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Mario Shields Photo by David Cardona-Jimenez

By Daniel Dunaief

Friend or foe? The question isn’t as easy in the world of molecular biology as it might be after captains pick players for a team.

An important biomolecule in one context could trigger the growth or spread of cancer, while in another system or organ, that same signal might suppress or stop the development or growth of a disease that can threaten people’s health.

So it is for G-proteins, which, in some tumors, serve as tumorigenic signaling hubs that participate in invasion and metastasis and promote inflammation and immune evasion.

In tumors “there was this notion that it works in a certain way, driving tumor development and progression,” said Mario Shields, Associate Professor of Research Pathology at Stony Brook University. “We had that original hypothesis when we investigated it in pancreatic cancer. We found that it’s the opposite.”

Indeed, when the specific proteins he studies, called G alpha 13, are absent, mouse models develop well-differentiated tumors that reduce their survival.

“My research now is to understand why it’s playing the opposite role that we initially expected,” Shields, who joined Stony Brook in July after six years at Northwestern University.

Having worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the lab of Mikala Egeblad from 2012 to 2018, Shields is returning to the Long Island area with a focus on defeating a problematic type of cancer that steals precious time from people and robs families of important members.

“I have come to appreciate the dire situation of people who are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer,” Shields said. “We need to figure out how to lower the curve.”

A recipient of the National Cancer Institute’s Moonshot Award, Shields is one of the first 11 Cancer Moonshot Scholars who received a total of $5.4 million.

The program, which was launched by the Biden administration in the summer of 2023, seeks to advance cancer science while diversifying the pool of early-stage researchers and approaches to research that NCI funds.

The goal of the program is to inspire and support scientists from diverse backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups in the biomedical sciences.

The NCI award, which Shields brings with him to Stony Brook, will support his efforts.

Egeblad, who is now Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Tumor Microenvironment, has stayed in contact with Shields since he left her group. The work he’s doing is “very important” in understanding the “basic mechanism of pancreatic cancer progression” as he has been “very successful in making discoveries and raising funds for his research.”

Egeblad appreciates his contribution to her lab. Shields “was responsible for establishing our research program in pancreatic cancer,” she explained. “Before he joined my lab, I had only worked on breast cancer and [Shields] established the various models to also study pancreatic cancer — models that we are still using.”

Building on CSHL work

At CSHL, Shields worked in Egeblad’s lab and received advice and oversight from David Tuveson, Cancer Center Director at CSHL, who developed the mouse model Shields uses.

Shields has been using human and mouse cell lines to interrogate the mechanism of action of these G proteins in suppressing cancer. 

At Stony Brook, he plans to use patient samples to develop patient-derived tumor specimens.

The major hub of what Shields is studying is the mTOR pathway, which stands for mammalian/ mechanistic target of rapamycin. First isolated in a bacteria on Easter Island in the middle of the 20th century, rapamycin is an immunosuppressant drug.

Any defects that activate the mTOR pathway can lead to the growth and development of cancer.

A developing field

Shields explained that the G protein he is studying, G alpha 13, is a “niche” area right now, with few other labs pursuing the same mechanistic pathway. The G proteins are of more interest to molecular pharmacology and drug design.

In his studies, Shields hopes to use the information on the response to changes in the protein to predict how patients respond to therapy that inhibits the mTOR pathway.

Specifically, he is exploring how alterations in the microenvironment can cause the tumor to progress in pancreatic cancer.

Shields has found some “interesting dependencies” in the mechanism he’s studying. In the first year of work at Stony Brook, he would like to figure out how Ga13 regulates mTOR signaling, as the current context dependency is vague.

The gene that codes for this protein is not heavily mutated. Shields anticipates that a threshold level of the protein may be responsible for conveying its benefit in suppressing cancer, rather than a specific mutational change.

He is eager to explore whether nutrient availability plays a role in cancer progression through the reduction in this G protein. He has exploring that in vitro and is curious how that will translate at the organismal level.

Returning to Long Island

Shields had recently been Research Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University.

Having worked at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Shields felt comfortable moving back to the Long Island area.

“Stony Brook is a good place to do research,” said Shields.

Additionally, Shields was impressed with the number of people who had presented their research from Pathology Chair Kenneth Shroyer’s lab at a conference.

“Further discussions [with Shroyer] indicated we have areas of common interest in terms of pancreatic cancer,” Shields added.

Shields appreciates the greenness of Long Island. When he worked at CSHL, he enjoyed walking on trails and enjoyed the variety of fall colors.

Shields brought one person with him from Northwestern and plans to have a lab of about six people.

As for running his lab, Shields plans to “be patient” and to “see where people are coming from and what they are capable of” as he takes on the role of mentor for members of his lab at Stony Brook.

Shields hopes to inspire and encourage under represented groups to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

Egeblad suggested that Shields is warm and calm, which “helps those entering the field really take to his instruction.” She added she believes he is an inspiration to many young scientists.

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Brenda Anderson. Photo by John Griffin/SBU

Stony Brook University Professor Brenda Anderson, PhD has been elected as the new University Senate President effective on July 1, 2024. The University Senate is the primary campus-wide academic governance body at Stony Brook and is made up of a senate, and  standing committees that collaborate with administration to discuss issues that impact the university as a whole. The University Senate meets regularly and is a major force for institutional-policy making at the university. Professor Anderson will succeed previous University Senate President Richard Larson.

The  Executive Committee of the University Senate is composed of the University Senate President, three Vice-Presidents, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Senate, the Co-Chairs of the Professional Employees Governing  Board, the President of the Undergraduate Student Government or designee and the President of the Graduate Student Organization or designee. In addition, the Stony Brook representatives on the SUNY Faculty Senate choose one of their members to represent them as a voting member of the University Senate Executive Committee.

The Committee acts for and to further the activities of the University Senate. The University Senate also has a Coordinating Council which facilitates the sharing of information and the coordination of activities among the Standing Committees of the University Senate. The Standing Committees provide a major part of the Senate’s work, which consists of elected representatives of faculty, staff and students. The Executive Committee meets with the  University President, Provost, and other senior administrators each month. The University Senate President is also a member of the University Council.

Anderson is a Professor of Integrative Neuroscience, in the Department of Psychology, where she studied how experience influences behavior and brain function. Her expertise lies in behavior analysis, learning and memory, and quantitative neuroanatomy. Using these approaches, and animal models she developed for motor skill learning and psychological stress, she has investigated how experience modifies behavior, neural metabolic capacity and the number of synaptic connections. Her work has received support from the National Institute of Mental Health.

“I am looking forward to working with the exceptional members of the senate, and the leaders on its Executive Committee and standing committees,” said Anderson. “My goal is to build the relationships within the senate. I hope to continue the senate’s collaborative relationship with the President, Provost, and Vice President of Stony Brook Medicine so that Stony Brook University may fully capitalize on our well-deserved recognition as a flagship institution in New York.

 

 

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Dino Martins

Stony Brook University  announces that noted Kenyan entomologist and evolutionary biologist Dr. Dino J. Martins will begin serving as the director of the world-renowned Turkana Basin Institute beginning on September 1, 2024.

Martins has served as the CEO of TBI (Kenya) Ltd. since August 1, 2022, and has been affiliated with TBI since 2011. In this transition from CEO for TBI’s Kenya operations to serving as director across the entire TBI operation, Martins will lead vision and strategy to build upon the institute’s legacy as a critical site of research and discovery around some of the biggest questions of our time concerning our origins, our current role and responsibilities and, most critically, our future on a changing planet.  Martins will oversee all Institute activities including recruitment, hiring and evaluation of faculty and postdoctoral researchers; development of facilities and fundraising.

Martins will succeed Dr. Lawrence Martin, who has served as the director of TBI since 2007 and will be named TBI director emeritus, taking on a new role to support TBI’s fundraising efforts by organizing and leading donor visits to Kenya as well as working on several other projects for the university.

“As Lawrence and Dino have worked hand-in-hand over the last several years, this will be a seamless transition in the leadership of TBI. I am grateful to Lawrence for his outstanding leadership of TBI, and I look forward to working with Dino to build upon the incredible foundation that has been established and to elevate TBI to even greater heights,” said Carl Lejuez, Provost of Stony Brook University.

Martins earned his PhD in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology from Harvard University in 2011 before joining TBI as a postdoctoral fellow at Stony Brook University. Martins had previously graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology from Indiana University and with a M.SC. in Botany from the University of KwaZulu Natal. Martins taught in the TBI Origins field school every semester it has been offered since spring of 2011, when the field school began.

Upon completion of his postdoc, Martins took on the position of resident academic director of the TBI Origins Field School and served for three years before accepting the position of executive director of the Mpala Research Center in Laikipia, Kenya, which is overseen by Princeton University, the Smithsonian Institution, the Kenyan Wildlife Service, and the National Museums of Kenya. During his seven years as director, Dino worked to improve the operations and finances of Mpala and expanded the number of institutions conducting research there.

Martins’ research in the Turkana Basin has included the description of new species of bees, including some of the most ancient lineages of bees known and the discovery of genera previously not recorded from Africa. Martins is also a Co-PI of the Turkana Genome Project, which is bringing together dozens of international scientists to look at the complex interactions among human genes, the environment and adaptation. Dino is actively building links and collaborations globally to expand the scientific frontiers of research at TBI. This includes building on the excellent fundamental research around human origins and evolution, to other disciplines that intersect with the fields of evolution and ecology, climate change and the future of sustainable human existence and development.

About TBI

The Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), a Stony Brook University Institute was established by the late celebrated paleoanthropologist, conservationist and Stony Brook University faculty member Richard Leakey. TBI’s mission is to facilitate the logistics of field research in the Turkana Basin, a remote region of sub-Saharan Africa, by providing permanent research support infrastructure. Fundraising to implement the project began in 2005 and funds have been raised every year since for the construction and running costs of two field campuses.

TBI today houses a sophisticated environment to support the research of scientists and students at its two field campuses, TBI-Turkwel and TBI-Ileret, as well as through an administrative support center in Nairobi. Each of the field campuses comprises 15 to 20 major buildings providing accommodation and dining facilities for up to 60 scientists and students as well as the permanent staff of about 40. In addition, there are multiple laboratories, classrooms for field schools, and conference facilities. TBI has purchased and maintains a Cessna 208 Grand Caravan airplane, which operates as Air Turkana, providing reduced cost flying for education and research that is subsidized by revenue from commercial charters.

 

 

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Stony Brook University: Entrance sign

Stony Brook University and the Simons Foundation were recently named recipients of the Insight Into Diversity magazine 2024 Inspiring Programs in STEM Award.

Insight Into Diversity is the largest and oldest diversity and inclusion publication in higher education. The Inspiring Programs in STEM Award honors colleges and universities that encourage and assist students from underrepresented groups to enter the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Stony Brook University and the Simons Foundation will be featured, along with 82 other recipients, in the September 2024 issue of Insight Into Diversity magazine.

“I am so proud of the cutting-edge research, outstanding teaching, and engaged scholarship and service gained from the collaboration of Stony Brook and the Simons Foundation around excellence in STEM,” said SBU Vice President for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer Judith Brown Clarke. “We look forward to continued partnership in our quest for deep transformational impacts that are powerful and create long-lasting changes that have a positive effect on individuals, communities, and entire societies.”

Inspiring Programs in STEM Award winners were selected by Insight Into Diversity based on efforts to inspire and encourage a new generation of young people to consider careers in STEM through mentoring, teaching, research, and successful programs and initiatives.

“I take great pride in the dedication and enthusiasm shown by our scholars and staff in initiating this program with such vigor and excellence. We are grateful for this recognition and remain dedicated to advancing the legacy we have started,” said Erwin Cabrera, executive director of the Stony Brook Simons STEM Scholars Program. “The core values of Insight Into Diversity Inspiring Programs closely resonate with the objectives of the SBU Simons STEM Scholars program, and we appreciate the opportunity to be recognized alongside other distinguished recipients.

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Iwao Ojima and Martin Kaczocha (foreground) led the Stony Brook team in developing its class of Fatty Acid Binding Proteins (FABPs) a promising set of drug targets for new therapies. Photo by John Griffin, Stony Brook University

The “FABP” inhibitor is part of a series of compounds that uses the body’s natural marijuana-like substances to curb pain and inflammation

 Six years ago Stony Brook University through the Research Foundation for the State University of New York licensed a promising technology to Artelo Biosciences that identified Fatty Acid Binding Proteins (FABPs) as drug targets of the body’s endocannabinoid system for a potentially promising way to treat pain, inflammation and cancer. Now the first one of these compounds has been cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for human clinical trials.

Artelo announced this week that the FDA’s initial approval of one of the FABP5 (5 indicates a specific protein) selective compounds called ART26.12 enables the company to initiate its first human phase 1 single ascending dose study of the drug. The company states that ART26.12 will address a critical need for cancer patients, treating chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Phase 1 clinical trials are expected to be launched internationally during the first half of 2025.

ART26.12 is the lead compound in the series of FABP5 inhibitors under development. In 2018, Artelo received an exclusive license to the intellectual property of all FABP inhibitors for the modulation of the endocannabinoid system.

The work on FABPs originated with Iwao Ojima, PhD, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University, Martin Kaczocha, PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Anesthesiology in the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, and Dale Deutsch, PhD, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University, a research collaboration affiliated with  the Institute of Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery (ICB & DD). They identified the action of FABPs as drug targets. Specifically, FABP5 was identified as the intracellular transporter for the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA), a neurotransmitter produced in the brain that binds to cannabinoid receptors.

The research group demonstrated in the laboratory that elevated levels of endocannabinoids can result in beneficial pharmacological effects on stress, pain and inflammation and also ameliorate the effects of drug withdrawal. Drs. Ojima (also Director of the ICB & DD), Kaczocha, Deutsch and colleagues discovered that by inhibiting FABP transporters, the level of AEA is raised. The finding provided the basis for the drug development approach to elevate the levels of AEA.

Artelo took this concept and approach to further develop the compounds. Their scientists collaborated with the Stony Brook team to reach new findings that has led to the commercialization and use of the first drug (ART26.12) in a potential pipeline of drugs to treat pain and inflammation.

After the license to Artelo was finalized, Drs. Ojima and Kaczocha under a contract with Artelo synthesized and evaluated compound candidates with high FABP5 potency and selectivity, an effort that culminated in the development of the lead candidate, SB-FI-1621, which Artelo named ART26.12.

“This is the first clinical stage compound targeting the FABP pathway, an important and exciting milestone,” says Sean Boykevisch, PhD, Director of Intellectual Property Partners in Stony Brook’s Technology Transfer Office. “The fundamental and translational research conducted by the Stony Brook team and their subsequent collaboration with Artelo resulted in a true bench-to-bedside program with the goal of better patient experiences and outcomes.”

“We look forward to sharing the initial clinical results with ART26.12 next year,” says Gregory D. Gorgas, President and CEO of Artelo Biosciences. “As the leading company pursuing FABP inhibition we are committed to building on the unique, lipid-modulating mechanism of our FABP inhibitor platform to address life-altering pathologies for which there are few, if any, safe and effective pharmaceutical treatments.”

For more about the Stony Brook research that developed FABP inhibitors and the grant to support years of research, see this news.

For more details on the FDA clearance news of the drug, and Artelo’s R&D plan, see this news.

 

 

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Simon Birrer Photo by Andrea Hoffmann

By Daniel Dunaief

When he was young, Simon Birrer asked his parents for a telescope because he wanted to look at objects on mountains and hills.

Simon Birrer.  Photo Studio, Mall of Switzerland

While he was passionate about science and good at math, Birrer didn’t know at the time he’d set his sights much further away than nearby hills or mountains in his professional career.

An Assistant Professor in the department of Astronomy and Physics at Stony Brook University, Birrer uses telescopes that generate data from much further away than nearby hills as he studies the way light from distant galaxies bends through a process called gravitational lensing. He also works to refine a measure of the expansion of the universe.

“All matter (including stars in galaxies) are causing the bending of light,” Birrer explained in an email. “From our images, we can infer that a significant fraction of the lensing has to come from dark (or more accurately: transparent) matter.”

Dark matter describes how a substance of matter that does not interact with any known matter component through a collision or pressure or absorption of light is transparent.

While they can’t see this matter through various types of telescopes, cosmologists like Birrer know it’s there because when it gets massive enough, it creates what Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of relativity, altering spacetime. Dark matter is effectively interacting with visible matter only gravitationally.

Every massive object causes a gravitational effect, Birrer suggested.

When a single concentration of matter occurs, the light of a distant galaxy can produce numerous images of the same object.

Scientists take several approaches to delens the data. They rely on computers to perform ray-tracing simulations to compare predictions with the astronomical images.

The degree of lensing is proportional to the mass of total matter.

Birrer uses statistics and helps draw conclusions about the fundamental nature of the dark matter that alters the trajectory of light as it travels towards Earth.

He conducts simulations and compares a range of data collected from NASA Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope.

Hubble constant

Beyond gravitational lensing, Birrer also studies and refines the Hubble constant, which describes the expansion rate of the universe. This constant that was first measured by Edwin Hubble in 1929.

“An accurate and precise measurement of the Hubble constant will provide us empirical guidance to questions and answers about the fundamental composition and nature of the universe,” Birrer explained.

During his postdoctoral research at UCLA, Birrer helped develop a new “formalism to measure the expansion history of the universe accounting for all the uncertainty,” Tomasso Treu, a Vice Chair for Astronomy at UCLA and Birrer’s postdoctoral advisor. “These methodological breakthroughs lay the foundation for the work that is being done today to find out what is dark matter and what is dark energy,” which is a force that causes the universe to expand at an accelerating rate.

Treu, who described Birrer as “truly outstanding” and one of the ‘best postdocs I have ever interacted with” in his 25-year career, suggested that his former student was relentless even after impressive work.

Soon after completing a measurement of the constant to two percent precision, Birrer started thinking of a “way to redo the experiment using much weaker theoretical assumptions,” Treu wrote in an email. “This was a very brave thing to do, as the dust had not settled yet on the first measurement and he questioned everything.”

The new approach required considerable effort, patience and dedication.

Birrer was “motivated uniquely by his intellectual honesty and rigor,” Treu added. “He wanted to know the answer and he wanted to know if it was robust to this new approach.”

Indeed, researchers are still executing this new measurement, which means that Treu and others don’t know how the next chapter in this search. This approach will, however, lead to greater confidence in whatever figure they find.

Larger collaborations

Simon Birrer. Photo by Rebecca Ross

Birrer is a part of numerous collaborations that involve scientists from Europe, Asia, and Middle and South America.

He contributes to the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). A planned 10-year survey of the southern sky, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is under construction in northern Chile.

The Simonyi Survey Telescope (SST) at the observatory will survey half the sky every three nights. It will provide a movie of that part of the sky for a decade.

The telescope and camera are expected to produce over 5.2 million exposures in a decade. In fewer than two months, a smaller commissioning camera will start collecting the first light. The main camera will start collecting images within a year, while researchers anticipate gathering scientific data in late next year or early in 2026.

The LSST is expected to find more strong gravitational lensing events, and in particular strongly lensed supernovae, than any prior survey.

Birrer is the co-chair of the LSST Strong Lensing Science Collaboration and serves on the Collaboration Council of the LSST Dark Energy Science Collaboration.

Birrer is also a part of the Dark Energy Survey, which was a predecessor to LSST. Researchers completed data taking a few years ago and are analyzing that information.

From mountains to the island

Born and raised in Lucerne, Switzerland, Birrer, who speaks German and the Swiss dialect, French and English, found physics and sociology appealing when he was younger.

“I was interested in how the world works,” he said.

While attending college at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, he became eager to address the numerous unknown questions in cosmology and astrology.

“How little we know about” these fields “dragged me in that direction,” said Birrer.

An avid skier, mountaineer and soccer player, Birrer bikes the five miles back and forth to work from Port Jefferson.

In addition to adding a talented scientist, Stony Brook also brought on board an effective educator.

Birrer is “knowledgeable and caring, patient and at the same time, he knows how to challenge people to achieve their best,” Treu explained. “I am sure he will be a wonderful addition to the faculty and he will play a leading role in training the next generation of scientists.”

In terms of the advice he found particularly helpful in his career, Birrer suggested he needed a nudge to combine his passion for theory with the growing trove of available data. His PhD advisor told him to “touch the data,” he said. The data keeps him humble and provides a reality check.

The friction between thought and data “leads to progress,” Birrer added. “You never know whether the thoughts are ahead of the experiments (data) or whether the experiments are ahead of the thoughts.”

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From left, Elisa DiStefano, NewsdayTV; Jennifer Nicholson, COO, RMHC NYM; Leah Laurenti; Anthony Nunziata; Joy Mangano; Mario Mattera, NY State Senator; Nick Croce, RMHC NYM. Photo from Ronald McDonald House Charities NY Metro

Concert at the Engeman Theater raises $45k for Ronald McDonald House Charities NY Metro

More than 200 guests turned out to a spectacular gala benefit concert put on by the  Ronald McDonald House Charities NY Metro on Tuesday, June 18th, at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport, NY, to help support the Capital Campaign to build a new Ronald McDonald House at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital. The event raised $45,000 for the effort.

Romantic singing sensation Anthony Nunziata headlined the evening with a mesmerizing mix of covers and original songs. Long Island’s own Leah Laurenti opened the show with a heartfelt rendition of Keane’s “Somewhere Only We Know,” setting the tone for a night of touching performances and community spirit.

Inventor and entrepreneur Joy Mangano served as the emcee, highlighting the critical need for a Ronald McDonald House at Stony Brook Medical Center by introducing the Griswold family, who utilized the Ronald McDonald Stony Brook Family Rooms in 2017. The Griswolds stayed bedside as their 3-month-old son Nash underwent multiple life-saving procedures. Today, Nash is a thriving, active seven-year-old. Their story underscored the importance of having a nearby sanctuary during medical crises, a need the new Ronald McDonald House aims to fulfill.

Nick Croce, Co-Chair of the Stony Brook Advisory Council and RMHC New York Metro Board Member, organized the event and welcomed attendees. Reflecting on the evening, Croce expressed, “I want to thank our event sponsors and guests for showing up in support of our efforts to build a home-away-from-home for families with sick children here on Long Island. Our goal is to relieve as much stress as possible so families can be there for their sick children.”

Construction for the new Ronald McDonald House in Stony Brook is set to begin this year, with an expected opening in 2026. The new facility will feature 30 private bedrooms, plus a fitness center, communal kitchens, a movie theater, a playroom, and much more. It will provide essential support to families, ensuring they can stay close to their hospitalized children without the added burden of finding and funding nearby accommodations.

To learn more or to get involved in the Capital Campaign to build the Ronald McDonald House at Stony Brook Children’s Hospital, visit https://www.rmhcnym.org.

About Ronald McDonald House Charities NY Metro

Ronald McDonald House Charities New York Metro (RMHC NYM) provides free lodging, meals, and emotional support to keep families seeking medical treatment for their sick children near the care they need and the families they love.

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Dr. Alexander Orlov. Photo by John Griffin/SBU

Alexander Orlov recognized for contributions to the AIChE’s division dedicated to promoting research, education and innovation related to the design of creative engineering solutions to environmental challenges

Alexander Orlov, PhD, Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University, is the recipient of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE) Dr. Peter. B. Lederman Environmental Division Service Award.

The award recognizes outstanding service to the Environmental Division the AIChE. The AIChE has more than 60,000 members from more than 110 countries and is the world’s leading organization for chemical engineering professionals.

Orlov will receive the award during the AIChE’s annual meeting, which takes October 27 to 31 at the Convention Center in San Diego.

As an integral member of the AIChE, Orlov initiated fundraising and outreach efforts for the Environmental Division that helped to double its annual budget. His leadership led to a substantial increase in the Division’s membership. Both efforts led to his nomination for the service award.

Orlov is currently Co-Chair of the AIChE’s Sustainable Engineering Forum (SEF) Education Committee and an Institute for Sustainability Board Member. Previously, the Institute recognized Orlov for his education and commercialization efforts with the 2017 SEF Education Award and the 2021 AIChE SEF Industrial Practice Award.

In addition to his departmental faculty position at Stony Brook, Orlov is a faculty member of the Consortium for Interdisciplinary Environmental Research, and an affiliate faculty member of the Chemistry Department and the Institute for Advanced Computational Science. He also serves as a Co-Director of the Center for Laser Assisted Advanced Manufacturing and Center for Development and Validation of Scalable Methods for Sustainable Plastic Synthesis and Processing.

Orlov received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge. He has been teaching and conducting research at Stony Brook University since 2008.

 

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Richard McCormick. Photo courtesy Stony Brook University

By Daniel Dunaief

The State University of New York Board of Trustees has named former Rutgers President Richard McCormick, 76, interim president of Stony Brook University as the school continues its search for a seventh president.

McCormick, who will take over the reigns at the downstate flagship SUNY school on August 1st, replaces Maurie McInnis, who left Stony Brook after four years to become the president of Yale University on July 1.

Dr. Bill Wertheim, Executive Vice President for Stony Brook Medicine, has been serving as Officer-in-Charge and Stony Brook University Hospital’s Governing Body since July 1.

McCormick, who was president of Rutgers from 2002 to 2012 and has taught and studied United States political history in the 19th and 20th centuries, has over four decades of experience in higher education, including leading several highly ranked public universities.

McCormick will oversee Stony Brook University and Stony Brook Medicine and will serve as part of the management team of Brookhaven National Laboratory.

“Each step we take in this leadership transition is important, and we welcome Dr. McCormick,” John King, Jr, SUNY Chancellor said in a statement. “His vast higher education experience will continue to move this esteemed university forward as the campus conducts a national search for its new president.”

McCormick welcomed the chance to lead Stony Brook during this transition period.

Stony Brook “has achieved national stature yet remains fully engaged with its Long Island community, for which it is an economic engine,” McCormick said in a statement. “My thanks to the SUNY Board of Trustees, Chancellor King and the Stony Brook Council for this opportunity.”

As an interim president, McCormick will not be a candidate to become the next permanent president.

In addition to his tenure at Rutgers, which started in 1976 when he joined the history department, McCormick also was vice chancellor and provost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1992 to 1995 and was president of the University of Washington from 1995 to 2002.

The incoming interim Stony Brook president earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Amherst College in American Studies and his PhD in history from Yale in 1976, 20 years before McInnis also earned her PhD in the History of Art from the New Haven-based Ivy league school she now leads.

McCormick started his academic career at Rutgers, where he was a member of the history faculty from 1976 to 1992. He was also Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

McCormick is the son of Richard Patrick McCormick, a former Rutgers professor and Katheryne Levis, a former Rutgers administrator.

McCormick and his father co-taught an American history course.

An author of several books, McCormick is writing a book on the history of American political corruption from the 17th century to the present.

Rutgers achievements

McCormick, who earned his high school diploma from Piscataway Township High School in Piscataway, New Jersey, orchestrated constructive changes in his hometown university during his presidency.

McCormick helped raise $650 million while he was president.

Four years after becoming president, the university reorganized the undergraduate colleges on the New Brunswick campus into a School of Arts and Sciences and School of Environmental and Biological Sciences.

The reorganization included a comprehensive new curriculum at the School of Arts and Sciences, first year seminars, signature courses, expansion opportunities for undergraduate research and honors programs and support for top undergraduates competing for highly competitive scholarships and awards.

In the final years of his tenure, he merged Rutgers with the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and divisions of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The New Jersey Legislature passed a bill to integrate almost all units of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey into Rutgers.

“Dr. McCormick’s notable accomplishments as president of Rutgers from 2002 until 2012 included reinvigorating undergraduate education, elevating its standing in the top tier of public research universities, realizing a longstanding goal of returning medical education to the university’s portfolio, and improving and strengthening connections with important partners, including alumni and local communities,” Wertheim said in a statement. “He is the ideal leader to help Stony Brook sustain its momentum as New York’s flagship university.”

The former Rutgers president led the school when it installed 40,000 high-efficiency solar panels over two large surface parking lots on the Livingston campus, producing over eight megawatts of power, which, at the time, was the largest renewable energy system built on a college campus in the country. Rutgers has continued to add solar panels.

Stony Brook momentum

McCormick’s experience with solar energy dovetails with some of Stony Brook’s recent environmental initiatives and successes.

With the support of the Simons Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Stony Brook University won the competitive process as the lead institution to create a climate solutions center on Governors Island. The New York Climate Exchange will develop and deploy dynamic solutions to the global climate crisis, will provide educational and research opportunities and will serve as a place for New Yorkers to benefit from the green economy.

The Climate Solutions Center will include 400,000 square feet of green-designed building space, including research labs, classroom space, exhibits, greenhouses, mitigation technologies and housing facilities.

McCormick takes over as interim president at a time when Stony Brook has achieved some important financial and academic victories.

A year ago, the Simons Foundation made a $500 million endowment gift to Stony Brook. The gift, which will be spread out over seven years, was the largest unrestricted donation to an institution of higher education in United States history.

The Foundation gift, which the state will match on a 1:2 program, and other philanthropic contributions are expected to increase the endowment by as much as $1 billion.

Stony Brook recently climbed 19 spots in the rankings of colleges from US News and World Report, ranking 58th in the rankings. That’s the highest ever rank for a State University of New York institution. The school also placed 12th among national universities for social mobility rank.

“Stony Brook is a world-class institution, moving on an upward trajectory, educating the next generation of leaders and thinkers and bettering our society through research and economic development,” Stony Brook Council Kevin Law said in a statement. “I am pleased to welcome Dr. McCormick, whose accomplishments and vision in higher-education leadership are nothing short of extraordinary, as our interim president, and to begin the search for our next permanent president.”

Challenges ahead

McCormick will likely face the same some of the same challenges other university presidents, interim or not, have dealt with as protestors have expressed their frustrations over the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

At numerous universities, protests disrupted exams, classes and graduation ceremonies.

College presidents have tried to balance between the rights of students to assemble and express themselves and the university’s need to protect various groups of students from intimidation, bullying, or threats.

Local politicians welcomed McCormick. “I look forward to getting to know Dr. McCormick and collaborating with him to ensure that Stony Brook remains a premier institution of higher learning, providing a safe environment for students of all religions,” said Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY1).

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Pictured from left are Town Clerk Kevin LaValle; Councilman Neil Manzella; Councilwoman Jane Bonner; Aman Mistry; Siddhant Desai; Supervisor Dan Panico; Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich; Councilman Neil Foley; Councilman Michael Loguercio and Councilwoman Karen Dunne Kesnig.

At the June 6 Brookhaven Town Board Meeting, Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich presented two Stony Brook University students, Aman Mistry and Siddhant Desai with a proclamation recognizing Scholars for Medicine Society.

The organization provides an environment to nurture leadership and problem-solving abilities of the Stony Brook community’s future physicians. They do it by hosting Stony Brook University Healthcare Innovation Challenge and encouraging student innovation in a multidisciplinary, collaborative environment supported by faculty mentorship. They also promote student-run community health initiatives that translate problem-solving skills to real-world impact in the greater community.

In addition, they recruit a diverse array of sponsors and event support, including Stony Brook University, The Contribution Project, the Protect Our Planet (POP) Movement, Duck Donuts in Selden, Councilmember Jonathan Kornreich, and David L. Calone. The Scholars for Medicine Society at Stony Brook University has facilitated connection in the Stony Brook community through campus-wide events like the Healthcare Innovation Challenge. 

For more information about the Scholars for Medicine Society at Stony Brook University, visit the Stony Brook University website at www.stonybrook.edu.

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