Chancellor’s Distinguished PhD Dissertation Award

The Chancellor’s Distinguished PhD Dissertation Award was created to recognize the very best PhD dissertations in the SUNY system. This award is meant to bring attention to the critical work being undertaken by the next generation of future leaders and researchers. 

Note: There is a campus-level process for this System-level award. Nominees must be nominated by their campuses.

Policies and Procedures, along with the submission portal, for this award will be shared with eligible campuses. 

For more information, contact dissertationaward@suny.edu.

Chancellor's Distinguished PhD Dissertation Award Recipients

2024-2025 Awardees (Awarded in 2026)

First Place Winner: Dr. Jiameng Lai, New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell - "Understanding terrestrial carbon and water exchanges through carbonyl sulfide (OCS) and carbon-13 isotope"

First Place Winner: Dr. Mairui Zhang, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry - "Upcycling of Lignocellulosic Wastes to Value-Added Porous Materials”

Finalist: Dr. Andrew Lindquist, University at Buffalo - "(Re)Imagining Community: Settler Anxiety, Ethnographic Desire, and Haudenosaunee Nationalisms in the Assimilation Era" 

Finalist: Dr. Maurice Petroccione, University at Albany - "The multifaceted role of glutamate at excitatory and inhibitory synapses" 

Honorable Mention: Dr. Rachel Furhang, Downstate Medical - "The Role of Tau Isoforms in Sub-Acute and Chronic Closed Head Injury" 

Honorable Mention: Dr. Brian Keeling, Binghamton University - "The Biomechanical Nature of the Human Mandible" 

Honorable Mention: Dr. Harsimranjit Sekhon, Upstate Medical - "Engineering Generalized Protein-Based Biosensors for Molecular Detection and Clinical Applications" 

Honorable Mention: Dr. Shuting Xiang, Stony Brook University - "Understanding Structure-Function Relationships in Single-Atom Catalysts for CO2 and CO Conversion" 

See more information about the 2025 awardees

2023-2024 Awardees (Awarded in 2025)

First Place Winner: Dr. Yunting Zhu, Upstate Medical - "The Neuroinflammatory Basis of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder: Spotlight on Brain Macrophages, Cytokines, and the Blood-Brain Barrier."

See more information about the 2024 awardees

Check out past awardees below!

2021-2022 (Awarded in 2023): Dr. Arshad Arjunan Nair, University at Albany - "The Role of Ammonia in Atmospheric New Particle Formation and Implications for Cloud Condensation Nuclei"

See more information about the 2023 awardees

2020-2021 (Awarded in 2022): Dr. Hamed Rahimi-Nasrabadi, SUNY College of Optometry - "Neural Mechanisms of Luminance Perception"

2019-2020 (Awarded in 2021): Dr. Jonathan S. Jones, Binghamton University - "Opium Slavery: Veterans and Addiction in the American Civil War Era"

See more information about the 2021 awardees