26 Watson College faculty/staff named ‘career champions’
Student-nominated honorees recognized for their impact on students' personal, professional growth
On April 12, Binghamton University’s Fleishman Center for Career and Professional Development held its eighth annual Career Champions Breakfast to honor more than 150 faculty and staff members from across campus for their impact on students’ personal and professional growth.
Established by the Fleishman Center in 2015, career champions are nominated by students for helping them find their purpose, identify their career goals, solidify academic or professional plans or gain employment. Career champions may have helped students explore career options, network with professionals, apply for graduate school, connect with employers for jobs/ internships, gain technical or professional skills, or learn industry knowledge.
Career champions are announced at the annual breakfast; they only know after the event they have been selected to receive the honor. This year’s event was held in Old Union Hall on Binghamton’s Vestal campus.
2024 career champions from the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science are:
- Hafiz Ali, lecturer, Department of Computer Science
- Jeremy Blackburn, associate professor, Department of Computer Science
- Sreenath Chalil Madathil, assistant professor, Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering
- Caprice Chavez, coordinator of Watson Scholars Program, Watson College Office for Excellence in DEI
- Matthew Cole, lecturer, Department of Computer Science
- Meghan Crist, assistant director of undergraduate advising, Watson Undergraduate Academic Advising
- Kimberly Eiche, director, Watson Career and Alumni Connections Office
- Kanad Ghose, distinguished professor, Department of Computer Science
- Madhusudhan Govindaraju, vice provost for international education and global affairs; professor, Department of Computer Science
- Dave Hall, systems administrator, Department of Computer Science
- Mohammad Khasawneh, distinguished professor, Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering
- Janice Kinzer, information specialist, Enginet Distance-Education Program
- David Klotzkin, associate professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
- Leslie Lander, associate professor and graduate director, Department of Computer science
- Patrick Madden, associate professor, Department of Computer Science
- Omer Malik, lecturer, Department of Computer Science
- Srinivas Pandey, lecturer, Department of Computer Science
- Mark Poliks, distinguished professor, Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering
- Adnan Rakin, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science
- William Schiesser, instructor, Engineering Design Division
- Seunghee Shin, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science
- Maggie Wolford, director, Office of Graduate Recruitment and Admissions
- Kendra Woods, administrative coordinator, Watson Career and Alumni Connections Office
- Shiqi Zhang, assistant professor, Department of Computer Science
- Jingzhou “Frank” Zhao, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Jian Zhou, assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering