Four Binghamton University faculty achieve SUNY distinguished professor status in 2026

Four Binghamton University faculty members have been named distinguished professors, the highest rank awarded by the State University of New York.

The title is reserved for those who have exemplary reputations within their disciplines and who have achieved national or international prominence. Three of the professors are from Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, and one from the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Currently, 43 other active Binghamton faculty hold the titles of distinguished, distinguished teaching or distinguished service professor, as well as 69 professors emeritus throughout the University’s history. 

“I share my most heartfelt congratulations to the Binghamton University faculty members who have been chosen to join the ranks of SUNY Distinguished Faculty,” said President Anne D’Alleva. “Distinguished Faculty are an elite group of scholars, researchers, teachers, and leaders who have contributed greatly to their field of expertise and our campus community for many years. I am thrilled to know that they are being recognized with SUNY’s highest honor and that they will continue to excel as role models for faculty and students in the years to come.”

“The University is grateful to have so many talented faculty, especially the newest members of SUNY’s Distinguished Academy,” added Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald Hall. “To achieve promotion to the distinguished ranks, these faculty members have done work that makes them internationally prominent, universally respected and beloved by students, or given generously of their time on behalf of the University and our community. They are truly excellent academics and professionals, and we are fortunate to know them as colleagues.”

Harpur College of Arts and Sciences

Brandon E. Gibb

Distinguished Professor of Psychology

Gibb joined Binghamton University in 2003 as a member of the Clinical Science area of the Psychology department. He is the director of the Mood Disorders Institute, which researches factors that contribute to the development and persistence of depression and related outcomes (e.g., self-injury) across the lifespan. Much of this research focuses on how biases in attention, interpretation, and memory develop, and how these biases then increase the risk for depression, either on their own or in combination with other risk factors. Ultimately, his research seeks to develop a more fine-grained understanding of specific mechanisms of risk so that more targeted intervention efforts can be developed.

Gibb has published more than 175 peer-reviewed research articles and is among the top 2% of researchers in the world for clinical psychology, based on a Stanford/Elsevier Study. He has also led teams that have been awarded nearly $13 million in grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

At Binghamton, he served as director of clinical training from 2012 to 2018, director of its Center for Affective Science from 2014 to 2020, and has been co-director of the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Science since 2021. He received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2013 and is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

“I am honored to have been named a SUNY Distinguished Professor. This would not have been possible without the truly phenomenal students, trainees, and collaborators I have been lucky enough to work with over the years and for whom I am eternally grateful,” he said. “I am also thankful for my colleagues and the university administration, who make Binghamton University such a great place to work."

Jonathan Krasno

Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science

Krasno’s research focuses on public opinion, congressional elections, campaigns, and campaign financing. He is the author of Challengers, Competition, and Reelection (Yale 1994), Buying Time (Brennan Center 2000), and articles in American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, and elsewhere. 

He has an extensive history of service, both on campus, locally and nationally. An active participant in the ongoing debate over campaign finance reform and, more recently, partisan gerrymandering, Krasno served as an expert witness in federal trials in multiple states over the past 30 years. He was the lead expert witness for the Federal Election Commission in two landmark cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court: FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Campaign Committee (2001) and McConnell v. Federal Election Commission (2003); the FEC prevailed in both.

Krasno has organized and provided analysis for amicus briefs in court cases, and participated in roundtable discussions and forums on campus finance reform and redistricting. Locally, he served as a consultant for Fair Maps for Broome County and the Democratic caucus of the Onondaga County legislature, and as an expert witness for Tokos v. Broome County and Ryan v. McMahon, cases that overturned county legislative maps in Broome and Onondaga counties, respectively.

At Binghamton, he has been deeply involved in campus governance, serving as chair of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee and the Budget Review Committee, vice chair of the Faculty Senate, a member of the Campus Governance Leadership Group and many other committees. He introduced the campus voter registration contest in 2012 and worked closely with the Center for Civic Engagement until 2020 to increase student turnout. 

Thomas M. Wilson

Distinguished Professor of Anthropology

Wilson is perhaps best known for his anthropological examination of geopolitical and international borders and borderlands, but his other research interests extend to matters of national identity and nationalism, the anthropology of Europeanization and European integration, drinking cultures and identities, and anthropology and cinema. 

Wilson has been the sole or principal investigator on six ethnographic research projects in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Hungary, and Canada, and is the author and editor of 20 scholarly books and monographs. His most recent publications have been Borders, Boundaries, Frontiers: Anthropological Insights (author, 2024, University of Toronto Press), Border Studies: A Multidisciplinary Approach (editor, 2025, Edward Elgar), Routledge Handbook of European Borderlands (co-editor, 2026, Routledge), and the two-volume Europe: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society (editor, 2023, Bloomsbury Academic). 

A former chair of the Department of Anthropology, Wilson has been teaching at Binghamton for more than 20 years. Before coming to Binghamton, Wilson was a faculty member from 1990 to 2002 at Queens University Belfast (Northern Ireland), where he continued as a visiting professor until 2025. During his time in Binghamton, Wilson also had various visiting professorships, including stints at Lund University (Sweden), Dalhousie University (Canada), the University of Eastern Finland, the University of South Wales (Glamorgan, UK), Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas, Lithuania), and Maynooth University (Ireland). 

A three-time awardee of Fulbright Research Professor positions, Wilson has also received fellowships and grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, and the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research in the United States, and the Leverhulme Trust, the British Academy, the British Council, and the European Union in the United Kingdom.

Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science

Sarah Lam

Distinguished Teaching Professor of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering

Lam is recognized for a teaching approach that combines analytical rigor, student mentorship, and real-world problem solving. Throughout her career at Binghamton University, she has taught and mentored undergraduate and graduate students in systems modeling and optimization, simulation, neural networks, and engineering analytics. Her courses encourage students to think critically, ask meaningful questions, and apply analytical methodologies to complex challenges in healthcare, industry, and public systems.

Lam’s teaching philosophy emphasizes active learning, intellectual curiosity, collaboration, and student engagement. She has incorporated inquiry-based learning, team projects, and educational technologies into her courses to create supportive and engaging learning environments for students from diverse academic and professional backgrounds. Her sustained commitment to teaching excellence was previously recognized with the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching.

In addition to her teaching accomplishments, Lam maintains an interdisciplinary research program in systems modeling and optimization, simulation, engineering analytics, and healthcare systems engineering. She has collaborated with healthcare systems and industry partners on externally funded projects involving decision support, process improvement, and data-driven analytics. She has also served in several academic leadership roles at Binghamton University, including associate dean of the Graduate School and graduate director for the industrial and systems engineering program.

“Long after students leave the classroom, I hope they remember not only the technical knowledge they gained, but also the confidence to ask questions, solve complex problems, collaborate with others, and continue learning throughout their careers,” Lam said. “Watching students grow professionally and personally over time has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my academic career.”