Profs. Kulis and Nazer Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure

What does it mean to be an associate professor at BU? The Office of the Provost defines it as faculty who “enjoy a national reputation as a scholar or professional,” are committed to teaching, and “demonstrate public, professional, or University service beyond the department.”

Those qualifications aptly describe the more than two dozen Charles River Campus faculty members who were recently promoted to the rank of associate professor—24 with tenure and 2 non-tenure-track. “These 26 talented faculty members demonstrate each day through their research discoveries, teaching innovation, and timely scholarship why Boston University is among the nation’s leading laboratories in the creation of new knowledge,” says Jean Morrison, BU provost and chief academic officer. “From the humanities and the arts, to the social and health sciences, mathematics, marketing, and communication, all are having measurable impact in their fields and classrooms. We are excited for their accomplishments and proud to count them as valued members of our academic community for many years to come.”

Promoted to associate professor with tenure:

Brian Kulis, College of Engineering associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate professor of systems engineering

Kulis studies computer vision applications, devising new methods to make it easier to analyze large-scale data and helping to resolve core problems in machine learning, including metric learning, content-based search, clustering, and online learning. A past NSF CAREER Award winner and recipient of BU’s inaugural Peter J. Levine Career Development Assistant Professorship, Kulis has published nine book chapters and nine articles in engineering journals.

Bobak Nazer, College of Engineering associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and associate professor of systems engineering

Nazer’s research focuses on information theory and wireless communication, with an emphasis on developing new techniques for distributed, reliable computation over networks and working recently to apply information theory concepts to neuroscience. He is a past NSF CAREER Award winner, has earned special recognition for his writing from the IEEE, and last year received ENG’s Dean’s Catalyst Award and his department’s Faculty Service Award. He has coauthored a book chapter and published 11 articles in information theory journals.