Dean of Engineering Andrea Goldsmith to become president of Stony Brook University
Andrea Goldsmith, dean of Princeton University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, has been selected to serve as the next president of Stony Brook University, effective Aug. 1, 2025. The State University of New York (SUNY) Board of Trustees confirmed Goldsmith’s appointment during a meeting Feb. 19.
Goldsmith, the Arthur LeGrand Doty Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been dean of engineering since September 2020 when she came to Princeton from Stanford University. As dean she led a period of major growth, increasing the size of the faculty by 29% to 189; Ph.D. enrollment by 31% to 849; undergraduate enrollment by 22% to 1,829; and annual sponsored research expenditures by 24% to $90 million.
Goldsmith was instrumental in establishing the Omenn-Darling Bioengineering Institute as well as interdisciplinary research initiatives in robotics, blockchain, wireless technologies, and artificial intelligence. She grew the school’s activity and profile around corporate engagement, innovation, and entrepreneurship, including launching a program, Design for Impact, that takes a multidisciplinary approach to shaping and launching new ventures to tackle difficult societal challenges. She helped to attract the HAX start-up accelerator to New Jersey and to establish a statewide NJ AI Hub at Princeton. Her tenure included the construction of two major new buildings for engineering, which are slated to open in October.
“Andrea Goldsmith is a bold, visionary, and entrepreneurial leader who is committed to academic excellence and to facilitating education and research that enhances people’s lives,” said President Christopher L. Eisgruber. “I am grateful to Andrea for her many achievements at Princeton, and I wish her every success as she takes the helm at another of America’s leading research universities.”
“It has been a tremendous pleasure and honor to serve as Princeton’s dean of engineering,” Goldsmith said. “I am very proud of everything we have accomplished. Our amazing leaders, faculty, students, and staff within engineering and across Princeton — as well as our incredibly supportive and insightful alumni — enabled us to achieve new heights of excellence and impact. I am sad to leave this magical university but excited to carry all I have learned about enhancing research, education, innovation and service here at Princeton into my presidency at Stony Brook, a university with tremendous upward momentum along with an incredible legacy of excellence, accessibility and discovery.”
Goldsmith, a leader in the field of wireless communications, holds 38 patents and founded two successful companies. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Royal Academy of Engineering (U.K.). She also is a member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame and the Wireless Hall of Fame. She is the first woman to receive the Marconi Prize, considered the top honor in telecommunication. She is an IEEE Fellow and the recipient of the IEEE Education Medal.
Goldsmith has advised the federal government on science, technology and innovation policy as a member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. She has been widely recognized for her work to ensure the engineering profession welcomes people with different backgrounds and experiences, and allows them to achieve their full potential.
Provost Jennifer Rexford, the Gordon Y.S. Wu Professor in Engineering, will convene a search committee to select Goldsmith’s successor, with a goal of having the next engineering dean in the role by the start of the next academic year.