Nancy Kopell awarded new chair

A professor known as a "research superstar" and "first-rate mentor" for students has been named Boston University's first William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Mathematics and Science.

Nancy Kopell Photo by Fred Sway

Nancy Kopell, a CAS professor of mathematics and codirector of the Center for Biodynamics (CBD) at the College of Engineering, says she was "surprised and totally thrilled" to learn of the appointment.

President Jon Westling announced the award at a March 28 banquet honoring the University's principal investigators, at which Kopell was the featured speaker.

"This opportunity will allow me to broaden my efforts in interdisciplinary training throughout the University," she says.

Kopell joined the College of Arts and Sciences faculty in 1986. She cofounded CBD three years ago with James Collins, ENG professor of biomedical engineering. During her tenure at BU, she has been a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow (1990-1995), and in 1996 she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

"Nancy is one of the leading biomathematicians in the world," says Collins. "She began working on problems in mathematical biology long before it was fashionable, and with her contributions it has become an important area of academic research.

"Importantly, Nancy is not only a research superstar; she is also a first-rate mentor for young people," he adds. "She spends an enormous amount of time and energy in training the next generation of biomathematicians."

CBD colleague John White, ENG assistant professor of biomedical engineering, calls Kopell's work "a wonderful example of how close collaboration between experimentalists and theorists can lead to quantum leaps in our understanding of difficult problems."

Likewise, fostering collaborative research is the mission at CBD. This multidisciplinary center brings together faculty and students in mathematics, engineering, and biology to investigate physiological systems in a range of life forms, with potential applications for medical devices and techniques.

"The goal is to train people to do research that involves more than one discipline," Kopell says. "I will be very involved in collaborative activities among the faculty and networking with students."

William Goodwin Aurelio (CAS1900) was a professor of Greek language and literature and appreciation of the Bible in the College of Liberal Arts from 1901 to 1940. He bequeathed his entire estate of $125,000 to the college when he died in 1951.

By the late 1970s the endowment had grown to allow two chairs to be established. UNI Professor Donald Carne-Ross is currently the William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of Greek Language and Literature, and CAS Religion Professor Paula Fredriksen is the William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of the Appreciation of Scripture. Two decades later, the endowment has increased sufficiently to add a third Aurelio chair.