2025 State of the University Address

That said, I am very grateful to have another family member here today who knows all too well the responsibilities of this position—my wife, Kamlesh. Thank you, Kamlesh, for your years of love and support.

Given that this is my final State of the University address, I hope you will permit me to extend this personal digression a bit longer. First and foremost, I must say what a privilege it has been to be UB’s president. When I was growing up in a remote village in India, I could never have envisioned my path would take me to where I stand today. The statistician in me still asks the question: What are the odds?

One thing is certain: This would not have been possible without the support of my parents, who instilled in me a love for education. Nor could I have made it to this point without a community of teachers, mentors and colleagues to advise, guide—and yes, question me—along the way.

Whenever I reflect on UB’s history, I am struck by the innovative zeal that has characterized our institution. Long before it had distinguished itself as a premier public research university, UB was known as a bastion of big ideas and bold discoveries.

Consider the intellectual fortitude of our 19^th-century founders. They were medical pioneers who advanced the field of obstetrics, described the rumblings of a heart murmur, and helped avert a cholera outbreak.

Fast forward to the 21^st century, and you find our contemporary scholars building on this noble legacy. They are doing so with a deliberate focus on collaboration: collaborations within and across disciplines, with our partners in business and industry, with our community stakeholders and with colleagues at universities across the state, nation and world.

We recognize that we are stronger by virtue of our diverse perspectives. And that we are bound by a unifying purpose: to bring our findings to bear on the greater good.

Ten years ago, UB was elevated into an elite tier of institutions entrusted with accelerating research into improved medical care. Today, with the National Institutes of Health Clinical and Translational Science Award, we have ushered in a new era of research in the region. We are mentoring early-career faculty to become independently funded translational science investigators. We are generating millions in extramural funding with our pilot studies program. And we are recruiting more participants into clinical studies than ever before.

In 2013, the National Science Foundation charged UB to lead a national university consortium to transform the field of structural biology. To date, this consortium is among the most productive of its kind, with findings that are propelling the discovery of new therapeutics.

When we launched UB’s Community Health Equity Research Institute, we reaffirmed our commitment to the region by working across disciplines to eliminate health disparities. At this institute, our faculty, together with our community allies, are cultivating health equity. This partnership has been so proactive that it was credited with mobilizing one of the most effective responses to the pandemic in the U.S.

In the domain of artificial intelligence, our comprehensive approach to research has made UB a global powerhouse in this rapidly evolving field. With faculty across 15 departments harnessing AI for public good, we continue building on this reputation. Today, our researchers are harnessing AI to develop personalized medicine, cutting-edge cybersecurity and educational tools for young learners.

As you can see, our research and community collaborations are changing the world.

In the School of Law, our faculty are among the most influential experts in their fields, including one scholar whose writings have given rise to an entirely new legal field. In the liberal arts, our research has provided a ground level view of emancipation. It has helped veterans returning from combat develop a sense of belonging. And it is making the writings of a prominent mid-century poet available to the public for the first time.

At the same time, our work in the humanities has made UB more successful competing for the most prestigious grants in these fields, the Mellon Foundation award.

Indeed, our commitment to health, well-being, social justice and cultural vibrancy has benefited society on so many levels. Moreover, it has put our sponsored research expenditures on a stellar trajectory.

As our faculty earn national and international prominence, they are elevating UB’s stature while making a profound impact on communities near and far. However, extending the frontiers of creativity and knowledge is never a solo effort. 

For ideas to germinate into discoveries, our scholarly community relies on a dedicated staff network to bring these endeavors to fruition. And over the past 15 years, that is precisely what we have established. What began as a handful of programs has bloomed into a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem at UB.

The move of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences to our Downtown Campus has catalyzed Buffalo’s life science economy, while the Innovation Hub and the Incubator @ CBLS have cultivated partnerships and commercialization. UB’s Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships has nurtured hundreds of startups that are contributing measurably to our local and regional economy.

As our staff have shepherded faculty innovations to market, they are also giving wing to students’ ventures. Since it opened, the Startup and Innovation CoLaboratory (CoLab) has boasted more than 55,000 student engagements with its expanding suite of programs. These initiatives, combined with the launch of undergraduate academic programs in entrepreneurship, has brought UB national recognition.

Over the past 15 years, UB has graduated a generation of students who are making their mark in a wide range of entrepreneurial ventures. To share a small sample of this work, our alumni have created an app that helps restaurants run more efficiently, they are developing a hypersonic passenger aircraft and they have achieved the world’s first subzero organ transport.

Likewise, UB’s recent alumni are emerging leaders driving forward sustainable development, politics and planning, journalism and podcasting, marketing and social media, computer engineering, academia, art and law.

With great pride, we have watched our students receive the most esteemed recognitions of academic merit. 

Over the past 15 years, we celebrated our first two Truman Scholars and our largest class of National Science Foundation graduate research fellows in UB’s history. And we are educating more Fulbright Scholars than ever before.

With equal pride, we have also seen the academic profile of our incoming classes continue to ascend. Not only did the average GPA of first-year incoming students increase from 2011 to 2025, the percentage of those students reporting a GPA of 3.75 or higher nearly tripled.

As part of our promise to our ambitious, diverse student body, we have reimagined the UB experience with more experiential opportunities, more academic advisors, the introduction of success coaching, tailored support programs, and the UB Curriculum—the largest general education curriculum overhaul in decades. In the same period, we have served our students by launching seven new academic departments. This includes, most recently, our interdisciplinary Department of AI & Society.

It is wonderful to see our students taking full advantage of these world-class facilities—and this is just the beginning!The construction we have planned and in progress is befitting of New York State’s flagship university. Among other initiatives, this encompasses the ongoing revitalization of the South Campus as the primary home of graduate and professional programs. On the North Campus, it includes four new buildings: Russell L. Agrusa Hall, an interdisciplinary research building, an AI and society building, and the Empire AI data center.

All told, these investments in our campus master plan exceed $2.5 billion.

While revitalizing our built environment, we have been ever mindful of our responsibility to the broader environment.

In 2003, UB completed construction of the first building in Western New York to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.Over the past 15 years, eight of our new and renovated buildings have achieved gold status for sustainable design and operations.

Moreover, our solar project has made UB one of the largest on-campus producers of renewable energy in the U.S.

Complementing our campus practices, we formed the RENEW Institute to tackle complex energy and environmental issues. To prepare our students to take up the mantle, we launched the Department of Environment and Sustainability. In the same period, we began offering a master’s program to create Earth-friendly solutions to transportation and logistics challenges.

In 2022, our collective work caught the attention of Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the first sitting vice president to visit UB. During her speech, Harris described our university’s environmental actions as “a model for our country.”

Over time, numerous national and international rankings have echoed her sentiment.Using different terminology or benchmarks, they all arrive at the same conclusion:UB is a standard bearer for climate action.

We recognize that confronting global crises, like climate change, requires a global community of expertise. Since our founding, UB has evolved into just such a community.

From our first partnerships to foster research and student exchanges, today we have alliances with 119 universities in 42 countries. Of these partnerships, 50 were formalized in the past 15 years. From offering a single major to 50 students, the UB-Singapore Institute of Management today offers seven degree programs and enrolls 1,300 undergraduates annually. From two Canadian students among UB’s inaugural graduating class, the University at Buffalo is now the academic home to students from 100 countries around the globe.

Without question, our diversity of perspectives and lived experiences has made UB stronger, richer and more vibrant.

As a former international student, I would like to express my gratitude to our global community of scholars for all they contribute to our university, region and nation.

In fostering a sense of belonging, a culture of respect, and a shared purpose, UB is, as I said before, a community in the best sense of the word. Our service to society inspires goodwill and great pride among alumni and donors near and far. These stakeholders are excited by our story and dedicated to contributing to UB’s brightest future. As a result, we have grown UB’s culture of philanthropy significantly in recent years.

For compelling evidence of that, let’s look to the historic Boldly Buffalo campaign. It was so successful that we surpassed our original goal in record time, achieved an all-time high in fundraising over the course of a single year and saw UB receive some of the largest gifts in its history.

In all, 84,000 donors invested more than $1 billion in support of UB. This campaign has enhanced every facet of our university. It has helped make our world-class education even more accessible to talented, ambitious students; it is fueling our faculty’s game-changing research and scholarship across disciplines; and it has contributed to the construction, renovation, improvement and planning of some 100 buildings and spaces.

Clearly, our stakeholders value our contributions to the public good. Day after day, they generously respond by helping us achieve our boldest ambitions.

This is what it means to be a community. And this is among the many reasons why I am proud to call UB my academic home.

Together, we have worked to transform the UB experience for a generation of students. We have cultivated an environment in which to realize the fullness of UB’s mission. We have engaged in the classroom, studio, lab, and clinic for the purpose of taking our innovations beyond those walls—to regional, national and international frontiers.

All told, our collective work has significantly elevated UB’s stature as a premier public research university. Over the past 15 years, UB’s institutional rankings have risen 22 spots among public universities and 45 spots among public and private universities.

We have many reasons to celebrate our shared accomplishments. Perhaps what is most gratifying is that, through every chapter and challenge, we have held fast to our university mission and values.

Our institutional mission of excellence is the bedrock of our success. On this foundation, we are educating tomorrow’s trailblazers, bringing our expertise to bear on complex issues and providing sustainable solutions.

To be sure, we have been tested along the way. Across its 180-year history, UB has faced a number of daunting trials, present moment included.

And yet, as an institution forged in strong principles, we have not only withstood these challenges—we have thrived. And we always will because the mission endures.

With it as our guide, I have every confidence that the University at Buffalo will further extend the boundaries of inquiry, knowledge and discovery far into the future.

As I conclude my presidential tenure next year, and return to my faculty role, I look forward to continuing to pursue this noble goal alongside all of you: A community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends whose devotion to the public good has inspired me from the first.

Thank you!