The CSUN Biology Department is pleased to announce the winners of student awards and scholarships for the 2024-2025 school year, who will be recognized in a departmental awards ceremony today at noon in Chaparral Hall 5122.
Graduate students
From the University and the College of Science and Mathematics
- Robert H. Schiffman Memorial Award for Outstanding Research Promise: Tanya Pelayo
- 2025 Distinguished Thesis/Graduate Project Competition: Hannah Merges
- Alumni Higher Education Scholarship: Tanya Pelayo
- Domestic Non-Resident Scholarship: Eva Greco
- Graduate Equity Program: Ithan Cano and Tanya Pelayo
- Thesis Support Award: Eva Greco
- Outstanding Graduating Graduate Student – Nominee: Hannah Merges
- Mack I. Johnson Research Award for Outstanding Graduate Student: Rachel Gutner
- Leslie and Terry Cutler Scholarship: Eva Greco and Jade Zounes
- Hugo and Irma Oppenheimer Student Award: Hanna Bellafard
From the Department of Biology
- Donald E. Bianchi Outstanding Graduate Student Award: Ricardo Gilbert
- Julie Gorchynski, M.D. Research Graduate Student Scholarship: Christian Romero
- Bennett-Bickford Biology Scholarship: Hanna Bellafard
- Scholarship in Ecology, Behavior, and Natural History Honoring Jim Dole and Betty Rose: Tanya Pelayo
- Bob and Doris Tracy Memorial Graduate Fellowship Award: Vanessa Benoit
- Hugo and Irma Oppenheimer Biology Department Award: Hanna Bellafard, Alex Mendelson, and Tanya Pelayo
- Newhall Land and Farming Southern California Ecology Scholarship: Eva Greco
- William H. Krohmer Biology Student Scholarship: Rafael Estrada
Master’s Candidates with Distinguished Academic Records
The following Master’s Candidates completed the year with a GPA of 3.885 or higher:
- Rainey Barton
- Heather Carstensen
- Dylan Castro
- Adrian Cheh
- Tena Dhayalan
- Dianna Dzheyranyan
- Sean Farmer
- Carolina Gonzalez
- Kristen Howard
- Jonathan Huang
- Jesse Jones
- Riley Jones
- Shaun Kehrmeyer
- Marisa Mackie
- Hannah Merges
- Avetis Mishegyan
- Angelina Piette
- Nicholas Wertz
- Nikolas Yousefi
Undergraduate students
From the University and the College of Science and Mathematics
- Wolfson Scholar: Christian Rodriguez
- Presidential Scholar: Melita Mehazbin
- University Scholar: Marine Barsegyan, Arpi Hakoop, and Gabriella Rivas
- Outstanding Graduating Senior: Cristian Rodriguez
- Wujack Harrison Pre-Med Scholarship: Amy Gharial
- Robert Nolan Scholarship: Marine Barsegyan
From the Department of Biology
- Alumni Prize for Undergraduate Research in Biology –
- Cellular, molecular, physiological or developmental biology: Marine Barsegyan
- Ecology, evolution, ethology, or systematics: Anastasia Shimek
- Judge Julian Beck Outstanding Graduating Senior Biology Department Award: Ruslan Daudov
- Ian and Kathy Leslie Scholarship in Biology: Katie Huguet Tuck
- Prakriti Suri Memorial Award: Ruslan Daudov
- Lieberman Family Foundation Biology Scholarship for Outstanding Undergraduates: Cristian Rodriguez
- Bob and Doris Tracy Memorial Undergraduate Scholarship Award: Anastasia Shimek
- Biology Outstanding Student Award: Cristian Rodriguez
- The Richard Duenckel Toluca Lake Garden Club Horticultural Scholarship: April Davila
Graduating Biology Majors with Distinguished Academic Records
The following graduating seniors completed a Biology major with a GPA of 3.50 or higher:
- Rebecca Aladzhyan
- Parnes Avanesian
- Avetik Barsegyan
- Sareen Bedrosian
- Ashley Calderon
- Daniel Carcamo
- Leslie Cervantes
- Sarah Chavez
- Ali Chiha
- Gabriella Cox
- Daniel Dakduk
- Rus Daudov
- Dain Elferd Dayo
- Rachelle-Marie Dela Rosa
- Jennifer Duong
- Andrea Duran
- Ehinomen Edo
- Isabella Estrada
- Melika Fahimi Pour
- Anthony Flores
- Solaris Galan
- Nadia Galego
- Bella Gariboglio
- Mary Geuvjehizian
- Sophia Gottesfeld
- Risa Gough
- Joaquin Hemstreet
- Lorena Hernandez
- Guadalupe Hernandez Perez
- Edgar Hernandez Ramirez
- Katie Huguet Tuck
- Shane Johnson
- Andrew Kajimoto
- Madeleine Karakashian
- Nareane Karamanian
- Jacob Kim
- Alique Kurdian
- Karyna Lopez Chavez
- Max Luchans
- Rosa Martinez
- Emilia Martinez Rios
- Bianca Matschuck
- Rebecca Meng
- Sosse Minassian
- Wesley Moore
- Angel Morales
- Leon Nammour
- Talin Ohanes
- Nichakorn Ponpakpong
- Alexis Preza
- Jessy Renteria-Soriano
- Cristian Rodriguez
- Nathalie Rodriguez
- Audrey Shantz
- Anita Shayegh Boroujeni
- Nafeez Sheikh
- Celine Sheily
- Anastasia Shimek
- Adam Sian
- Julia Spaulding
- Mari Tamamyan
- Robert Tejeda
- Giulia Tongya
- Mary Tovanyan
- Brenda Valiente
- Patrick Vatsfeldt
- Alyssa Vidal
- Cameron Wall
Other awards
The following graduate and undergratuate students won awards, fellowships, and grants from outside the college and campus:
- Daniela Alonzo
- Lexi Atler
- Abigail Barnes
- Raquel Blanco
- Jaiden Callahan
- Angel Cermeno
- Mireya Cruz
- Dian Dayo
- Ruslan Daudov
- Sean Farmer
- Alvaro Geminiano Aragon
- Arvind Amanat Gharial
- Eva Greco
- Kristen Hairapatian
- Itzel Huerta
- Paulina Juarez-Estevez
- Kimberly Kagan
- Yoseline Lagunas
- Melissa Mailhot
- Kayla Mallari
- Darlene Mendez
- Pryce Millikin
- Bao Ngoc Nguyen
- Jon Floyd Padilla
- Tanya Pelayo
- Raul Pena
- Tahmina Petrosyan
- Angelina Piette
- Marco Rodriguez-Aussenac
- Nicholas Serras
- Max Sprute
- Elyce Velazquez
- Jovaun Williams
- Jade Zounes
Image via Flickr: Brad K.