Awards and Honors

2017

• Associate Prof. Howard Sirotkin named Associate Editor at BMC Neuroscience
• Prof. Arianna Maffei has been named as the Neurobiology & Behavior member of the Editorial Board of i Science,Cell Press' first interdisciplinary journal. (12/01/2017)
• Dr. Roberto Vincis (Fontanini lab) NIH award on the role of the mediodorsal thalamus in taste processing (10/30/2017)
• Dr. Il Memming Park  NSF award NCS-FO: Connecting Spikes to Cognitive Algorithms (8/10/2017)

2016

• Prof. Lorna Role has been named SUNY Distinguished Professor (5/10/2016)
• Prof. Mary Kritzer has been recognized by the School of Medicine for outstanding service to the students and faculty of the School of Medicine (5/2/2016)

2015

• Prof. Lorne Mendell has been named a Fellow of the Americal Physiological Society Inaugural Class (9/1/2015)
• Prof. Josh Plotkin has been awarded the NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (8/3/2015)
• Prof. Lorne Mendell has been appointed as Senior Editor for Neuroplasticity for the Oxford University Press Research Encyclopedia in Neuroscience (2015)
• Dr. Luca Mazzucato (La Camera-Fontanini labs) has received a travel award to present his work at the Computational and Systems Neuroscience Meeting (COSYNE*15) held annually in Salt Lake City (1/29/2015)
• Scott Massa from Commack High School was chosen as Intel Finalist. Scott worked with Professors Lorna Role and David Talmage (read more) (1/20/2015)

2014

• Prof. Lorna Role has been named a Reviewing Editor of eNEURO (11/1/2014)
• Prof. Lorne Mendell has been appointed to the International Science Advisory Council of Brain Canada (2014)
• Dr. Chad Samuelsen (Fontanini lab) has been awarded an R03 mentored award from NIH/NIDCD (10/1/2014)
• Dr. Luca Mazzucato (La Camera-Fontanini labs) has been awarded a K25 mentored award from NIH/NIDCD (7/14/2014)
• Dr. Chad Samuelsen (Fontanini lab) has been awarded the Polak Young Investigator Award by the Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) (4/2014)

2013

• Prof. Arianna Maffei has received a Whitehall Foundation Award (2013)
• Prof. Lorna Role has been invited to serve on the Steering Committee of the Simons Foundation Autism Emerging Concepts Lecture Series (2013)
• Dr. Ahmad Jezzini (Fontanini lab) has been awarded the Polak Young Investigator Award by the Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) (4/2013)
• Prof. Howard Sirotkin was named as a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences for the 2013-2014 academic year (6/2013)
• Prof. Lorne Mendell has been re-appointed Chair of the New York Spinal Cord Injury Research Board  (Yearly Budget about $8M) (2013)

2012

• Prof. Lorne Mendell was selected to give the History of Neuroscience plenary lecture at the 2012 Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience. The title of the lecture was: "The Emergence of Contemporary Pain Neuroscience" (10/2012)
• Prof. Giancarlo La Camera was named as a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences for the 2012-2013 academic year (6/2012)

2011

• Prof. Lorna Role was the organizer & Chair of the panel "Optogenetic dissection of cortico limbic functions and dysfunctions" at the 50^th anniversary meeting of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in Waikoloa, Hawaii (12/2011). Speakers: K. Diesseroth, L. Role, S. Ge and A. Graybiel. 
• Prof. Lorna Role was elected a Fellow of the prestigious American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for her distinguished contributions in the field of Synaptic Neuroscience (2011)
• Prof. Lorna Role was the co-organizer with J. Fowler & S. Gary of the BNL, CSHL and SBU Symposium on Recent Advances in Neuroscience Research  (2011), a full day symposium at Stony Brook University with 250 attendees)

2010

• Prof. Paul Adams has been named Associate Editor for Frontiers in Neural Circuits (2010)
• Prof. Alfredo Fontanini was awarded the prestigious Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) in 2010 » more
• Prof. Lorna Role has been awarded the prestigious NIH Director's Pioneer Award for 2010-2015 » more

2009

• Prof. Alfredo Fontanini was awarded the Ajinomoto Award for Young Investigators in Gustation. The Award is awarded annually to an outstanding junior scientist who is an emerging leader in the field of gustation (2009)
• Prof. Gary Matthews received the Sixth Annual Sir Bernard Katz Award for Excellence in Research in Exocytosis and Endocytosis at the Biophysical Society meeting in Boston on February 28, 2009. His award lecture was entitled “Synaptic vesicle exocytosis and endocytosis at ribbon synapses.”  The Katz Award was named in honor of Sir Bernard Katz who observed (with Paul Fatt) spontaneous miniature synaptic currents and developed the “quantum hypothesis” that is the basis for our current understanding of neurotransmitter release as exocytosis, and for which he received the Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology (with von Euler and Axelrod) in 1970. (2009)
• Prof. Arianna Maffei was Chair and spoke at the panel “A look into long term potential of GABAergic synapses” at the 2009 Winter Conference on Brain Research in Colorado from January 24 – 30.
• Prof. Alfredo Fontanini was Chair and spoke at the panel “Cognitive modulation of sensory processing” at the 2009 Winter Conference on Brain Research in Colorado from January 24 – 30.
• Prof. Lorna Role has been elected to serve on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Neuroscience (2009-2014)
• Prof. Lorna Role has been promoted to Fellow status in the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology for both her expanding scientific reputation and contributions to the College through committee work and involvement in the Annual Meeting (2009)
• Prof. Lorna Role has been invited to serve on the Scientific Review Board of the Simons Foundation for Autism Research (2009)
• Prof. Lorna Role has been invited to lecture as the 2009 Bauer Visiting Professor in Neuroscience at Brandeis University (1 week of lectures and guest teaching) (2009)
• Prof. Lorne Mendell has been appointed to serve on the Board of Directors of the Craig H. Neilsen Foundation. This Foundation has an endowment between $450 and $500M and awards about $25M annually for an array of projects related to spinal cord injury (2009)
• Prof. Lorna Role has been elected to serve on the Editorial Board of Frontiers in Neuroscience (2009)
• Prof. Lorna Role has been invited to give the 2009 Grass Lecture at the Vermont Chapter of the Society for Neuroscience (2009)
• Prof. Mary Kritzer was chosen as a "2009 Top Reviewer" for her exceptional contribution to the quality of the Journal Hormones and Behavior (2009)
• Prof. Alfredo Fontanini received a Klingenstein Fellowship Award (2009)
• Prof. Lorne Mendell has been appointed to serve on the London (UK) Pain Consortium Advisory Board (2009- 2014).
• Prof. Lorne Mendell, Chair of the Department from 1988 to 2006, for an international symposium held to honor his scientific contributions (6/2009) » more

2008

• Prof. Gary Matthews was awarded the 2008 Brian Boycott Prize at the July 2008 FASEB Conference on Retinal Neurobiology and Visual Processing (2008). He shared the prize with Masao Tachibana of the University of Tokyo. The Boycott Prize is awarded at this biennial conference to researchers who have made significant contributions to understanding the function of the retina, and it was given to Drs. Matthews and Tachibana for their work on synaptic processing by retinal bipolar neurons. The Boycott Prize is named in honor of Brian B. Boycott, FRS, who was a major figure in retinal research. Brian was a professor at University College, London for many years and also directed the famed MRC Biophysics Unit at King's College (succeeding Maurice Wilkins as director). Brian was an avid participant in the FASEB conference until his death in 2000.