Stony Brook University is conducting an international search to identify the inaugural director of its new, University-wide AI Innovation Institute, or AI³. In their capacity as leader of the Institute, the Director will report to the Provost and will hold the inaugural Simons Infinity Professorship, with their faculty appointment(s) in the academic department(s) appropriate to their work. The Director should remain active in research while focusing the greater part of their vision and effort on building and advancing the Institute.

The inaugural leader of this University-wide institute will join Stony Brook at an extraordinary time, as the University solidifies its flagship-campus status within the SUNY system and begins the deployment of its strategic plan, Our Moment, which prioritizes growing the research enterprise among four primary goals. Leveraging unprecedented new funds generated through enrollment growth, increased state support, and historic philanthropic giving, Stony Brook is undertaking high-profile initiatives. These include becoming a flagship campus in the 64-campus SUNY system, serving as the anchor institution in New York’s new climate solutions research center on Governor’s Island, and launching AI³, which builds on the University’s role as a core partner in Empire AI, New York State’s $250M investment in artificial intelligence and related computing infrastructure. These successes are generating resources and excitement and creating openings for partnership, scale, and broader impact for the University in research, education, and outreach. Capitalizing on this momentum, the director of AI³ will lead Stony Brook forward in the rapidly expanding space of artificial intelligence.

To launch the Institute, Stony Brook is dedicating $10M over five years from its Presidential Innovation and Excellence (PIE) Fund to assemble the support staff, to develop infrastructure, and to underwrite initial programming. The $10M University commitment is on top of the Director’s salary, which is being funded separately.

The Institute’s priority is innovative research: the Director will focus significant time and energy engaging faculty across Stony Brook in supporting, catalyzing, and scaling innovative work in foundational and applied areas that will be authentic to Stony Brook and will capitalize on its distinctive strengths. AI Education & Equity and AI Services are additional areas of investment and development the Director, institute faculty, and staff will pursue as the venture grows.

Responsibilities and Expectations

• Providing a strategic framework and executive direction for an innovative, inclusive, original, and overarching vision of AI at Stony Brook
• Setting the research direction for the Institute’s work
• Serving as the chief representative of AI³ across Stony Brook and beyond it into public and private sectors
• Monitoring the direction of industry and government players in the AI space to identify emerging opportunities and catalyze impactful partnerships
• Identifying and influencing investment in unexplored research opportunities
• Cultivating a positive culture of interdisciplinary collaboration
• Planning for the resources, structure, culture, and investments needed to sustain AI³
• Providing leadership and support to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
• Ensuring effective management of the AI³ budget, resources and personnel

Qualifications

Required:

• PhD, MD, or other terminal degree
• Compelling experience in a field or sector that is highly relevant to the goals of AI³ as described above
• Recognized leadership in their respective field with a distinguished national and international reputation for research, augmented by experience in areas such as translation, engagement, and/or advocacy

Preferred:

AI³’s inaugural Director will be an entrepreneurial leader with broad vision and highly developed relationship skills who can bring a wide range of stakeholders together to pursue a compelling vision of Stony Brook University as a new center of foundational and applied work in AI, broadly defined.

They will have an exceptional track record in fundamental AI research and/or one or more application areas related to AI.

They will have a vita that testifies to a distinguished track record of scholarship and teaching; a passionate commitment to research, discovery, and application; and an interest in and success at academic administration.

A breadth of interest and appreciation to convene participants and contributors in work that advances both foundational and applied dimensions of AI to position the Institute as a site of innovation, teaching, and translation.

They will be able to articulate and document a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, along with measurable and sustained impact on the diversity and inclusiveness of organizations they have led or been part of.

They will have excellent communication skills with both internal and external interactions.

They will possess leadership and administrative experience within a complex research environment or in national/international organizations connected to their respective field.

Their career trajectory will demonstrate that they have the intellectual curiosity to engage multiple fields and will show a record of generating financial support through grants, gifts, contracts, and potentially other activities such as licensing intellectual property or developing revenue-generating programs.

Appointment terms:

The University’s intention is to appoint an inaugural Director of AI3 who will merit the rank of full, tenured faculty as the Simons Infinity Professor. Elements of the appointment such as teaching load, outside engagements, and summer compensation are negotiable. The Director will serve a renewable five-year term subject to an appropriately rigorous periodic review. The University will provide up to $2M in startup funds to ensure that the Director transitions their research program efficiently to Stony Brook and continues it there in the context of the Institute – while dedicating themselves to the growth and success of the Institute as the primary focus.

To Apply:

Stony Brook University has retained Opus Partners (www.opuspartners.net) to support this recruitment. Craig Smith, Senior Partner, and Jeffrey Stafford, Senior Associate are leading the search. Inquiries, applications, and nominations should go to jeffrey.stafford@opuspartners.net. Required application materials include a CV and cover letter that addresses the aspirations and focal areas of the Institute as well as the required and preferred qualifications established in this document. Stony Brook University values diversity, equity, and inclusion and will seek a leader who is committed to promoting these values. You can read more about Stony Brook’s efforts here. The University encourages candidates to address in their cover letters how they have promoted these values in their career and/or how they would plan to do so in this role. The search process will unfold with the greatest possible attention to candidate confidentiality.

Stony Brook University is committed to excellence in diversity and the creation of an inclusive learning and working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, pregnancy, familial status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, and all other protected classes under federal or state laws.