SBU Alum and Faculty Member Dr. Sanjay Sampath ’89 Named Distinguished Professor

Dr. Sanjay Sampath, a faculty member at Stony Brook University, has been appointed to the rank of Distinguished Professor by the State University of New York Board of Trustees as recommended by campus colleagues and SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher. The rank of Distinguished Professor is the University’s highest faculty designation.

This year, the Board appointed four SUNY faculty members to the Distinguished Professorship, one to Distinguished Service Professorship and one to Distinguished Librarian. “In bestowing our highest faculty honor, we proudly recognize the extraordinary achievements of these faculty members and thank them for their continued commitment to excellence,” said SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher.

Dr. Sampath is a Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, an affiliate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Director of the Center for Thermal Spray Research (CTSR) at Stony Brook University. CTSR is a unique interdisciplinary industry-university cooperative research center focused on thermal spray materials processing and surface engineering. The National Science Foundation named CTSR a prestigious Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. He earned his doctorate from Stony Brook in Materials Science in 1989 and spent four years in industry at GTE Sylvania in advanced research, development and processing of refractory metal compounds, intermetallics and composites, before returning to Stony Brook as a faculty member in 1993.

“Sanjay’s leadership, research and dedication make him truly deserving of the Distinguished Professor designation,” said Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, President, Stony Brook University. “For more than 20 years he has enriched the Materials Science and Engineering department and the entire University. Stony Brook is fortunate to have him on our faculty and looks forward to many more contributions from him in teaching, research and discovery.”

“We are truly delighted that Sanjay joins the prestigious rank of SUNY Distinguished Professors in recognition of his sustained commitment to excellence in interdisciplinary research transcending the boundaries of materials science and engineering,” said Dennis N. Assanis, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. “He has made an unusual impact in his field, not only through his basic discoveries, but also through their translation into innovative applications.”

Dr. Sampath has directed several large multidisciplinary research efforts on a number of federal and industrially-funded programs including serving as Principal Investigator of the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center and on major Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Department of Defense (DoD) contracts. Under the auspices of the NSF Center, he directed an interdisciplinary group of approximately 12 faculty members toward a fundamental understanding of thermal spray processes, materials and applications. Through a multi-million dollar DARPA contract Dr. Sampath led a group of investigators in developing disruptive new capabilities in thermal spray; namely new processing tools for direct writing of mesoscale electronics and sensors. These technologies are finding their way into novel applications.

Through his remarkable leadership, CTSR is now self-sustaining and home to the Industrial Consortium for Thermal Spray Technology, a group comprised of 35 leading U.S. and multinational companies aimed at knowledge transfer from fundamental research to application engineering. Thermal spray technology continues to grow and services a broad industrial community; coatings are ubiquitous in gas turbine engines (propulsion and energy), automotive, pulp/paper and infrastructure maintenance. Emerging applications include coatings for orthopedic and dental implants, solid oxide fuel cells and functional sensors for harsh environments.

Dr. Sampath’s current research interests lie in thermostructural coatings, thick film materials and multi-functional materials. “I am gratified by this singular recognition from SUNY. These accomplishments would not be possible without the support and collaboration of numerous colleagues both within the United States and around the world,” said Dr. Sampath. “In particular, I am grateful to past and present students, without whose dedication and hard work, these achievements would not be possible.”

Dr. Sampath was inducted as a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society in 2010. Other awards and honors include: the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities (2002); Fellow of ASM International (2005); Innovation, Creation and Discovery Award from the Research Foundation of SUNY (2005); Distinguished Visiting Fellow for the University of Auckland, New Zealand (2006); R&D 100 Award (2007) for developing the novel direct write technology, given by R&D Magazine for the 100 most innovative technologies. Additionally, he has more than 200 publications and 13 patents and is the recipient of several best paper awards from conferences and journals.

Since the program’s inception in 1963, SUNY has appointed 889 faculty to distinguished ranks, as follows, including these most recent appointments: 295 Distinguished Professorships; 267 Distinguished Service Professorships; 323 Distinguished Teaching Professorships; and 4 Distinguished Librarian Professorships.

“The Board is pleased to present these individuals with SUNY’s distinguished ranking,” said Board Chairman H. Carl McCall. “Their commitment to the students, faculty and staff at their respective campuses and their vast achievements within their respective professions is astounding and much appreciated.”

The Distinguished Professorship is conferred upon individuals at SUNY’s state-operated campuses who have achieved national or international prominence and a distinguished reputation within the individual’s chosen field. This distinction is attained through significant contributions to the research literature or through artistic performance or achievement in the fine and performing arts. The candidates’ work must be of such character that the individuals’ presence will elevate the standards of scholarship of colleagues both within and beyond the individual’s academic field. It must also be of such quality that students and scholars on other SUNY campuses could and do benefit by lectures and seminars, or other appropriate presentations the faculty members might bring to them. Appointment constitutes a promotion to SUNY’s highest academic rank and is conferred solely by the SUNY Board of Trustees. The expectation is that individuals so appointed will be accorded such support as is appropriate to the individual’s academic endeavor, consistent with the resources of the campus, including a salary above the mean salary for full professors.