The State University of New York (SUNY) Research Leadership Academy is completing its first year this March, having provided 33 researchers with training focused on team leadership, resource acquisition, and effective communication. The program is organized by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University, in partnership with Stony Brook’s Office of Research and Innovation, DI3, and SUNY ORIED.
Participants in the Academy come from across the SUNY system. The program is based on the Alda Method, which emphasizes understanding one’s audience, reflective listening, and fostering conversations that can lead to action. While the Alda Center typically works with professionals from various sectors worldwide, this initiative targets researchers within SUNY to help them build partnerships and advance scientific work.
During a session at the University at Buffalo in Fall 2025, Laura Lindenfeld, executive director of the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science, addressed attendees: “Who thrives after a leader’s departure?” She added: “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.”
Throughout multi-day sessions led by Alda facilitators, fellows examined common but often unspoken challenges faced by research teams—such as disputes over authorship and power dynamics—as well as balancing collaboration with recognition. These exercises highlighted that effective research leaders are distinguished not just by technical expertise but also by their ability to listen and adapt.
University at Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi emphasized this idea in his welcome remarks: “Discovery is not enough. Data alone cannot carry messages of impact without clear and intentional communication,” he said.
Fellows analyzed their Gallup StrengthsFinder 2.0 profiles to better understand how individual talents influence their leadership styles. Judi Brown Clarke from DI3 at Stony Brook elaborated on leadership development: “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.”
In the third phase of the Academy at the University at Albany, participants shifted focus to institutional leadership. President Havidán Rodríguez spoke about translating complex research into accessible stories: “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.”
The Albany session included an exercise led by Elizabeth McClean from Cornell University aimed at helping fellows identify personal blind spots that could affect judgment or decision-making. Another segment involved policy engagement; experts such as Carl Mills and Kristen Adams from Stony Brook; Sheila Seery from SUNY Albany; Ben Kosinski from the New York State Senate Republican Conference; and Danielle McMullen from New York State offered insights into moving ideas through legislative channels.
A live demonstration featured Will Schwartz of SUNY and Assembly Member John T. McDonald III simulating a negotiation process typical in policy advocacy efforts. Schwartz explained: “Policy engagement is rarely about a single conversation.” He outlined key questions advocates should address: What’s the problem? What’s causing it? And how does the solution match legislators’ responsibilities?
Stony Brook University leaders—including Lindenfeld; Clarke; Senior Associate Vice President for Research and Innovation Nina Maung-Gaona; Interim Vice President Mónica Bugallo—and Shadi Shahedipour-Sandvik of SUNY ORIED participated throughout these sessions alongside fellows.
Bugallo noted: “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,” adding that communication ties together all aspects of leadership.
Reflecting on progress made during this inaugural year of SRLA programming across multiple campuses within SUNY system institutions—including Upstate Medical University [https://www.upstate.edu/], Binghamton University [https://www.binghamton.edu/], SUNY Polytechnic Institute [https://sunypoly.edu/], among others—Lindenfeld remarked: “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 final meeting will take place March 30 at SUNY Global Center in New York City with opening remarks delivered by Chancellor John B. King Jr., supported through funding from The Henry Luce Foundation.
