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The ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ Alumni Association will present its 2025 Special Recognition Awards Saturday, May 3, at the Binghamton Club. The following alumni will be honored for their career achievements, social impact and volunteer service to the University. 

Click to view: Alumni Achievement Award | Diversity and Inclusion Award |
Edward Weisband Award | BOLD 10 Under 10

     

James Bankoski '91 
Glenn G. Bartle Distinguished Alumni Award
The Bartle Award recognizes and honors graduates who have rendered outstanding voluntary service to the ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ community, while also serving their communities, their careers and their country.

James Bankoski is a vice president of engineering at Google, leading 540 of Chrome's engineers. He has more than 30 years of experience managing teams and developing technologies that have significantly impacted the web. He has played a key role in creating video and image codecs used by billions globally. His leadership has driven advancements in web performance, capabilities, security and privacy, benefiting many Google businesses.

He was a Distinguished Engineer at Google, leading teams that produced industry-leading media compression technology. He also served as chief technology officer at On2 Technologies, a public company acquired by Google. There, he co-invented and developed video technology used by more than one billion people.

Bankoski has received the Watson Distinguished Alumni Award, and the Industrial Distinguished Leader Award from APSIPA. He has also served on the EXCELERATE Campaign Committee, ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ Foundation Board of Directors, Watson Mentor Program and the Computer Science Industry Advisory Board.
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Myles Pensak '74 
Alumni Achievement Award Recipient
This award honors a highly distinguished alumnus or alumna who, over the course of a decade or more, has exemplified outstanding, significant professional achievement.

Myles Pensak, MD, FACS, served as the Helen Bernice Broidy Chair of the Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Cincinnati (UC) College of Medicine from 2004-21. He is a professor emeritus of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Neurosurgery and, until recently, held leadership roles as senior associate dean for clinical affairs at the UC College of Medicine, CEO of UC Physicians, and chief of physician services for the UC Health System.

A recognized international authority on diseases of the ear and skull base, Pensak has a particular interest in acoustic neuroma, petroclival meningioma, tumors of the jugular foramen and malignancies of the temporal bone. He is a board-certified neurotologist and otolaryngologist.

In June 2024, the University of Cincinnati Foundation announced the completion of the multi-million-dollar Myles L. Pensak MD Endowed Chair in Otology, Neurotology and Skull Base Surgery.
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Nicole Sirju-Johnson, MPA '99, PhD '11
Diversity and Inclusion Award Recipient
This annual award — new for 2025 â€” recognizes ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ alumni who have made notable contributions to the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

Nicole Sirju-Johnson is assistant vice president for diversity at ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ. She has been working professionally at the University for more than 20 years. She has been an integral part of building the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Binghamton. Her responsibilities include oversight of the University’s recruitment process as it relates to hiring faculty and staff. Sirju-Johnson successfully authored the grant proposal to SUNY that funded the inaugural DEI Conference at Binghamton University in 2014. She created the UDiversity Education Institute, which provides diversity and inclusion education for faculty, staff and students on campus and consults with many businesses and organizations in the larger Broome County community. She also proposed the creation of the position of diversity educators.  

Sirju-Johnson created the first inclusive pedagogy series for faculty at Binghamton, a certificate program for the completion of a four-part workshop for faculty to prepare them for diverse classroom dynamics and to manage hot topics in a polarized political climate. She also authored the proposal for the Presidential Diversity Research Grant to support the research efforts of historically underrepresented tenure track faculty at ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ to the Office of the President. Since its inception, the grant has been awarded to more than 30 historically underrepresented and women in STEM faculty members at ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ, many of whom have achieved tenure.  
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Mary Ann Callahan '91 
Edward Weisband Distinguished Alumni Award for Public Service or Contribution to Public Affairs
The Weisband Award recognizes one alumnus or alumna each year whose life, work, career and contributions exemplify the highest standards of service and deepest dedication to the sustenance of the common good.

Mary Ann Callahan administered a refugee resettlement office in Binghamton, working with federal and state governments on programs to assist the settlement of people who had fled persecution and were establishing new lives in freedom. At the end of the 1990s, Callahan was offered a three-month position with a small NGO in Afghanistan. It became a nine-year adventure. In Kabul, she was offered a position as ministry liaison for a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) project to bring together the international community and Afghan government. 

Realizing that no one was reporting to the Afghan people about efforts to stabilize the country, Callahan suggested creating a media company staffed by Afghans who were being trained to report the good news that existed. This led to the creation of the Reconstruction and Energy Press of Afghanistan (REPOA), a hybrid of ownership through the Ministry of Information and Culture, and USAID. For seven years, with a miniscule budget, REPOA created innovative reporting in several outlets to educate, inform and encourage the Afghan people while training technicians and journalists. 

After returning to Binghamton, Callahan became involved in community activities, including co-administrator of the First Ward Neighborhood Watch, serving on the city’s Community Development Advisory Council for the federal block grant, and she was elected to the Binghamton City School District Board of Education in 2024. 
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BOLD 10 UNDER 10 AWARDS

These awards recognize 10 outstanding alumni who earned their ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ degrees within the last 10 years. The BOLD 10 Under 10 honoree deemed to have made the greatest impact will also be awarded the Lois B. DeFleur Distinguished Young Alumni Award.

    

Ryon Batson ’21 was born and raised in Brownsville, Brooklyn, a community often defined by its challenges but one that instilled in him a deep sense of resilience and determination. Admitted to ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ through the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), Batson began his academic career outside the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science. Undeterred by this initial obstacle, he worked hard, excelling in general education STEM courses, and earned his place in Watson through the Intra-University Transfer Process.

At just 23 years old, Batson co-founded FairSplit Inc., alongside two partners, taking a leap into the competitive world of technology startups. Together, they have built a company that is automating accounting, operations and human resource workflows through agentic artificial intelligence. Their innovative solution is designed to reduce human error, improve productivity and empower employees by automating tedious and redundant tasks. Despite being first-time founders, the team’s work earned it a place in the prestigious Techstars Accelerator Program.

Having an understanding that his experiences in entrepreneurship are valuable, Batson is deeply committed to giving back to the Binghamton community. He was a guest speaker at the very first Watson College Career Exposition and continues to inspire students through his participation in alumni engagement and networking events. In the summer of 2024, he provided a marketing internship opportunity to a Binghamton student, further demonstrating his dedication to supporting the next generation. 

     

Nicholas Doran ’16, MPA ’17, is a national bank examiner for the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). He serves as a generalist examiner in the midsize and community bank division, ensuring the safety and soundness of community banks. He actively recruits for the OCC on campus each year. He graduated from ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ with a bachelor’s degree in economics and Master of Public Administration. Doran was an active ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ Scholar, serving as a sophomore mentor, treasurer of the Scholars Council, and teaching assistant for a Scholars course.

During his time at Binghamton, Doran was heavily involved with the University's Center for Civic Engagement (CCE). At the CCE, he served as the Andrew Goodman Foundation Team Leader for three years, registering more than 4,200 students to vote and implementing voter registration at Orientation. Since then, Binghamton has been repeatedly recognized as a voter-friendly campus and is used as a model to improve student voter registration and turnout. He is a proud donor to the CCE. In his spare time, he continues to work on nonpartisan voter registration and political engagement, serving as a board member of the League of Women Voters of New York State since 2021. He lives in the Syracuse, N.Y., area.

    

Katherine Frey '20 is a systems engineer on the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) program at Northrop Grumman (NG) Space Systems. HALO is the first module that will form the Lunar Gateway, a space station in the moon’s orbit to host astronauts in lunar orbit as part of the NASA Artemis mission. She earned her bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering, with a minor in sustainability engineering, in the spring of 2020. During her time at Binghamton, she was a resident assistant and served as president of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), an organization that aims to support and uplift women in the engineering fields. It was through her involvement with SWE at their annual national conference, that she got her job at NG.  

On the HALO program, Frey has had numerous roles since starting. She started as an engineer on the utilization team, dedicated to providing interfaces for payloads and robotics to operate on the module. Two years into this role, she was promoted to lead the team and serve as the primary point of contact for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and their Canadarm-3 to ensure autonomous robotic operations are possible on the HALO vehicle. Through her work with CSA, she earned the NASA Silver Medal Achievement Award in 2023. The NASA silver medal is awarded to government and non-government individuals by NASA Center directors for a stellar achievement that supports one or more of NASA’s core values.

     

Jann Gao, MS ’15 is an industrial engineer and Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt; she excels at answering the right questions with both quantitative and qualitative insights. Her work revolves around data analytics, constantly seeking to combine disparate parts to create greater insights in healthcare strategic planning and capital investment. Gao believes thoughtfully designed, data-driven engagements, along with interactive and fast analytics-driven tools and dashboards, are crucial for addressing clients’ complex questions as they navigate an increasingly uncertain future.

Leading Blue Cottage of CannonDesign’s Healthcare Strategy and Analytics team, Gao blends hard data with stakeholder insights and industry perspectives to enhance strategic planning for networks, buildings and campuses. Her team’s comprehensive analytics capabilities, combined with her deep knowledge of strategic growth planning and translating growth into future investments, have enabled many clients to make critical decisions swiftly and effectively. Her clients and collaborators include Michigan Medicine, University of Kentucky HealthCare, Mercy Hospital St. Louis, OhioHealth and Intermountain Health. Gao previously worked as an operational consultant at HDR Architecture in New York and as a business process analyst at Montefiore Health System.

Outside her professional role, Gao is a curator and event planner for TEDxChicago, bringing new voices and perspectives to the city and beyond. She also volunteers for the Chicago Health Executives Forum Network and Education Committee. 

     

Madjeen Garcon-Bonneau ’15 is an associate at Wilson Elser, specializing in sexual abuse and harassment defense, employment law and complex torts and general liability defense. She provides strategic counsel to clients, achieving favorable outcomes in sensitive matters. 

Garcon-Bonneau has organized impactful programs addressing critical issues, such as a soup giveaway to combat food insecurity and a women’s equity panel to foster discussions on gender equity in the legal profession. Through Know Your Rights sessions, she has empowered tenants and landlords with essential legal knowledge, and her high school career seminars have introduced students to pathways in law. 

Garcon-Bonneau supports young lawyers by creating spaces for mentorship and professional development. As secretary and co-chair of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, she revitalized the division into a hub for growth. She launched the Savvy Student Loan webinar, providing young attorneys with strategies to manage debt. She also created Real Talk Discussions, offering attorneys of color a safe space to share experiences and challenges. She also led a Women’s Wellness Workshop, providing essential tools for early-career professionals to thrive.

Garcon-Bonneau is an engaged member of the Harpur Law Council, where she helps guide young professionals in their careers. She has presented at the Harpur Law Council CLE Seminar, where she shared her expertise on arbitration and employment law.
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Emily Mackay '21 graduated as a five-time track and cross country All-American and has become one of the top women's middle distance runners in the nation. In 2024, she qualified for the Paris Olympics in the women's 1,500 and advanced to the semifinal round. Earlier in the year, Mackay was the bronze medalist in the 1,500 at the World Indoor Championships. Mackay's illustrious running career started at Union-Endicott High School, where she graduated in 2016. She set New York State Section IV records in both the 1,500 and 3,000 and qualified for the 2014 Nike National Cross Country Meet.

In 2017, Mackay transferred to Binghamton from Oregon State University, where she had attended as a freshman. Three years later, she earned the first of her five United States Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-America honors when she placed 14th overall at the NCAA Cross Country Championships. From there, Mackay earned four All-America honors in track and field and capped her collegiate career with a sixth-place finish in the 1,500 at the 2022 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. Since signing professionally with New Balance Boston in 2022, Mackay's career has continued to blossom. In 2023, she become just the 13th American female to break the four-minute mark in the 1,500. Her current lifetime best time of 3:55.90 ranks third all-time in U.S. Women's Track & Field history.

   

Sahil Nyati, MS ’16 has built a career defined by his ability to solve complex problems with creative solutions. He is the founder and CEO of Jinee, Inc., an immigration advisory firm that has become a beacon of hope for immigrants striving to achieve their lifelong dreams in the United States.

At the core of Nyati’s career is his pioneering work in the trucking industry, where he has advised companies worldwide, blending cutting-edge technology with deep industry insights. His groundbreaking contributions earned him accolades such as the Supply Chain Pioneer and Innovator of the Year award and recognition as an industry leader among his peers. His expertise extends into research, with more than 20 published works that have shaped the future of automation and logistics.

As a Graduate Research Ambassador at Binghamton, he demonstrated his commitment to academic excellence and innovation. His success in earning the EB1A Einstein Visa reflects his standing as one of the top minds in his field, a rare honor reserved for individuals of extraordinary ability.

   

Nicholas Terela ’10, ’11, MS ’15, joined ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ in September 2021. He is a clinical assistant professor at the Decker College of Nursing and Health Sciences, where he teaches in the undergraduate nursing program.

Terela is a three-time ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ alumnus. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, and both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in nursing from the Decker College. His specialization was community health nursing; he also earned an advanced certificate in disaster management.

Terela's clinical experience includes working in the emergency department at UHS Wilson Medical Center in Johnson City, N.Y., since 2012. He also served as a flight nurse for Life Net of New York 2015-17.

   

Luz Velazquez ’21 is a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State, having gained entry into the foreign service through the Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Graduate Fellowship Program. She is among the first Paraguayan-Americans to serve as a U.S. diplomat overseas. Velazquez currently studies Arabic at the Foreign Service Institute in preparation for her first diplomatic tour to Amman, Jordan, in September.
 
At Binghamton, Velazquez earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology with minors in Latin American and Caribbean area studies and immigration studies. A proud TRIO SSS alumna and daughter of immigrants, her personal experiences fueled her passion for public service. While at Binghamton, she was a JFEW SUNY Global Affairs Scholar, an Emerging Leaders Program mentor, and an immigration research assistant for Oscar Gil-Garcia. Additionally, she served as student director of diversity initiatives and programming at the Fleishman Career Center and as a Lead TRIO mentor for the TRIO SSS program. These experiences laid the foundation for her current work as a career coach, where she helps first-generation, low-income students, and students of color pursue careers in diplomacy and foreign affairs.

Following her time at Binghamton, Velazquez was awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Spain, where she taught English to students aged 3-16 in the La Rioja region. 

    

Christian Wilson ’16 is a principal at Atlas Merchant Capital, a global investment firm, where he focuses on private equity style investments in the financial services sector. Prior to joining Atlas Merchant Capital, he worked in the financial institutions group at JPMorgan, covering insurance companies. Wilson is a member of the Board of Directors of Cascadia Capital, MarshBerry, MAXEX, Proformex and a member of the ºÚÁÏÊÓƵ School of Management Alumni Advisory Board. While at Binghamton, he held various leadership roles, notably with the Finance Society and Dean's Mentoring Program.

A native of Vestal, N.Y., Wilson can often be found visiting with family and friends around the Greater Binghamton area, eating chicken wings at the Old Union Hotel, playing golf at Conklin Players Club or reminiscing in the Zurack Trading Room while in town. Wilson resides in Brooklyn with his girlfriend, Annie (also a proud Bearcat), where together they run a prospering book club in the Metro New York region.
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