The Class of 2026 Falk College Scholars is historic in every way.
Above all, it’s the first cohort of Scholars from the reimagined David. B Falk College of Sport, which launched in July and has rapidly become a leader in sport education.
The class also includes two Syracuse University Scholars (Danny Baris and Rylie DiMaio); the first sport analytics major to also earn a physics degree (Jessica Fackler); three students who graduated in less than four years (Austin Ambler, Jacob Kalamvokis, and Danielle Napierski); and three students who set the standard for research and transformative internships (Michael Dembris, Fred Edwards Gullo, and Jackson Somerstein).
“From the start, our focus has been on providing our students with the knowledge and skills needed to drive innovation in the sport and wellness industries,” Falk College Dean Jeremy Jordan says. “This class of Falk College Scholars is exactly what we envisioned as they’ve already demonstrated that they’re not going to just participate in their industry, they’re going to lead it.”
Being selected as a Falk College Scholar is the highest academic award conferred by the Falk College of Sport on graduating seniors. The Scholars represent undergraduate students who display academic excellence, exceptional campus and community engagement, independent research and creative work, innovation in their disciplinary field, and personal integrity.
Here’s a look at the Class of 2026 Falk College Scholars:
Austin Ambler `26 won the overall undergraduate individual title at the 2026 National Collegiate Sports Analytics Championship.
Austin Ambler ’25 (Sport Analytics; Economics, Business and Sport Management minors)
If you watch a United Football League game this spring, you’ll notice a revolutionary new point-after-touchdown rule that gives teams three options: a 1-point kick from the 33-yard line, 2-point conversion from the 2-yard line, or 3-point conversion from the 8-yard line.
The league adopted that rule because of the research and data analysis performed by a group of Falk College sport analytics students that included Austin Ambler, who spent last spring as intern for the UFL and will continue to work for the league through its 2026 championship game in June.
“Being a part of that partnership has been a great learning experience,” Ambler says. “We were able to go to the championship game in St. Louis last year and meet the owner of the league and other operations people and they were very grateful for our work.”
With the UFL, his other internships (Syracuse University football team, Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League, and EV Analytics), and his success in case competitions, Ambler says the common thread has been the “high standard” set by sport analytics professors like Jeremy Losak and Hassan Rafique.
“We have a high standard to get our work done in a timely manner and make our presentations clean, and I knew that I needed to meet that standard when I submitted this type of work to my bosses at the UFL,” says Ambler, a Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, native who won the SumerSports Shrine Bowl Analytics Competition and was named honorable mention in the Big Data Bowl.
Ambler will return to Syracuse in the fall to earn his applied data science master’s degree through the School of Information Studies. He graduated in December after 3.5 years in Falk and will pursue a career in the NFL or Major League Baseball following graduate school.
“I’m very grateful to be honored as a Falk College Scholar for this remarkable program, and for all the experiences that I’ve had getting to travel for competitions and conferences and being able to showcase my work at the highest level,” Ambler says.
Danny Baris ’26 (right) alongside fellow sport analytics students who are working with the UFL.
Danny Baris ’26 (Sport Analytics; Economics and Applied Data Science minors)
In 2018, Andrew T. Berlin ’83, a Syracuse University trustee and minority owner of the Chicago Cubs, donated $1 million to Falk College to support sport analytics and establish the Berlin Scholars program to recognize top students.
Danny Baris is the third Berlin Scholar named as a Syracuse University Scholar, following Jonathan Bosch (2021) and Alison Gilmore (2024). For Baris, the honor is particularly rewarding because one of his most meaningful experiences at Falk has been working for Berlin’s team.
Since February 2025, Baris has led a team of students helping the Cubs optimize their strategies for the automatic ball-strike challenge system that Major League Baseball implemented this season.
“This work has allowed me to apply quantitative methods to real strategic decisions in baseball, an opportunity that perfectly captures what drew me to sport analytics in the first place,” says Baris, who has also held leadership roles as a teaching assistant and Director of Research and Senior Advisor for the Baseball Statistics and Sabermetrics Club.
In addition to his impact on the Cubs, Baris is one of the students working with the UFL and has been instrumental in several projects that are changing the way the league is evaluating player performance, player allocation, and rule changes.
“It has been a great experience working with such well-established organizations and making a real difference in what they’re doing,” Baris says. “It’s very cool to look back and see all of the things I’ve been able to do and accomplish that I would have not expected going in.”
With Losak, Department of Sport Analytics Chair Rodney Paul, and Director of Corporate Partnerships and External Engagement Francesco Riverso helping to guide Baris through competitions, independent research, and hands-on professional experiences, Baris says he is prepared to work inside or outside the sport industry as he looks to live in his hometown of St. Louis following graduation.
“The number one thing I’ve appreciated about this major and the experience I’ve received is that the skills I’ve learned are transferable whether you’re working with sports data or business data,” Baris says.
Michael Dembris reads his dedication during the Remembrance Scholars’ Rose Laying Ceremony, paying tribute to those lost in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
Michael Dembris ’26 (Nutrition Science)
One of Michael Dembris’ favorite sayings is “a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor,” which was often used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to comfort Americans demoralized by the Great Depression and World War II. For Dembris, Syracuse University was an occasionally choppy ocean that he deftly navigated because of the support he received in Falk College.
A first-generation college student from Wantagh, New York, Dembris became interested in nutrition science after starting Syracuse on a pre-med track. Admittingly “super lost” after transferring to Falk before his sophomore year, Dembris was reassured after creating an academic path with his faculty advisor, Associate Professor and Meredith Professor for Teaching Excellence Margaret Voss.
“To this day, I tell her is that she alone makes the tuition worth it for me,” Dembris says. “When things got rough, I’d go to Dr. Voss, and she would drop everything and give me feedback and advice.”
In Assistant Professor Latha Ramalingam’s lab, Dembris learned how to conduct research in a nurturing environment that felt like a family. And Dembris was invited to join Dean Jordan’s Student Leadership Council that provided input during the transition to the Falk College of Sport.
“When I came here, I really felt that everyone in the Falk community cared about me,” Dembris says.
Dembris wants to practice long-term health care, and he gravitated toward nutrition science because he wanted to understand how the human body processes various foods and uses energy. By viewing medicine through this holistic approach, he can better explain to patients why he has prescribed a certain antibiotic or diet plan.
Dembris remembers how exciting it was when friends from Ramalingam’s lab were named Falk College Scholars the past two years, and he’s excited to continue that tradition and highlight the support he received in the Department of Nutrition.
“It’s the balance between adversity and security that makes Syracuse so special,” Dembris says. “It’s a place where you can struggle without sinking, where you can learn to swim knowing someone will reach in if the water gets too rough.”
Rylie DiMaio ’26 (right) with Assistant Professor Kylie Harmon presenting research.
Rylie DiMaio ’26 (Health and Exercise Science; Psychology minor)
For Rylie DiMaio, the best part about being named an Exercise Science Class Marshal, Falk College Scholar, and Syracuse University Scholar is that she didn’t have to do anything other than be herself.
The intellectual side of DiMaio learned how to take ultrasound images of quadricep muscles and perform brain stimulations in Assistant Professor Kylie Harmon’s lab, and DiMaio will publish a research paper based on findings used in her Honors Thesis for the Renée Crown University Honors Program.
The empathetic side of DiMaio will shine again this August, when she and other student volunteers serve as counselors at Camp Kesem, a week-long camp for children affected by a parent’s cancer.
“At Syracuse, I’ve always felt like I didn’t have to choose between being really intellectual or really empathetic,” DiMaio says. “Here, both sides of me are celebrated.”
At the intersection of DiMaio’s two sides is her goal of becoming a pediatric physical therapist. DiMaio fulfilled most of her internship hours through research but also interned at Shine Pediatric Therapy in Syracuse and the North Syracuse Early Education Program, and two rehabilitation centers near Philadelphia (she’s from Wayne, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia).
As she prepares for her fourth consecutive year at Camp Kesem, DiMaio has come to understand the similarities between supporting the children of cancer patients and supporting the families of children receiving pediatric therapy.
“I feel like both the intellectual and empathetic sides of me are celebrated with physical therapy and pediatrics, too, because you have to be creative in the way you implement therapies and teach children and their families,” DiMaio says.
As she prepares to start her Doctor of Physical Therapy program at Columbia University in late August, DiMaio reflects on her time in Falk College and thinks of her mentor, Harmon, and advisor, Internship Placement Coordinator RoQue Harmon. In another case of her two sides intersecting, the Harmons supported DiMaio by attending a fundraising gala for Camp Kesem.
“I’ve been so supported as an entire person in all capacities, and that’s a big reason why I’ve been so successful,” DiMaio says.
Jessica Fackler ’26 presenting research during the annual SABR Analytics Conference.
Jessica Fackler ’26 (Sport Analytics and Physics)
Since the moment she entered Syracuse University and Falk College in the fall of 2023, Jessica Fackler has been ahead of the curve.
With a year’s worth of credits from high school Advanced Placement classes transferred to Syracuse, the Massapequa, New York, native was able to bypass freshman classes and jump into classes for her dual majors, sport analytics and physics. As a first-year student, Fackler and two friends wanted to teach themselves how to code, so they started a project involving Major League Baseball injuries that evolved into a formal research study that was later presented at economics and sport analytics conferences and to members of the Chicago Cubs’ front office.
“From there, we were on Dr. (Rodney) Paul’s radar, and I had the opportunity to go to different conferences and case competitions that build your skills to help you find a job,” Fackler says. “That’s why I was so ready to apply early to the Reds because I had that repetition.”
Last summer, after her second year at Syracuse, Fackler interned for the Cincinnati Reds as a Baseball Analytics Trainee. The Reds were so impressed that when Fackler graduates this spring after three years at Syracuse, the team is going to hire her as a Quantitative Analyst.
As a final nod to her ahead-of-the-curve academic career, Fackler is the first sport analytics major to earn a physics degree. Although she always wanted to work in baseball, she chose physics in part to please her family, who wanted her to become an engineer. But she learned that the principles of physics align with her interest in the biomechanical characteristics of a batter’s swing, and Major League teams are looking for graduates with a physics background because of the unique perspective they bring to analytics.
“Most of my research is in hitting and biomechanics,” Fackler says. “So doing the research helped me get into those areas and made me realize what part of the industry I wanted to work in and what, ideally, I want to do in the long term.”
Fred Gullo ’26 (center) stands on the field of Highmark Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills, where he interned in 2024.
Fred Edwards Gullo ’26 (Sport Analytics and Economics; Sport Management minor)
Growing up in Fredonia, New York, about 50 miles from Buffalo, Fred Edwards Gullo became a diehard Buffalo Bills fan. In a meeting with then-Sport Analytics Program Manager (and fellow Bills fan) Francesco Riverso early in his freshman year, Gullo said it would be his dream to work for the Bills.
“He was up front with me and said to be totally honest, you’re not going to be ready after this year,” Gullo says. “But here are all the things we can do to get you there.”
Taking Riverso’s advice, Gullo dove headfirst into every opportunity that came his way with research, internships, competitions, clubs, activities, and conferences. His many accomplishments included analytics roles with the Syracuse University football and basketball teams, serving as a Sport Analytics Peer Mentor, and holding a leadership position in the First Year Players student theatre organization.
And in the summer of 2024, the Bills hired Gullo as a football analytics and application development intern. He says, “that summer was one of the biggest 12-week stretches of learning my entire life,” and he impressed the Bills enough to be brought back last summer with even more responsibilities.
“The second summer was great because I went in knowing what to expect,” Gullo says. “I was proud of the work I did because I had learned so many lessons and I was able to be super productive.”
Gullo will be returning for his third year with the Bills summer, and an analytics job with an NFL team remains his No. 1 goal. But Falk prepared Gullo for multiple roles in the sport industry, and he says his job as Lead Performance Analytics Intern for the Syracuse University field hockey team was a particularly rewarding experience.
“There’s less staff and a smaller infrastructure (with field hockey), so I’ve been able to try things that I never would have had if I was working with a football or basketball team,” Gullo says. “It has been one of my absolute favorite experiences and I’d love to do something like that again.”
Jacob Kalamvokis ’26 with the mascot of the Syracuse Mets, Scooch.
Jacob Kalamvokis ’26 (Sport Analytics; Public Communications minor)
In chess, it’s common to say you have “crushed” an opponent when you enjoy a dominant win.
It’s safe to say that Jacob Kalamvokis, who is president of the Syracuse University Chess Club and captain of its national contending team, crushed his time at Syracuse and in Falk College.
After taking a gap year after graduating from high school in Westwood, Massachusetts, Kalamvokis entered the sport analytics program in Falk still unsure of his career path. But through internships, research projects, conferences, competitions, and a Falk immersion trip to Germany, Kalamvokis discovered a passion for analytics and will graduate in May after three years.
“In a letter I wrote to the Office of the Chancellor before being granted a feasible opportunity to become a student here, I vowed that I would leave no stone unturned, and I am proud to say that I truly believe I came through on that promise,” Kalamvokis says.
Kalamvokis credits the entire Falk community for his success, but highlights Sport Analytics Associate Professor Jeremy Losak as his “rock.” He worked alongside Losak for a research project called the “Statistical Accuracy of Sports Betting Markets and Their Efficiency” that they presented at the 2025 International Association of Sports Economists Conference in Las Vegas.
“The opportunities that Falk College provides, as long as one is willing to pursue them, are vast and they are significant,” says Kalamvokis, who following graduation will begin work for a start-up company that’s at the intersection of sport and finance.
As for the Chess Club, Kalamvokis and a friend helped turn it into an RSO (Registered Student Organization) and they created the chess team, which in only three semesters of competition is a contender for the Collegiate Chess League championship.
“There’s a quote, ‘If you know the way broadly, you will see it in all things,’ and I think it reflects the importance of broadening your horizons,” Kalamvokis says. “The people I’ve met outside of Falk improved what I did inside of Falk, and that’s the beauty of college.”
Danielle Napierski ’26 stands on the basketball court at the JMA Wireless Dome.
Danielle Napierski ’25 (Sport Analytics; Mathematics minor)
Even before she graduated in December after 3.5 years in Falk, Danielle Napierski had lined up a job in New Orleans as a consumer insights analyst for the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Pelicans. Four months in, Napierski says that while she has “more knowledge than I initially thought,” she also recognizes that it takes time to adjust to your work environment.
And that’s why Napierski, who helped guide prospective and incoming students as a Falk Peer Advisor and Admissions Ambassador, wants to pursue a leadership role as her career evolves.
“In the future, when we bring in an intern or a new employee, I want to be someone they can rely on for guidance and support,” says Napierski, who also mentored younger students as co-president of the Sport Analytics Women (SAW) club. “Over time, I hope to step into a higher role and become a leader who can support and guide others who were once in my position.”
At Falk College, Napierski says the faculty’s emphasis on resume-building helped her land multiple interviews, and she received particular support and guidance from Paul, Riverso, Sport Analytics Program Manager Jackie Dorchester, and Sport Management Administrative Assistant Margie Chetney.
“I built strong connections with all four of them, and they trusted me with handling a wide range of tasks,” says Napierski, who’s from Bergen County, New Jersey. “Their support and guidance helped me become more confident, organized, and prepared for real-world expectations.”
In addition to her internships, Napierski gained valuable experience competing in six case competitions and reaching the finals in three. She says the teamwork, communication, and discipline needed to compete at the highest collegiate level has translated to her job at the highest level of professional sports.
“You also need to discuss ideas before starting, check in regularly to stay on track, and practice presenting to your intended audience, which is often made up of people with less technical backgrounds,” Napierski says. “Even outside of larger projects, I find myself doing at least one of these things every day at work.”
Jackson Somerstein ’26 (left) on the stairs in front of the Hall of Languages on the first day of classes for the Fall 2025 semester.
Jackson Somerstein '26 (Sport Management; Political Science minor)
More than anything, college is about personal and academic growth. Jackson Somerstein’s college path was filled with ups and downs, but he persevered and is now representing the Department of Sport Management as a Falk Scholar.
“I was able to lift myself up to get this (honor),” Somerstein says. “I have come a long way from first semester freshman year.”
Somerstein says he caught the “freshman flu,” had to drop a class (it wasn’t a Falk class), and found himself on academic probation. But he met with his freshman advisor, Falk Lead Academic Advisor Brooke Tyszka, who helped him reset and she remained a trusted resource for Somerstein.
“I returned to school my sophomore year with a newfound determination,” says Somerstein, who’s from Montclair, New Jersey. “Once I found my confidence, I started to soar.”
There were other bumps–Somerstein wisely sought help for the anxiety he felt before spending the Spring 2025 semester in London–but he emerged as a Dean’s List student with cherished memories of unforgettable experiences studying abroad. He also held transformative internships at the gaming organization XSET and Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES), and by getting involved in activities such as the Kevin Love Fund Youth Council, which provides mental health support for student-athletes.
Somerstein also worked as a writer, editor, and broadcaster for Syracuse NPR radio station WAER, and as sports editor of “Reel Magazine,” a publication run by Newhouse School students.
For his Capstone internship this spring, Somerstein is working at Excel Sports Management in New York City, where he’s helping Excel clients like NBA stars Nikola Jokić and Jamaal Murray secure sponsorship deals. A huge fan of the NBA, Somerstein hopes to work in basketball in some capacity following graduation.
“Now that I’m working at an agency in the city, I realize how the Falk program prepared me for this opportunity,” Somerstein says. “I know the lingo and I know how to use specific programs that are industry standards. Falk’s curriculum and professors, as well as Syracuse University, has given me a strong advantage in the ‘real world.’”