Twelve Stony Brook University graduate students have been named recipients of the 2025 SUNY Graduate Research Empowering and Accelerating Talent (GREAT) Award, joining 38 students across the SUNY system recognized for their cutting-edge research and national fellowship achievements.

Among them is Adebayo Braimah, a doctoral student in the Department of Computer Science. Braimah’s research bridges deep learning and model explainability, working to make AI systems more transparent and trustworthy. By developing methods that clarify how complex models make decisions, his work addresses pressing challenges in accountability, aiming to support the responsible deployment of AI in real-world settings.

Now in its fourth year, the SUNY GREAT Award provides $7,500 in flexible funding from the SUNY Office of Research and Economic Development to graduate students who have been recognized by prestigious federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Department of Defense.

“Graduate student research is at the core of our mission as an AAU institution. Our fellowship applicants compete for some of the most prestigious awards in the country, and we are so proud to see SUNY acknowledge their effort, intelligence, and dedication to their chosen field,” said Celia Marshik, dean of The Graduate School and vice provost for Graduate and Professional Education.

This year’s research projects span AI for environmental resilience, the science of taste, gravitational waves, antibiotic resistance, and more. Among the SUNY-wide honorees, nearly 60 percent are women, about 30 percent come from historically underrepresented groups in science and academia, and more than one-third were the first in their families to earn a college degree. 

Click here to read the whole story and view the full list of SBU recipients.