Caesar Sereseres, political science associate professor, and Travis Cyronek, economics major, are the School of Social Sciences recipients of the 2014 Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Research. Presented at the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program’s 18th annual symposium, the awards recognize Sereseres’s efforts to foster research among undergraduates, and Cyronek’s excellence in undergraduate research. The May 17 symposium featured research presentations from students around campus, including more than 80 social sciences undergraduates.    

A political science professor at UCI since 1972, Sereseres served more than 20 years as associate dean of undergraduate studies in the School of Social Sciences. An advocate for diversity and support for first-generation and low-income students, he’s credited with championing the highly effective five-week residential Summer Academic Enrichment Program which helps increase graduation rates among first-generation college students; the widely acclaimed Global Connect educational partnership program that provides secondary students a much needed yearlong course on global issues in the 21st century; and numerous study abroad, internship, research and mentoring opportunities through which Sereseres offers up his time, extensive expertise, unending energy and real-world applied knowledge and contacts to the many students he serves.

Cyronek received UROP funding to support his honors thesis on how deregulation impacts deposits issued by commercial banks. The research was conducted under Michelle Garfinkel, economics professor, and was selected as the top submitted paper within the school for the May UROP award. The paper also earned him this year’s Charles A. Lave Paper Prize from the School of Social Sciences. Established in 2009, the endowment provides a $1500 award each year to an undergraduate or graduate student whose research displays creative use of clear models and data through which the models may be evaluated. The award honors economics professor emeritus Charlie Lave who passed away in 2008. Cyronek is graduating in June and will be entering UC Santa Barbara's Ph.D. program in economics this fall.