Think Student Achievement
Quite simply, Binghamton University students are remarkable. They arrive smart and leave poised to make a difference.
As a student body, individually and in national competitions, our students consistently excel.
- Ninety-one percent bring advanced credit; the class of 2013 boasts an average SAT score almost 25 percent above the average. Its members were chosen from a record 33,000 applicants. More New York state students planning for college have their SAT scores sent to Binghamton University than to any other school -- and they tend to be the state's top students. A freshman-to-sophomore retention rate consistently above 90 percent attests to the University's record for creating an invigorating living-and-learning culture that draws the best scholars.
Recent student award winners in national and international competitions:
- Five Binghamton students were named Fulbright scholars for 2008-09, a record for the University. One studied religion, television and national identity in post-war Germany; a second traveled to Paraguay to work on a novel about the Mennonite population there. The third recipient examined Finland’s legal structure to find out how it encourages settlements rather than disputes, while another worked as an English teaching assistant in a Russian university. The fifth Fulbright scholar performed fieldwork in Mexico City, investigating how people protected their property during the colonial era when the Spanish crown was unable or unwilling to do so. Read Inside article.
- Given a 3.5-horsepower engine and asked to design a vehicle, Binghamton engineering students built a small fiberglass car that gets 1,321 miles to the gallon and took fourth place in an international competition. The super-high-mileage car was built as part of the Watson School students’ capstone course, which brings electrical, mechanical and computer engineering students together to tackle real-world engineering challenges.
- Two student computer science teams received first-place awards in the National Federal Aviation Administration Design Competition for Universities. One team captured the top prize in the airport operation and maintenance challenges category for a plan that uses geothermal heat to remove snow and ice from runway aprons. The second team won the airport environmental interactions challenge for offering ways to recycle de-icing fluids. Read Inside article.
- Already the recipient of the Young Technologist of the Year Award from the Technology Alliance of Central New York in Syracuse, Guru Madhavan, a doctoral student in bioengineering, recently won the 2007 Mike Sargeant Award from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET).
- Decker School of Nursing student Karen Sidi was the first-prize winner in the Health category of the Student and Faculty Awards for Nursing Excellence sponsored by science publisher Elsevier. School of Management student Bert Gervais and his online business, Placefinder, took first place in the East Coast Collegiate Entrepreneur Awards competition. Each year Intel sponsors a Best Student Paper Award in modeling or advanced packaging, and in 2005 Parthiban Arunsalam, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering in the Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, won it.
- The University’s Speech and Debate Team achieved a No. 1 national ranking in 2007-08, defeating Cornell, Harvard and other top schools in the demanding competitions and remained in the top two the following year.
- Binghamton's Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) has had the highest graduation rate among SUNY-wide programs for more than a decade: 67 percent compared with 46 percent statewide and 58 percent for a sister program at private in-state colleges. Participants go on to achieve continuing success in a variety of professions. Many enter the helping/counseling fields, continuing the legacy of their EOP mentors.
