Satish K. Tripathi

Satish Kumar Tripathi is an Indian-American academic, a computer scientist and academic administrator. He was the first foreign-born president of the University at Buffalo (UB), the flagship of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Previously, he served as provost of University at Buffalo from 2004 to 2011. From 1997–2004, Tripathi served as dean of the Bourns College of Engineering at University of California, Riverside.

Early life and education Tripathi was raised in the village of Patna Mubarakpur in Uttar Pradesh, India, and graduated at the top of his class from Banaras Hindu University (BHU). He holds a doctorate in computer science from the University of Toronto, as well as three master's degrees—one in computer science from the University of Toronto and two in statistics from the University of Alberta and BHU. Tripathi serves on the College Football Playoff Board of Managers and has served as chair of the Mid-American Conference Council of Presidents as well as on the boards of the NCAA Division I and NCAA Board of Governors. The former chair of Internet2, Tripathi currently serves as the president/chancellor representative. In addition, he has served on the boards of the Association of American Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and as a member of the Reimagine NY Commission. In 2011, Tripathi was appointed the inaugural co-chair of the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council, a position he held until 2017. Further, Tripathi was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024 and is also a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for advancing the state of the art in computer and network systems analysis and for excellence in technical and educational leadership, as well as a fellow to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Awards In 2006, Dr. Tripathi was awarded the honorary doctorate of sciences from the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, and in 2016 he received an honorary doctorate of law from Brock University in Ontario, Canada, and he received an honorary doctorate in science from Maharaja Surajmal Brij University in 2024. He also has been honored with the 2009 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Banaras Hindu University. and three grandchildren, Ryan, Maya and Milo.