Bahgat Sammakia, vice president of research at Binghamton University, has been named the interim president of SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly). The appointment comes in the wake of a scandal that led to the arrest of nine upstate New York power brokers and developers, including former SUNY Poly President Alain Kaloyeros.

On Sept. 23, Kaloyeros was arraigned on three felony charges related to accusations that he rigged the bidding process on several SUNY development projects, fraudulently steering New York state money to handpicked companies that either he or his allies controlled.

“The charges filed today outline a blatant and brazen abuse of taxpayer dollars and the public trust,” said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement. “This self-serving scheme alleged in the complaint was particularly egregious because it was aimed at enriching powerful people at the expense of the state’s public university system.”

Kaloyeros has, for the last few years, been among the state’s top paid public employees. He received media attention regularly for his close ties to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his position as the governor’s liaison to the technology industry. It was Kaloyeros’ vision that prompted the creation of a nanotechnology center in Albany that would be owned by the state and used by high-tech companies for research and development.

The three charges leveled against Kaloyeros are related to abuse of the bidding system that SUNY uses to decide which private businesses will be hired to perform large-scale projects, such as construction jobs.

In one case, Kaloyeros allegedly orchestrated the dismissal of numerous companies from a project, with the goal of steering a contract to a business that agreed to provide a $50 million loan to a nonprofit organization that he effectively controlled.

In another, he sent a business associate information that allowed him to win a contract to construct new dormitories at SUNY Poly.

According to the criminal complaint filed against him, the housing project was to be financed with revenue from “room fees” paid by SUNY Poly students.

Now, a BU administrator has been tapped to lead SUNY Poly as interim president as the university tries to recover from the corruption scandal.

Since 2012, Sammakia has been vice president for research and a distinguished professor at BU. Before that, he had a 14-year career at IBM and received his Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo in 1982. On Nov. 3, he was unanimously approved by the SUNY Board of Trustees to lead SUNY Poly.

According to an interview with the Times Union, Sammakia is not planning on staying at SUNY Poly for an extended term. He plans to wait for a full-time appointment to be made and to return to BU within a year.

As for his priorities as interim SUNY Poly president, Sammakia says he wants to re-center the school around its academic mission, while still attending to economic development efforts.

“Economic development is a part of our mission, but I need to look at each piece and how those pieces make sense from a SUNY perspective,” Sammakia told the Times Union.

Under Cuomo, SUNY Poly had become heavily involved in economic development efforts across upstate New York, including large development contracts funded by the state with companies like IBM, Solar City and General Electric.

Sammakia will make $425,000 during his year as interim president. He will begin the job on Dec. 1 and continue until a permanent candidate is selected.

After being voted interim president by the SUNY Board, Sammakia said he was grateful for the opportunity and that he has no illusions about the difficulty of his new job going forward.

“I’m really honored,” Sammakia said. “The potential for SUNY Poly is tremendous. We are going to have some challenges over the next year, but it’s a real opportunity.”