reach, but she’s given agency, too.

“One that can still allow me to be trusted with real independence and responsibility and treated as a capable emerging scientist rather than a closely supervised individual,” she says.

Broadening Interests

For Garcia, a biology major with a gerontology minor who is graduating in December, the path to SURF started at the Biology Research Fair in the Life Sciences Complex. That led to a mentorship with at Upstate, who connected her to work at a specialized behavioral clinic and later recommended the SURF program.

During the 10 weeks with the SURF Health Science pathway, Garcia worked in two specialized behavior clinics. Her project tackled a real clinical problem from a safe distance. Children with developmental disabilities often relapse into harmful behaviors once they leave the clinic’s structured environment, but testing that relapse directly would be unsafe. Garcia used a video game created by , a psychologist and pediatrics professor at SUNY Upstate, that simulates the three-stage progression of real-world therapy. The game allowed Garcia and fellow researchers to study how different reward strategies affect how well those skills hold up outside the clinic.

“This video game is a form of translational research that allows us to safely model these high-stress behavioral dynamics in a controlled lab setting through a video game,” she says. “Ultimately, this work helps build a foundation for clinicians to design stronger, more resilient treatment plans.”

Confirming a Path to a Ph.D.

Knobloch, a neuroscience and psychology major graduating in December, went into the SURF program on the heels of doing research at Upstate for about a year. She spentÌęthe 10Ìęweeks in a cannabinoid pharmacology research lab studying how small structural changes in a compound alter its functional effect on the human brain’s cannabinoid receptors.

The experience allowed her to learn more about neuropharmacology in depth and confirmed her love of biomedical research. She knows after the fellowship that she wants to pursue her doctoral degree.

“I learned so much from my new friends and hearing about their research projects,” she says. “The faculty are so great and the research done here is so fascinating. It’s a great trial run of a grad school program.”

Applications for the 2027 SURF cohort open in late fall.

The gives first- and second-year students in select research labs a rare opportunity: 15 months of mentored, full-time research support from the .

Two Syracuse University students participated in the cohort of scholars for the first time in 2026: ’28, who is double majoring in applied data science in the Ìęand biotechnology in the , and ’28, who is double majoring in medicinal chemistry and biology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Lepper has been working in the lab of biology professor , developing tools to make protist genome analysis—the reading and interpreting of the DNA of a diverse group of single-celled, non-animal/plant/fungus organisms—more accessible. Choy has been working in chemistry professor ‘s lab developing imaging agents to detect liver disease.

Kate Hanson, director of the (SOURCE), says the Beckman Scholars Program provides an “unparalleled opportunity” for students interested in research careers to excel through a sustained undergraduate research experience.

During the 15 funded months, scholars are supported by mentors and engaged in activities with the University’s Beckman cohort, the BioInspired Institute and opportunities with the Beckman Foundation.

“We are eager to continue building the Syracuse Beckman cohort with promising students committed to research,” Hanson says.ÌęThe program supports two students for 2027-2028 and two for 2028-2029.

As part of the scholarship program, Lepper and Choy attended the Beckman Symposium in Irvine, California.

“Becoming a Beckman Scholar has been an incredibly rewarding experience even just a few months in,” Choy says. “Immediately, you are introduced to a whole new world of science and a network of individuals that span across many disciplines.”

Below, Choy and Lepper share more about their research.

Joanna LepperÌę

Lepper says she was drawn to the project in Oliverio’s lab of building a pipeline to recover microbial eukaryote, or protist, genomes from samples because of the technical work involved. She’s spent the past several months testing software for assembly, binning, quality control and taxonomic evaluation, then compiling the strongest tools into a resource designed for researchers without a bioinformatics background.

Aiming for a career as a computational scientist, she says the hands-on coding experience has been “so valuable.”

“My project aims to simplify complicated downloads and commands into a single line of code, so I was drawn to the idea of aiding in the accessibility of genome analysis,” she says, pointing to a of hers that focused on how understudied protists remain.

Where she once planned to head straight into research through industry, she’s now weighing graduate school, buoyed by a support system she says makes the prospect feel less intimidating.

“It’s also solidified that bioinformatics is the place for me,” Lepper says. “I love coding and statistics, but I also fell in love with science, so it’s a happy medium. There’s a new drive, after receiving this award, that really makes you want to change the world, and a new realization that you can, if you put your mind to it.”Ìę

Sydney Choy

Choy has worked in Doyle’s lab since her freshman year, and her project as a Beckman Scholar builds on that foundation. She’s developing peptide-based PET imaging agents that target an immune system protein, interferon-gamma. The aim is to non-invasively detect, diagnose and monitor metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, a progressive liver disease, reflecting the lab’s focus on unmet clinical needs.

“With my interest in the intersection of medicinal chemistry and healthcare, a project that allowed me to explore my own curiosity while developing future diagnosis techniques stood out heavily to me,” she says of choosing her project. “As I continue to take more rigorous science courses, I get to see how my research is applicable across various fields and disciplines.”

Choy says balancing lab work with the rest of her life, including time away from family over the summer, was the hardest part of the 15-month commitment. Still, she found comfort in Doyle’s lab, calling it “a very positive and supportive environment” that let her see a new side of Syracuse outside the classroom.

“Prior to becoming a Beckman Scholar, I could not fully dedicate my time to research, leaving me in less of an independent role,” she says. “Yet, this past summer my understanding and ability to take initiative and strive for progress grew immensely.”

What to Know About Applying

First- or second-year students are eligible to apply for the program through the process if they are working in labs led by Beckman Mentors. Mentors include Doyle, Oliverio, (chemistry and biology), (physics), (biomedical and chemical engineering), (biology), (biomedical and chemical engineering), (biology), (chemistry), (biomedical and chemical engineering), (physics), (physics), (chemistry) and (biomedical and chemical engineering).

Students interested in the program should note that an “Intent to Apply” form is due Feb. 11, 2027, and the full application is due Feb. 25, 2027. Students can contact Hanson at khanso01@syr.edu, or through Orange Success, to discuss interest, even if they have not yet joined a lab.

For the fifth summer, Syracuse University put its physics labs and faculty mentors to work for 12 high school students from the (SCSD). Students were led through six weeks of college-level research that culminated in a poster session and celebration on Aug. 7 in the Physics Building.

The Syracuse University-Summer High School Internship Program (SU-SHIP) gives students hands-on laboratory experience alongside faculty, graduate and postdoctoral students in the (A&S) .

“This is a full-time job over the summer for these students, most of whom are really interested in physics and engineering,” says , professor of physics and the founding director of the program. “We offer these students a pre-college experience where they can study and learn from each other and from our faculty and students. It’s the perfect way to help them further their passion for science and engineering.”

This year, thanks to the efforts of , Ross says the program received “essential” funding from . Additional funding was provided by the , research funds contributed by faculty members across campus and an anonymous gift.

Removing Barriers, Building Community

The idea for SU-SHIP, which launched in the summer of 2022, stemmed from a conversation Ross had with Ruell Branch ’24, an SCSD graduate who was seeking out hands-on experiences in a physics lab over the summer after his freshman year.

Branch recognized that SU-SHIP would strengthen the University’s connection with the community and inspire students like himself to pursue STEM careers. As a Henninger High School student, Branch excelled in physics under the guidance of Melanie Pelcher G’11, who organized classroom visits where Ross and SU-SHIP faculty could meet with interested students.

“From the beginning, this was a great opportunity to partner with the Syracuse City School District and provide training and hands-on research experiences,” Ross says. “It’s really important that we tap into the technical science and engineering talent that we have here locally, and that we show them what’s possible.”

Ross says the program was designed to remove obstacles that often keep students from pursuing this path. SCSD students each receive a $6,000 stipend, breakfast and lunch, and free daily transportation courtesy of Jim Dispenza ’98, who owns and operates .

“Transportation is one of the biggest barriers for these students, who could spend upwards of two hours taking the bus to and from the program,” Ross says. “You don’t want to make it harder for someone to pursue this path.”

Making Physics a Full-Time Summer Job

Students log approximately 35-40 hours each week honing their research skills. Between testing out theories in the lab, students eat in the University’s dining halls, explore the campus maker spaces and learn why Syracuse University could be their college destination for studying physics.

The program accepts any interested student, regardless of funding availability. Volunteers from neighboring Jamesville-DeWitt and Fayetteville-Manlius high schools joined the recent cohort for the full experience.

Research That Sparks Curiosity

The list of SU-SHIP projects from this summer was diverse, with students working on the following projects:

• studying how cells organize themselves during division
• understanding bacteria biofilm mechanics
• observing how fruit fly maggots respond to vibration
• simulating what happens when black holes tear apart stars
• understanding mechanics of origami

Before diving into specialized lab work, all students complete a two-week boot camp covering experimental research skills, electronics, computational science, biotechnology and 3D printing, giving them a shared foundation across multiple scientific disciplines.

“You need to understand how physics research works, and we provide that background,” Ross says. “Our students learn the basic skills of biotechnology, microscopy, additive manufacturing and math, and they’re exposed to everything they will encounter in the lab.”

That research experience teaches students something their previous classroom experiences often can’t: that failure is part of discovery, not something to fear.

“Failing the right way means you’re learning something,” Ross says. “There’s a learning process that comes from watching and iterating on it. What happens with research is very different from the classroom.”

This year’s program welcomed 12 SCSD students who received a full stipend to attend, along with a record number of students from neighboring districts and nine returning students who served as near-peer mentors.

Seven faculty research groups hosted student researchers, including physics faculty members , , , , and Earth and environmental sciences faculty member .

The program’s first cohort graduated from college this year, with many students continuing to study STEM fields at the University.

As ÌęturnsÌę15 this year,ÌęitÌęis marking its own coming of age by exploring one of the most cherished traditions across Latino cultures: theÌę,Ìęthe celebration of a girl’s 15^thÌębirthday.

La Casita was founded in 2011 by College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Professor and former faculty member , working with other University faculty, staff, and community leaders. Its development grew out of a two-year participatory process of community dialogues, workshops and focus groups where Syracuse residents helped shape what the center would become.

OverÌę15 years,ÌęLa CasitaÌęhas served thousands ofÌęstudents and local residentsÌęand has become “much more than aÌęcultural center,” saysÌę, executive director of the University’sÌę. “It is simultaneously a community resource, a learning environment, a research site and an archive of Latino life in Central New York.”

AmongÌęLa Casita’s most significant achievementsÌęare theÌędocumentation and preservation ofÌęits viaÌętheÌęNew York Heritage Digital CollectionsÌęandÌęa partnership with theÌęÌęthat explores Ìęmigration, family, identity and cultural memory in Latino communities.

As an experiential learning and research environment, La Casita hasÌęhosted more than 2,600 students from the University andÌęother regional institutions as interns, researchers and volunteers who often remain connected with the center long after graduation.

Last year,Ìę34 students held internships or assistantships;Ìę170 students logged 2,000+ hours of volunteer or service-learning activity;Ìę11 University courses integratedÌęLa Casita programming;ÌęandÌę12 student researchersÌęused its materials and programs.

Eighty youths enjoy weekly after-school programs and 30 women are engaged in adult programming. A new collaboration with Buena Vida of Central New York extends programming to elders.

A Forefront Role

After 15 years of building trust and reciprocal relationships between the University and Syracuse’s Latino communities, Paniagua sees an opportunity to position theÌęUniversity at the forefront of research on Latino communities, cultural memory and community-engaged learning.

“La Casita is at an important moment,” Paniagua says. “We want to continue strengthening the programs that have become central to our mission: youth arts and education, arts and cultural programming, community-engaged research and opportunities for students. We also want to think ambitiously about its role in the next 15 years. Our programs have generated thousands of photographs, oral histories, research projects, exhibitions, student experiences and community stories. Examining those materials for this anniversary has made us realize how important that institutional history has become.”

Anniversary EventsÌę

Two eventsÌęmarkÌęLa Casita’s anniversary. An exhibition, “SueñosÌędeÌęQuinceañera/QuinceañeraÌęDreams,”Ìę opensÌę.

Argentine-American authorÌęÌęwillÌępresent a talkÌęaboutÌęher books,Ìę“” and “,” on .

Both events are free and open to the public and are part of this year’s Syracuse Symposium, “.”

Amelia Rudolph came to the with questions about how people make decisions and that reached a national audience.

When she graduated in May, Rudolph wrapped up a senior year that included a study with faculty on trust in maps. After helping to design the survey, creating maps and analyzing the data, she traveled to San Francisco in March to present the findings at the American Association of Geographers annual meeting—the largest gathering of geographers in North America. She was one of just a few undergraduates there.

“I think a lot of people assumed I was a master’s student,” Rudolph says. “Which felt cool, that I was doing work that was at that level.”

The trip was made possible by the , also known as SOURCE, which covered her travel, lodging and meals.

“A major benefit of research is being able to apply the theory you learn in a classroom to more deeply explore,” says Rudolph, who majored in geography as well as citizenship and civic engagement.

Rudolph’s research examined how much people trust what they see on a map and what design choices shape that trust. The project grew out of a broader conversation in the field about how people consume and evaluate information and whether maps carry the same credibility concerns as other media.

Rudolph and her collaborators designed a survey to test which map elements—such as titles, legends, data sourcing and satellite imagery—affect how trustworthy viewers find a map to be. She pointed to Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps as an example of the high stakes, as they shape insurance rates, inform where people choose to live and guide how cities invest in infrastructure.

The research results were mixed. The team found that specific design elements didn’t significantly affect trustworthiness scores, and participants frequently pointed to satellite imagery and thematic maps as relatively trustworthy.

“My biggest takeaway from our research is that the way you ask a question is just as important as what question you’re asking,” Rudolph says. “Considering multiple perspectives and collecting feedback in more than one way strengthens your findings, and eventually your solutions.”

Rudolph’s collaborators included a Maxwell mentor, , assistant professor of geography and the environment, as well as Carolyn Fish, a professor at the University of Oregon. Kelly delivered the AAG Cartography and Mapping Specialty Group’s Early Career Scholar Keynote at the March conference.

“If I didn’t have a mentor like Dr. Kelly, who pushed me to take on a project like this, I wouldn’t have applied to a highly regarded master’s program,” says Rudolph, who will soon begin studies at Penn State. “Research provided me with evidence that I was capable of graduate-level work, and that really strengthened my application.”

The work continues. Kelly said the team plans to submit a journal article to an invited special issue ofÌęDigital Geography and Society, and Rudolph plans to present the project at the North American Cartographic Information Society annual meeting this fall.

Rudolph’s additional Syracuse experiences included an internship at Syracuse’s Neighborhood and Business Development Office, working with newly resettled immigrants and refugees, and work with Syracuse Community Geography, which partners with organizations in need of maps and data. She also worked in the department’s Cartography Studio, producing maps for faculty publications.

Rudolph says her biggest lesson as an undergraduate was to take advantage of every opportunity to work with faculty and conduct research.

“If I had let self-doubt prevent me from doing an internship with Syracuse Community Geography, conducting research or working as a cartographer with the Cartography Studio, I would not be where I am today,” she says. “My portfolio has grown so much, I was able to travel and present my research, and I have the most supportive network of people both at Syracuse and in the larger geographic and cartographic world.”

—Story by Jacob Spudich

Students from all backgrounds have the opportunity to work with acclaimed researcher and storyteller and the award-winning by applying for the 2026-28 Lender Center for Social Justice Student Fellowship. Berry, an associate professor of writing, rhetoric and composition in the , Ìęis the 2026-28 Lender Faculty Fellow.

Berry’s work explores how publishing and collaborative media production can create new opportunities for civic participation, public dialogue and professional development for people impacted by the criminal legal system.

Project Mend is a multimodal, grassroots-level, open-access archive of creative works and narratives produced by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals and their communities.

The of “,” a print and digital journal of published fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual art, was released last spring.

For his work on Project Mend, Berry was awarded the $10,000 Syracuse Prize from . He was also recognized with the ‘s Outstanding College-Community Partnership Award.

Hands-On Experience

Lender Student Fellowships are open to graduate and undergraduate students from all schools and colleges. Five students will be selected to work with Berry as active co-creators alongside Project Mend’s interdisciplinary editorial and production teams.

Along with hands-on experience in collaborative scholarship, community partnership and public-facing media production, students will review and edit submissions, interview writers, develop podcasts, assist with film, multimedia and theater productions or conduct research on incarceration, reentry, community publishing and the public humanities.

Berry says he hopes student fellows “gain a richer understanding of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people beyond statistics or stereotypes
 [and see] the humanities as having the potential to promote public dialogue and communication across difference.”

Stipends Provided

Undergraduate fellows receive a $2,000 stipend and graduate student fellows receive $5,000 across the two-year research term. They also have access to additional research funds and support. Fellows will present their work at a symposium in May 2028.

Application deadline is Friday, Oct. 2, at 5 p.m.

An information session will be held Wednesday, Sept. 16, at 2 p.m. in 207 Bowne Hall. ÌęFor more information, visit the .

ÌęÌę

Ìę

At the center of most galaxies lies a supermassive black hole, with a mass millions to billions of times that of our sun and some of the most extreme gravity in the universe.

Some stars that venture too close to such black holes live to tell the tale. Rather than being completely destroyed, they survive to make repeated close passes, producing a new flare of light each time.

These repeating partial tidal disruption events (rpTDEs) give astronomers the opportunity to watch the same star and black hole interaction unfold again and again, thanks to wide-field time-domain surveys that repeatedly scan large areas of the sky for objects that change in brightness.

But in several cases, researchers have noticed a puzzling pattern: The successive flares grow progressively dimmer. For years, theoretical models couldn’t explain why.

Now, a team of astrophysicists at Syracuse University has shown that the answer may lie in a previously overlooked factor—the star’s spin.

The study, published inÌę, was led by doctoral student Ananya Bandopadhyay, working with postdoctoral researcher Benjamin Amend and associate professorÌę—all in theÌę in the —as well as colleagues at other institutions.

When Stars Meet Black Holes

In a typical tidal disruption event (TDE), a black hole’s tidal force—the difference in gravitational pull across a nearby star—tears the star completely apart.

As the disrupted stellar debris falls toward, or “accretes” onto, the black hole, it loses energy that is emitted in the form of light over the course of days to months.

While black holes themselves emit no light, TDEs provide a short-lived supply of fuel that lights up the surrounding region, allowing astronomers to study these otherwise invisible objects indirectly.

If a star orbiting a black hole does not come close enough to be completely ripped apart, it can, however, lose a fraction of its mass, resulting in a partial TDE. In a repeating partial TDE, the surviving core continues orbiting the black hole, losing more material with each new close pass, a few months to several years apart.

The Dimming Mystery

How much material a star loses during repeated encounters depends partly on its internal structure. Bandopadhyay compares a low-mass star to a fluffy meringue, which can become increasingly vulnerable to the black hole’s tidal forces. By contrast, a higher-mass star has a more centrally concentrated, onion-like star and can shed its outer layers while its dense core remains relatively unaffected, losing decreasing amounts of mass over time.

Those differences can help explain why rpTDEs don’t all behave the same way.

But one pattern in particular has mystified researchers. Of the roughly 10 repeating systems identified to date, four have produced flares that grow progressively dimmer.

Decreasing mass loss might seem like an obvious explanation. But previous hydrodynamical simulations showed that, surprisingly, even as the material lost decreased with each encounter, the predicted flares retained roughly the same brightness.

“We were puzzled by this for two years,” Bandopadhyay says.

TheirÌę revealed another effect of the black hole’s tidal forces. In addition to stripping material from the star, they exert a torque that causes the star to spin faster with each close encounter. As a result, although less material falls back toward the black hole, it returns over a shorter period of time, helping to keep the predicted flare at roughly the same brightness.

To reproduce the dimming astronomers were actually observing, the researchers needed what Bandopadhyay called “a new ingredient”—a star that was already spinning rapidly before its first encounter with the black hole.

The new study found that this initial rotation prevents the star from being significantly spun up during each passage. Without that additional spin-up, the timescale over which the stripped material falls back remains relatively constant. As the star loses less material with each encounter, the peak fallback rate—and the predicted brightness of the flare—can finally decline.

Tracing the Star’s Past

But why would the star already be spinning so rapidly?

“It is also extremely difficult to ‘bind’ a star to a supermassive black hole so tightly that it orbits the black hole in a matter of months, and yet they seem to do so in rpTDEs,” Coughlin says.

The so-called Hills mechanism may explain both. Under this scenario, a pair of closely orbiting stars passes near a supermassive black hole, which tears the binary apart, ejecting one star and capturing the other.

In a close binary, the stars can become tidally locked, causing each to rotate on its axis at the same rate that the pair orbits each other. The tighter the binary, the shorter that orbital period and the faster a tidally locked star spins. The binaries capable of leaving a captured star on the short orbit observed in rpTDEs would have to be extremely tight—also leaving a tidally locked star spinning rapidly before its capture.

“Ananya’s work demonstrates that each of these peculiarities can be explained by the same underlying phenomenon: the tidal destruction of a binary system and the capture of one of the stars,” Coughlin says. “From a theoretical standpoint, this is a major step forward in our understanding of the physics at play in these systems.”

Zooming out, Coughlin notes that Hills capture may also have produced some of the stars orbiting Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. The new findings could therefore help explain some of the properties of stars in what he calls “our own cosmological backyard.”

Story by Olivia Hall

The journey to Syracuse from Yogyakarta, Indonesia, took Ryan Nugraha 28 hours. He arrived at night, exhausted.

But the greeting he and other Fulbrighters received from administrators of the Fulbright Pre-Academic Program gave a boost.

“Suddenly, to me at least, it didn’t feel as tiring anymore because we got to see the warmth of Syracuse,” Nugraha says.

Nugraha was one of 26 students from 20 countries who spent four weeks on the Syracuse University campus over the summer, participating in the program designed to prepare international graduate students for academic life in the United States.

The program, which returned this summer after a yearlong hiatus, is administered through the in the . The scholars spend their mornings sharpening their English and academic skills, and their afternoons meeting guests—librarians, deans and experts who offer information on topics ranging from conducting research to the U.S. political system to mental health.

The rest of the time, scholars are provided experiences outside the academic realm: dinners with host families and field trips to regional historic sites and cultural experiences.

, director of international programs, says the dinners in particular offer a cultural exchange that runs both ways.

“Families offer scholars a personal window into local life, and scholars offer families their own introduction to a new country and culture,” he says. “That kind of exchange is really the heart of what Fulbright is about.”

The program culminates with a poster session where the scholars present on a topic within their academic focus. When the program is over, the scholars head to their home institutions, where they will begin their graduate study in the United States.

But even after their departure, the program’s impact is felt on campus, Lind says.

“Faculty, staff, and students across departments get a chance to connect with incoming international scholars early, building relationships that often carry into the academic year and beyond,” he says. “It gives the university a meaningful way to live out its global engagement mission, showing that Syracuse invests in international students’ success.”

The Experience for Scholars

For Melanie Lemus, who participated in the program before going on to pursue a master’s degree in global studies at Oklahoma State University, her arrival in Syracuse marked her first time leaving home. She was nervous and scared when she said goodbye to her family in Honduras.

“I was almost crying because it was my first time away,” she says of her arrival. “It was at night. It was tiring. I was so homesick and so nervous.”

Within a few days, she says the warmth of the people participating in and administering the program and the many engaging activities—a trip to Niagara Falls was a favorite experience for both her and Nugraha—overtook her homesickness as she found support and friendship in her cohort.

“The professors were really warm and really kind,” she says. “It was really nice to feel supported by them, the facilitators, too. We have a really good group of Fulbrighters. We all got to know each other, and we had a great time with each other.”

Coming into the program, Lemus says she wasn’t expecting to learn so much outside of the classroom and academic preparation or for those experiences to prove so meaningful.

“I love how everything was planned to make us enjoy not only the academic side, but also to know where we are, what is in our surroundings,” she says.

The Impact on Campus—and Beyond

Nugraha, who is pursuing his doctoral degree in health service policy and management at the University of South Carolina, agrees that it was the warmth of the people of Syracuse and the program’s administrators that made the experience amazing.

Academically, Nugraha says that even though he’s been working in classrooms as a lecturer in Indonesia, the program helped him get back in touch with “being on the other side of the table.”

“This program really warms up our academic brain before actually getting to our home institution,” he says.

Getting a re-introduction to balancing classes, assignments, events and excursions gives a preview of what academic study will be like for him, he says.

“We’re getting exposed to that academic environment again, to that social environment again and also to really know and get in touch with other cultures,” Nugraha says.

Lemus says the program was essential to providing an introduction to that academic system in the United States.

“We can go to our home institutions, knowing what is going on, knowing what we are going to face,” she says.

The Fulbright Pre-Academic Program has been hosted by the College of Professional Studies for a decade, but what Lind says makes it so successful is how many people from all corners of the University participate.

“The Fulbrighters get plugged into conversations with deans, professors and specialists from , the , , , and the , to name just a few collaborating units,” he says. “That kind of reach only happens with institutional backing behind it. Administrative and academic leadership have consistently championed the program’s value to the University, treating it not as a one-off but as a standing part of Syracuse’s international mission.”

, professor of biomedical and chemical engineering in theÌęÌę(ECS), has been named director of the University’sÌę.

“My vision is to build a trust-based community where we elevate our research together. I am optimistic about securing center-scale and collaborative funding and championing new entrepreneurship and industry partnerships,” Soman says.

He also plans to help incubate a new generation of Syracuse University-based entrepreneurs in BioInspired’s core focus areas.

Soman succeedsÌę, senior associate dean for faculty affairs in ECS, whoÌęhasÌęled the instituteÌęsince 2023 andÌęremains an active member.

Soman joined the Syracuse faculty in 2013 as a member of the Biomaterials Institute and later as a BioInspired affiliate. He also servedÌę as a program director for the .

His lab builds light-based tools to grow lab models of organs, print living tissue at scale and study how biological systems process information. The work could transform how scientists model disease, build replacement tissue and understand the limits of biological intelligence.

Institute founding directorÌę, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Physics in the College of Arts and Sciences, says Soman brings valuable perspective to the role.

“Pranav has a strong commitment to supporting both fundamental scientific advances and translating those advances into products that help people,” she says. “Those qualities make him an excellent choice to move the institute forward to build an entrepreneurial biotechnology and material science workforce and to champion researchers and trainees in a time of substantial research funding uncertainty.”

During his time as BioInspired director, Henderson has grown the institute on nearly every front. Nine new faculty joined its ranks, and co-located lab space expanded twice over to house five new affiliates in 2023 and five more in 2024. Equipment also kept pace with the acquisition of a new Zeiss Sigma 360 field emission scanning electron microscope, a first-of-its-kind addition to the .

Henderson also pushed the institute into new intellectual territory: an NSF-funded emergent intelligence research training program, led by Manning as principal investigator,Ìę serves 115 graduate students over the program lifetime. A new focus group, Posthumanities: Arts and Sciences, bridges research across the arts, humanities and sciences. Intramural funding from the institute backed projects on polar fungi survival and shape memory polymers.

That momentum is clear at the institute’s annual research symposium, where student poster presentations grew from 79 in 2023 to 115 in 2025, and research distinction awards rose from student poster presentations to 11 in 2025.

Shwetha Srikanta, a computer science Ph.D. student in the , won two top honors at Amazon’s global intern recognition event for her work developing artificial intelligence systems to detect and stop sophisticated automated attacks.

Srikanta received the Global Top EXPO Award and the Global Top People’s Choice Award for her project during an internship as an applied scientist at Amazon. Her project focused on building AI systems designed to identify and mitigate advanced automated attacks, technology that could help safeguard billions of customer interactions.

“It has been an exciting technical challenge and a meaningful opportunity to contribute to AI systems operating at an incredible scale,” says Srikanta. “This recognition reflects the support, mentorship and collaboration of many exceptional people.”

Srikanta says the recognition will motivate her continued research into AI systems aimed at solving large-scale, real-world problems.

“I’m deeply thankful to my mentors, advisor, and everyone who has supported me along the way,” says Srikanta. “This recognition inspires me to continue building AI systems that solve challenging real-world problems and create meaningful impact.”

Elyas A. Layachi ’27 thought he had his Syracuse University journey figured out the day he arrived on campus.

He planned to study aerospace engineering, but he soon realized that while engineering interested him, it wasn’t his passion.

After self-reflection and conversations with family, friends, professors and advisors, he decided to double major in mathematics in the and inclusive adolescent education in the . It was a decision that opened the door to research, mentorship and leadership roles he never expected to pursue.

On , Layachi will address the more than 3,600 first-year and transfer students as the New Student Convocation speaker inside the JMA Wireless Dome, encouraging the newest members of the Orange family to stay flexible in mapping out their path.

“I came into Syracuse University with absolute certainty about how the rest of my college journey would pan out, but I wish I gave myself more grace when it came to reconsidering that path,” Layachi says. “Once I let go of that certainty, I began to grow into the person I wanted to be from the start.”

Layachi grew into a leader, serving as vice president of the and a Ìępeer leader, and as an and member. He also participated in the University’s first inclusive study abroad trip to Florence, Italy, served as an undergraduate research assistant for two faculty members and presented original research on virtual reality eye tracking at the American Educational Research Association.

SU Today caught up with Layachi to learn more about his favorite memories from his first year on campus and his advice to the new students in the Class of 2030.

1. He fell in love with the campus from the jump.

“I was drawn to Syracuse University by its size and diversity of majors. This is a beautiful campus that offers students a plethora of clubs, organizations and other ways to get involved outside of the classroom. After visiting the University for prospective student day, I was certain I wanted to commit here.”

2. A warm welcoming reception made him feel right at home.

“My memories from Move-In/Welcome Week are warm. I clearly remember the welcoming smiles from Goon Squad members as they helped me move in, meeting my roommate and floormates for the first time and attending events like the Y2K Party on the Quad. I was nervous, yet motivated and excited to meet new people and get acclimated to college life. Looking back, that first week set the tone for how welcomed and supported I’d continue to feel throughout my time at Syracuse University.”

3. He became his own best advocate.

“I realized that advocating for yourself and taking initiative are key to academic and personal success. Through research programs like and the , I learned to apply research skills in education and gained a newfound passion for educational research. Looking back, Syracuse University gave me the opportunity and resources to pivot, find my footing and grow into the person I’d hoped to become.”

4. His passion for community service motivated his on-campus involvement.

“These experiences in the , First Year Seminar, the Muslim Students’ Association and the Honors Program enabled me to grow as a person and explore my strengths and weaknesses in mentorship, research and public speaking. Being an active student leader on campus improves my leadership skills while letting me give back to the University and help positively impact the college experiences of other students.”

5. He wants to use his degrees to impact educational research and policymaking.

“Once I graduate, I plan to earn a master’s degree in an education field and teach secondary mathematics for at least five years. Further down the line, I hope to earn a doctorate in educational policy or a related field and build a career in educational research and policymaking.”

6. He intends to emphasize the importance of finding community on campus.

“I plan to call on students to be proactive and seek out community at Syracuse University, and I’ll share a personal story about a pivotal early moment that speaks to these themes.”

Mira Lan Gaitanis, a second-year student in the , recently attended the 17th Annual International Disability Law Summer School, held by the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the University of Galway. The theme was “The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) Twenty Years On: New Horizons and Emerging Challenges.”

The three-day conference covered the convention’s drafting history through the gaps and emerging challenges now testing it, to its future and a participatory exercise imagining a revised treaty.

The College of Law and the Disability Law and Policy Program sponsored Gaitanis’ participation in the conference.

Gaitanis, a research assistant at the , says the conference provided “an honest reckoning with what the UNCRPD has and has not changed in disabled people’s lives; a reframing of the convention as one tool among many rather than the endpoint; and a clear sense that the next wave of leadership will come from the minds of young disabled people, working in collaboration with earlier generations who are living testaments to disability history and the current movement.”

She also presented a poster, “Presence Is Practice: Music, Independent Living and the Law as a Form of Advocacy.”Ìę The poster argued that advocacy does not only happen in courtrooms and legislatures, but happens every time a disabled person walks into a room that was not built for them and stays. The poster highlighted Gaitanis’ multi-dimensional advocacy through her music. A member of the Recording Artists and Musicians with Disabilities, Gaitanis has released three albums with the band Flat Moon Theory, with songs such as “See Me As I Am” and “Sparrow,” each illustrating her journey as a micropreemie with low vision and chronic pain.

The poster also traced her advocacy journey, including her first individualized education program meeting in fifth grade, her participation in the Florida Youth Leadership Forum, her involvement with Disability Rights Florida and her internships with AAPD and The Harkin Institute. It then illustrates her journey to Galway for the conference and her goal of serving as U.S. special advisor on international disability rights.

At the conclusion of the conference, participants were challenged with drafting new articles for the UNCRPD. Gaitanis served as her group’s envoy, coordinating with the other groups’ envoys in the exercise’s private Discord channel so that, where ideas overlapped, each group could carry forward a distinct proposal. The group proposed, among other things, amending Article 34 to seat a youth representative and create a youth subcommittee.

As part of the craftivism portion of the conference, Gaitanis created a zine titled “Reflections and Musings,” with the cover titled “Nothing About Us Without Us,” that combined collage, printmaking and handwritten notes from the week.

“There were so many incredible speakers, and my favorite part was the participatory exercise that let us imagine the improvements we would make to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” says Gaitanis. “My idea was to add a youth representative to the main board and create a subcommittee dedicated to youth and disability. I also deeply valued the panel ‘The Road Ahead: Bringing the UNCRPD into a New Era.’ We are at a turning point in disability rights history, and youth are the ones who can bring in the next wave through activism, community and collective action.”

Four faculty members in the early stages of their research careers have earned recognition and funding from the (NSF) this year through its award program.

The CAREER program is among the most prestigious awards NSF offers. It supports early-career faculty who show promise as both researchers and teachers and who weave education into their scientific work.

“CAREER awards are among the most competitive NSF offers, and they give a researcher’s work real momentum at a pivotal stage,” says Duncan Brown, vice president for research. “They tell the national scientific community that innovative work is happening here, and because the program values teaching as much as discovery, students can be confident they’re learning from faculty at the leading edge of their fields. Earning four awards in a single year speaks to the caliber of faculty joining, and at, Syracuse—and to what our students gain from learning alongside them.”

Receiving awards this year are:

, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the ($611,222)

Gan received the grant for his project “A Systematic Framework for Morphological Adaptation and Control of Transformable Legged Robots.” Most robots have a fixed shape; Gan is building one that doesn’t. His legged robot can change its own body—adjusting leg length, posture or shape—to walk, jump, crawl or carry a load. His work develops the math and controls that let a machine reshape itself as the task changes, with possible uses in search and rescue, disaster response and space exploration.

The award also builds a robotics pipeline for students at every stage: middle schoolers will program small four-legged robots, high schoolers will take on a self-driving racecar challenge, and Syracuse undergraduates will help teach them and carry the research into the classroom.

, assistant professor of physics in the (A&S) ($770,516).

Pashine received funding for “Adaptability of Soft Deformable Granular Materials.” She studies granular materials—think sand or a bag of beads—but with a twist: her particles can bend, grip and change their size, shape and stiffness. Using custom-built robotic particles, she traces how the behavior of single grains adds up to how the whole material acts—whether it flows or holds firm. The goal is “programmable” matter that can be tuned to respond in specific ways.

Her project also brings physics to a wider audience. With a Syracuse colleague in mathematics and education, she is designing an algebra-based “meaningful physics” course for non-majors that ties the material to students’ everyday lives.

Undergraduate researchers will build interactive demonstrations in her lab that then travel to K-12 classrooms, creating a chain of hands-on science engagement.

, assistant professor of mathematics in A&S ($400,000)

Pollitz received the funds for his project “Applications of Koszul Duality to Local Algebra.” He works in areas of mathematics that study number-like systems called rings and the patterns in how their parts fit together. He focuses on rings with “singularities”—points where the structure turns irregular and is hard to pin down.

His main tool is Koszul duality, which recasts a hard problem in a friendlier setting to tame calculations that would otherwise run on forever. Teaching sits at the center of the award: Pollitz will run week-long masterclasses and immersive summer schools—modeled on European programs—that bring students and researchers together for intensive, hands-on work and build a wider community around the field.

, assistant professor of physics in A&S ($1,007,943).

Mihovilovic Skanata’s award advances her research on how a brain turns what it senses into what an animal does. Her model is the fruit fly larva, simple enough to study almost neuron by neuron. Her five-year project, Lessons From a Simple Brain, asks how neural circuits weigh competing signals and settle on a response.

Her interdisciplinary lab spans physics, neuroscience, engineering and computer science. The team builds its own instruments—including a microscope that follows a larva and records its brain activity as it moves freely—to watch the brain at work in real time.

The award also opens the lab to students. It funds an intensive “NeuroBootCamp,” a six-week summer research program for high schoolers run with the Syracuse City School District, and public science events such as “Ask a Scientist” at the Museum of Science & Technology.