Current Recipient
H. Steven Colburn, Ph.D.
H. Steven Colburn, Ph.D.
Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Biomedical Engineering
Professor, Biomedical Engineering
Binaural Hearing Laboratory
Hearing Research Center
S.B., S.M., Ph.D., Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Distinguished Scholar Award
Professor H. Steven Colburn, founder and director of the Boston University Hearing Research Center, is the 2012 Distinguished Scholar award recipient. He will present the lecture “Information Processing in the Binaural Auditory System” on March 22, 2012.
As a member of the Boston University College of Engineering faculty for more than 30 years and associate chair for undergraduate studies, he chaired the Biomedical Engineering Department throughout the 1980s and was named BME Professor of the Year in 2002, 2006 and 2008.
Colburn’s research exploits experimental data and mathematical modeling tools to gain deep understanding of the auditory system. Much of his work aims to develop an integrated representation of binaural interaction and its role in human sound perception, including the interpretation of acoustic cues in complex sound environments.
A Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and recipient of the Acoustical Society of America Silver Medal and Javitz Neuroscience Award, Colburn has written widely in the past 40 years on challenges faced by the binaural system in complex acoustic environments, and on issues associated with hearing impairments and hearing aids, including cochlear implants.
“His body of work has had a profound influence on the criteria employed to define what it means to be a serious auditory scientist today,” said Solomon Eisenberg, professor and chair of the Biomedical Engineering Department.
In addition to Colburn’s outstanding direct contributions to auditory science, he has made enormous indirect contributions in both teaching and administrative roles. His devotion to students and his excellence as a teacher are evidenced by his superior work as housemaster while serving as a faculty member in MIT’s Electrical Engineering Department; the many teaching awards he has received at BU; the great warmth shown to him by all of his students; and the substantial contributions these students have themselves made to auditory science.
Presenting On
“Information Processing in the Binaural Auditory System”
Past Recipients
2011: Professor Theordore D. Moustakas
Biography
Dr. Moustakas is the Associate Head, Division of Materials Science and Engineering and has been a Professor of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Boston University since 1987 and Professor of Physics since 1991. He received the B.S. degree in Physics from Aristotle University (Greece) and the Ph.D. degree in Solid State Science and Engineering from Columbia University. Prior to joining Boston University he worked at Harvard University as a Research Fellow and Exxon Research Corporate Research Laboratories as a Senior Scientist.
Dr. Moustakas' research contributions cover a broad spectrum of topics in opto-electronic materials and devices, including nitride semiconductors, amorphous semiconductors and diamond thin films. He is the co-editor of eight books, including Gallium Nitride I (Academic Press, 1998) and Gallium Nitride II (Academic Press, 1999) and the author of more than 300 publications. He has been granted 25 U.S. patents. Intellectual property that resulted from his work has been licensed to a number of companies, including major manufactures of blue LEDs and lasers (Cree and Philips-LumiLeds in United States and Nichia in Japan)
Dr. Moustakas was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1994 and of the Electrochemical Society in 1997. In 2003 he was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the Aristotle University for "outstanding contributions to research and teaching". In 2010 he was awarded the MBE Innovator Award for "pioneering contributions in the development of MBE growth of nitride materials and the development of nitride optoelectronic devices prepared by MBE".
Presenting On
SEMICONDUCTORS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS
TO SOLID STATE LIGHTING AND WATER/AIR PURIFICATION
Distinguished LEcture Series
College of Engineering 2011 Distinguished Scholar Theodore Moustakas, renowned expert on nitride semiconductors and their applications, speaks on the fabrication of nitride semiconductors for high-performance LEDs used in solid-state lighting and water/air purification. Hosted by the College of Engineering (ENG) on March 3, 2011.
2010: Professor Irving J. Bigio
2009: Professor Malvin Carl Teich
2008: Professor John Baillieul