Andrea Goldsmith begins tenure as Stony Brook president

Before officially taking office Aug. 1 as Stony Brook University’s seventh president, Andrea Goldsmith was already meeting with students and faculty, and listening to community voices –  laying the groundwork for a presidency focused on collaboration and strategic growth.

“It is an honor to join Stony Brook University – a champion of excellent, affordable education that will launch students into very successful careers and lives as citizens of the world,” Goldsmith, who held leadership positions at Princeton University, Stanford University and California Institute of Technology, said in a news release about leading Stony Brook.

“From my very first interview it was clear that there is so much opportunity for advancing Stony Brook’s excellence across all dimensions of education, research, innovation and clinical care,” Goldsmith said.

In addition to the university, Goldsmith now leads the Stony Brook Medicine Health System, which includes five health sciences schools, three hospitals, a skilled nursing facility, and more than 200 community-based healthcare locations. She will also play a key role in New York State’s economic development and Stony Brook’s partnership in co-managing Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Goldsmith said she aims to continue “the momentum to make Stony Brook one of the very best public universities in the nation by supporting our students in their education, growing research, empowering our faculty, pursuing innovation and scholarship and building a brighter future for New York.”

SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. said in the news release that he “could not be more excited about Dr. Andrea Goldsmith’s leadership and the future of Stony Brook University. Dr. Goldsmith’s experience as an academic, dean, and researcher – as well as an innovator and entrepreneur – will serve our students, faculty, staff, and the campus community well as she builds on Stony Brook’s reputation as a world-class higher education institution.”

Those sentiments were shared by Kevin Law, who chairs the Stony Brook Council and Presidential Search Committee.

“During the presidential search process, Dr. Goldsmith quickly distinguished herself with a compelling vision, deep expertise, and unwavering commitment to advancing the university’s mission,” Law said in the news release. “She is the ideal leader to guide Stony Brook as it ascends to an even more prominent role in shaping the future of higher education.”

Goldsmith’s research focuses on information, communication and control theories, signal processing, and their applications in wireless communications, interconnected systems and neuroscience.

An inventor with 38 patents in wireless technology, she has received honors that include the IEEE Dresselhaus Medal, the Marconi Prize, and induction into both the Wireless Hall of Fame and the National Inventors Hall of Fame. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Goldsmith has authored several widely used textbooks, including Wireless Communications, and co-authored books on MIMO, cognitive radio and machine learning and wireless communication, all published by Cambridge University Press. She has supervised 26 Ph.D. students and 22 postdoctoral researchers. In 2024, she received the IEEE James H. Mulligan Jr. Education Medal for her contributions to engineering education and mentorship.