Biography

Robert A. Brown, a distinguished scholar of chemical engineering and an innovative leader in higher education, became the tenth president of Boston University in September 2005.

A Texas native, Dr. Brown, 58, earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota, where he worked under the guidance of Professor L.E. Scriven. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences, among other professional societies.

At Boston University, Dr. Brown has emphasized strengthening the core missions of undergraduate, graduate and professional education, interdisciplinary work, and research and scholarship across all seventeen schools and colleges. He initiated an eighteen-month planning process that culminated in a ten-year strategic plan, Choosing to be Great. Presented to the Board of Trustees in 2007, the plan articulates Boston University's core values in a set of institutional commitments. It also defines goals to be met in order to establish Boston University as one of the great large private research universities in the world.

Dr. Brown has worked to underscore the central importance of the teaching and research functions of the University, with particular emphasis on efforts to increase opportunities for interdisciplinary study by students from all of the University's undergraduate schools and colleges. Additionally, under Dr. Brown, BU has significantly expanded opportunities for students to study abroad and for international students and scholars to come to Boston. Perhaps the most far-reaching international undertaking thus far is the opening in the summer of 2008 of the BU Institute for Dental Research and Education in the new Dubai Healthcare City in the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Brown is actively engaged in both the public and private sectors. He has served as a director of the DuPont Company, since April 2007, and since 2008 as a trustee of the Aalto University Foundation, a new model for university governance in Finland. Most recently, he was appointed a trustee of the Universities Research Association. From 2006 through 2008 he served on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, a panel established to provide a steady stream of expert advice on a wide range of scientific and technical matters.

Dr. Brown is chairman of the Academic Research Council of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Singapore, a key funding body for academic research in that country. He also serves on the Board of Singapore's National Research Foundation. In recognition of his extraordinary contributions to higher education in Singapore, Dr. Brown was named an honorary citizen in January 2006. This award is the highest form of recognition given by the Singapore government to any non-Singaporean.

Prior to his appointment at Boston University, Dr. Brown was provost and Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He joined the MIT faculty in 1979, beginning a distinguished career in education and research. He has published over 250 papers in areas related to mathematical modeling of transport phenomena in materials, and served as executive editor of the Journal of Chemical Engineering Science from 1991 to 2004. In his twenty-five years at MIT, he held a number of leadership positions, including head of the Department of Chemical Engineering and dean of the School of Engineering. He became provost there in 1998.

Dr. Brown lives in Brookline with his wife, Dr. Beverly Brown, chief development officer for CIMIT, the Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technology, in Boston. They have two grown sons.

Curriculum Vitae

Robert A. Brown

Education

B.S. in Chemical Engineering with highest honors, University of Texas at Austin, 1973.
M.S. in Chemical Engineering, University of Texas at Austin, 1975.
Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 1979.

Professional Experience

Visiting Research Associate, Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Fall 1977.
Instructor, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of Minnesota, 1978.
Faculty Member, Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology: Assistant Professor, 1979–1982; Associate Professor, 1982–1984; Professor, 1984–2005.
Executive Officer, Department of Chemical Engineering, M.I.T., 1986–1988.
Co-Director, M.I.T. Supercomputer Facility, 1989–1994.
Head, Department of Chemical Engineering, M.I.T., 1989–1995.
Arthur Dehun Little Professor of Chemical Engineering, M.I.T., 1986–1992.
Warren K. Lewis Professor, M.I.T., 1992–2005.
Dean of Engineering, M.I.T., 1996–1998.
Provost, M.I.T., 1998–2005.
President, Boston University, 2005–.
Professor of Engineering, College of Engineering, Boston University, 2005–.

Awards and Honors

Engineering Foundation Fellow, University of Texas, 1974.
Graduate School Fellow, University of Minnesota, 1978.
Outstanding Faculty Award, Department of Chemical Engineering, M.I.T.,
1980, 1983, 1985, and 1988. Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Teacher-Scholar Award, 1983.
Young Author Award, American Association of Crystal Growth, 1984.
Allan P. Colburn Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1986.
Elected to the National Academy of Engineering, 1991.
Outstanding Young Texas-Ex Award, University of Texas Alumni Association, 1991.
Distinguished Graduate Award, School of Engineering, University of Texas, 1992.
Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1994.
Professional Progress Award, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1996. Professional Progress Lecture, 1997.
Elected to the National Academy of Sciences, 2001.
University of Texas at Austin Graduate School Outstanding Alumnus/a Award, 2003.
Named Honorary Citizen of the Republic of Singapore in 2006.

Named Lectureships and Keynote Addresses

More than thirty named lectureships and keynote addresses, including most recently:
Address to Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, Boston, October 2008.
Keynote Lecture, AIChE Centennial Meeting, Philadelphia, November 2008.
Quinn Distinguished Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pennsylania, March 2009.

Professional Service and Editorial Boards

Executive Editor, Chemical Engineering Science, 1991–2004.
Member, President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), 2006–2008.
Member and Chair, Academic Research Council, Ministry of Education, Republic of Singapore, 2006–present.
Member, Board of the National Research Foundation, Republic of Singapore, 2006–present.
Director, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, 2007–present.
Member, Executive Committee, Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, 2007–present.
Trustee, Aalto University Foundation, Finland, 2008–present.
Trustee, Universities Research Association, Washington, D.C., 2009–present.

Research Interests (Approximately 250 publications relating to these areas of engineering science)

Mathematical modeling of fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer and interfacial phenomena especially associated with viscoelastic fluid dynamics, melt crystal growth, solidification morphology, and defect dynamics in crystals. Efficient numerical simulation of transport processes, especially by finite element methods.