Daniel Thomas, Hugh Riley Randall and Layla Sprague -- all SUNY Oswego students at the time -- help out with a March 2024 STEAM activity at Kingsford Park Elementary School that earned an award from the Sigma Xi scientific research honor society's national organization. It was one of two awards the Oswego Sigma Xi chapter recently received.
SUNY Oswego's chapter of the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society received two prestigious awards from its national organization this fall –- one for overall excellence and another for a local STEAM program.
The Oswego chapter earned the Sigma Xi Chapter of Excellence Award, which recognizes "exceptional chapter activity and innovative programming, especially efforts which address the four cornerstones of the Society's mission: honor in science, and engineering, STEM education, science policy, and the public understanding of science."
Only three out of the more than 500 national chapters won this award this year, said Carolina Ilie, Oswego’s chapter president and a physics and astronomy faculty member.
The second award is the Chapter Program of Excellence Award for the "STEAM for kids (grades K-6) at Kingsford Park Elementary School." At this March 2024 event, faculty members and students in STEM fields participated, some of them Sigma Xi members and friends. Some members were science mentors for a few local students in Oswego and in Mexico. Over 300 students, family and friends participated in this event.
This award salutes community leadership addressing the society's mission: "To enhance the health of the research enterprise, foster integrity in science and engineering, and promote the public's understanding of science for the purpose of improving the human condition."
In addition to Ilie, active officers for the past few years include Rasika Churchill from mathematics as chapter secretary, and David Dunn from biological sciences as chapter treasurer. Yonggang Wang from atmospheric and geological sciences joined this spring as chapter vice president.
Two SUNY Oswego faculty members are Sigma Xi Fellows in Ilie and Ampalavanar Nanthakumar of mathematics, who is also a past Oswego chapter president.
Important activities include the Sigma Xi Dinner and Induction Ceremony, where student researchers are awarded for their Quest presentations and inducted as new Sigma Xi members.
Sigma Xi officers plan to continue to inspire new generations of students at SUNY Oswego and in the Oswego City School District and beyond.
–- Submitted by Sigma Xi