Dear Members of the Stony Brook University Academic Community,
I am pleased to announce the results of our first call for proposals for Stony Brook University's Interdisciplinary Faculty Cluster Hiring Initiative. This is an exciting new initiative that will advance the hiring of 100 faculty members as part of Stony Brook University’s SUNY 2020 plan to hire more than 250 faculty members over the next five years. It will, in effect, rejuvenate the intellectual capital of Stony Brook University and expand teaching and research in emerging fields of study that cut across traditional boundaries of academic disciplines.The interdisciplinary faculty cluster hires are aimed at addressing society’s most vexing challenges through the collaboration of natural, life, and social sciences; technology; medicine; humanities; policy; business; and the arts. The positions are designated for faculty members whose research and teaching interests are interdisciplinary. The goals of this initiative are to strategically place Stony Brook University on the emerging frontiers of research and knowledge and to enhance our ability to shape new fields of discovery, learning and engagement.
A Review Panel of 12 Distinguished SUNY Professors and Academy Members (http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/provost/ClussterCommitteeBios.html) worked diligently to review the 36 highly competitive, interdisciplinary cluster proposals received this year. The five proposals chosen to be funded were selected because they best demonstrate the following requirements which were identified in the request for proposals:
- National and international relevance of the research field and its appropriateness for Stony Brook University;
- New avenues for interaction and synergy of faculty across different fields;
- Anticipated impact of the proposed hires on undergraduate and graduate education in emerging fields of study; and
- Strong potential for significant impact on the academic world, the state of New York, and the larger community.
The following five proposals, listed in alphabetical order, were chosen to be funded in this inaugural year of the program:
- Behavioral Political Economy;
- Biomolecular Imaging;
- Coastal Zone Management and Engineering;
- Photon Science at the Joint Photon Science Institute (JPSI); and
- Smart Energy Technology.
Additional information on these cluster proposals can be found online at http://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/provost/ClusterHireInitiative.html .
I am very grateful to the faculty members who embraced this initiative for the creativity, thoughtfulness, energy and scope of their submissions, which is a true testament of the interdisciplinarity on the Stony Brook campus. I am also indebted to the review panel for their highly dedicated and impeccable review, and to Vice Provost, Axel Drees, who worked closely with me in coordinating this effort. I would also like to thank the Deans and Department Chairs for their deep engagement and fastidious undertaking of this initiative to help the University advance new areas of scholarship. The faculty cluster hiring initiative will enable us to attract exceptional scholars from around the world to expand collaborative and innovative teaching, and interdisciplinary and translational research, throughout the university. I look forward to the contributions these new faculty members will make, and the range of proposals we have funded this year hold great promise for helping us accomplish our goals.
Sincerely,
Dennis N. Assanis Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
