Iain Thompson receives SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence

2016 Apr 5

SUNY Oswego biochemistry major Iain Thompson of Buffalo has received the 2016 SUNY Chancellor's Award for Student Excellence, the highest student recognition through the State University system.

The award, presented April 5 in a ceremony in Albany, honors students who have best demonstrated and been recognized for their integration of academic excellence with other aspects of their lives, which may include leadership, campus involvement, athletics, career achievement, community service or creative and performing arts.

Thompson, a senior, has studied toxic metals such as lead in Syracuse children and last summer was a researcher at the National Brain Research Centre in New Delhi. President and co-founder of the Pre-Health Care Club, he also is a member of C-STEP Club. Thompson coordinated the Fight Ataxia Together Race, which raised over $15,000 to combat Friedreich's ataxia, a genetic disorder.

Also a personal trainer, Thompson has worked a variety of jobs to support his education, and interned and volunteered at Oswego Hospital. Last year, he earned the college's Dr. Walter Freund Memorial Scholarship in pre-health.

"I will be taking my MCAT this summer and applying to medical school for fall 2017," Thompson said. "In the interim, I am applying for research positions at several research institutes."

Admission to SUNY Oswego is competitive. U.S. News Media Group counts SUNY Oswego among the top public regional universities in the North for 2016, and the Princeton Review includes Oswego in its 2016 college guidebook "The Best Northeastern Colleges" and in its national list of "Green Colleges."

A 155-year-old comprehensive college in the State University of New York system, Oswego enrolls about 8,000 students in its College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; School of Business; School of Communication, Media and the Arts; and School of Education.

Visit oswego.edu for more information