We are delighted to announce that Boston University has joined edX, the not-for-profit consortium of universities founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that is creating an open source, state-of-the-art software platform we will use to develop online offerings. After careful evaluation and assessment of a variety of different online platforms and possible partners, edX rose easily to the top as the consortium and software platform that will provide Boston University with the best opportunities to engage in digital learning in ways that suit our goals and needs. We believe this is a singular opportunity to set the direction of our digital learning and online education initiative in collaboration with a cohort of high quality institutions worldwide.

Our membership in edX commits Boston University to offering five Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that will be available to all and hosted on the edX website. Our agreement with edX also makes it possible for us to use the edX platform to offer a quality learning environment to Boston University students.

By accepting the invitation to join the edX consortium, we will have the opportunity to enhance our on-campus learning through new methodologies and experiences. Boston University is, at its core, a residential research university and we envision our involvement with new digital technologies as an important way to enhance the quality of the residentially-based education we offer our students. Through the use of blended or hybrid courses—which combine face-to-face instruction with a digital learning environment—we believe there are opportunities for new and creative ways to use the face-to-face time in which faculty engage with students in the classroom. We also will have the opportunity to use the same digital learning environment to reach new student cohorts through online education, as we have been doing successfully in graduate professional education.

In addition, joining the edX consortium will give us access to large quantities of data that will be generated as students from around the globe engage in learning on the edX platform. Access to this data will allow our faculty to conduct cutting-edge research on how students learn, and how digital educational technologies affect learning.

During the last few months, our Council on Educational Technology and Learning Innovation (CETLI)—co-chaired by Beth Loizeaux, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs and Professor of English, and Azer Bestavros, Director of the Hariri Institute and Professor of Computer Science—has been an important sounding board as we have explored potential opportunities to participate in online learning.

The Council has submitted its report and we are reviewing the recommendations. We plan to release their report to the community by the fall and to begin implementing their recommendations.

We look forward to working with you and edX as we incorporate digital technologies into Boston University’s offerings and work to lead efforts in improving the quality of residential education at Boston University.

More information on the consortium can be found on the edX website or view the BU edX page.

President Brown and I are delighted to announce the promotion of 10 members of our Charles River Campus faculty to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure, one to the rank of Professor with tenure, and one award of tenure to an Associate Professor.

These promotions and tenures mark a very proud moment for the BU community, as we’ve had the pleasure of watching these talented women and men develop from junior faculty into scholars and teachers of national impact and recognition. In fields as diverse as the sciences, humanities, business and law, these faculty members have fulfilled the promise we saw in them as they began their careers at Boston University.  They are producing research and scholarship that is having a demonstrable impact in their disciplines and they are excelling as teachers in our classrooms. We see great things ahead for them and are pleased they have chosen BU as the place to launch their independent careers:

Elizabeth Blanton, CAS, Astronomy, specializes in cosmology, with a focus on the evolution of galaxies. In particular, she studies the X-ray emissions from the superheated plasma at the heart of clusters of galaxies. She has received substantial NASA funding to support her X-ray telescope observations of galaxy clusters.  In addition to teaching Astronomy at all levels at BU, she is active in public science outreach through the Boston Museum of Science, where she is an adviser on the science of black holes. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

Brooke Blower, CAS, History, specializes in the cultural history of the 20^th century United States, with emphasis on transnational contexts, actors and approaches to U.S. History. She is the author of the award-winning Becoming Americans in Paris: Transatlantic Politics and Culture between the World Wars (2011), a forthcoming book tracing Americans’ engagement with international politics from 1900-1950, and numerous articles, essays, book chapters and presentations.  She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

Arianne Chernock, CAS, History, specializes in modern British and European history, with an emphasis on gender, culture and politics. A Royal Historical Society Fellow, she is the author of the award-winning Men and the Making of Modern British Feminism (2010), a forthcoming book on the rights of women in Victorian Britain, and numerous articles and presentations on the history of women and human rights across national boundaries and chronological epochs. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

Irit Ruth Kleiman, CAS, Romance Studies, specializes in literature of the late Middle Ages, with particular emphasis on the birth of autobiography in France. An emerging international authority on medieval writing, she has received several BU-based awards for her scholarship and is the author of six book chapters, numerous highly praised reviews, articles and translations. Her award-winning book, Philippe de Commynes: Memory, Betrayal, Text was just published by the University of Toronto Press.  She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

Cheryl Knott, CAS, Anthropology, specializes in biological anthropology.  She is a world’s expert on orangutan behavior and biology, and established the Gunung Palung Orangutan Project research station in Indonesia in 1994. She is very active in both research and conservation activities, and received the 2011 Templeton Award for Excellence in Student Advising for her work with undergraduates. She has been awarded tenure as an Associate Professor.

Sigrun Olafsdottir, CAS, Sociology, specializes in medical sociology and sociology of mental health, focusing on how institutional arrangements – including cultural and political factors – influence individual patient outcomes. A core member of the Global Stigma study team, she has received numerous federal and international grants to support her research and authored three book chapters, and dozens of papers and journal articles on mental health and health disparities. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

Merav Opher, CAS, Astronomy, specializes in computational and theoretical plasma physics in space and astrophysics, most recently working to develop an understanding of generic star-planet interactions in extra-solar planetary systems. The recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award and an NSF CAREER Award, she has written dozens of well-cited journal articles on magnetic fields and solar systems and has served in several leadership roles in the Space Physics and Astronomy community. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

M. Kevin Outterson, LAW, specializes in corporate and health law, focusing his interdisciplinary research on the organization and finance of the health sector. A co-director of the Health Law Program and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, he has published nine book chapters, dozens of acclaimed articles in medical and legal journals, and most recently, four amicus briefs for the U.S. Supreme Court on the Affordable Health Care Act. He has been promoted to Professor, with tenure.

Zhongjun Qu, CAS, Economics, specializes in the science of econometrics, using and developing data processes, models and equations to help extract patterns and correlations from vast economic information over time. He has published or co-written numerous widely cited scholarly articles and working papers on topics ranging from structural changes in equations to inference and identification in macroeconomic models. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

Timothy Simcoe, SMG, Strategy and Innovation, specializes in the science behind standards setting, with a focus on the dynamics of voluntary standard-setting organizations. He is the winner of a Rotman Excellence in Teaching Award and has authored numerous widely cited journal articles, papers and book chapters on a range of topics, from strategy and economics to the management of technology and innovation. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

Corey J. Stephenson, CAS, Chemistry, specializes in synthetic organic chemistry, focusing on the use of simple, environmentally friendly light sources to initiate chemical reactions. He is the recipient of an NSF CAREER Award, a Sloan Fellowship, and, most recently, a Novartis Early Career Award, and has been called a pioneer in the field of photocatalysis. He has published more than 25 articles in leading organic chemistry journals and has delivered more than 75 talks around the globe. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

J. Keith Vincent, CAS, Japanese and Comparative Literature, specializes in East Asian languages and cultures, with an emphasis on Japanese canonical literature and the culture’s shifting views of sexuality over history. The winner of two top awards for Japanese-English translations, he has emerged as a leading scholar of Japanese writing, authoring or co-editing seven books and dozens of articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries and academic reviews. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.

Please join me in congratulating these exceptionally talented rising scholars, teachers and researchers on their recent promotions and in wishing them the best of luck in their new positions. The standard of academic excellence they – and you – continue to set each day heralds an incredibly bright future for Boston University as both a research leader and launching pad for some of the nation’s finest faculty.

I write to inform you that Professor Andrei Ruckenstein has decided to step down from his role as Boston University’s Vice President & Associate Provost for Research at the end of this academic year. He will return to research and teaching in the Department of Physics in the College of Arts & Sciences following a sabbatical leave. I know that I speak for all members of our academic community when I acknowledge Andrei’s many significant accomplishments in his administrative leadership role, and I look forward to his continued contributions to Boston University as a member of our faculty.

Andrei is the first person to have served as Vice President & Associate Provost for Research at Boston University, and he has held this position since June 2007. During these six years, he has fostered and promoted the growth of excellence in research at Boston University.

Among Andrei’s numerous accomplishments, he has been instrumental in the identification and removal of administrative barriers to collaboration between the Medical and Charles River campuses. He provided essential leadership in the launch of the Center for Neuroscience and the Graduate Program in Neuroscience—our first University-wide PhD program that does not require tuition transfers across our two campuses. In addition, Andrei has shepherded the development of a number of important interdisciplinary initiatives in the physical, life, and social sciences including the Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering; the Center for Cloud Innovation; the Center for Finance, Law & Policy; and the Nanomedicine Program. As the founding president for the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC), Andrei led BU’s involvement in the establishment of this historic collaboration with Harvard, MIT, Northeastern University, UMass, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and industry partners, CISCO and EMC. In this capacity, he promoted multi-institutional collaborations in cyber-security, cloud computing, materials design, and education—efforts that strengthen and highlight BU’s activities in all of these areas and also allow us to reach far beyond what we could have accomplished on our own.

The growth and evolution of BU’s national research presence during the six years of Andrei’s leadership can be gleaned from our acclaimed Research magazine, which has advanced from a simple presentation of sponsored science and engineering research projects into a crucial window into the enormous breadth and depth of Boston University’s innovative scholarship and research across all disciplines, including the arts, humanities, and social sciences.

While he will be returning to our Physics faculty, President Brown and I have asked Andrei to consider using part of his sabbatical leave to help lead conversations among faculty in the area of systems biology, with the goal of developing consensus around possible next steps for developing this critically important area of biological research and in which Boston University has the potential to make significant contributions.

Please join me in expressing sincere appreciation to Andrei for his many important contributions to Boston University over the last six years.

Over the next three weeks, I will consult broadly within the University to identify a successor. The Vice President & Associate Provost for Research serves a crucial role in overseeing the research enterprise, helping to catalyze initiatives across campus, and serves as a member of the Provost’s Cabinet. If you would like to nominate an individual to be considered for this position or would like to be considered yourself, please send a nomination or expression of interest via email to me at provost@bu.edu. Alternatively, please send nominations or letters of interest in writing to me at the Office of the Provost. Please mark the envelope ‘Confidential’ if you would like your correspondence to be held in confidence. President Brown and I expect to identify and name a successor before the end of the academic year.

As Boston University continues to advance as a highly competitive research university in an evolving climate that includes uncertainty about the levels of federal support for research, we must all redouble our efforts to ensure the vibrancy and effectiveness of our research enterprise. I look forward to working together to ensure the strength of all our research activities.

As you may remember, we announced in early March the establishment of a new endowed professorship at Boston University in the emerging discipline of urban global health. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our trustee, Mr. Richard Shipley, the Beverly A. Brown Professorship for the Improvement of Urban Health will honor and support a highly distinguished professor whose research, teaching and service ultimately advance the condition of almost half of the world’s population who now live in urban areas.

We are now launching an international-level search to fill this new position. The ideal candidate for this professorship will be a scholar of the highest caliber, whose work seeks innovative approaches to answer some of the greatest challenges associated with the urban environment.

As we begin this search, I have appointed an interdisciplinary committee of distinguished senior faculty to assist with this important process. The full committee roster is below. The committee comprises members of the University community whose work will likely intersect with that of this new professor. I am delighted that Prof. Jonathon Simon, Robert A. Knox Professor, Chair of SPH International Health, and Director of the Center for Global Health & Development, has agreed to chair this committee.

The Beverly A. Brown Professorship Search Committee will be asked to conduct a formal and thorough search and to then submit its recommendations to me. My office will provide administrative support for this effort. The appointment of this Professor will mark a pivotal moment in Boston University’s ongoing development as a global research leader and laboratory for field-defining, multidisciplinary solutions to some of society’s most pressing needs.

I would like to thank the members of this committee in advance for their service to helping shape such an important part of BU’s research portfolio, and look forward to reporting our selection to the broader University community in the months ahead.

Beverly A. Brown Professorship Search Committee Members

Professor Jonathon Simon, School of Public Health, Chair, Dept. of International Health and Director, Center for Global Health and Development

Professor Mary Collins, School of Social Work

Professor Michelle Henshaw, School of Dental Medicine, Associate Dean for Global and Population Health

Professor Julie Palmer, School of Public Health

Professor James Rebitzer, School of Management, Chair, Markets, Public Policy & Law

Associate Professor Muhammad Zaman, College of Engineering, Associate Director, Kilachand Honors College

Several important changes clarifying the eligibility requirements for sabbatical leave were unanimously recommended by the University Council on March 27, 2013. They have since been accepted by the President and incorporated into the Faculty Handbook. Additionally, a new opportunity for tenure track faculty to advance their scholarly and creative work, Junior Scholar Leave, has been created and added to the Handbook. Both policy updates are effective immediately and may be viewed in their entirety at:

http://www.bu.edu/handbook/leaves-absences/sabbaticals-and-leaves-of-absence/

The University Lecture Committee asks for your assistance in identifying nominees for the 2013 University Lecturer.

The University Lecture was established in 1950 to honor members of the Boston University faculty engaged in outstanding research.  University Lecturers represent a vast array of disciplines and research topics, yet share a common commitment to excellence in scholarly inquiry and discovery.  The annual lecture provides an opportunity to highlight the work of a distinguished scholar and engage both the University community and the broader public in the vibrant intellectual life of Boston University.

Information about the Lectureship, a list of past lecturers, and a downloadable 2013 nomination form can be found on the following website: http://www.bu.edu/provost/faculty-accomplishments/lecture/

Please consider nominating one or more of your colleagues for this honor and also bringing this invitation to the attention of others in the University community. Nomination forms for the University Lecturer should be submitted by April 21, 2013, via email to provost@bu.edu, attention PJ Jorgensen. For questions about any aspect of the Lectureship please email or call 617-353-2230.

Thank you for your assistance in recognizing the outstanding research efforts of Boston University’s talented faculty.

Living-learning communities are an important part of Boston University’s efforts to offer the best possible residential experience to students on our campuses. The hope of the living-learning community movement at large research universities (as seen at BU in programs like WISE@Warren, WISE-Up, the Kilachand Honors College, and our 30 specialty houses/floors) has been that students living in smaller, more manageable communities focused on a common interest gain a richer academic experience that integrates what happens in class and what happens out of class, adapt more readily to college both academically and socially, and graduate on time in greater numbers.

The growth of living-learning programs and their popularity with students suggests that they succeed in a number of ways, with national survey results indicating an easier transition to a college setting, higher overall grades, a stronger sense of belonging, a greater likelihood of attending graduate school, and marked gains in important skills like critical thinking among students taking part. The same survey raises some concerns, however, about whether students in these programs are indeed exposed enough to diversity or to interactions with people who may come from different backgrounds and perspectives.

In an effort to better gauge the effectiveness of BU’s living-learning programs and their potential for future growth, Beth Loizeaux, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, has asked a committee of faculty, staff and students to undertake a comprehensive review of BU’s Specialty Houses and make recommendations for the development of these programs over the next 5-10 years. We are grateful that Nathan Phillips, Professor of Earth & Environment in the College of Arts & Sciences, has agreed to chair this panel. The Committee is charged with evaluating whether BU is taking full advantage of living-learning communities to:

• Provide an enriched educational experience that is engaging and interesting, promotes student interaction with faculty on substantive matters, actively advances the understanding of diverse experiences and points of view, integrates what happens inside the classroom and out, and matters significantly to students’ intellectual development.
• Increase BU’s ability to recruit, retain and graduate top students.
• Promote curricular innovations, such as interdisciplinary programming across departments and colleges; or social/community goals, such as civic engagement or community service.
• Help define a distinctive BU residential experience and best leverage BU’s extraordinary housing assets.

WISE@Warren and Kilachand Honors College will not be part of this review, but will be considered for purposes of comparison and as part of the suite of living-learning programs BU offers. I have asked the committee to report its recommendations to the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs by May 17, 2013. My office looks forward to sharing the results with the broader BU community in the months ahead.

Living-Learning Programs Review Committee Members

Committee Member                    Title/Organization

Heather Barrett                                  Graduate (PhD) Student, CAS English
Linette Decarie                                   Director, Institutional Research
Karen Jacobs                                       Clinical Professor, SAR Occupational Therapy
Steven Jarvi                                          Associate Dean, Student Academic Life, CAS
Sam Kauffmann                                  Professor, COM Film
Hugh O’Donnell                                   Professor, CFA Visual Arts
Nathan Phillips                                    Professor, CAS Earth & Environment (chair)
Davida Pines                                        Associate Professor, CGS Rhetoric
Tyrone Porter                                      Associate Professor, ENG Mechanical Engineering
Sean Reilly                                            Undergraduate Student, CAS; RA, Italian House
Bruce Schulman                                Professor, CAS History
Kelly Walter                                          Associate VP and Executive Director, Admissions
David Zamojski                                   Assistant Dean of Students; Director, Residence Life

President Brown and I are delighted to announce the promotion of 17 members of our Charles River Campus faculty to Full Professor at Boston University.

These extraordinary faculty members demonstrate the breadth, diversity, and depth of knowledge that have, over the years, defined Boston University’s talented academic community. From the humanities and sciences to engineering and business, these professors are all leaders in their respective fields. They are producing substantive research and scholarship each day in their classrooms and laboratories, and we are proud to count them as members of our faculty:

Enrico Bellotti, ENG, Electrical & Computer Engineering, specializes in numerical modeling and design of energy-efficient photonics materials, devices and systems. An NSF CAREER Award recipient and co-recipient of a $15 million Army Research Laboratory grant, he has garnered recognition for using photonics materials to develop water purification systems, infrared detectors, and lighter, energy-efficient batteries and devices for soldiers in combat.

Robert Carey, CAS, Physics, specializes in high-precision particle physics and has earned praise for his experimental research into elementary subatomic particles, known as muons. A recent recipient of a National Science Foundation grant, he has won a Neu Family Award for excellence in teaching and authored dozens of widely cited journal articles and papers on particle physics.

Jodi Cranston, CAS, History of Art & Architecture, specializes in Italian Renaissance art and architecture, with specific expertise in Venetian Renaissance art. A frequent speaker at international academic conferences, she is the author of two books, one edited anthology and numerous journal articles, book chapters and reviews on Venetian painting and landscape architecture.

James Johnson, CAS, History, specializes in the cultural history of modern and early modern Europe, as well as music history. He has received numerous prizes for his teaching and research on 18^th and 19^th century France and Venetian history, published two nationally acclaimed books, and authored dozens of journal and encyclopedia articles, conference papers and lectures in his fields.

Jonathan Klawans, CAS, Religion, specializes in ancient Judaism, with expertise ranging from the Hebrew Bible through rabbinic literature. A leading scholar on Second Temple Judaism, he recently authored the book Josephus and the Theologies of Ancient Judaism (2012) and has written two other books, as well as numerous widely cited articles, book chapters, and reviews on Jewish scripture.

Kimberly McCall, CAS, Biology, specializes in cell biology, focusing her research on the molecular mechanisms of cell death and its role in development and disease. A Director of Graduate Studies and past Clare Boothe Luce Professor, she has authored or co-edited dozens of journal articles and scholarly papers on necrosis and carcinogenesis, producing important new scholarship toward disease treatment and prevention.

Meers Oppenheim, CAS, Astronomy, specializes in space plasma physics using supercomputer simulations and has recently focused his research on the physics of meteors. A former Director of Graduate Studies, he has received numerous National Science Foundation and NASA grants and written or co-written of dozens of scholarly papers on the Earth’s ionosphere and the creation of meteor trails.

M. Daniele Paserman, CAS, Economics, specializes in empirical labor economics, finding new ways to use existing data to address important economic questions, from Middle East policy and terrorism to electoral results and gender dynamics in European politics.  A recipient of the Neu Family Award for Teaching Excellence, his scholarly citations rank among the top 10 percent of economists worldwide.

Anita Patterson, CAS, English, specializes in American literature, modernism and black poetry of the Americas, with an emphasis on transnational and intercultural dialogue. A Director of Undergraduate Studies ad interim, she has written two acclaimed books on race and literature, and numerous book chapters, journal articles, reviews, papers and lectures on transnational modernism.

Nathan Phillips, CAS, Earth & Environment, specializes in plant physiological ecology, studying the mechanisms and processes by which plants and ecosystems regulate water loss and carbon gain, and how global environmental change may alter such processes. He has authored dozens of widely cited journal articles and abstracts and cultivated a strong international reputation, with numerous overseas collaborations.

Siddharth Ramachandran, ENG, Electrical & Computer Engineering, specializes in the optical physics of guided waves and their applications to photonic devices, developing materials that can dramatically improve the rate of communications over optical fibers. A Fellow of the Optical Society of America, he holds 32 patents, has co-edited a book, and has authored or co-written more than 200 articles, papers and lectures in the field of optics and applied physics.

Kimberly Saudino, CAS, Psychology, specializes in behavior genetics as it contributes to psychological development, focusing on the relationship of temperament to activity level. As Director of the BU Twin Project, she has received numerous National Institutes of Health grants for her research, pioneering the use of direct electronic monitoring of activity and authoring or co-authoring dozens of widely cited journal articles and book chapters on childhood behavior.

David Somers, CAS, Psychology, specializes in vision science, focusing on how the brain works to produce visual perception and visually guided behavior. A recipient of numerous National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation grants, he has devised sophisticated new mapping techniques using functional MRI signals to identify brain areas, and authored dozens of seminal articles and abstracts in the field of neuroscience, most recently on visual short-term memory.

Shuba Srinivasan, SMG, Marketing, specializes in strategic marketing problems, linking marketing to financial performance and then applying her expertise in time-series analysis and econometrics. She has won a Broderick Prize for Excellence in Research Scholarship and authored a book chapter and numerous scholarly articles and papers on strategic marketing, most recently focusing on metrics for gauging marketing performance.

Ari Trachtenberg, ENG, Electrical & Computer Engineering, specializes in the application of coding theory to enhance information security, network quality and algorithms on communications networks, from computers to cellphones and other portable devices. A Kern Faculty Fellow, he has won an NSF CAREER award, received grants from the National Science Foundation and Department of Defense and produced foundational new scholarship on networks and cyber security.

Jenny White, CAS, Anthropology, specializes in social anthropology, focusing her research and writing on contemporary Turkey. A former president of the Turkish Studies Association, she has authored six acclaimed books, most recently Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks (2012), along with numerous widely cited scholarly articles and international lectures on political Islam, civil society, ethnic identity and gender issues.

Joyce Wong, ENG, Biomedical Engineering, specializes in cell-biomaterial interactions, tissue engineering, and theranostics, using her highly translational research to help regenerate tissue and integrate drug delivery with acoustic imaging. A Kern Faculty Fellow and past Clare Boothe Luce Professor, she has authored a book and dozens of scholarly articles, reviews, lectures and abstracts, fast emerging as a leader in regenerative science and nanotheranostics.

Please join me in congratulating these wonderfully talented colleagues on their recent promotions and in wishing them the best of luck in their new positions. It is thanks in large part to their hard work and to yours that Boston University upholds its tradition of excellence and is on track to remain a research and teaching leader for many years to come.

Last spring, we launched a national-level search for a new Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future. The Pardee Center has, over the last decade, emerged as an international destination for public policy scholarship and interdisciplinary research, having developed a widely respected publications program, close ties with the United Nations, and a rich calendar of public programs and events. It was critical, therefore, that we find a scholar and leader with the credentials, energy and strategic vision necessary to head this important center and continue its upward trajectory.

Over the last year, a search committee chaired by Professor Bill Grimes reviewed 75 applications from candidates within the academic, policymaking and research communities for the position of Pardee Center Director. After narrowing this pool down to 10 candidates, the committee was able to identify two finalists. I am delighted to announce that after this rigorous and highly competitive process, Dr. Anthony Janetos will be joining Boston University as the next Director of the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.

Dr. Janetos is Director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute at the University of Maryland, where he has for the last six years overseen an interdisciplinary team of natural scientists, engineers and social scientists committed to understanding the problems of global climate change and their potential solutions. Dr. Janetos received his A.B. in Biology from Harvard and his Master’s and Ph.D. in Biology from Princeton. He has devoted his career to high-impact global change science and policy, earning international recognition for his scholarship and holding executive leadership positions over the last two decades at large institutions including the EPA, NASA and the Heinz Center for Science Economics and the Environment. Dr. Janetos has written and spoken widely on the need to understand the scientific, environmental, economic, and policy linkages among the major global environmental issues and served on several national and international study teams, including working as a co-chair of the U.S. National Assessment of the Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change. Through extensive conversations with both our committee and Dr. Janetos about his vision and ambitions for the Pardee Center, it became quickly clear that his passion and track record of high-quality research, exceptional teambuilding and intellectual leadership were an ideal match for our needs here at BU. Moreover, his research and policy interests closely aligned with the Pardee Center’s mission of supporting “interdisciplinary, policy-relevant, and future-oriented research that contributes to long-term improvements in the human condition.”

Dr. Janetos’s official start date at Boston University will be July 1, 2013. I hope that you will join me in formally welcoming him to the BU community in the months ahead. In the interim, we are grateful that Professor Jim McCann, who has served as Acting Director of the Pardee Center since October 2011, will continue in that role through June 30. Professor McCann will work closely with Dr. Janetos during the transition and my office will provide full support to ensure a smooth transition in leadership.

At a time of intense debate over global stability and leadership, BU has an extraordinary opportunity in the years ahead to produce foundational new scholarship and research in a host of emerging areas. I look forward to following the Pardee Center’s success under Dr. Janetos’s direction and want to express my gratitude to the members of the Pardee Center Director Search Committee for the considerable time, thought and discussion they devoted over the last year to this important selection process.

Click here to view the video.