When Andrea Goldsmith was appointed Stony Brook University’s seventh president, it marked the latest milestone in the career of a remarkable educator, engineer and entrepreneur who stands ready to lead New York’s flagship to even greater heights.
Goldsmith received unanimous approval from the State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees at an executive session February 19 at the SUNY Global Center in New York.
Joined by her husband Arturo Salz, also an electrical engineer and entrepreneur, and with her two children and other family members teleconferenced in, Goldsmith thanked the Trustees and Chair Merryl Tisch, along with SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr. and the search committee, led by Kevin Law, chairman of the Stony Brook Council.
“For Stony Brook, the possibilities as the number one public university in the great state of New York are truly endless, and that’s one of the things that I found so appealing about this role,” Goldsmith said, adding that she looks forward to seizing the many opportunities to advance Stony Brook’s excellence across all dimensions of research, education, innovation and service to the local community, New York, the country and the world. “I can’t wait to be part of this amazing place.”
“Andrea is simply an unusual combination of academic leadership and business savvy that we believe will help make Stony Brook an even more outstanding university,” said Law, who lauded her experience at Princeton University, more than 20 years at Stanford University, and her staunch support of women in science, particularly engineering.
“Her breadth of leadership experience spans not only academic leadership positions at Stanford and Princeton, but is complemented by her entrepreneurial experience with startups and her corporate board experience sitting on three corporate boards,” Law said. “We believe she can maximize our research efforts to secure funding from multiple sources given her relationships and contacts.”
“I can’t wait to seize the many opportunities to advance Stony Brook’s excellence across all dimensions of research, education, innovation and service to the local community, the great state of New York, the country and the world.” – Andrea Goldsmith
Goldsmith received her bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, where her father, Werner — a Holocaust survivor who came to the United States from Germany at 13 — was a professor of mechanical engineering. Her mother, Adrienne, was an animator for cartoons, including The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, and Goldsmith has said her career has been informed by having parents in the worlds of art and science.
Currently the Dean of Engineering and Applied Science and the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Princeton University, Goldsmith also chaired the faculty senate at Stanford, with 14 terms as a senator. She was the founding chair of the IEEE Board of Directors Committee on Diversity and Inclusion and served as president of the IEEE Information Theory Society.
Goldsmith said that there has never been a more important time to strongly articulate the value of higher education for societal benefit and upward mobility. “As Stony Brook’s next president, I have a powerful role to play in that articulation, and I look forward to partnering with all of you, and especially with you, Chancellor King, on articulating why higher education is so important to this country and its people,” she said. “Taking risks and embracing change will be essential as we shape the future of this extraordinary institution.”
Goldsmith’s research interests are in information theory, communication theory, and signal processing, and their application to wireless communications, interconnected systems, and neuroscience. A member of the National Academy of Engineering, she has served as PI or co-PI on government research grants totaling more than $70 million. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. She has won several awards, including the distinguished Marconi Prize.
Goldsmith said she will bring the same leadership approach that she has used in her entrepreneurial ventures as well as academic leadership positions at fellow R1 research universities. “That approach of teamwork and innovation and setting high aspirations, as the aspirations for Stony Brook should have no bounds. I intend to bring that leadership approach to accelerate Stony Brook’s upward momentum.”
She founded and served as chief technical officer of Plume WiFi (formerly Accelera, Inc.) and of Quantenna, Inc, and she currently serves on the board of directors for Intel, Medtronic and Crown Castle Inc., and the Marconi Society. The author of four textbooks and 195 journal papers, she has 38 issued patents.
Goldsmith noted that she has been an entrepreneur at heart throughout her career. “To me, being an entrepreneur means a desire to effect positive change and turn vision into reality, whether it be in my universities, my companies or my professional organizations.”
“The vision for Stony Brook is infinite possibilities, and seizing them is what I believe an entrepreneur as president can actually turn into reality,” she said.
Goldsmith said she has been impressed and touched by the pride and ambition that define Stony Brook University and SUNY.
“Taking risks and embracing change will be essential as we shape the future of this extraordinary institution,” she said. “I can’t wait to meet with the Stony Brook community, and to get started leading this next chapter of accelerating excellence and impact.”
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