New president named for SUNY Polytechnic Institute

MARCY, N.Y. — The SUNY Board of Trustees has appointed Winston Oluwole Soboyejo as SUNY Polytechnic University’s next president, its seventh.

He begins in his new role Oct. 2, replacing Officer-in-Charge Andrew L. Russell, who has led the institution since December 2022 when Tod A. Laursen departed as president.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Winston Soboyejo as the next president of SUNY Poly,” SUNY Poly College Council Chair RoAnn Destito said in a press release. “His impressive record in industry and higher education, combined with his commitment and belief in student success, teaching and research, community partnerships, and stable leadership resonated with our university community.”

Soboyejo is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a well-published American materials scientist who has served at Worcester Polytechnic Institute since 2017, first as dean of engineering followed by provost and senior VP. He also served as interim president. Prior to that, Soboyejo was a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University for 17 years.

“It’s an honor to be selected to lead such an esteemed research institution,” Soboyejo said. “I believe that by leveraging our existing partnerships and collaborations with other institutions and local workforce partners, we can continue to expand and build more opportunities for our students to succeed.”

Soboyejo has also served as president and provost of the African University of Science and Technology in Abuja, Nigeria, and he has held research positions at the McDonnell Douglas Research Laboratories in St. Louis, the University of Missouri in Columbia, and the Edison Welding Institute in Columbus, Ohio. He also held faculty positions at The Ohio State University and MIT before joining Princeton’s faculty in 1999.

In 2021, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to understanding the dynamic behavior of materials and for leadership in STEM outreach in Africa. Soboyejo is the author or co-author of four textbooks and more than 400 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the World Academy of Science and is a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the Materials Society of Nigeria, the Nigerian Academy of Science, and the African Academy of Science.

Soboyejo holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from King’s College in London and a Ph.D. in materials science and metallurgy from the University of Cambridge.