Dr. Winston "Wole" Soboyejo

President

SUNY Polytechnic Institute

Dr. Winston Oluwole Soboyejo is the seventh president in SUNY Poly history. Appointed at the recommendation of State University of New York Chancellor John B. King, Jr. and the SUNY Board of Trustees in September 2023, Dr. Soboyejo brings over three decades of teaching, research, academic leadership and industry experience to SUNY Poly and the Mohawk Valley.

Dr. Soboyejo’s research focuses on biomaterials and the use of nanoparticles for the detection and treatment of disease, the mechanical properties of materials, and the use of materials science to promote global development. He joins SUNY Poly from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), where he most recently served as provost and senior vice president after having served as interim provost and interim president from April 2022 to May 2023. He started at WPI as dean of engineering and engineering leadership.

Prior to joining WPI, Dr. Soboyejo was a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University for approximately 17 years. Dr. Soboyejo has an exceptional record of achievement in engineering research and academic leadership as well as impressive accomplishments in international development and a noteworthy track record in building global research and educational partnerships. He has also served as president and provost of the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Abuja, Nigeria, a Pan-African university founded by the Nelson Mandela Institutions (NMI).

Dr. Soboyejo 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, including principal research engineer, as well as faculty positions at The Ohio State University, including assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and a faculty fellow in the Center for African Studies, and MIT before joining the Princeton faculty in 1999.

In 2021, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to understanding the dynamic behavior of materials and for leadership in STEM outreach in Africa. Dr. Soboyejo is the author or co-author of four textbooks and more than 400 papers in peer-reviewed journals. He has had over 180 presentations published in conference proceedings and has edited 20 conference proceedings and journal special issues. He also has obtained two patents, one relating to LEDs¹ and the other for water filtration².

He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the World Academy of Science. He is also a fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Materials Society of Nigeria, the Nigerian Academy of Science, and the African Academy of Science.

Dr. Winston Soboyejo holds a BSc in engineering from King’s College in London and a PhD in materials science and metallurgy from the University of Cambridge.

¹Changsoon Kim, Yifang Cao, Winston O. Soboyejo and Stephen Forrest, Method Fabricating Devices by Transfer of Organic Material, US Patent No. 7,964,439, 2011.

²Jane Harrison, David Turnbull and Wole Soboyejo, Continuously Supplied Water Filtration Banks, US Patent No. 8,663,465, 2014.