Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a major public research university on Long Island, New York, and one of the SUNY system's two flagship institutions alongside the University at Buffalo. Founded in 1957 in Oyster Bay as a tuition-free teacher's college with just 148 students, it relocated to its current 1,454-acre campus in Stony Brook in 1962 following a generous land donation from philanthropist Ward Melville. Today, the university is a prestigious member of the Association of American Universities (AAU) and is classified as "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity," notably managing the Brookhaven National Laboratory in partnership with Battelle. As the largest single-site employer on Long Island, it enrolls over 25,500 students and employs more than 15,000 people, reflecting its explosive growth from a small college into a research powerhouse. Its athletic teams have competed at the NCAA Division I level since 1999 as part of the Coastal Athletic Association, rounding out its identity as a comprehensive institution.