Office of the Vice President for Research Leadership Update
May 11, 2023
Dear Stony Brook Community,
Richard Reeder has shared with me that he will be stepping down as Vice President for Research (VPR) this summer. I deeply appreciate the strong leadership Rich has demonstrated in this role since his appointment in 2016, and I am grateful for his more than four decades of dedicated service to Stony Brook as an administrator as well as a faculty member and chair in the Department of Geosciences. I am pleased he will continue serving as Associate Vice President for Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Affairs, a position he has held simultaneously with his roles as VPR and Research Foundation Operations Manager.
Rich’s successful experience as a principal investigator informed his commitment to faculty research productivity, and his determination to create a research-supportive environment continues to advance critical initiatives of high value for Stony Brook today. As VPR, Rich has led and collaborated on numerous projects that have increased Stony Brook’s prominence regionally, nationally and beyond. Most recently, he worked with internal and external partners to enable the university’s leadership role in areas including quantum information science, energy storage, and offshore wind energy research, and to expand funding to support clinical and defense research.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Rich’s leadership proved invaluable to decision making regarding temporary cessation of research activities and their eventual restart. This operational planning served as a best-practices model for other SUNY campuses, and for all of us on this campus, it reaffirmed the positive impact Rich’s keen ability to act swiftly, decisively and thoughtfully continues to make on this university.
Rich was always an advocate for the best interests of Stony Brook and was a tireless champion for the needs of faculty researchers, leading a university-wide initiative in 2017 to minimize administrative barriers to research. I relied on Rich’s counsel and expertise in this area to guide the university’s path forward during the Strategic Budget Initiative and Accelerating Research project. He proposed creation of our Tiger Teams, and worked closely with the Provost’s Office to align faculty teams with funding opportunities.
A strong and compassionate colleague and leader who deeply valued his staff, Rich characteristically assigned credit for OVPR’s successes to their work. Under his leadership, sponsored research expenditures grew by nearly 60 percent, with notable achievements including the expansion of the Office of Proposal Development, creation and growth of the OVPR Seed Grant Program, implementation of the myResearch portal, and increased staffing to support faculty researchers.
An interim appointment to lead OVPR during this transitional time will be made soon. To inform our path forward, input from the campus community is welcomed. Please join me in thanking Rich for his leadership of OVPR and for his willingness to continue leading the university’s strategic engagement with BNL. Together with the Stony Brook community, I look forward to ongoing collaboration with Rich as we continue advancing Stony Brook’s impact and prominence as a leader of research and innovation.
Sincerely,
Maurie McInnis
President