Kelly Graham Receives Academic Achievement Award

2016 May 31

Kelly Graham of Staten Island, NY, was one of 54 outstanding SUNY Oneonta students selected to receive a 2016 Academic Achievement Award this spring. Each academic department or program selected one to three outstanding seniors to receive the award.

Graham received the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department award.

To be considered for the award, a student must have a minimum grade-point average of 3.5 in his or her major and must demonstrate exceptional academic improvement over four semesters, as well as excellence in research; leadership and involvement in department, campus and community activities; and/or participation in academic and/or professional situation outside the college.

As a Hollings Scholar, Graham interned at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aircraft Operations Center in Tampa, FL. She has conducted original scientific research, which she presented at the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting in 2015 and at NOAA’s Science and Education Symposium, held at NOAA headquarters. Graham has twice been selected to be a student assistant at the American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, where she also presented a research project, “Wind Data Collected from NOAA’s Hurricane Hunter Aircraft.” Among her awards are the Robert W. Caputo ‘84 Scholarship, Best and Brightest Award, M. Ira Dubins Scholarship, Susan Sutton Smith Award and a SUNY Oneonta Presidential Scholarship. She is an NFCA All-America Scholar-Athlete and was selected for the SUNYAC All-Academic Team. Graham was a member of the Student Advisory Council for Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, vice president of the Meteorology Club, a Skywarn weather spotter, and president of the college’s chapter of Sigma Gamma Epsilon, the earth science honor society. She has been accepted into the meteorology master’s program at Florida State University.