Vice President for Research
Duncan Brown serves as the Vice President for Research and holds the Charles Brightman Endowed Professorship of Physics at Syracuse University. He earned a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Caltech under Nobel laureates Kip Thorne and Barry Barish before joining Syracuse University in 2007.
An internationally recognized leader in gravitational-wave astronomy, Brown played a pivotal role in the discovery of gravitational waves with the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO). His current research is focused on the development of Cosmic Explorer, the planned next-generation U.S. gravitational-wave observatory, as well as using current gravitational-wave observations to explore the nuclear equation of state.
Brown is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and a Cottrell Scholar, with numerous accolades, including sharing the Gruber Cosmology Prize and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for the discovery of gravitational waves.
Brown is deeply committed to mentoring, having guided numerous undergraduate and graduate students as well as postdoctoral scholars. He also prioritizes mentoring the staff who support the University’s research enterprise, fostering leadership skills and professional growth within the research team.
As Vice President for Research, Brown has been instrumental in fostering research collaborations across Syracuse University. He established the University’s Research Computing group and Open Source Program Office, with support from the National Science Foundation and the Sloan Foundation. These groups accelerate the University’s interdisciplinary research that rely on computing, machine learning, and data science.
Most recently, he played a key role in Syracuse University’s partnership with Micron Technology, advancing research initiatives that align with Micron’s $100 billion investment in Central New York and is the principal investigator on the New York SMART I-Corridor Tech Hub’s Collaboration and Commercialization Center. This collaboration supports the growth of the semiconductor industry and its interactions with the region’s research universities, positioning Syracuse University as a leader in semiconductor education and research.