Nine students and recent graduates from Cornell’s four contract colleges have been honored with the 2025 State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence.

The award is the highest honor bestowed on students by SUNY and recognizes individuals who have demonstrated exceptional achievement across a range of areas, including academics, leadership and community service.

Cornell’s recipients – each with a GPA near or above 4.0 – are enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), the College of Human Ecology (CHE), the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR).

This year’s honorees are:

• Eliot Dugan ’24 (CALS), of Brooktondale, New York, graduated in December 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in food science. A student-veteran and community college transfer, he balanced rigorous coursework with military deployment to Somalia and Djibouti, returning to complete his degree with distinction and honors in research. Motivated in his scholarship to address nutritional inequities he witnessed growing up and during his service, Dugan has been recognized with several awards, including the Emily J. Prior Memorial Scholarship (2022), CALS Alumni Association Award (2023) and a Cornell Undergraduate Research Grant (2024). In 2021, he joined the lab of Elad Tako, associate professor of food science (CALS) as an undergraduate researcher. He has also co-authored five peer-reviewed articles (one as lead author) and presented at the Cornell Undergraduate Research Board Symposium. His honors thesis examined the effects of grape pomace on gut health.
• Alex Herazy ’25 (ILR), of Arlington Heights, Illinois, is majoring in industrial and labor relations, with a minor in law and society. He received the Professor James A. Gross Award and was a finalist for both the Marshall and Schwarzman Scholarships. A Meinig Family National Scholar and member of the Quill and Dagger Senior Honor Society and the KAPi Pre-Law Society, Herazy is completing an honors thesis on how individuals with criminal records navigate the New York state job market. He has served as a research assistant for Joseph Margulies, professor of practice in the Department of Government in the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Cornell ILR Criminal Justice and Employment Initiative while also investing significant energy into the Cornell Undergraduate Law and Society Review in various leadership roles. He participated in the inaugural 2023 ILR New York City High Road program – working with the office of assemblyman Alex Bores – and such global programs as the Clinton Global Initiative University and the United Nations Academic Impact Network. After graduation, Herazy will join the Bronx District Attorney’s Office as a paralegal.
• Farzan Hussainzada ’25 (CALS), of Kabul, Afghanistan, is a global development major with a passion for immigration law, shaped by internships with Project ANAR in San Francisco – supporting Afghan refugees – the Schuyler County Public Defender Office and the American Immigration Lawyers Association in Washington, D.C. A Cornell Traditions Fellow and P3 Scholar, he received the 2023 Barber B. Conable Award through the Cornell-in-Washington program. Hussainzada has served as a peer mentor, teaching assistant and research assistant in global development. Committed to fostering community, he also co-founded and headed the Organization for Afghan Students and serves as vice president of finance for the International Student Association. A member of Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity and the Quill and Dagger, Hussainzada was honored with the Class of 1964 John F. Kennedy Memorial Award in support of his future career as an immigration lawyer.
• Emily McFadden ’25 (CALS), of Geneva, New York, is a plant science major with a deep commitment to sustainable agriculture and community food systems. A member of the Pi Alpha Xi Honor Society for Horticulture, she has received multiple awards, including from the John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines (2025) and Ontario County and Casella Waste Management Systems Scholarship program (2021–24). For her honors thesis, McFadden conducted a multiyear field study in New York and Wisconsin on the effects of agroecological management practices and presented her findings at national conferences in 2023 and 2024. She has held campus leadership roles with the Cornell Food Recovery Network and the Cornell Botanic Gardens’ Learning by Leading program. She volunteers with community groups such as the Friendship Donations Network and the Youth Farm Project.
• Maryna Mullerman, D.V.M. ’25 (CVM), of Brooklyn, New York, is dedicated to advancing veterinary education and community outreach on both a local and global scale. She brought outreach events to local schools as president of the Veterinary Education Club and as part of an NIH-funded program, and she co-chaired the annual Veterinary Open House, welcoming more than 7,000 visitors. A recipient of the Warnick and Merck Animal Health Scholarships, she also earned an Expanding Horizons Grant to support her work at a Trap-Vaccinate-Neuter-Return clinic for stray animals in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia. Mullerman has served as a teaching assistant and led a project on the “spectrum of care” in veterinary medicine, developing educational materials in collaboration with the City University of Hong Kong and CVM’s educational support services. She is both an elected representative for the class of 2026 and a peer mentor for underclass DVM students. A Ukrainian immigrant, she co-founded LITERA: Ukrainian Educational Outreach, offering virtual English-speaking clubs for Ukrainian refugees and professionals across Europe.
• Shruthisri (Sri) Ravisankar ’24 (ILR), of San Jose, California, graduated in December 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in ILR with three minors. In recognition of her academic achievements, she is a Meinig Family Cornell National Scholar, a Laidlaw Research and Leadership Scholar and an ILR Workplace Inclusion and Diversity Education Fellow. She has directly applied her coursework in a semester-long internship with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and through ILR Engaged Learning programs in India – where she worked with a nonprofit organization to increase employee satisfaction – and Vietnam, where she collaborated with local students to study working conditions of Vietnamese workers. Ravisankar has helped new students transition into ILR and Cornell as an ILR peer mentor and a facilitator with the Cornell University Intergroup Dialogue Project, for which she also co-taught a course exploring conflict and crosscultural communication.
• Esha Shakthy ’24 (CHE), of Cary, North Carolina, graduated in December 2024 with a degree in nutritional sciences. A Hunter R. Rawlings III Cornell Presidential Research Scholar and Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research Scholar, she has contributed to research in a variety of settings, including the Lammerding Lab, Mehta Research Group, Cutler Botanic Gardens in Broome County and Cornell Undergraduate Research Journal. A crew-chief-in-training with Cornell University Emergency Medical Service, she has served over 1,000 hours and holds classes as a certified CPR instructor. Shakthy is also a Level 5 Crisis Counselor with Crisis Text Line and has volunteered at Cayuga Medical Center and WakeMed Hospital in her home state, where she has donated hand-crocheted blankets and baby caps since 2018. On campus, she has held numerous leadership roles, including Human Ecology Ambassador, fundraising chair for BigRedThon and vice president for the 2025 Convocation Committee.
• Promise Woods ’25 (CHE), of Bowie, Maryland, is majoring in human development with a minor in health equity. On a mission to diversify medicine and provide patient-centered, equitable healthcare, she has completed over 700 hours as an EMT with Cornell EMS and played with toddlers every week at a local Head Start program. Woods – a first-generation college student – has mentored underserved youth through such programs as Big Red Buddies, Youth Outreach Undergraduates Reshaping Success and Compass, where she also took on leadership responsibilities. On campus, she served as a coxswain for the Women’s Rowing team, a Human Ecology Ambassador and a residential advisor. She has conducted research in the Play and Learning Lab and as a PRYDE Scholar as well as being the leading research assistant on a project funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture with 4H practitioners. She completed her final semester studying abroad in London.
• Alexandra Yiambilis (CVM), of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, consistently ranks at the top of her class and was inducted into the Phi Zeta National Veterinary Honor Society in her third year. She has participated in faculty-led research and served as a teaching assistant while also being elected to leadership positions in the local student chapters of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and the Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society. In 2024, Yiambilis was one of just 15 students nationally selected for the Chewy Veterinary Leaders Program, which honors students from underserved backgrounds who demonstrate strong leadership. A veterinary student ambassador and tour guide for CVM, she participates in community service through veterinary fraternity Omega Tau Sigma and works as an emergency student assistant at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals.

Olivia Hall is a freelance writer for the Office of the Vice Provost for Engagement and Land-Grant Affairs.