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ESF Prepares to Celebrate Student Achievements at May Commencement
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – May 7, 2024 – The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) will award 399 bachelor degrees, including 63 graduate degrees during Commencement exercises at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 9 in the newly renamed Joanie Mahoney Pavilion at Empower FCU Amphitheater at Lakeview.
An Honorary Degree will be presented to Basil Seggos, partner and senior policy director at Foley Hoag and the longest‑tenured commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, in recognition of his national leadership on climate, energy and environmental policy.
Seggos is widely regarded for his role in shaping and implementing landmark environmental initiatives at the state and federal levels. From 2015-24, he led the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, overseeing an agency of more than 3,300 staff and positioning New York as a global leader on climate action, clean energy and environmental protection. His work included protecting air, land and water resources, advancing climate resiliency, rebuilding water infrastructure and fostering a clean energy economy.
Seggos also led responses to natural and human-caused disasters, supported humanitarian efforts abroad and served as an officer in the U.S. Army Reserve.
“Congratulations to our graduates for their hard work, perseverance, and achievement. They have earned this milestone, and we are proud of all they have accomplished,” said ESF President Joanie Mahoney. “I look forward to celebrating their success at commencement. It will be a meaningful moment to honor their journeys and the bright futures ahead.”
Student Speaker: Isabella Uzcategui
Uzcategui (Cazenovia, New York) is paper engineering major with a management minor. She earned the Nicholas Edward DeCandia Memorial Scholarship, which recognizes students who exemplify integrity, respect for others, and a commitment to personal achievement and the well-being of others.
While at ESF, Uzcategui worked as a tutor at the Academic Success Center and completed two internships with Irving Tissue in Macon, Georgia, and a co-op with Packaging Corporation of America in Jackson, Alabama. She is also the Departmental Scholar for Chemical Engineering.
After graduation, she will return to Jackson to work as a paper production engineer.
Class Marshals: Bailey Cunha-Bustamante and Leila Kaufman
Cunha-Bustamante (Santa Rosa, California) is a biochemistry major. She was the recipient of the 2026 President’s Award for Student Excellence and devoted significant service to ESF as vice president of the Mighty Oak Student Assembly, chemistry department senator, wellness ambassador, chemistry teaching assistant and tutor, secretary of Alchemist’s Society, orientation leader, and co-founder of the Pre-Health Club. After graduation, Cunha-Bustamante will move to Roosevelt Island in Manhattan to study for the MCAT and work as a phlebotomist.
Kaufman (Battery Park City, Manhattan, New York) is an conservation biology and environmental education and interpretation major with minors in recreation resource and protected area management and environmental literature and rhetoric.
Kaufman apprenticed for three years in the Roosevelt Wild Life Collections. They served as Mighty Oaks Student Assembly’s chief student experience officer, orientation leader, and teaching assistant for environmental physics, general ecology and general biology lab.
They served as media coordinator and co-revitalizer of the Pre-Vet Club, treasurer of Jewish Acorns, vice president of the Sexuality and Gender Alliance and co-creator of the SAGA Community Closet, volunteer coordinator for ESF’s Alpha Xi Sigma Honors Society, secretary of Herpetology Club, and organizer of ESF’s annual Clown Day. They were a Student Ambassador and Young Naturalist employee for K-12 Outreach programs. After graduation, Kaufman will return to Manhattan to pursue a career in museum education and contribute to nature programming in their community.
SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence: Gabrielle “Gabby” Augustin-Orcel and Raymond Bailey
Augustin-Orcel (Brooklyn, New York) is an environmental studies major with environmental writing and rhetoric minor. She served on the New York City public schools Youth Leadership Council and hosted the NYC Department of Education Youth Climate Summit. She contributed to the nonprofit From Soil to Boil, based in St. Lucia.
Augustin-Orcel participated in the Louis Stokes Minority Participation (LSAMP) program, conducting research on how increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables in St. Lucia supports improved community health outcomes. She co-wrote a grant for the St. Lucia National Conservation Fund to expand nonprofit operations.
She worked as an environmental justice and food research assistant, developing initiatives to bring healthier food options to campus. She studied abroad on Crete, Greece, where she collaborated on a municipal plan involving the Kastelli International Airport. She earned the SUNY Global Learning for All scholarship and served as the equity, diversity, and inclusion chair for Alpha Omega Epsilon. Augustin-Orcel intends to take a gap year before pursuing a master's degree in environmental sustainability and policy.
Bailey (Coram, New York) is a conservation biology major with minors in recreation resource and protected area management, water resources, and marine science.
Bailey participated in more than nine clubs or organizations and volunteered on and off campus. He restarted the ESF Entomology Club in 2023 and was vice president of the ESF chapter of the American Fisheries Society (AFS).
He organized the inaugural ESF AFS Chapter Conference, held on campus in December, raising $3,800 in sponsorships and attracting more than 130 attendees. He was an orientation leader, student ambassador, undergraduate teaching assistant, and chief financial officer for the Mighty Oaks Student Assembly from 2023–25.
Norman R. McConney Jr. Award Recipient: Roberto Ortiz Guarneros
Ortiz Guarneros (Mount Vernon, New York) is a landscape architecture major and participant in ESF’s Educational Opportunity Program (EOP). Having worked in his family’s landscaping business, Ortiz Guarneros came to ESF to expand his knowledge. While completing his degree and taking classes that sharpened his design skills and knowledge of plants and materials, he made important connections on and off campus.
Guarneros was the vice president of the MANNRS club and active in EOP, tutoring other landscape architecture students. During summers, Ortiz Guarneros worked in Syracuse mowing city parks and interned with local design-build company Green Scapes. He participated in a three-month small business development program at the INSPYRE Innovation Hub in Syracuse. Ortiz Guarneros is excited to continue to build his own business, Arbol Design Scapes in Westchester County.
Coordinator of Graduation Activities: Tim Phelps
Phelps (Clifton Park, New York) is a paper engineering major with a minor in sustainable construction. He has been active in the Bob Marshall Club, the Student Government Association, and the Mighty Oaks Student Assembly. Phelps served the campus community by leading weekly Food Recovery Network runs and coordinating trail maintenance projects with the Bob Marshall Club. He was a commissioner of the Finance Board for Syracuse University and ESF. He consistently made the President's and Dean's lists for academic excellence. Phelps looks forward to continuing his work in product sustainability at the Carrier Corporation as part of the Engineering Leadership Program.
Departmental Scholars
Chemical Engineering: Isabella Uzcategui
Chemistry: Abigail Geschwindt
Geschwindt (Reading, Pennsylvania) is an environmental chemistry major specializing in marine chemistry, with a focus on photochemical carbon monoxide production in seawater. She built a strong foundation through laboratory and field-based-research examining the behavior and transformation of dissolved organic matter in seawater. Her work investigated photochemical carbon monoxide production, linking changes in organic matter composition to underlying chemical processes using spectroscopic and chromatographic techniques.
She completed an Honors thesis on relationships between carbon monoxide photoproduction and optical properties in natural waters. Geschwindt participated in a 19-day oceanographic research cruise aboard the research vessel Endeavor collecting seawater samples and conducting photochemical experiments. She served as a general chemistry teaching assistant, orientation leader, and Honors Society officer.
Environmental Biology: Katherine “Kate” Van Der Vliet
Van Der Vliet (Huntington, Vermont) is an avid botanist with a passion for identifying mosses, trees, lichens, and fungi. She assisted in the development of a lichen inventory of the Cranberry Lake Biological Station, researched Usnea lichens at the New York State Museum, and participated in the annual Tuckerman and Crum lichen and moss identification workshop. She contributed to three publications on the effects of diet on asthma at the University of Vermont and researched nematodes as a biocontrol agent at Cornell University.
Van Der Vliet was a member of the Timber Sports team, competing in the Jack and Jill, and Women’s divisions. Her team won the 2025 and 2026 Northeast Collegiate Woodsmen’s Conclave, and she is an Academic All-American athlete. After graduation, she will return to Cranberry Lake as the student wellness manager.
Environmental Resources Engineering: Lucien Sadykov
Sadykov (Brooklyn, New York) completed internships with the New York State Department of Transportation and Arcadis, applying coursework-based expertise in GIS, hydrology, stormwater management, and remediation. He contributed to environmental engineering as an assistant in Dr. Yaqi You's EMR Lab.
Sadykov served as head assistant in the chemical stockroom, training students and supporting daily operations. As three-term president of Jewish Acorns, he led the organization's transformation from a Special Interest Group to a Registered Student Organization. Sadykov passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exam and will join STV's New York City office as an environmental engineering intern before pursuing a master’s degree in civil engineering at Lehigh University. He is concentrating on catastrophe modeling and disaster resilience, with an interest in urban flood resilience.
Environmental Science: Vignesh Karnik
Karnik (Spring, Texas) is an emerging scholar at the intersection of environmental health, neuroscience, and infectious disease. In 2025, he received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship at SUNY Upstate Medical University, investigating the toxic effects of PM2.5 on pulmonary injury and inflammation. His independent research on autonomic dysregulation in post-polio syndrome patients was accepted to the International SLEEP Conference 2026, and his work on neuroinflammatory sequelae following COVID infection was submitted for publication in “Viruses.”
As president of the Environmental Health Club and a three-year teaching assistant for the environmental health orientation course, Karnik demonstrated sustained leadership and commitment to undergraduate education. This summer, he will matriculate into the Doctor of Medicine program at SUNY Upstate Medical University, with a commitment to equity-centered clinical practice.
Environmental Studies: Jillian Scocca
Scocca (Lido Beach, New York) is graduating as an environmental educator and will begin a six-month position at Acadia National Park with Friends of Acadia. At ESF, Scocca was a four-year member of the Student Environmental Education Coalition and the Bob Marshall Club, serving most recently as president and vice president for either club; respectively. As a member of these organizations, Scocca was able to engage with members of the ESF and Syracuse communities, co-leading hiking trips in the Adirondacks and lessons at the YWCA and local libraries. This year, Scocca worked as the Young Naturalist social media intern and the MOSA Earth Week coordinator.
Landscape Architecture: Grace Takas
Takas (Hamburg, New York) spent a semester studying in Denmark for her Honors thesis, focusing on the impact of food systems on the landscape and community, an area she hopes to continue working in. She is working toward play-based community engagement certifications to integrate participatory design into her work.
Takas served as the event coordinator and vice president of ESF’s LAND|scape club, pushing the club to host more events beyond the campus community. She connected with firms and alumni for workshops, and got the club to volunteer in the Syracuse community. She is a member of the Sigma Lambda Alpha, the landscape architect honor society. While at ESF, she worked with the Buffalo and Syracuse departments of transportation as well as JKLA in Western New York. She has accepted a position at Appel Osborn Landscape Architects.
Sustainable Resources Management: Ethan Bono
Bono (Brooklyn, New York) is a natural resources management major who attended ESF under the Presidential and 1911 scholarships. Bono was devoted to his studies, focusing on forestry and GIS, and achieved a GPA of 3.99. Bono worked extensively with the American Chestnut Research & Restoration Project as a research assistant. In this role, he expanded his understanding of plant pathology and physiology beyond what was offered in his program.
Bono spent his summers working for several organizations in New York City, including the City Parks Foundation, the Davey Tree Expert Company, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, performing a variety of community engagement and forestry duties. He is employed as a consulting arborist with a small company in New York City.
About SUNY ESF
The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) is dedicated to the study of the environment, developing renewable technologies, and building a sustainable and resilient future through design, policy, and management of the environment and natural resources. Members of the College community share a passion for protecting the health of the planet and a deep commitment to the rigorous application of science to improve the way humans interact with the world. The College offers academic programs ranging from the associate of applied science to the Doctor of Philosophy. ESF students live, study and do research on the main campus in Syracuse, N.Y., and on 25,000 acres of field stations in a variety of ecosystems across the state.