SUNY Research Leadership Academy Nears Completion of its Inaugural Year

From Stony Brook to Buffalo and Albany, a look at the journey that shaped SUNY's first Research Leadership Academy cohort

The State University of New York (SUNY) Research Leadership Academy concludes its inaugural year this March after equipping 33 researchers with a skill set rarely emphasized in academic training: how to lead teams, secure resources and communicate research to broad audiences.

The Academy(SRLA) is led by the State University of New York at Stony Brook's Alan Alda Center for Communicating Sciencein partnership with Stony Brook's Office of Research and Innovation, DI3 and SUNY ORIED. It brings together SRLA fellows from across the SUNY system, from Upstate Medical University to Binghamton University, SUNY Polytechnic Institute and more. The Academy is grounded in the Alan Alda Center's research-based Alda Method®.

The Alda Method® focuses on audience awareness, reflective listening and cultivating meaningful conversations that lead to action. While the Alda Center works with professionals across industries worldwide, the Academy represents a focused application of the method - designed to help SUNY researchers build partnerships that advance scientific research.

That focus deepened during the Academy's second convening at the University at Buffalo in Fall 2025, building on the program's kickoff at Stony Brook earlier that year.

Laura Lindenfeld guides a reflection on leadership development at the Academy's second session held at the University of Buffalo.

Opening the session, Laura Lindenfeld, executive director of the Alan Alda Center, posed a question: "Who thrives after a leader's departure?" The goal isn't personal acclaim, she explained.

"We're building effective leaders whose teams succeed long after they've moved on - leaders who advocate for resources, for teams, and for the people whose lives depend on good research," Lindenfeld said.

Across the multi-day training, Alda facilitatorsguided fellows through reflections on familiar but often unspoken challenges in research environments, from authorship disputes to power dynamics in teams, and the tension between collaboration and recognition.

Josh Rice and Radha Ganesan, facilitators at the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, kickoff an Alda Method® exercise with Academy fellows. Left to Right: Academy Fellows Jinyung Wang (SUNY College of Optometry) and Yubing Xie (University at Albany) explore their strengths reports while analyzing key themes from Strengths Based Leadership by Tom Rath (Gallup Press).

The exercises made clear that research leaders differ from competent researchers in one crucial way: they listen and adapt rather than relying on technical chops.

University at Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathiunderscored this point in his welcome to fellows. "Discovery is not enough. Data alone cannot carry messages of impact without clear and intentional communication," he said.

Fellows also reviewed their Gallup StrengthsFinder 2.0 profiles, identifying how unique talents shape their approach to leadership.

Judi Brown Clarke presents at University of Buffalo.

Building on their assessments, Judi Brown Clarke, who leads DI3 at Stony Brook, expanded on the notion of leadership as a balance of self-regulation and outward presentation. "Leadership starts as an inner discipline before it becomes a public act," she said. "Before anyone leads others, they must first learn to lead themselves."

After building interpersonal leadership skills at Buffalo, the third phase of the Academy brought fellows to the University at Albany, where they focused on institutional leadership. President Havidán Rodríguez set the tone of Albany's kickoff: "To bring your work to the external world, where it can make a difference in people's lives, you must be able to tell a story that resonates, translating the complex into the conversational. When you do that, you unlock new champions for your work."

University at Albany President Havidán Rodríguez welcomes Academy fellows.

The Albany session unfolded in two acts. The first tackled perception. Elizabeth McClean of Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management led fellows through a blind spot exercise on what leaders miss. They raised sheets of paper to test their peripheral vision, then explored how similar blind spots distort judgment and decision-making.

Left to Right: Stony Brook University's Carls Mills and Kristen Adams jointly present on navigating government relations within universities.

The second act turned to policy engagement. Government relations experts, including Carl Mills and Kristen Adams from Stony Brook; Sheila Seery from SUNY Albany; Ben Kosinski, chief counsel for the New York State Senate Republican Conference; and Danielle McMullen, New York State assistant secretary of education, offered a rare behind-the-scenes look at how ideas move from campus to capitol.

The session took an unexpected turn when two special guests from the crowd stepped in for a live demonstration. Will Schwartz, SUNY's vice chancellor for government relations, and Assembly Member John T. McDonald III staged a spontaneous mock negotiation. "Policy engagement is rarely about a single conversation," said Schwartz, unpacking what fellows had just watched. He emphasized that effective advocacy requires answering three questions: What's the problem? What's causing it? And how does the solution match the legislator's responsibilities and available resources?

Left to Right: Assembly Member John T. McDonald III and Vice Chancellor Will Schwartz address fellows, following a spontaneous mock conversation that demonstrated the realities of policy engagement.

Throughout the Albany gathering, leaders from Stony Brook University - including Lindenfeld, Clarke, Senior Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation Nina Maung-Gaona, and Interim Vice President for Research and Innovation Mónica Bugallo- and SUNY ORIED's Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik, senior vice chancellor for research, participated alongside the cohort, reinforcing the Academy's integration within SUNY's broader research infrastructure.

Academy leadership and partners from Stony Brook pose for a group photo with leadership from University at Albany, including members of SUNY ORIED. Left to Right: Judi Brown Clarke (DI3, Stony Brook); Brenda Hoffman (Alan Alda Center, Stony Brook); Thenkurussi Kesavadas (University at Albany); Laura Lindenfeld (Alan Alda Center, Stony Brook); Havidán Rodríguez (University at Albany); Carol H. Kim (University at Albany); Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik (SUNY ORIED); Nina Maung-Gaona (Stony Brook); and Samuel Caldwell (University at Albany).

"Leadership in research is also about communicating with different stakeholders, from taxpayers who support federally funded research, to the community of experts addressing society's grand challenges, and to the communities that benefit directly from those discoveries," said Bugallo. "Communication is the common thread and is essential to leadership."

At the close of the session, Lindenfeld reflected on both the progress made and the work ahead. "What's been remarkable is seeing this cohort's leadership capacity emerge in real time … the network, the energy, and the shared commitment to building community," she said. "That kind of community is critical to research leadership. Seeing it take shape across SUNY has been a longtime hope of mine."

The SUNY Research Leadership Academywill conclude on March 30 at the SUNY Global Center in New York City. SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. will deliver opening remarks at the final meeting. The Academy was made possible through the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation.