I am pleased to announce the hiring of Andrew Singer as the new Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Stony Brook University. The appointment is effective July 3.

Dr. Singer’s experience is an ideal match for CEAS at Stony Brook. Throughout our search process, he demonstrated a deep understanding of the opportunities and needs for CEAS to grow as a nationally renowned hub of excellence and innovation. I look forward to partnering with him and our extremely talented faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the college to implement his vision.

Dr. Singer earned a bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). After two years at Sanders, A Lockheed-Martin Company, he has spent his entire faculty career in The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he has held a number of administrative and service positions, with activities focused on innovation and entrepreneurship, capital building projects, new degree development, and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Dr. Singer holds the Fox Family Professorship, one of only 18 university and campus-wide endowed positions on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.

Currently, Dr. Singer serves as Associate Dean for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in The Grainger College of Engineering. In this role, he oversees activities of the college’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, including the Technology Entrepreneur Center, Innovation Living Learning Center, and the cross-disciplinary Innovation, Leadership, and Engineering Entrepreneurship (ILEE) degree program. He also advises the dean on matters related to innovation, translational research, and entrepreneurship. Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering enrolls more than 16,500 students, with more than 600 faculty, and 40 degree programs ranked in the top 10.

Dr. Singer has led large-scale administrative and research efforts, including serving as Co-PI and associate director for the Systems on Nanoscale Information Fabrics, a $35 million research center across 10 universities and 10 sponsors. He also played a leadership role in securing a $50 million gift for the Siebel Center for Design at Illinois, and oversaw the development and construction of the center as chair of a campus faculty committee. He has worked extensively to broaden participation across Illinois’ innovation ecosystem, including development of the Advancing Women And under-Represented Entrepreneurs (AWARE) program, which helps launch Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) teams led by women and researchers underrepresented in the university’s innovation ecosystem.

He is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of statistical signal processing and communication systems, having won numerous awards for his research and is a fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). An accomplished entrepreneur, he co-founded two companies in the areas of optical communications and underwater acoustic communication systems, and he has served frequently as a consultant and expert witness for the communications, audio, and sensing industries.

I want to share my tremendous appreciation for the search committee’s leadership in this process, in particular the search co-chairs: Petar Djuric, Department Chair and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in CEAS; and William Wertheim, Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education in the Renaissance School of Medicine. The committee members were dedicated representatives who provided thoughtful feedback throughout the search.

I would also like to thank Jon Longtin for his leadership as interim dean since June 2021. During this time, Jon navigated the College’s faculty, students and staff out of the COVID-19 pandemic and oversaw the return to 100% in-person learning. The College successfully launched a new graduate program in Data Science, increased overall research expenditures and research expenditures per faculty in CEAS by 40%, partnered to secure funding for a $100 million multi-disciplinary engineering building, and led CEAS’s contributions to the university’s bid for the Governors Island Center for Climate Solutions. I am grateful for his steadfast leadership during a time of transition for the university and the college.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Singer to the Stony Brook community!

Sincerely,
Carl

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs