Elevating Stony Brook’s Trajectory of Teaching and Research Excellence
May 15, 2025
Dear Stony Brook Campus Community,
As a flagship research university, Stony Brook has an obligation to be far-sighted and ambitious. This means not just embracing discovery and innovation, but being at the forefront of it. It means seeking truth and igniting possibilities across boundaries and disciplines. Since arriving at Stony Brook last August, I have spoken often — and with great pride — about Stony Brook’s teaching, research and clinical excellence across our East, West and Southampton campuses. But we must not slow down or rest on our laurels.
In my Fall 2024 State of the University address, I observed that Stony Brook’s designation as a flagship challenges us to become an even better university. Today I write to update you on the reports of two committees I created to chart a course to achieve that goal. The East-West Campus Collaborations Task Force has made significant recommendations about ways to strengthen cooperation and interaction between the health sciences and the rest of the university. The Science Futures Committee has developed equally important recommendations about how to advance Stony Brook's research enterprise over the next decade.
I am deeply grateful to the cross-disciplinary teams of researchers and faculty who prepared the reports that are summarized below and are linked at the end of this message. Their recommendations offer valuable insights that will be shared with President-Elect Andrea Goldsmith as she crafts her vision for Stony Brook University.
The East-West Campus Collaborations Task Force
It is the role and the responsibility of a flagship like Stony Brook to ensure that researchers combine their strengths across the lines of disciplines and departments. A task force co-chaired by Executive Vice President for Stony Brook Medicine, Dr. Bill Wertheim, and University Senate President, Professor Brenda Anderson, has taken a hard look at how to deepen initiatives in both research and teaching that bring together our medical and health science programs on the East Campus with the rest of our academic programs on the West Campus.
At the heart of the task force report is a determination to break down the barriers that have discouraged collaboration across Nicolls Road. The recommendations include a wide variety of suggestions for doing exactly that. Ideas range from establishing collaborative seed grant programs, incentivizing departments and schools to promote collaboration, organizing regular cross-campus events, developing training materials and recognizing East-West collaboration in tenure and promotion criteria. The group’s recommendations also cover marketing, communications and external incentives. More details and additional recommendations appear in the full report. It is my fond hope that this report will encourage far greater East-West cooperation than Stony Brook has ever seen before.
The Science Futures Initiative Committee
The landscape of scientific research is rapidly changing. Emerging trends offer significant opportunities to advance our understanding and attract crucial government and philanthropic support. Stony Brook must position its research enterprise to capitalize on these trends. With that in mind, I convened many of our university’s leading researchers to engage in an important strategic visioning exercise. The goal was to define the critical steps Stony Brook must take to advance its position as a flagship research university during the decade ahead.
On behalf of the Office of the Provost and the Office for Research and Innovation, respectively, Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Development, Mónica Bugallo, and Senior Associate Vice President for Research Development and Partnerships, Nina Maung, were deeply involved in shaping this report, in collaboration with the other committee members. I thank them both.
In meeting the challenge I set before the committee, the group had the benefit of drawing upon many studies of Stony Brook’s research enterprise that have been conducted over the past five years. Their report offers persuasive recommendations for advancing Stony Brook's strategic directions, and it highlights the investments in our scientific infrastructure that are needed to unleash a transformative future for science at Stony Brook. Highlights of those recommendations include investing in core research facilities, fostering and incentivizing interdisciplinary research, expanding and diversifying research funding streams, enhancing research support systems and strategically investing in faculty recruitment and retention.
By following the recommendations offered in these two reports, Stony Brook can realize its ambitions as a powerhouse research university. I am deeply grateful to everyone who participated in the work of these committees. Thank you for all you do for Stony Brook.
Sincerely,
Richard L. McCormick
Interim President
The East-West Campus Collaborations Task Force Report
The Science Futures Initiative Committee Report