Appointment of Dr. Fotis Sotiropoulos as Interim Provost
September 17, 2020
To All Stony Brook University Faculty and Staff, Stony Brook Medicine Faculty,
It is my pleasure to announce that Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) and SUNY Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, Fotis Sotiropoulos, has agreed to serve as Interim Provost until the national search for a provost is successfully completed.
Professor Sotiropoulos has accepted this appointment at a moment when the role of provost encompasses an unusually broad scope and scale of responsibilities. In addition to leading the academic community as we navigate the ongoing planning and response to the challenges presented by the global pandemic, the Interim Provost will also be a critical member of the executive leadership team. Sotiropoulos’ established experience in strategic planning and building academic excellence will be a wonderful addition to the team as we consider how best to achieve financial sustainability and develop a roadmap for short-, medium- and long-term strategies to ensure Stony Brook’s emergence as a stronger institution.
In his five years as Dean of CEAS, Fotis Sotiropoulos has led an initiative to reimagine engineering education, a model for engineering schools around the nation, and achieved significant growth in research, diversity and student success. Recently, the College launched its new strategic plan, Making Science Fiction Come to Life, a guide for reinventing the future of engineering and applied sciences.
Fotis earned his diploma in mechanical engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, his MS in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State University, and his PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Cincinnati. An accomplished scholar, Dean Sotiropoulos has raised over $35M for research and facility development and renovation. His research has focused on simulation-based engineering science for fluid mechanics, problems in renewable energy, and environmental, biological, and cardiovascular applications. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed journal papers and book chapters and his research results have been featured on the cover of several prestigious journals.
In 2017, Fotis was named a SUNY Distinguished Professor and received the Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers and in 2019 he was awarded the Borland Lecture in Hydraulics Award by the American Geophysical Union. Dean Sotiropoulos is a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), has twice won the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics Gallery of Fluid Motion (2009, 2011), and is also a recipient of a Career Award from the National Science Foundation. He is also a 2014 distinguished lecturer of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler Institute of Advanced Studies at Tel Aviv University and has served on the editorial boards of various journals.
Prior to joining Stony Brook, Dean Sotiropoulos was the James L. Record Professor of Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering; Director of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory; and Director of the EOLOS wind energy research consortium at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Prior to that, he was on the faculty of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, with a joint appointment in the G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering.
I am so pleased that an accomplished scholar with Fotis’ experience and commitment has answered the call to provide strong academic leadership at this critical time for the University. As he will not be a candidate in our search for a provost, Fotis will return to his deanship at the end of his service as Interim Provost. I know that his inspiring scholarship, strategic thinking, and enthusiasm for inclusive excellence will be a valuable addition to our team. Please join me in congratulating Fotis and supporting him as Interim Provost.
Sincerely,
Maurie McInnis, PhD
President