SUNYIT will begin the 2013-2014 academic year with a new leader at the helm. Robert E. Geer, whose appointment as acting president was approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees June 11, assumed his new role effective August 1. Geer, who holds a Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Minnesota, succeeds SUNYIT’s fifth president, Bjong Wolf Yeigh, who resigned to accept the position of chancellor at the University of Washington, Bothell.

Geer is Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) in Albany. He is also professor of Nanoscience and a founding member of the CNSE faculty.

"I look forward to working with SUNYIT students, faculty and staff during this exciting time of institutional growth and development," Geer said. "SUNYIT is a valuable and growing member of the SUNY family, and I am pleased and privileged to have the opportunity to serve as its leader."

As CNSE’s chief academic officer, Geer leads the development and implementation of academic degree and outreach programs. In his role as a member of the faculty, he leads various research projects in the fields of nanoelectronics, nanomaterials, and nanometrology. At SUNYIT, he will guide the development of the Computer Chip Commercialization Center or "Quad-C," a $125 million technology complex that leverages the same multi-faceted commercial and academic partnership approach that has proven successful at CNSE. In keeping with Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's leadership and vision for an innovation-driven economy across New York, the Quad-C will create high-tech jobs and attract businesses from all over the world to conduct research and manufacturing scale-up activities, and corporate and government investment.

SUNYIT, the State University of New York Institute of Technology at Utica/Rome, is New York’s public polytechnic, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in technology and professional studies. Its academic offerings in technology, including engineering, cybersecurity, computer science, and the engineering technologies, and its programs in professional studies, including business, communication, and nursing, are complemented by athletics, recreational, cultural and campus life programs, events and activities. Founded in 1966, SUNYIT is a unique high-tech learning environment on hundreds of acres, offering degree programs online as well as on campus. The SUNYIT family of alumni now numbers 25,000.