Faculty/Staff Achievements Roundup: Buonanno named Jean Monnet Chair

This is part of a monthly series highlighting the honors and achievements of Buffalo State University faculty and staff. The roundup is compiled from the previous months’ submissions to the Daily Bulletin and department newsletters.

Laurie A. Buonanno, professor of business, economics, and public administration, has been awarded the Jean Monnet (JM) Chair (November 1, 2025–October 31, 2028, EURO 60,000) by the European Union (EU) for her proposal, “The European Green Deal and the United States.”  JM Chairs are awarded to professors whose work significantly enhances EU studies in the United States and globally. The European Commission, the EU body that oversees and manages JM Actions (under the Erasmus+ Programme), funded 16% of the 2,300 JM Action proposals received from around the world in the 2025 competition. 

“I teach my MPA students that developing innovative programming in the public and nonprofit sectors typically requires grant writing,” Buonanno said. “I try to model what I teach: SUNY is a state agency, and the faculty need to write grants if they expect to bring unique programming to the campus. While I have written several successful grants to the European Commission--the executive arm of the European Union--the Jean Monnet Chair is a special honor, a recognition of my teaching and scholarship about the EU throughout my academic career. The JM Chair funding enables me to partner with the Institute for European Union Studies at SUNY to lead a campus faculty team in infusing EU content into an interdisciplinary menu of courses; to co-fund the intercollegiate SUNY Model European Union, the Public Service Recognition Week Conference and a climate policy conference; and to support faculty and student scholarship around transatlantic climate change policy.”

The academic team Buonanno is leading includes Frederick Floss, professor of economics; Joelle Leclaire, professor of economics; Suparna Soni, associate professor of public administration; Stephen Vermette, professor of geosciences; and Robert Warren, professor of biology.

In addition to Buonanno’s award, here are some other recent outstanding achievements by Buffalo State faculty and staff members:

Bridget María Chesterton, professor of history and social studies education, published her first short story in the Paraguayan literary magazine Parnasus. The story imagines a Paraguayan soldier during the Chaco War (1932–1935) who survived the war because of miraculous events. The story is based on Chesterton's research on stevia, citrus, Godmothers of War, and the Chaco War.

Leigh K. Duffy, associate professor of government, planning, and philosophy, presented her paper, “What It Would Take to Be Enlightened,” at the Hawaii University International Conference on Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Jinseok Heo, chair and associate professor of chemistry, recently published a new research article on gold nanoparticles in Langmuir, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society. This work builds on his 2025 Langmuir publication and reflects sustained research activity in nanomaterials chemistry, highlighting Buffalo State’s strength in faculty-led, student-engaged research. Two Buffalo State chemistry alumni, Carleigh Cimmerer, ’20, ’22, and Daniel Weglarski, ’23, are listed as co–first authors of the paper. The research originated from Cimmerer’s undergraduate summer research project, supported by Buffalo State’s Undergraduate Research Office, and was further developed through graduate-level research. Sujit Suwal, associate professor of chemistry, made significant contributions to the project and is listed as a co-corresponding author.

Jamie Kim, professor of chemistry, recently published a research article showing that waste cardboard used for commercial packaging can be transformed into valuable functional materials through chemical modification. Using silanization and inverse gas chromatography, the study demonstrates how cardboard surfaces can be made more hydrophobic and porous, enabling potential applications in hydrocarbon capture, methane adsorption in landfills, and treatment of oily wastewater. The findings also offer insights for designing efficient adsorbents and improving packaging materials’ resistance to water damage.

Ali Lazik, lecturer of art and design, was recently interviewed by Canvas Rebel Magazine. Lazik’s  installation, Bandaid Pink, is also currently on view in the Czurles-Nelson Gallery.

David Mawer, assistant professor of art and design, had his chapter proposal, titled “Exploring Critique as Transdisciplinary Epistemic Practice in the Media Arts Classroom” accepted for inclusion in the forthcoming Global Media Arts Education 2 textbook edited by Aaron Knochel and Osamu Sahara.

Joseph Miller, associate professor of art and design, had his graphite drawing, “Flag,” featured in the winter issue of New Feathers Anthology.

Julie Wieczkowski, associate professor of anthropology, gave a public lecture for the Brains & Brews Series hosted by BWELL (Buffalo Women of Environmental Learning & Leadership) at Big Ditch Brewing Company. Her lecture was titled "Community-based conservation in Tana River, Kenya." The Brains & Brews Series features accomplished female professors sharing their ideas, experiences, and research in a relaxed setting.

Kevin K. Williams, professor of geosciences and planetarium director, recently received the Fellow award from the Great Lakes Planetarium Association (GLPA). The Fellow award is a testament to the dedication and hard work of members who have made substantial contributions to GLPA and have been a member for at least the past five years. Williams' contributions include co-hosting the 2022 GLPA conference at several locations in Buffalo, including Buffalo State. Williams is also a member of the Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society (MAPS) for which he served as president, and he received the MAPS Fellow award in 2021.

Jie Zhang, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Sociology and director of the Center for China Studies, published two articles: “The Concise Machine Learning Prediction Models for Suicide Attempt in China: Based on Demographic and Social Factors” in Journal of Affective Disorders with coauthors were Juncheng Lyu, Chao Wang, and Zhe Gao; and “Adverse Childhood Experiences and Suicidal Ideation among Nurses in China” in Frontiers in Psychiatry Volume 16 with coauthors Ying Ling and Xijie Hou.

Lead photo by Jesse Steffan-Colucci, Buffalo State photographer; Buonanno headshot courtesy of subject.