Dr. Amit Goyal was recruited to UB in January 2015 as the founding director of the RENEW Institute, the university-wide multidisciplinary institute dedicated to research and education on globally pressing problems in energy, environment and water. After founding the RENEW Institute and hiring 15 multidisciplinary tenured and tenure-track faculty in multiple departments across seven schools and colleges and establishing the RENEW Shared Instrumentation Laboratories, he stepped down in 2021 to establish the UB Initiative on Plastics Recycling and Innovation, a New York Center of Excellence in Plastics Recycling, and has served as its Director since inception. 

This Center addresses a range of contemporary issues related to plastics recycling ranging from advancing the science and technology for recycling to development of markets for recycled plastics to developing effective communication and outreach initiatives.  A multidisciplinary team of scholars with backgrounds encompassing operations management, economics, communication, engineering, polymers and materials sciences have been part of this Center.  He is also Director of Laboratory for Heteroepitaxial Deposition of Functional Materials & Devices. 

Goyal has developed clean energy technologies for more than two decades. He is known for his research in the area of large-area, low-cost, high performance, “flexible electronic” devices, including superconducting devices, photovoltaics, ferroelectrics, multiferroics, etc., as well as in 3D self-assembly of nanodots and nanorods for device applications.  Dr. Goyal’s research and innovations have addressed key fundamental challenges towards fabrication of high-performance, kilometer-long HTS wires, known as coated conductors.   Most HTS wire-manufacturers world-wide use one or more his platform innovations to fabricate Km-long, high-performance HTS wires which are now enabling numerous large-scale applications including commercial nuclear fusion via magnetic confinement. 

Prior to joining UB, he was a corporate fellow, distinguished inventor and distinguished scientistat UT-Battelle/Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  He has more than 25 years’ experience managing diverse technical projects for multiple organizations. As founder, president and CEO of two companies -- TapeSolar Inc. and TexMat LLC -- he also has financial management experience interacting with venture capital firms and angel investors.

• B. Tech, Metallurgical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, 1996
• MS, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, University of Rochester, 1988
• PhD, Materials Science & Engineering, University of Rochester, 1991
• Executive MBA, Purdue University
• International Executive MBA, Tilburg University (The Netherlands)