Alfred University announces new appointments for Gabrielle Gaustad '04 and David Gottfried

“Gabby Gaustad has been an admirable and consistent leader for our College of Engineering, who has made many significant contributions to the College and the University as a whole,” Dobie said. “We all benefit from her energy, keen ability to realize many innovations, and a selfless dedication to our campus community.”

Gaustad earned a B.S. degree in ceramic engineering from Alfred University in 2004. She also holds a master’s degree in computation for design and optimization and a doctorate in materials science and engineering, both from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She has served as dean of the Inamori School of Engineering since January 2019 and in September of that year was appointed vice president of Statutory Affairs. Gaustad came to Alfred from Rochester Institute of Technology, where she served 10 years as an associate professor and Master of Science program coordinator for the Golisano Institute for Sustainability.

Gaustad will retain her duties as dean of the Inamori College of Engineering. In her new role she will benchmark peer and aspirational universities for metrics to establish new goals for Alfred University. She will advance research with the goal of increasing extramural funding, including:

• Help to centralize, coordinate and report on university faculty research activities.
• Serve as a mentor supporting faculty in research proposal development, as well as with pre-award and post-award support.
• Increase opportunities for students to conduct research and participate in hands-on experiences.
• Ensure the integrity of research procedures and ensure all University research remains well within state and federal compliance.

Gaustad will be charged with creating strong relationships between the Alfred University’s divisions of Academic Affairs and Business and Finance to help with the oversight of the Office of Sponsored Projects. This will include serving as the point person for the Human Subjects Research Committee and the Institutional Review Board. She will serve as Export Control Officer, responsible for compliance, export control, and management of the University’s intellectual property, and will increase Alfred University’s community and economic development impact, develop a system for measuring and reporting success.

            During her tenure as dean, Gaustad has made many substantial contributions to the College and the whole University, including:

• Facilitated $8 million in externally funded research by federal and state agencies during the last three years.
• Mentored faculty, staff, and student researchers.
• Updated indirect return and federal overhead processes and policies in partnership with the Division of Business and Finance.
• Expanded undergraduate research opportunities, giving more students increased access to faculty and scholarly work.

In September 2019, Gaustad was appointed vice president of Statutory Affairs.  In that role, she serves as SUNY’s chief administrative officer of the New York State College of Ceramics, overseeing supervision of budget requests and expenditures for the College on behalf of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

As Associate Provost, Gaustad will help to formalize internal goals and metrics for scholarly research; celebrate research in partnership with the Marketing and Communications unit; implement a research advisory committee; and expand the University’s capacity for technology transfer.

Gottfried, who continues with his current duties as deputy director of the Center for Advanced Ceramic Technology (CACT), will report to Gaustad.

In his expanded role, Gottfried will provide support Gaustad in leveraging government relations to secure externally funded projects and enhance research. He will lead efforts to seek additional financial support from local, state, and federal sources including, but not limited to grants, increased New York State College of Ceramics allocations, enhanced State Construction Fund contributions, local and state budget opportunities, among other sources of funding. As Alfred University’s government relations officer, he will work in lockstep with Alfred University’s governmental partners, Harter Secrest and SMI (Strategic Marketing Initiatives).

            “David has forged a valuable network of political and state relationships that will serve us well to advocate for more governmental funding for Alfred University,” Dobie commented. “He has already worked to support our federal appropriation and state relationships and has been successful in obtaining funding through the CACT. This new assignment will extend his work to benefit the whole University.”