Appointment of Professor Eric Kolaczyk as Director of the Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
and Dr. Gloria Waters, Vice President and Associate Provost for Research
Last November, in sharing the appointment of BU’s inaugural Associate Provost for Computing & Data Sciences, we announced a subsequent search for a new Director of the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering. After considering several exceptionally strong candidates, we are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Eric Kolaczyk, of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics, as the next Director of the Hariri Institute, effective January 15, 2020.
Professor Kolaczyk has been a member of the BU faculty since 1998. He was previously director of his department’s Program in Statistics and is the founding director of the MS in Statistical Practice (MSSP) program and its statistical consulting group. He is an internationally recognized leader whose applied work has had broad implications in areas including bioinformatics, computational neuroscience, computer network traffic analysis, and social work. The author of three books and dozens of widely cited journal articles, Professor Kolaczyk is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the American Statistical Association, and the International Statistical Institute. In 2018, he was named a Data Science Faculty Fellow through BU’s Data Science Initiative. He is a graduate of The University of Chicago and holds a PhD and MS in statistics from Stanford University.
As Director of the Hariri Institute, Professor Kolaczyk will report to the Associate Provost and Vice President of Research and will build on the Institute’s success in fostering collaborative research that connects faculty across the University; support the faculty in undertaking major research initiatives and cutting-edge research; and work with the faculty and the Associate Provost for Computing & Data Sciences to further develop our capacity in these areas.
Professor Kolaczyk’s track record of intellectual accomplishment, sustained innovation, and strong, consensus-based leadership make him an ideal candidate for this role. Please join us in congratulating Professor Kolaczyk and wishing him well in his new role, and in thanking Associate Provost for Computing & Data Sciences Azer Bestavros, the Hariri Institute’s Founding Director, who has continued to provide leadership at the Institute during this search.