About UB

Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo (UB) is the flagship campus of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. According to the Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education College Rankings, UB is the No. 1 public university in New York State; when compared to nearly 800 public universities in the United States, it is rated No. 31. One of America’s leading research universities, UB is the choice of over 30,000 students from across the US and more than 100 countries around the world.

Key to UB’s success is the emphasis placed on interdisciplinary, innovation-driven research. According to the National Science Foundation, UB spends about $413 million annually on research. 

A hallmark of UB’s commitment to being a Top 25 Public Research University, is our dedication to equity. UB President Satish Tripathi has noted that “service — as a value and as a practice — forms our identity as a public research university.” Service to and partnership with community-based organizations occur across UB’s decanal units and permeate the institution’s educational and research activities. This orientation enables UB to serve and partner with local, regional, and global constituents, providing educational opportunities and research capacity to address the most critical challenges of the twenty-first century.

To provide a framework to describe and grapple with these collectively-experienced challenges, in 2015 the United Nations developed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs can also be used to quantify the degree to which universities and other institutions are in alignment with the UN’s “blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.” UB is ranked UB No. 1 University in the world in addressing the SDG pertaining to climate action, according to the 2021 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, which evaluate universities with the SDGs. Aggregating all the SDG goals, UB ranks fifth in the United States.