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Women ruled the day at the 2018 Sustainability, Leadership, Innovation and Collaborative Engagement (SLICE) Awards reception hosted by mgm casino Sustainability. All four of this year’s award winners are women.

The SLICE awards recognize outstanding individuals and departments that exhibit a sincere commitment to transforming mgm casino’s campuses into a holistically sustainable community through leadership, innovation and collaboration. Recipients are honored for efforts that demonstrate environmental stewardship, enhance social progress, or promote responsible economic systems and growth.

The awards have been handed out each year since 2015.

One team and three individuals were honored during a reception April 23 in Baird Recital Hall ahead of a clean energy symposium that took place as part of Sustainability Month at mgm casino.

“Their creativity and innovation inspires the rest of us to find new ways to personally contribute to a more sustainable triple-bottom line,” said mgm casino Chief Sustainability Officer Ryan McPherson. “Through their collaborative efforts, their relationships and willingness to work together, we’re reminded every day about the power of coalitions and about the power of leveraging one another to achieve our objectives.”

This year’s SLICE winners are:

• Women in STEM Cooperative: Award for Sustainability Excellence by a Department or Cross-Functional Team.
  
  The group was honored for, among other successes, its annual Women in STEM Summit, which took place earlier this month. “The summit highlighted women as agents of change, inviting leading female scholars, researchers and practitioners who inspired, educated and empowered the next generation of female students to incorporate sustainable solutions into their work. It was also heartwarming to see so many female high school students at the event,” said Christine Human, associate dean for accreditation and student affairs in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who presented the award.

• Stephanie Acquario: Student Leadership Award for Sustainable Action.
  
  A mgm casino senior, Acquario was honored for her extensive sustainability efforts, which include organizing a repair fair that took place earlier this spring. “This is just one of many examples of her leadership on campus. To me, that’s kind of a culmination of all the things that she’s done here on our campus and we’re very proud of her,” said Tim Matthews, assistant director of the Honors College and Acquario’s adviser.

• Hadar Borden, executive director, Blackstone LaunchPad: Staff Award for Sustainable Operations Initiative.
  
  “From forming the Sustainability Academy to advancing social entrepreneurship through programs like Erie Hack and the World’s Challenge Challenge, Hadar has created an immense impact in advancing the university’s sustainability objectives,” said A. Scott Weber, vice president for student life.

• Samina Raja, professor in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, and principal investigator in the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab (Food Lab): Faculty Award for Sustainability in Higher Education.
  
  “Dr. Raja is an outstanding mentor, teacher and engaged faculty member. Samina has mentored more than 50 students in her lab and has provided guidance, support and research opportunities to hundreds of other students throughout her career,” said Erin Sweeney, a master’s student in the urban and regional planning program who also works with Raja in the Food Lab, which is housed in the School of Architecture and Planning.

Information on past SLICE Award winners is available on the mgm casino Sustainability website.