Sixteen Arts, Sciences & Engineering sophomores will be honored November 1 as recipients of the Suzanne J. O’Brien Book Award, which recognizes students who excelled both academically and in leadership roles during their first year at Rochester.
The winners were chosen by a committee of faculty and academic staff who are officers in the University’s Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, which sponsors the award along with the College.
“The award gives the College an opportunity to highlight the achievements of students very early in their careers here,” says Spanish professor Beth Jörgensen, organizer of the event and a member of the Iota Chapter’s executive board. “The Iota Chapter designed the award around the gift of a book in honor of the intellectual and humanistic values promoted by Phi Beta Kappa.”
The award, formerly called the Iota Book Award, was first presented in 2003 and was renamed for Suzanne O’Brien ’59, a member of Phi Beta Kappa and longtime director of the College Center for Advising Services, upon her retirement as associate dean of the College in 2016. This year’s ceremony will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Welles Brown Room in Rush Rhees Library.
Here are the 16 recipients, with their majors and hometowns:
Kamel Awayda (biochemistry), Syracuse, New York
Emma Cho (brain & cognitive sciences/psychology), East Sandwich, Massachusetts
Brandon Courteau (biochemistry), Gananda, New York
Seth Dalton (music/math), Houston, Texas
Myles Duval (mechanical engineering), Madrid, Spain
Aaron Max Goldin (physics), New York City
Rachel Goodman (health, behavior and society), Needham, Massachusetts
Wenbo (Glendon) Guo (studio arts/mathematics), Taiyuan, China
Ruolan (Leslie) Li (brain & cognitive sciences/music), Yunnan, China
Shaopeiwen Luo (biochemistry/business), Chengdu, China
Rafal Mazur (neuroscience), Szczecin, Poland
Noah Meyers (mechanical engineering), Pittsford, New York
Marcos Nascimento Dos Santos (mechanical engineering), Salvador, Brazil
Anthony Pericolo (electrical and computer engineering/economics), Westfield, New Jersey
Abigail Reinhart (biochemistry), Wilmette, Illinois
Yunke (Claudia) Ren (biomedical engineering), Anhui, China
