Get to Know Our Scholars

Paul Dewan Jr. (left), Meghan Sullivan and Krish Patel (right).

2022 Barry Goldwater Scholarship Winners, Paul Dewan Jr. (left), Meghan Sullivan and Krish Patel (right)

UB is the proud home of several prestigious award recipients like Madelaine Britt, UB's first Truman Scholar. Take a look though our scholars gallery, where we highlight some of UB's other award recipients and scholarship applicants.

Fulbright Goldwater NSF GRFP Presidential Schomburg Graduate School Other

American Association of University Women

Gabriella Nassif

Nassif has received a $20,000 Dissertation Fellowship from the American Association of University Women to complete her PhD research.

American Heart Association Pre-Doctoral Fellowship

Kexin Zhu

Epidemiology graduate student Kexin Zhu will investigate whether climate change and air pollution relate to high blood pressure and hypertension.

Ahmed Soliman

Epidemiology PhD student Ahmed Soliman researches the impact of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) on the cardiovascular health of postmenopausal women.

Benjamin and David Scharps Legal Essay

Joseph Wolf

Joseph Wolf, recipient of the Benjamin and David Scharps Legal Essay, had his sights on law school.

Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress

Gunnar Haberl

Legal studies and political science dual major, Gunnar Haberl, represented UB at the Center for Study of the Presidency and Congress.

Charles B. Rangel Graduate Fellowship

Sophie May

Aspiring diplomat Sophie May is the first UB student to win the prestigious Charles B. Rangel International Affairs Graduate Fellowship.

Critical Language Scholarship

Conor McMahon

Conor McMahon, a 2019 UB Graduate spent summer 2019 studying Mandarin in Taiwan on a Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) and is currently pursuing a PhD in philosophy at the University of Oklahoma.

Jill Ricotta

It took just a few weeks at UB for Jill Ricotta to discover that her true passion lay halfway around the world.

Simon, Wolfson-Seely

Two UB undergraduates—Jenny Simon and Ethan Wolfson-Seely—have received prestigious scholarships from the Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Program for the summer of 2018. Both students are part of UB’s growing Asian languages programs.

Jenny Simon

Jenny Simon received a Critical Language Scholarship in 2018 and has applied for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship in Mongolia to pursue her dreams of learning more about China and becoming a teacher

David L. Boren Scholarship

Sarah Boerschig

Sarah Boerschig, a history and Asian studies major and University Honors College scholar, is the first UB student to receive the 2012 David L. Boren Scholarship from the National Security Education Program.

Delaj, Stafford

Alisa Delaj of Yonkers, a mechanical engineering major who will study at Korea University in a year-long program, and Carmila Stafford of Orchard Park, a linguistics major with a concentration in Japanese who will study at Konan University in Japan on a year-long exchange program, have been selected to receive the prestigious Boren Award.

Fulbright, Boren—2017

The University at Buffalo’s aspiration to become a “top-producing Fulbright institution” took another significant step forward when a record number of undergraduates were chosen as recipients of Fulbright awards.

Kayleigh Hamernik

Kayleigh Hamernik an environmental studies major, also minors in Asian studies. She will study Hindi at the American Institute of Indian Studies in Jaipur, Rajasthan. While there, her course study will focus on conversation, vocabulary, grammar and reading. She also will take part in such cultural activities as cooking, dance, photography and drama class.

Dalanda Jalloh

Dalanda Jalloh—a child of African immigrants whose years of homelessness strengthened her resolve to succeed—will spend part of her senior year in Senegal studying the language and working as an intern with a local organization related to her chosen area of study.

Casey Rothberg

Casey Rothberg was only the second UB student ever to receive the competitive David L. Boren Scholarship.

Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship

Coutney Shafer

Geology PhD student Courtney Shafer will be studying ice sheets and climate change, with a focus on vertical tunnels called moulins that form in the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship

Michael Almontaser

Michael Almontaser, recipient of the 2023-24 Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship, is a master's student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program.

Leah Cabarga

Leah Cabarga is a master's student in the UBTeach English Education program, and a recipient of the 2023-24 Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship.

Dejanay Burke

Dejanay Burke is a graduate student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program, and a recipient of the 2023-24 Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship.

Anthony Vargas

Anthony Vargas, recipient of the 2022-23 Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship, is a current PhD student in the Higher Education program in the University at Buffalo's Graduate School of Education.

Jessica Kelly

Jessica Kelly is currently a master's student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) program at UB, and a recipient of the 2022-23 Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship

Isnino Iftin

Isnino Iftin is currently pursuing her PhD in educational culture, policy and society (ECPS) at UB, and was just awarded the Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship (Durand Scholarship). Yet, one of the most incredible aspects of her educational journey is how it started.

Charice Thompson

Charice Thompson, local entrepreneur and nontraditional student driven to be a role model for her two young children is the inaugural winner of the Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship, an award given to a student facing financial obstacles standing in the way of a graduate degree.

Lauren Hennings

Lauren Hennings, recipient of the Drs. Henry J. and Bonita R. Durand Scholarship, is earning her PhD in UB’s Curriculum, Instruction and Science of Learning Program in the Graduate School of Education. Her research examines the effectiveness of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (CRP) for Black learners in math classrooms. 

Harry S. Truman Scholarship

Madelaine Britt

Madelaine Britt learned she has become UB's first Truman Scholar during a surprise meeting with President Satish K. Tripathi.

Christine Tjahjadi-Lopez

At 26, UB alumna Christine Tjahjadi-Lopez, a global entrepreneur, human rights activist, teacher and philanthropist, was already changing the world.

Samiha Islam

Samiha Islam, an anti-racism activist and community organizer studying statistics and health and human services, is UB’s second winner of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship.

Health Policy Research Scholars

Michelle Goulette

Goulette, PhD candidate in the Cancer Sciences program at Roswell Park, received the fellowship to fund her research focused on cannabis.

Carol Ramos-Genera

Carol Ramos-Genera has been selected from among 40 scholars nationally for the Health Policy Research Scholars (HPRS) fellowship from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF).

Marshall Scholarship

Alexis Harrell

Alexis Harrell, a racial justice researcher and artist, is one of 40 students chosen from more than 900 applicants to receive the award.

Sean Kaczmarek

Sean Kaczmarek was selected for a Marshall Scholarship, an honor many consider the country’s most prestigious scholarship.

Phillip Maffettone (Tucciarone)

Phillip Maffettone (Tucciarone), a chemical and biological engineering major, is the first UB student to receive the Marshall Scholarship since 1988.

Microsoft Research Ada Lovelace Fellowship

Izzy Starr

Izzy Starr, a UB PhD student who uses computing to study how microbes living on human skin impact immunity, has received a prestigious fellowship from Microsoft Research.

Morris K. Udall Scholarship

Esther Buckwalter

Esther Buckwalter—recipient of the nationally coveted Morris K. Udall Scholarship—has all the tools to solve a significant piece of the global water crisis. The extra bonus Buckwalter brings is her ability to charm those around her while doing it.

Christopher Llop

A passion for the environment drives Udall Scholar Chris Llop.

U.S.-U.K. Summer Fulbright Institutes

Jonathan bessette

U.S.-U.K. Fulbright recipient Jonathan Bessette, combines his love of engineering and art, in his education.

Dylan Burns

The United States-United Kingdom Fulbright Commission has selected Dylan Burns, an architect major, to participate in its Fulbright Summer Institute to study at Nottingham Trent University.

Anna Porter

A UB anthropology major took her passion for the “connections through time” to Durham University in Great Britain.

Other Award Recipients and Honorees