John Marburger - SUNY Stony Brook

SUNY Stony Brook

In 1980, he left USC to become the third president of SUNY Stony Brook. At the time, state budget cuts were afflicting the university; he returned it to growth with increases in the university's science research funding from the federal government. He also presided over the founding of Stony Brook University Medical Center.

In 1983, he was picked by New York Governor Mario Cuomo to chair a scientific fact-finding commission on the Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, a job that required him to find common ground between the many viewpoints represented on the commission. The commission eventually recommended the closure of the plant, a course he personally disagreed with.

In 1988, Marburger chaired the organization that oversaw construction of the ill-fated Superconducting Super Collider, and this experience is credited with convincing him of the influence government had in how science is done.

During this time he also served as a trustee of Princeton University. He stepped down as President of Stony Brook University in 1994, and began doing research again as a member of the faculty there.