School of Engineering and Applied Sciences celebrates the Class of 2022

By Nicole Capozziello

The graduate ceremony took place on Friday, May 20 at 1 p.m., while the undergraduate ceremony was held on Saturday, May 21 at 1 p.m. Both ceremonies were held at Alumni Arena on North Campus, as well as live streamed.

The school celebrated graduates from across its nine departments as well as numerous degree programs. In total, the class of 2022 comprised 838 graduate students, of which 111 earned their PhDs, and 1,128 undergraduate students. 

UB President Satish K. Tripathi and Kemper Lewis, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, welcomed the UB community and their loved ones to both ceremonies. President Tripathi led a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the race-motivated mass shooting that took place in Buffalo on Saturday, May 14.

Lewis told the graduates, “As engineers and computer scientists you have the capacity to bring hope to the world in how you solve the technical, the social, the economic, the environmental and the health challenges our world faces. The world needs your strengths, your talents, and your gifts to make our tomorrows better than our todays.” 

The celebration for graduate students featured an address by the recipient of this year’s Dean’s Achievement Award, Dinah Gueldenpfennig Weisberg (BS ’87 CS), CEO and president of REDCOM Laboratories, Inc., a telecommunications equipment supplier based outside of Rochester, N.Y. Weinberg was recognized for her substantial and sustained contributions to the practice of engineering, most notably in secure and reliable communications technology.

“The support of this university, the professors and my colleagues and friends as I worked through this program so many years ago helped me get to this point,” said Weisberg, who has overseen instrumental changes in her over 30 years at the company, particularly around company culture and strategic vision.

Crystal D. Peoples-Stokes, Majority Leader of the NYS Assembly and representative of Buffalo since 2003, was present to accept the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal. The President's Medal was awarded in memoriam to SUNY Distinguished Professor Sargur “Hari” Srihari, who passed away in March.

This year’s graduate student speaker was Susan Paul, who hails from White Plains, N.Y. She graduated with a master’s in civil engineering, with a concentration in structural and earthquake engineering. She told her fellow graduates, “As we move forward into the real-world, the variability of unknown will only continue to follow us, but that is the beauty of being in a field that lets us pave our own path. Being an engineer or computer scientist gives us a mindset to always question and figure out solutions that originally weren’t possible.”

James Wehfritz (BS ’78 Civil Engineering), a board member of the UB Engineering and Applied Sciences Alumni Association, welcomed the graduates into the engineering and applied sciences alumni family. He told the graduates, “For over 70 years, alumni from our school have made life better in Western New York and around the world. Today you become part of that rich tradition.” 

At the undergraduate ceremony on Saturday, May 21, the school welcomed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as a guest speaker. Senator Schumer opened by thanking President Tripathi and the entire faculty and staff. “Together you have made the University at Buffalo not only one of the finest institutions of higher learning in New York but one of the best in our whole country.”

A SUNY Honorary Doctorate of Science was given to Dr. Ravinder K. Bansal, co-founder and former chairman and CEO of AirSep Corporation, as well as an acclaimed researcher and humanitarian.

Anoop Kiran and Clayton Markham were recognized as the winners of the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, the highest honor SUNY bestows upon its students. Created in 1997, the award is given annually to recognize high-achieving SUNY students who also excel in such areas as leadership, community service, campus involvement or the arts.

An environmental engineering major from Syracuse, N.Y., Markham was recognized for his academic achievement as well as his contributions to the UB community, including singing with the Buffalo Chips a capella group, founding the UB Solar District Cup team and serving as a teaching assistant for the first-year engineering seminar courses.

Kiran, an aerospace engineering major from Nanuet, N.Y., was honored for his academic excellence and leadership as the lead volunteer for Future Alumni Leadership Council, student ambassador for the engineering department, and a mentor for underrepresented students at the Buffalo-area Engineering Awareness for Minorities (BEAM) for over 3 years.

The ceremony also featured Adarsh Sivadas as the student speaker. A computer science student from Delhi, India, Sivadas is the second member of his family to attend UB, following his brother Akshay (BS ‘17, mechanical).

“The world changed in March 2020. We were isolated, scared of what yet to come, and the world felt a little darker. There were times when I wondered if we would even make it here today,” said Sivadas. “But we stood together united, and UB bounced back, as it always does. As I look back to that time, I believe it was this family that got us here—this family of 30,000 people from all around the world. . . Anywhere and everywhere we go, our UB pride will unite us.”

Jordan Walbesser (BS ‘07 Computer Engineering, JD ’09), president of the UB Engineering and Applied Sciences Alumni Association, welcomed the new alumni. “Now and in the future, I ask that you build upon our legacy. And don't lose sight of this: that you have the power to ignite meaningful change - both in the world and in the lives of our students,” said Walbesser.

Prior to the event, graduating students were invited to get creative by taking part in the annual school-sponsored t-shirt design contest. Jiayi Zhang, a master’s student in mechanical engineering, won first place for his design, while the runner-up was Caitlyn Speranza, an undergraduate student in mechanical engineering.