Dear SIPS community,

We have lots of reasons to celebrate this month, so this update is a bit longer than usual. Please congratulate all our award winners, graduates, and SIPS Kudo’s recipients

Congratulations:

• Greg Martin elected to the National Academy of Sciences
• SIPS Graduate Diversity & Inclusion Award Recipients Jess Choi (Exemplary Service Award) along with Andrew Scheldorf and Joshua Garcia (both received Excellence in Leadership Awards)!
• Dan Buckley & Craig Cramer receive SUNY Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence
• Jonah Helmer & Cesar Galan honored by professional societies
• Ag Science major MacLean receives Robinson-Appel Humanitarian Award
• Ale Gandolfo receives Leading Ladies Award from Women’s Leadership Initiative at Cornell
• Gary Bergstrom receives Award of Merit from the Northeastern Division of APS
• All Undergraduate, MPS, MS and PhD graduates that joined us at commencement last weekend – it was a bit soggy, but a wonderful celebration.

Reunion Weekend is June 9-12. A full schedule of events can be found here. Several notable highlights:

• Friday June 10, Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM. Liberty Hyde Bailey Lecture: The Legacy of Barbara McClintock. Hosted by Dean Ben Houlton with a brief history by Corey Earle and a Panel Discussion including SIPS members Margaret Smith, Michael Gore, Maureen Hansen, Larry Smart, Hale Tufan
• Tour of the Liberty Hyde Bailey Conservatory with Karl Niklaus and Ed Cobb. Saturday June 11^th from 10:30 AM – Noon. Come view the amazing plants in the conservatory.
• Exhibit: Grounded: Life is Soil, Soil is Life The exhibit can be viewed in Mann Library when the library is open (June 9 & 10 from 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM and June 11^th from 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM)
• Exhibit: Microbial Landscape Paintings: Seasonal Color via Species Succession This is a two-part installation on Mann Library first and second floors.

Faculty Search update:

• Sustainable weed management – The process continues to move forward as we have had in-person interviews with three of the four candidates. The final candidate will visit in June.
• CALS cohort hire – Offers have been made to two of the cohort candidates, and we hope to recruit both to SIPS.
• SIPS Director – The process continues to move forward, and I hope we all hear good news in the near future.

Renovation update:

Folks currently occupying space that will be renovated in Phase 1 (the West side of the building) continue to be moved into their surge locations Actual construction (or deconstruction) is set to begin September 2022.

Congratulations to the following people who were recognized with a SIPS Kudos in the last month! Thanks for your effort and passion in support of SIPS.

• Creativity and Ideas: Adam Sharifi, Seren Villwock, Magdalen Lindeberg
• Going Above and Beyond: Matt Christiansen, Tara Reed, Cindy Twardokus, Scott Anthony, Jerrie Haines, Della Cobb-Smith, Carlyn Buckler, Amy Collins, Catalina Enright, Karin Jantz, Alicia Caswell, Josh Balles
• Inspirational Leadership: Vijaya Battala, Caylyn Railey, Patricia Leyva, Olena Vatamaniuk, Kari Richards, Leah Cook
• Building Mastery and Skill: Mike Quade, Alex Wares
• Strong Team Spirit: Catalina Enright, Lori Radcliff-Woods (recognized TWICE in this category), Kristen Loria, Sandra Wayman, Eric Youngerman, Chris Pelzer, Tara Reed

PLEASE remember to recognize people in our SIPS community that have gone out of their way to enhance our School. All you have to do is complete the brief form here

Take care,

Chris