UAlbany Celebrates More than 50 Scholars at Annual Initiative for Women Awards Ceremony

Award recipients at 2025 IFW Ceremony
Recipients of the 2025 IFW Award attend ceremony (photo by Zach Durocher)

By Amy Geduldig

ALBANY, N.Y. (Aug. 8, 2025)— The University at Albany celebrated the achievements of over 50 researchers, scholars and professionals during the annual 2025 Initiatives for Women (IFW) Summer Celebration, held July 31 at the Campus Center on Uptown Campus. Founded in 1993, IFW was created to nurture scholarship, education and professional development at UAlbany. More than 30 years later, the program has awarded over $750,000 in honor of that legacy, funding projects that support equity and advance the public good.

With over $30,000 distributed this year, the ceremony reflected the longstanding support UAlbany students, faculty and staff receive from the larger campus community. Many of the awards were endowed by past and present faculty and staff to honor the contributions of women while supporting the success of the next generation of UAlbany scholars.  

This year’s awardees represented a wide-range of disciplines from psychology, sociology and biology to climate science, information science and political science. Many recipients will present their work at major academic conferences, while others will use their IFW awards to pursue fieldwork, internships or community-based initiatives abroad.

2025 IFW Award Recipients

Awardees and donors attend 2025 IFW Award ceremony
Awardees and donors attend 2025 IFW Award ceremony. (Photo by Zach Durocher)

Louise C. and Earl M. Applegate Award

  • Oluwabusayomi Akeju (Department of Health Policy & Management, College of Integrated Health Sciences)
  • Miyeun Jung (Department of Public Administration & Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy)

Barlow Family IFW Fund

  • Lauren Puzier (University Libraries)

Michael A. Boots Award

  • Lauren Ennis (Center for Women in Government and Civil Society)

Christine E. Bose and Edna Acosta-Belén IFW Feminist Research Award

  • Andrea Miranda Pestana (Department of Africana, Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies, College of Arts and Sciences)

Buhrmaster Family Endowment

  • Oyeronke Ogunbayo (College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)
  • Lakshika Vaishnav (Department of Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)

Gloria R. DeSole Fund for IFW

  • Nisa Albert (Department of Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)
  • Yvonne Dadson (Department of Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)

Ford Foundation IFW Women in Science Fellowship

  • Riley Alpuche Carter (Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Josilyn Bouffard (Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Oluwatomilayo Desalu (College of Integrated Health Sciences)
  • Sumar Hart (Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Autumn Haynes Johnson (Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Charmi Porwal (Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences)

Judy L. Genshaft Fund for IFW Scholarship

  • Angel Ford (Department of Information Sciences and Technology, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)
  • Zawadi Rucks-Ahidiana (Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences)

Karen R. Hitchcock New Frontier’s Fund

  • Rawan Almakinah (Department of Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)
  • Mary Avery (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Lydia Bierce (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Dailyn Clark (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Shruti De (Department of Physics, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Amalini Fernando (Department of Political Science, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy)
  • Abigail Ferris (Department of Literacy Teaching & Learning, School of Education)
  • Jamie Gahtan (Educational & Counseling Psychology, School of Education)
  • Mahsa Goodarzi (College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity)
  • Bailey Hall (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Yeeun Hong (Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Ayesha Islam (College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity)
  • Sarah Jones (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Hyoeun Kim (Department of Public Administration & Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy)
  • Seunghwa Kim (Department of Public Administration & Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy)
  • In Hae Noh (Department of Public Administration & Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy)
  • Dwi Sari (Department of Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)
  • Sakshi Shah (Department of Chemistry, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Sakshi Singh (Department of Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)
  • Qi Sun (Educational & Counseling Psychology, School of Education)

Honoring Our Mothers Award

  • Nicole Arco (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Bridget Collins (Department of Emergency Management & Homeland Security, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)

Initiatives for Women Endowment Award

  • Cammie Jo Bolin (Department of Political Science, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy)
  • Stephanie Da Silva Rodrigues de Souza (Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Jennifer Dodge (Department of Public Administration & Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy)
  • Beth Feingold (Department of Environmental Health Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
  • Emily Woodworth (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)

IFW General Award

  • Prabin Sharma (Department of Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)

Physicians’ Endowment Fund for IFW

  • Aminata Fofana (Department of Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences)

Susan Van Horn-Shipherd ’64 Women in Science Scholarship

  • Shreya Bohara Chand (College of Integrated Health Sciences)
  • Kathryn Rooney (Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences)

Women in Technology Award

  • Katherine Baronowski (Department of Information Science, College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity)

Edelgard Wulfert PhD, Endowed IFW Award

  • Vanessa Ayree (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)
  • Ashleigh Smith (Department of Psychology, College of Arts and Sciences)