Faculty Center Awards

We are proud to award Dr. Khosro Shirvani the Faculty Center Award in Innovative Pedagogy.

To summarize some of Dr. Shirvani’s innovative approach:

His practices combine applied learning, industry engagement, and iterative project-based design. Students not only learn mechanical design principles in the classroom but also experience real-world engineering practices through regular visits to multiple local manufacturers, including Designatronics, Oerlikon, Koehler Instruments, and others. These visits allow students to observe design processes, manufacturing, quality control, and professional workflows. Additionally, industry professionals are invited to give lectures in class, providing direct insights into real-world engineering challenges.

The applied, industry-engaged pedagogy implemented in the Machine and Product Design course extends into the senior capstone projects and represents a higher-level application of the same instructional strategies—iterative design, structured feedback, real-world constraints, and direct industry engagement.

The Faculty Center presents this award for Dr. Shirvani’s classroom instruction with multiple industry exposures and hands-on project work, this innovation bridges theory and practice, fosters engagement and passion, and equips students with the practical skills and professional mindset necessary for careers in mechanical engineering and manufacturing.

We are proud to award Dr. Roshanak Keyghobadi the Faculty Center Award in Innovative Pedagogy.

To summarize some of the innovations in Dr. Keyghobadi’s Design Thinking Honors class:

Design Thinking supports the development of creative skills which can help students in all disciplines develop the confidence to approach problems imaginatively and independently. This allows students to build on the creative process that designers use to generate and visualize unique, human-centered solutions, and provides students a chance to collectively create well-crafted, elegantly designed solutions to complex problems related to themselves, others, and the society through practicing empathy, ideation, iteration, prototyping and critique.

The course is based on student-centered activities which require written and oral communication skills as students engage in oral and visual storytelling practices. Students discuss different possibilities and perspectives for re-thinking and revising the proposed solutions to determine the best possible direction while developing a deep understanding of the end users using ethnographic research methods. 

The Faculty Center presents her award for her application of active learning strategies in her Honors level classes and introducing the Design thinking process to the Farmingdale curriculum.

We are proud to award Dr. Peter Park the Faculty Center Award in Innovative Pedagogy.

To summarize some of Dr. Park’s innovations:

He regularly employs a variety of active learning tools and evidence-based teaching methods to engage students in the course material, such as: real-time polling, to assess knowledge acquisition, and group activities that allow students to apply their knowledge as they build phylogenic trees and create Linnean Classification schemes. He encourages students to develop a strong repertoire of study strategies that can be applied to future classes including concepting mapping, developing of summary tables and drawing illustrations to learn key adaptations and evolutionary trends.

As part of his higher level courses he focuses on teaching students real world, practical scientific skills and applications with original inquiry based labs. This work culminates in a student research symposium where students have the opportunity to present posters summarizing their knowledge and research from the semester.

The Faculty Center presents his award for his application of active learning strategies in entry level Biology classes and introducing the virtual lab to the Biology curriculum.

We are proud to award Dr. Deborah Durbin the Faculty Center Award in Innovative Pedagogy.

To quote Dr. Durbin:

“The most common statement I hear upon entering an introductory chemistry class is one of fear or dread about the upcoming semester. Many students and adults dislike and fear chemistry because of a negative experience in school or college. 

I think the largest challenge facing chemistry instructors is enhancing accessibility and learning experience to make chemistry more meaningful and understandable, while simultaneously stimulating strong material comprehension and ensuring laboratory safety.”

The Faculty Center presents her award for her implementation of active learning “How-To” sessions in her 100 level chemistry classes and the creation of a new in-house manual to increase safety in entry level chemistry classes.

We are proud to award Dr. Paulo Castillo the Faculty Center Award in Outstanding Mentorship.

To quote Dr. Castillo:

“Educating and mentoring others have always been an integral part of my job throughout my career. I have mentored undergraduate and graduate students even as a doctoral student, and now as an Associate Professor, and I firmly believe mentorship is nested within my duty as a professor, and my wider duty as an engineer and scientist. Engineering and science are inherently collaborative and made possible through communication and dissemination. However, as a mentor, I take this a step further and believe that good mentors should also inspire their students. I was fortunate to have had wonderful mentors who have modeled what good mentorship is like. In my years at Farmingdale, I have found mentorship to be one of the most rewarding aspects of my career. It is a joy to watch students grow in their careers but also into self-confident individuals who are eager to make a positive difference through their work.

My mentorship starts in the classroom as I put great effort into craft engaging lectures to reach the diverse audience that are my students. I enjoy getting to know them, how they learn and the career goals they are pursuing. I encourage them to come to office hours to talk about course topics but also to ask questions they might have about their careers. Several of these conversations have led to mentoring relationships, where I have found that I can positively impact students’ careers.”

Dr. Castillo has supported students in collaborating with Brookhaven National Lab, Stony Brook University, and the City College of New York. His work as Primary Investigator for the Offshore Wind Turbine Institute (OWTI) and multiple Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) have also opened additional opportunities for students to engage in research on campus.

The Faculty Center presents Dr. Castillo this award for his work mentoring students to pursue their interests in research through collaboration.

We are proud to award Dr. Sveltana Tlupova the Faculty Center Award in Outstanding Mentorship.

To quote Prof. Tlupova:

“My commitment to student mentoring arises from a deep conviction that research opportunities in mathematics and the sciences should be accessible to all who wish to explore them. By establishing professional yet supportive relationships with students, maintaining high standards while providing consistent guidance, and creating funded opportunities for research engagement, I strive to demonstrate that success in research comes through the dedication and perseverance that can be cultivated by people from all backgrounds. I am committed to the College’s mission to actively encourage and support student participation in scientific research, and feel privileged to mentor students through an experience that I believe is vitally important in preparing them for professional careers and advanced degree programs.”

The Faculty Center presents her award for her work engaging students to pursue their interests in research through her National Science Foundation grant which created semester-long research internship opportunities.

We are proud to award Prof. Eric Anderson the Faculty Center Award in Outstanding Mentorship.

To quote Prof. Anderson:

“I aim to guide and advise students to engage in hands-on experiences through mentoring that instills both competence and confidence. I guide them in navigating interactions with industry professionals, equipping them with the skills necessary for success in their evolving careers. Because we serve many first-generation students, I work to set an example in professional engagement, problem solving, and communication required for developing emerging talent. To bridge the gap between academia and the professional realm, I have guided students to competitions sponsored by industrial partners (through the regional project competition for the Associated Schools of Construction) and extracurricular activities with non-profit groups (such as Habitat for Humanity) with authentic parameters, constraints, and clients, thereby affording students a genuine experience reflective of their future careers. In fostering an environment of mentoring, I frequently invite external experts to engage with students, creating invaluable opportunities for networking and professional growth.”

The Faculty Center presents his award for his work organizing and mentoring students in applied learning projects with the Associate Schools of Construction, mentoring student national conference participation through the American Society for Engineering Education and involving the students in community service work with Habitat for Humanity.

We are proud to award Dr. Jack Simonson the Faculty Center Award in Outstanding Mentorship.

Quoting from his nomination: “He is engaged in mentoring undergraduate and high school students in authentic physics research, guiding students as primary and co-authorship to publish articles in peer-reviewed journals. 

He is particularly dedicated to mentoring historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students and has entered into an enduring partnership with New York State’s STEP and CSTEP programs, which are designed to prepare students from these underserved populations to enter STEM careers.”

The Faculty Center presents his award for his work in mentoring students to participate in the research process, mentoring students to engage in graduate study research based on their experiences at Farmingdale, and for creating opportunity for students from marginalized communities to engage in the research process. 

We are proud to award Dr. Monique Sosonowski the Faculty Center Award for Outstanding Scholarly Publication in the Social Science and Humanities for her article: Crimes at Sea: Exploring the nexus of maritime crimes across global EEZs.

To quote Dr. Sosonowski’s article:

Maritime crime refers to conduct which is perpetrated wholly or partly at sea and is prohibited under applicable national and international law. It also represents an understudied sector of crime and security. Crimes including maritime piracy and armed robbery; illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing; terrorism; and illegal drug, arms, wildlife, and human trafficking occur across maritime zones and pose serious threats to international trade, national security, and maritime security. Notably, these crimes often do not occur in isolation. Previous research has documented the convergence of these crimes within the terrestrial space but is thus far lacking a similar analysis as it pertains to the maritime space, which accounts for one of the most commonly used trafficking modes.

Her Research seeks to answer the questions: (a) can maritime crimes be ranked in terms of their degree of importance?; (b) what typologies can be developed to better understand the geographic convergence of these crimes?; and (c) what factors are associated with the risk of these crimes occurring within the territorial waters of the coastal countries?

The Faculty Center presents her this award for her research on the nexus of maritime crimes.

We are proud to award Dr. Wei Shi the Faculty Center Award for her Outstanding Scholarly Publication in the Social Science and Humanities.

To quote Dr. Shi:

“The average new venture failure rate in the first year across the United States was 23.2% in 2023. There is limited understanding of the process of searching for knowledge, which is often regarded as the first critical step in new venture development. Based on interview data collected from 20 early-stage entrepreneurs in the knowledge-intensive industries in the New York metropolitan area, this research explored entrepreneurs’ use of communicative strategies in coping with knowledge ambiguity, contributing to the literature of knowledge management, computer-mediated communication (CMC) and entrepreneurial bricolage.

This study builds on the multidimensional concept of communication visibility to suggest that visibility could be managed to help break the constraints of immediate social network, uncover hidden resources in the environment, and diversify relational mechanisms for knowledge exchange.

Overall, this interdisciplinary research integrates theories from the fields of communication and entrepreneurship to extend our understanding of the cognitive and social processes of entrepreneurial information seeking and decision-making.”

The Faculty Center presents her award for her research on the impact of bricolage behavior and resourcefulness in knowledge management.

We are proud to award Dr. Kathryn Hauschild the Faculty Center Award for her Outstanding Scholarly Publication in the Social Science and Humanities.

To quote Dr. Hauschild:

“Facial emotion recognition differences in autism spectrum disorder are well-documented. However, far less is known about vocal emotion recognition in this population. Reported findings indicate that autistic youth had more difficulty accurately identifying vocal emotional expressions compared to their non-autistic peers. 

This study provides a vital foundation for the ongoing examination of how vocal emotion recognition behavior and underlying neural mechanisms offer a unique, underexplored avenue of insight into social perception and cognition in autism. Despite apparent difficulties in the vocal domain, the majority of work on emotion recognition interventions focuses on facial emotion recognition across neurodevelopmental disorders, learning disabilities, and mild cognitive impairment. 

This work provides a first step in characterizing the concurrent differences in vocal emotion recognition and facial emotion recognition abilities with the ultimate goal of better fostering multimodal social skill acquisition for autistic youth.”

The Faculty Center presents her award for her research on the impact of vocal emotion recognition on autistic youth.

We are proud to award Dr. Travis Holloway the Faculty Center Award in Social Science and Humanities Publication.

To quote his work: How to Live at the End of the World “How do we live at the end of the world? How do we write the story of our species differently? Or construct a democracy that does not belong to human beings alone? As we face down a new era of climate change, we require nothing short of a philosophy for the end of the world.”

The Faculty Center presents his award for his work in asking questions reach beyond the scope of a single discipline and address the very ideas of the spaces we inhabit and what are the rules that guide them and how do we create new rules around space and what types of spaces are needed in the future.

We are proud to award Dr. Jinette Tolentino Collado the Faculty Center Award for Outstanding Scholarly Publication in a STEM field for her article: Probing the Signal Transduction Mechanism of the Light-Activated Adenylate Cyclase OaPAC Using Unnatural Amino Acid Mutagenesis.

To quote Dr. Collado’s article:

Optogenetics combines optical and genetic approaches to control cellular events using light. Central to this technology are photoactive proteins that are fused to effector domains to enable light-dependent control of processes such as enzyme activity, gene expression, and signaling. The rational design and optimization of new optogenetic devices require a detailed understanding of the photoactivation mechanism of naturally occurring photoreceptors, particularly those in which both the light absorbing and effector domains are part of the same protein.

The Faculty Center presents her this award for her research in optogenetics.

We are proud to award Dr. Baris Cakmak the Faculty Center Award for his Outstanding Scholarly Publication in a STEM field.

To quote Dr. Cakmak:

“Machine learning is a rapidly growing field of research that involves the use of computational algorithms to estimate complex functions using large amounts of available data. These functions can then be used to make some predictions and identify patterns in given datasets. The main difference between the machine learning approach and other statistical models is that it allows a computer program to improve its performance or learn, without the need for explicit programming. In recent years, machine learning methods have achieved remarkable success in a wide range of applications, including natural language processing, image recognition, drug discovery, and finance. 

Machine learning algorithms have been applied in many areas, including computer science, medicine, biology, and even social sciences. In physics, machine learning techniques have been extensively used in various research fields, encompassing cosmology, particle physics, condensed matter physics, and quantum computing.”

The Faculty Center presents his award for his research on predicting quantum synchronization using machine learning.

We are proud to award Dr. Kimberly Riegel the Faculty Center Award her Outstanding Scholarly Publication in a STEM field.

To quote Dr. Riegel:

“The return of supersonic travel is imminent as companies develop new supersonic aircrafts. Boom supersonic has already sold several aircraft to United Airlines and American Airlines with the anticipation that they will begin to fly in 2027. However, these aircraft are traditional supersonic aircraft with a loud sonic boom signature that is unacceptable to fly over land due to the negative impact that the noise would have on communities. 

In order to ensure that the impact is minimal to the residents of the coastline, the aircraft slows down several thousand feet from the coastline to ensure that they are not creating dangerous sounds as they fly over. However, when Concorde was flying a phenomena called secondary sonic booms where the sound that usually travels upward bends back down toward the earth due to specific atmospheric conditions caused unexpected complaints from communities. 

The significance of this paper is to predict when and where the secondary sonic booms might occur as these new aircraft are approaching the coastlines allowing the FAA to prepare for the secondary booms and require the aircraft to slow down further from the coastline to ensure no negative impact to residents.”

The Faculty Center presents her award for her research on the impact of secondary sonic booms on urban communities.

We are proud to award Dr Cristina Casa-Levine and Dr Luisa Nappo-Dattoma the Faculty Center Award in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics Publication.

To quote their work: Upon graduating, dental hygienists are expected to enter the profession possessing the skills necessary to evaluate their performance, and implement changes that will improve their practices and patient care. This is supported by the Commission on Dental Accreditation.

The Faculty Center awards Dr. Cristina Casa-Levine and Dr. Luisa Nappo-Dattoma for their publication in the Journal of Dental Hygiene where they show the effects of self-assessment on clinical competence in dental hygiene education. 

This work serves as an example of how self-assessment can affect the professional practice of clinical workers through their experiences in school and as they move into the professional field. 

This work is a starting point for research on how self-assessment can be used in programs that lead to professional certifications and career tracks in STEM.

We are proud to award Drs. Tamara Faure and Margarita Rivera the Faculty Center Award in Inclusive Teaching for their work with the Harry Schien Sensory Lab.

To summarize their practices:

Tamara and Margarita have introduced a new, highly effective instructional approach to Dental Hygiene focused on teaching students how to safely, respectfully, and sensitively care for patients with intellectual, developmental, behavioral, and sensory differences. This approach integrates both didactic and experiential learning, and emphasizes empathy, patient-centered communication, sensory awareness, and adaptability in clinical care. Although the concepts are well-established in healthcare education, their method of implementation is new within the department, marking a meaningful innovation that has transformed how students understand and engage with special needs populations. 

In addition to teaching inclusive care, they have prioritized creating an inclusive learning environment that models the very principles they teach. The incorporation of the sensory room and the normalization of sensory tools have fostered a space where all students, even those with anxiety, neurodivergence, or sensory sensitivities can feel comfortable, supported, and able to fully participate in their education while providing care for others.

The Faculty Center presents this award for their use of inclusive teaching practices in the Dental Hygiene classes.

We are proud to award Ms. Megan Marchese the Faculty Center Award in Inclusive Teaching.

To summarize some of Ms. Marchese’s practices:

Librarians teach information literacy classes to subjects across all FSC disciplines, meeting the individual research needs of each class. Utilizing Pear Deck Ms. Marchese developed an inclusive lesson on understanding and locating primary sources.

Her lessons are supported by the practices of Universal Design for Learning and include strategies such as: 

• Wait time - allowing students time to reflect on questions via audio, text, and images, 
•  Anonymous polling  - allowing her to engage with nearly all students in the class, not only the students who feel comfortable raising their hands, which also engages students who are unsure of the correct answer providing them a meaningful way to participate.
• Learning from each other: her Pear Deck activity yields responses from nearly all students in the class, and not just a small handful of confident students who raise their hands, allowing students to participating when they otherwise would not have, and giving them the opportunity to learn from each other's responses 

The Faculty Center presents her award for her use of inclusive teaching practices in the Library’s information literacy classes.

We are proud to award Dr. Jing Betty Feng the Faculty Center Award for Online Course of Distinction.

To summarize some of Dr. Feng’s best practices and innovations:

A challenge in asynchronous online learning is maintaining rigorous content learning while balancing scheduling flexibility and sustaining student presence and engagement across the semester. BUS 322 International Management is a fully online, asynchronous course intentionally designed to address this challenge. BUS 322’s innovation is not any single tool but an intentional integration of multiple elements into one cohesive asynchronous learning system to create predictable rhythms of participation and multiple process-based checkpoints that keep students consistently connected to the content, the instructor, and one another over time.

The course integrates foundational international management theory with real-world global collaboration through their applied learning project allowing students to engage deeply with cross-cultural management challenges in a realistic professional context. The course design reflects best practices in online learning by emphasizing: 

• predictable weekly modules,  
• clear alignment between learning outcomes, activities, and assessments,
• frequent low-stakes formative assessments,
• multiple forms of interaction
• and inclusive, accessible learning pathways.

The Faculty Center presents her this award for her online International Management classes.

We are proud to award Dr. Briana Gonzalez the Faculty Center Award for Online Course of Distinction.

Dr Gonzalez’s course was also nominated by Distance Learning to be showcased as an exemplar in the SUNY Online Course for Observation program. This program highlights outstanding online instruction and course design and allows faculty and instructional designers across the SUNY system to observe the course to help with developing, improving, or revising their own online courses.

To summarize some of Dr. Gonzalez’s best practices and innovations:

The layout is designed to have a consistent layout that navigates the students through the course including curated content for each week and additional resources for students to explore. Accessibility was at the center of her online course design as she created accessible images, video and text to make her course inclusive to a wide range of learners. She uses essential questions each week to engage the students in the topic of week and encourage their response. Her online class includes formative assessments with low-stakes quizzes, and discussion boards, allowing retrieval practice and student-to-student engagement. Her personal welcome invites students to engage in the online course and walk students through the course layout and design. She also includes a variety of virtual simulations activities and experiments to provide a more hands-on experience in her online class.

The Faculty Center presents her this award for her online Intro to Biospychology classes.