ern New York Legal Elite. To arrive at this listing, 1,100 nominations were made by local attorneys for their peers; the 161 honorees rep- resent 81 firms and other or- ganizations. ment of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education at The State University of New York at Fredonia was named Environ- mental Educator of the Year by the Nature Sanctuary Society of Western New York. A member of the faculty since 2001, Jabot's teaching interests are in science education and, in particular, how students make sense of the physical world around them. His re- search focuses on the development of learn- ing progressions and the conceptual diagnostic assess- ments that allow for measur- ing the impact of instruction on student learning around spatial thinking and climate change. He is the co-author of the books "Measurement. Kids Knowledge," and "Essentials of Elemen- tary Science" and his most recent collabora- tion is "Science for the Next Generation." Since 2009, he has been on the faculty of the National Science Resource Center's National Leadership and Assistance for Science Educa- tion Reform (LASER) Science Education Strate- gic Planning Institute in Washington, D.C. He has also served on the LEAD Team for New York state in the development of the Next Generation Science Standards. John Santini retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel after 28 years of service. His final assignment was in the headquarters of the Department of the Army Cyberspace and Information Opera- tions office at the Pentagon. called Defend It, Inc., dedicated to producing debates throughout the United States "of the most divisive issues of our time." The debates will be held at colleges and universities and will be designed to provide the public with a complete understanding of how their individ- ual lives will be affected by the outcome of the issue at hand. Kilmer says debaters are re- quired to answer the question that is asked and do so without a single reference to the other debater's position. three-week trip to Kenya with his son, Kevin, in June. They helped to build a free clinic for the Mbaka Oromo children, orphans and community. They also purchased four sewing machines for the Mbaka Oromo secondary school so that the young women can begin sale. Jablonski also began working at two new schools to rebuild classrooms that were previously made from cow dung and water. Jablonski proudly sported his Bonnies T-shirt while walking the Kenyan countryside. evening reception at Buckingham Palace in July given by Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edin- burgh to cele- brate the companies that won the Queen's Award for Enter- prise in 2014. The award for Inter- national Trade was granted to Construction Industry Solutions (COINS) in recognition of its substantial growth in over- seas earnings and commercial success in the construction sector. Baumes is chief operating officer of COINS International and responsible for the division winning the award. Michael J. Pendred II is principal at St. Teresa of Avila School in Ross, Pa, which serves children in grades pre-K through 8. Pendred most re- cently taught social studies at Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School. Mark Spencer was named athletic director at the University of Evansville. Spencer most recently was the senior associate athletic director for Business Operations at Oregon State University. He joined OSU's staff in 2006 after stints in the athletic departments at St. Louis University, East Tennessee State University, and the Uni- versity of New Mexico. brated the 10-year anniversary of his law firm, The Mattacola Law Firm in Rome, N.Y. Matta- cola also serves as the general counsel and chief operating officer of Rome Memorial Hospital. Karen L. McHose obtained her reg- istered nurse licensure in May 2014 at the Western University of Health Sciences' College of Graduate Nursing, located in Pomona, Calif. She is now enrolled in the institution's master's program for ambulatory nursing and is slated to graduate in 2016. neck injury prevention in football led him to be named one of seven winners of the Head Health Challenge II, which is sponsored by the NFL, Under Armour, and General Electric. Swartz's innovative technique, Helmetless Tackle Training (HUTT), trains football players to "keep their heads out of the game." With- out the security of a helmet, players are forced to pay more attention to the place- ment of their heads when they tackle. The set of drills, which include player-to-player con- on technique than full effort. To measure the effectiveness of the drills, the players in the study (25 doing the tackling drills and a con- trol group of 25) wear adhesive pill-sized im- pact sensors behind their ears for all practices and games. The sensors, which include ac- celerometers and gyroscope technology, measure the volume, magnitude and location of hits. With the $500,000 Head Health Chal- lenge II award, Swartz will bring HUTT that younger players with less tackling experi- ence might see even greater benefits from the technique. Each award winner will also have the opportunity to receive an additional $1,000,000 to advance their work to better protect football players against brain injury. Esq., has joined Medmarc Insurance Group, a leading underwriter of products liability insur- ance for medical technology and life sciences companies, as a senior claims examiner. Prior to joining Medmarc, Kayiwa specialized in the defense of life sciences companies and health- care providers in Chicago, Ill. She lives in Fair- fax, Va., with her husband, Francis Kayiwa, '97, and their two daughters. partner of Jensen, Marks, Langer, & Vance LLC, an independent financial planning firm in downtown Buffalo. He joined the firm in 2011 and his practice focuses on comprehen- sive wealth management, including invest- ments, insurance, and financial planning for retirees, business owners, and young professionals. He is a certified financial planner and earned a retirement planning specialist designation from the Wharton School of Business. In addition to his professional practice, Connolly serves as the chairman of the St. Francis High School Board, serves on the Executive Board of the ECMC Lifeline Foundation, is the vice chair- man of the Town of Hamburg Zoning Board of Appeals, and serves on the Board of Direc- tors for the Network in Aging of WNY. He lives Hamburg with his wife, Amy, and their three children. Deborah Fargo was ap- pointed risk, compliance, CRA, security and bank secrecy act officer at Cattaraugus County Bank. Fargo, who has been with the bank since 2007, previously was commercial credit analyst. She is a certified management accountant. Army National Guard graduated from the In- termediate Level Education Common Core Course instructed by the U.S. Army Com- |