New Stony Brook University VP to foster high tech jobs on LI

Stony Brook University chemistry professor Benjamin S. Hsiao has been appointed to a new position as the school's vice president for research, a role that will put him front and center in the Accelerate Long Island initiative. News of Hsaio's appointment came in a Monday news release from Dr. Samuel L. Stanley Jr., the university president.

Hsaio will work with the university's vice president for economic development, and with other major Long Island organizations, to help "create a research corridor or 'innovation alley' that promotes innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurship in fostering growth of a high-tech economy to create new jobs and businesses on Long Island," Stanley's statement said.

Hsaio will work closely with Stony Brook's vice president for economic development; with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; with the Brookhaven National Laboratory; the Long Island Association; and the Town of Brookhaven, the statement said.

Hsaio is professor and chairman of the Department of Chemistry at Stony Brook University.

His new appointment takes effect May 1. He will be responsible for the campus-wide advancement of Stony Brook's research mission through strategic planning.

Born and raised in Taiwan, Hsiao joined Stony Brook in 1997 as an assistant professor of chemistry, was appointed as a full professor in 2002; and in 2007, became chair of the chemistry department.

Photo: Benjamin S. Hsaio.