Mark Diamond attended UB as a graduate student in the '80s. He was active in the Graduate Student Association (GSA) and he worked tirelessly to make research funds available to UB graduate students as director of the then Graduate Resource Access Development Fund.
Unfortunately, Mark passed away in an automobile accident while serving as the fund director. As a tribute to Mark, the GSA voted to rename the fund in his honor. Recognizing the continuous need to provide meaningful experiential learning opportunities, Graham Hammill, vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School, created an augmented fund that offers grants to graduate students for research expenses related to their thesis or dissertation.