2003
Award-Winning Faculty
BU Graduate Student Named One of First 100 Homeland Security Fellows
As the second commemoration of the twin tragedies of Sept. 11 approaches, 100 students across the United States will begin appointments as the first Homeland Security Fellows, young researchers whose work may prove critical to helping protect this nation from future terrorist acts. Ogi Ogas , a first-year graduate student in Boston University's Cognitive and Neural Systems Department, is one of this select 100.
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Art History Prof honored by American Council of Learned Societies
Jodi Cranston, assistant professor of art history, has been awarded an American Council of Learned Societies' 2003 Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellowship. Designed to provide advanced assistant professors in the humanities and related social sciences with time and resources to pursue their research under optimal conditions, these fellowships particularly recognize those whose scholarly contributions have advanced their fields and who have well designed and carefully developed plans for new research
Cranston's research, entitled, "Touching matters: tactility and texture in Italian Renaissance art," investigates the significance of tactility and texture in Renaissance art. Employing an interdisciplinary approach, the study considers the ways in which the visual arts and poetry conceived of beholding in the Renaissance as an embodied experience, in which senses other than sight were acknowledged through the experience of vision.
Undergrad receives American Gastroenterological Association Award
Sreenivas Garla who conducted research on obesity and regulation of energy homeostasis with H. Christian Weber, assistant professor of gastroenterology at MED, was awarded a highly selective AGA/Student Research Award for the 2003/04 academic year. Garla began working on this project in summer 2002 with a UROP award.
Christiansen named 2003 Fellow of the American Statistical Association
Cindy L. Christiansen, associate professor of Health Serices at SPH and director of the Statistics Section at the Center for Health Quality Outcomes and Economic Research, has been named a Fellow of the American Statistical Association. The award recognizes her contributions to the development of hierarchical models and their applications to health policy research, in particular, for mammography, organ transplantation, and medical profiling; for creative statistical administration; and for service to the profession.
Rudolph receives NSF Junior Faculty Award
Jenny Rudolph, research associate in the department of health services at SPH has received an :"Enabling the Next Generation of Hazard Researchers" fellowship for junior faculty from the Nation Science Foundation. Her research in high-hazard industries, including medicine, explores failure modes in diagnostic problem solving during simulated operating room crises. Her study finds that failure to handle such crises effectively results from weak reflection and communication skills that prevent doctors from testing the accuracy of their diagnoses on the fly. Her results indicate that developing skills in "metacognition," reflection, and inquiry could enhance the practitioners' ability to detect, correct, and learn from errors they make.
Levin cited for "Outstanding Paper"
Leonid Levin, professor of computer science, and his co-authors were awarded an 2003 "Outstanding Paper Prize" by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). The award was presented in June at the SIAM Annual Meeting held in Montreal. This prize, awarded annually since 1999, is given for the most influential papers published in SIAM journals during the four years prior to the year of the award.
Levin's paper, publishe din SIAM's Journal on Computing in 199 proves the equivalence between two fundamental problems in computing theory. The first is the existence of one-way functions -- those that are easy to compute, but hard to invert. The second is the possibility of the deterministic generation of perfectly random data that are indistinguishable, even in theory, from those obtained by coin flips.
Felson receives 2003 IEEE Electromagnetics Award
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has named Leopold Felsen, and professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering and electrical and computer engineering, as recipient of their 2003 electromagnetics Award. The award recognizes Felsen's contributions to the field of electromagnetic theory, methodology, and phenomenology. His work, according to the award, has helped expand the understanding of wave behavior in complex interdisciplinary settings, such as submarine detection, radar identification of airborne targets, mobile communications, and buried land mine detection and imaging. The award was presented in June.
Grossberg to receive Helmholtz Award for Distinguished Research on Visual Perception
Stephen Grossberg, professor of cognitive and neural systems, has been selected by the International Neural Network Society (INNS) to receive its 2003 Helmholtz Award for Distinguished Research on Visual Perception. The award recognizes Grossberg's groundbreaking work describing computational theores for how the brain sees. Grossberg is a pioneer in the modern scientific movement to develop a model for how the mind and brain work. His research aims at understanding how a brain gives rise to a mind, a line of inquiry known as the mind/body problem.
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Sir Hans to recieve Distinguished Service Award from International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Sir Hans Kornberg, professor and director of the University Professors, will receive the Distinguished Service Award from the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in July. The award will be presented at the International Congress of the Union, which will be held in Toronto. Kornbert served as president of the organization from 1991 to 1994.
Holick receives awards from the American Society for Clinical Nutrition and the American Skin Association.
MED Professor Michael Holick was honored with the Robert H. Herman Memorial Award in Clinical Nutrition for 2003 from the American Society for Clinical Nutrition. The award recognizes Horlick's ongoing contributions in the field of nutrition, particularly involving the role of sunlight and vitamin D on human health and nutrition. He has also been honered with ASCN's McCollum Award for his research in photobiology and the Psoriasis Research Achievement Award from the American Skin Association.
Loscalzo named editor of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association
Joseph Lozcalzo, director of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute, professor and chairman of the department of medicine at the School of Medicine, has been named editor of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association effective July 2004, at the end of the term of the current editor, James T. Willerson.
Raymo chosen as Guggenheim Fellow
Maureen Raymo, associate research professor of earth science, has been chosen to recieve a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship for her work on global warming. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was established in 1925 by United States Senator Simon Guggenheim and his wife as a memorial to a son who died April 26, 1922. The Foundation offers Fellowships to further the development of scholars and artists by assisting them to engage in research in any field of knowledge and creation in any of the arts.
Physics profs receive Sloan Fellowships
Pritiraj Mohanty and Martin Schmaltz , both CAS assistant physics professors, were recently awarded research fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Foundation annually chooses 23 young researchers in physics who have a solid record of independent research accomplishments and who are likely to make fundamental contributions to new knowledge in their fields.
Mohanty, a member of the experimental condensed-matter group, investigates nanoscale phenomena. He studies the structure and behavior of material at the single atom level -- research with implications for the development of quantum computing.
Schmaltz, a member of the theoretical particle physics group, explores the fundamental consitituents of matter and their interactions. He is specifically investigating the possibility that new kinds of forces exist between particles at very short distances.
Donohue, Kauffman, and Barrett selected for Fulbright Awards
Three faculty members from the College of Communication have been selected for 2003 Fulbright Awards. They are Anne Donohue, Sam Kauffman, and Janice M. Barrett .
Donohue, an associate professor of journalism, was the special projects editor at Monitor Radio for five years, and a contributor to NPR, the BBC, WGBH, and Public Radio International programs. In 1999 she won the prestigious duPont-Columbia Award for The DNA Files on NPR. She will spend the year in China, conducting reaseach on family life and the influence of culture and government onthe birth rate.
Kauffman, an associate professor of film, has won national awards as a documentary filmmaker, writer, animator, commercial director, and film editor. He will institute the first film and radio department at Macerere University in Kmpala,Uganda.
Barrett, an associate professor of public relations will spend the 2003-04 academic year lecturing and conducting research at Dublin City University. Her research focuses on how the media covers conflicts and peace efforts in Northern Ireland.
Biomedical Engineering Society Honors BU Faculty and Students
Allison Weiner, a senior in the department of biomedical engineering, was elected to the Biomedical Engineering Society's (BMES) Board of Directors as a student representative for 2002.
Other honors went to BME facuty member Herbert Voigt who received the 2002 BMES Presidential Award and was re-elected president of the National Alpha eta Mu Beta Honor Society (the Biomedical Engineering Honor Society).
Carlo DeLuca, BME faculty and director of the NeuroMuscular Research Center, was appointed to the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering (NIBIB) Advisory Council, a component of NIH that provides recommendations on the conduct and support of biomedical imaging, bioengineering research and research training.
Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Honored
Venkatesh Saligrama, an assistant professor, has been chosen to recieve the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). This honor, conferred annually at the White House, is the "highest honor bestowed by the US government on outstanding scientists and engineers beginning their independent careers." Various agencies and foundations make the recommendations and the selection process is coordinated by the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC). Saligrama's nomination was made by the Department of Defense.
Enrico Bellotti an assistant professor, has been selected as an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator. This highly competitve program supports young scientists and engineers who "show exceptional promise for outstnding reserch and teaching careers." ONR believes that the winners of this award are "among the best and brightest young academic researchers this country has to offer."
Pal chosen to receive 2003 Extraction & Processing Technology Award
Uday B. Pal, a professor in the department of manufacturing engineering will receive the 2003 Extration & Processing Technology Award from The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS). The annual award, established in 1955, recognizes a paper that represents notable contributions to the technology of the etraction and processing of nonferrous metals. He is being recognized for his paper entitled, "Solid-State amperometric Sensor for the In-Situ Monitoring of Slag Composition and Transport Properties." Dr. Pal also received this award in the year 2000. Dr. Pal's research interests include high-temperature processing of materials with environmental, energy, and cost implications. He is involved in fuel cells and other "green" technologies.
Salvucci awarded AGU James B. Macelwane Medal
Guido Daniel Salvucci, associate professor in the departments of earth science and geography has been named by the American Geophysical Union as the 2003 recipient of the James B. Macelwane medal. Established in 1961 and renamed in 1986 in honor of James B. Macelwane, this medal recognizes significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding young scientist (less than 36 years of age). Macelwane, the thirteenth president of AGU (1953–1956), was renowned not just for his contributions to geophysics but also for his deep interest in teaching and encouraging young scientists.
Two CAS profs named APS fellows
Elizabeth Simmons, a CAS associate professor of physics, and Ian Affleck, a CAS professor of physics, have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society. Only half of one percent of members are selected annually for the program, which recognizes members who may have made advances in knowledge through original research and publication, made significant and innovative contributions in the application of physics to science and technology, or madesignificant contributions to the teaching of physics or service to APS.
Affleck is cited “for important theoretical contributions to quantum magnetism and impurities, and for the prediction of possible flux phases in the high temperature superconductors.” Simmons' citation reads, “for contributions to the study of electroweak and flavor symmetry breaking, especially the origin of the top-quark mass, and for suggesting incisive tests of physics beyond the standard model.”
Recent Grants
(July 30, 2001, Boston, Mass.; Contact: Colin Riley) — The Virginia-based Whitaker Foundation has recognized Boston University's worldwide leadership in biomedical engineering education and research with a $14 million Leadership Award to enhance and expand its biomedical engineering programs. The grant, which will be made over a five-year period, will be matched with an $18 million commitment from the University, for a total of $32 million in new program funding.
SUR grant from IBM to BU
Boston University has been awarded a Shared University Research (SUR) grant from IBM, in the form of high-end computing equipment with a list price in excess of $1 million. The award will support research in computational biology and physiology, genomics, and high-performance computing carried out by groups headed by Claudio Rebbi, director of the Center for Computational Science, and Eugene Stanley, director of the GRS Center for Polymer Studies, both CAS physics professors; Charles DeLisi, an ENG professor and the Arthur G. B. Metcalf Professor of Science and Engineering; and Zhiping Weng, an ENG assistant professor of biomedical engineering.
Last year BU received a SUR equipment award (a 76 dual-processor node Linux cluster). The University is the only institution to receive consecutive SUR grants for 2001 and 2002.
BU astronomy department receives $500,000 Keck Foundation grant
The Los Angeles-based W. K. Keck Foundation, one of thenation's largest philanthropic organizations interested in engineering, science, and medical advancement, recently awarded the CAS astronomy department a $500,000 grant to develop Mimir, a powerful state-of-the-art wide-field imaging spectrometer and polarimeter. BU's astronomy department grants the third-largest number of astronomy degrees in the country.
When completed in the spring of 2002, Mimir will enable BU researchers, under a partnership with the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, to conduct large infrared surveys of magnetic fields in space. These surveys will shed new light on the most important of all galactic events: the formation of stars.
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NIH Funds New Interdisciplinary Training Program in Quantitative Biology and Physiology
Boston University has been awarded $1,048,356 from the National Institute of Health's Institute of General Medicine to initiate a predoctoral training program in quantitative biology and physiology. The interdisciplinary program draws on faculty and curricula from the departments of biomedical engineering, mathematics, and biology.
According to Kenneth Lutchen, chair of biomedical engineering and principal investigator, the grant embodies an exciting vision for training the next generation of biomedical scientist. "The grant attends to the growing understanding that scientists must be interdisciplinary," he comments, "and focuses on training students to use computational techniques to investigate biological systems on all levels-- from the subcellular processes to large, complex physiological systems."
The grant will fund incoming Ph.D. students for two years, supporting three students in the first year and six in the succeeding four years.
College of Engineering shares $5 million grant to develop communicating networked control systems
The U.S. Department of Defense has recently awarded BU and three other universities a shared $5 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative grant to integrate control and communications technologies. BU is the prime recipient of the grant. The other universities involved in the collaboration are Harvard University, the University of Illinois, and the University of Maryland.
(photo: John Baillieul, chairman aerospace and mechanical engineering and principal investigator on the grant.)
New Program in Mathematics and Computational Neuroscience
A new Program in Mathematics and Computational Neuroscience has been funded by an award of $1.75 million from The Burroughs Wellcome Fund.
The program will focus on interdisciplinary research on the nervious system and will be co-directed by Nancy Kopell, co-director of the Center for BioDynamics and William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Mathematics and Science and Howard Eichenbaum, professor of psychology.
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School of Medicine Awarded Four-Year NIH Grant to Study Female Sexual Arousal Dysfunction
The School of Medicine recently received a four year National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant for more than $1 million to investigate Female Sexual Arousal Dysfunction. This research is funded for the first time by NIH and considered a breakthrough in recognizing female sexual arousal dysfunction as a scientific medical field.
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Boston University is one of four university collaborators in a new Engineering Research Center (ERC), the Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (CenSSIS), has been established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop novel technologies that will revolutionize the ability to detect and image objects and conditions underground, underwater, or embedded within living tissue and manmade structures.
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Knight Foundation Awards $1.2M for Science/Medical Journalism Center at Boston University (Press Release, September 26, 2000; Contact: Sarah Godbout )
$2 Million from National Institutes of Health to Fund Study on Alcoholism (Press Release, June 8, 2000; Contact: Gina DiGravio )