10. Dr. Samuel Stanley

Since taking the reins following former Stony Brook President and Power List Hall of Famer Shirley Strum Kenny’s retirement, Stanley has had to fill some big shoes—and hasn’t skipped a beat. During his inauguration speech—in which he received an H1N1 vaccination onstage—the former vice chancellor for research at Washington University announced a plan to add 400 faculty members during the next decade, said he would seek to allocate more resources toward graduate programs, outlined a new research alliance with Brookhaven Lab and Cold Spring Harbor Lab, and vowed to revamp the SUNY University tuition process. Something tells us that although this is Stanley’s inaugural year on the Power List, it won’t be his last.