The following is a sampling of CAS faculty members’ outstanding research accomplishments during 2014/15.
Biology
Tim Gardner, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, received more than $4.3 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health and Glaxo Smith Kline to support his research on the development and application of a new technology to record neuronal impulses in the brains of live animals. Gardner has developed electrode arrays comprised of bundles of extremely fine carbon fibers (with diameters as small as 4 micrometers—slightly more than half the diameter of a human red blood cell) to cause minimal damage when inserted into an animal’s brain. The technology greatly increases the number of neurons that can be simultaneously recorded, providing unprecedented sampling density and significantly improving chronic recording.
Chemistry
For over a decade, John Porco, chemistry professor, and his colleagues have developed novel ways to synthesize molecules—and record those methods and their creations—at the Center for Chemical Methodology & Library Development. In 2014, the center was recast as the Center for Molecular Discovery, in part to transition to a new role as biomedical researchers begin tapping its library for originial molecules that could lead to innovative drugs to battle everything from fly-borne infectious diseases to leukemia. In 2014/15, Porco received a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to support the transition and ensure the prolonged viability of the center as a vital resource at the intersection of chemistry and biology.
Lawrence Ziegler, also a chemistry professor, is developing a new forensic tool that will revolutionize crime scene forensics. The Portable Raman Microscope, created with the help of a two-year grant from the National Institute of Justice and BU’s Biomedical Forensic Sciences program, uses a laser beam and a glass chip painted with gold to identify body fluids. At a crime scene, it could classify the components of a mixture of fluids, and even differentiate human blood from that of other animals, in under an hour. Read more
English
Susan L. Mizruchi, professor of English, revealed an unknown side to Marlon Brando with Brando’s Smile: His Life, Thought, and Work (Norton, 2014). From extensive interviews with Ellen Adler, Brando’s lifelong friend, and far-flung and jealously protected materials unseen by any previous biographer, Mizruchi presents an unfamiliar Brando: a voracious reader, an activist, and a skilled editor of scripts and screenplays. Read more
History of Art & Architecture
A three-year effort by Jodi Cranston, professor of Renaissance art, and a team of students from the CAS history of art & architecture department, has culminated in the interactive website Mapping Titian. The interactive guide to the work of the 16th-century Venetian master allows users to customize collections of paintings and maps showing the movement of the pictures over time, along with short biographies of patrons and collectors of Titian’s paintings and a selected bibliography of relevant scholarship. Created with support from the Kress Foundation and BU’s Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering, the project has a larger goal of helping people visualize a fundamental concern for the discipline of art history: the interrelationship between an artwork and its changing historical context. Read more
International Relations
In 2014/15, CAS entered its fifth year in a row with at least one professor winning a Guggenheim. Susan Eckstein, professor in the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, was awarded the prestigious fellowship to continue her research on what she calls “Cuban immigration exceptionalism.” Cubans have US immigration privileges completely different from citizens of any other nation, a situation Eckstein believes is bound to change now that the US and Cuba have renewed relations.
Modern Languages & Comparative Literature
The work of Wiebke Denecke, a CAS associate professor of Chinese, Japanese, and comparative literature, reveals a shared cultural heritage that could hold an important key to harmony in East Asia: the use of Classical Chinese as a common written language from Japan to Vietnam for almost two millennia. In 2014, Denecke became the first BU recipient of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s prestigious New Directions Fellowship. The fellowship allows Denecke and her family to travel to China, Korea, and Japan throughout 2015 to research all-but-forgotten poetry from the 7th through 12th centuries C.E. Though ancient, the poetry can still be read today by Chinese speakers, and may promote a “positive transnational identity” for the region. Read more
Religion
Kecia Ali’s most recent book, The Lives of Muhammad (Harvard University Press, 2014), examines how depictions of the Prophet by believers and non-believers alike have evolved over fourteen centuries, creating a biography of biographies. The professor of religion’s research shows that Muslim and non-Muslim biographers have always been in conversation, quoting, responding to, and greatly influencing each other, especially since the nineteenth century. In a post-9/11 climate of interfaith tension and Islamophobia, and the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, Ali’s book breaks down “the illusion of a timeless clash of civilizations.” Read more
Physics
Plamen Ivanov, a research professor, received a $1 million grant from the Keck Foundation to develop a theoretical framework and establish quantitatively how organ systems coordinate their functions and integrate as a network. Ivanov and his team of research scientists collaborate with intensive care clinicians at Massachusetts General Hospital, sleep physiologists and epidemiologists at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and scientists from the biomedical engineering division at Partners HealthCare, to develop the first analytical tools that will understand physiological functions and conditions as dynamic interactions among diverse systems. This system integrative approach will lay the foundation for the emerging field of network physiology. Read more
Annual Report 2014/2015
From the Dean
From recruiting ever-better faculty and students to surging ahead in our capital campaign, academic year 2014/2015 was a year of great accomplishments.
A New Era Begins at CAS
On August 1, 2015, CAS welcomed its new dean, Ann Cudd. Dean Cudd brings her own unique energy and vision to CAS and GRS and is deeply committed to enhancing—and affirming—the value of a liberal arts education.
Improving Undergraduate Education
CAS once again attracted our most talented class of undergraduates ever. And we laid the groundwork to serve them even better, offering expanded academic opportunities and a comprehensive First-Year Experience program with over 800 first-year participants.
Strengthening Graduate Education
BU’s Graduate School of Arts & Sciences continues to see a dramatic increase in applicant quality and enrollment due to our new five-year PhD funding model that has heightened the attractiveness of our doctoral programs. New program initiatives have also resulted in more applicants to our master’s programs.
Enhancing a World-Class Faculty
The quality of a university depends on the quality of its faculty, and hiring the best and giving them a strong start is crucial. In 2014/15, CAS hired 26 new professors across the humanities and social, natural, and computational sciences.
Conducting Pathbreaking Research
Discoveries and innovations at CAS help make BU one of the top 40 research universities in the world. Many fields of study at CAS are also highly ranked, including social sciences, physics, molecular biology and genetics, and psychology.
Deepening Our Global Mission
CAS is a major contributor to the international character of Boston University. The 2014–15 academic year was particularly eventful in this respect, being the inaugural year for the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies.
Creating Our Future: The CAS Strategic Plan at Halftime
In 2010, the College of Arts & Sciences crafted a bold 10-year plan to enhance all aspects of what we do: advancing undergraduate and graduate education, research, global partnerships, and the College’s relationships with its alumni. Over the past five years, we have made great strides toward these goals.
Nurturing Connections with Alumni and Friends
The College continues to develop new opportunities to engage and connect with CAS alumni and friends. In 2014–15, more than 5,000 CAS alumni registered for events hosted by the BU Alumni Association, accounting for 25% of all BU alumni event engagement.
Growing Our Capacity and Stewarding Our Resources
BU is in the midst of our first-ever capital campaign. As of June 30th, 2015, CAS has received more than $93,595,000 in gifts from its alumni, parents and friends. Collectively these supporters have made more than 20,000 gifts to the CAS campaign.
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