UB RENEW Director

Published December 18, 2014 This content is archived.

Dear University Community:

It is our great pleasure to announce the appointment of Dr. Amit Goyal, Corporate Fellow, Distinguished Scientist, and Battelle Distinguished Inventor at UT-Battelle/ Oak Ridge National Laboratory, as the first Director of UB’s Research and Education in eNergy, Environment and Water (UB RENEW) Institute, following an international search. In his new role, Dr. Goyal will report to the Vice President for Research and Economic Development. Dr. Goyal will concurrently hold an appointment as an Empire Innovation Professor in UB's departments of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Physics, and eventually in the Department of Materials Design and Innovation. His appointment takes effect January 5, 2015.

UB RENEW is a model for UB’s Communities of Excellence, a UB 2020 signature initiative that brings together researchers from across the university to address society’s toughest challenges and carry out transformative educational, research, creative and community engagement activities. Launched last February, RENEW aims to place UB at the forefront of research focused on sustainability, climate change and natural resources.

Dr. Goyal’s record as an outstanding, well-funded energy researcher, as well as his leadership, partnership, and mentorship experience make him an outstanding choice to lead UB RENEW. Dr. Goyal is widely recognized as an international leader in the field of advanced materials, and his broad technical contributions have been in large-scale, low-cost, high performance, flexible energy and electronic devices, including high-temperature superconducting devices, photovoltaics, ferroelectrics, and multiferroics, as well as in 3D self-assembly of nanostructures of complex materials within another complex materials for device applications. He has more than 25 years of experience managing diverse technical projects involving multiple organizations and has held several leadership positions within Oak Ridge National Laboratory and professional organizations. He has also mentored many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

As Director, Dr. Goyal will be responsible for coordinating the recruitment of up to 20 new faculty members and integrating UB RENEW programs and faculty with existing programs and departments across the School of Architecture and Planning, College of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Law, School of Management, and School of Public Health and Health Professions. He will build partnerships with government, industry, non-profit organizations, and academia, and coordinate with university leadership in the development of grant applications to fund RENEW’s large-scale, interdisciplinary projects.

We extend our sincere thanks to SUNY Distinguished Professor Bruce McCombe and all of the members of the search committee for their outstanding service in helping to recruit a candidate of Dr. Goyal’s reputation and caliber. For more details regarding this appointment, view the full announcement here.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Goyal to this significant leadership role and our campus community.

Sincerely,

 

Charles F. Zukoski                                                                                        Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Venu Govindaraju                                                                                        Interim Vice President for Research and Economic Development