Faculty Development
CAS is dedicated to providing its students with the highest caliber of education and is committed to hiring the best and brightest faculty to provide that education. In 2016/17, CAS hired 30 new professors across the humanities and social, natural, and computational sciences. These professors will begin their careers here in the coming year. Seven of this year’s senior hires (associate and full professors) were in the humanities, a testament to our continued dedication to these areas of study and their importance in a well-rounded education for our students. The additional senior hires included professors and associate professors in the areas of biology, chemistry, economics, mathematics & statistics, and a joint CAS-ENG hire in chemistry and electrical & computer engineering. (See Appendix, New CAS Faculty, AY 2017/18.)
This year’s hiring brings great talent and a wealth of experience to CAS. Adriana Craciun, the Emma MacLachlan Metcalf Chair of Humanities and professor of English, brings with her knowledge of 18th- and 19th-century British literature, culture, and critical theory. Her recent research endeavors span a variety of humanities disciplines including science studies, geography, Arctic humanities, and the history of the book and of authorship. She is an accomplished writer and editor and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK), the Fulbright Program, and the National Maritime Museum (UK).
Emily Whiting, assistant professor of computer science, also joins CAS this fall, bringing her expertise in the area of computer graphics with a focus on architectural geometry, computer-aided design, and 3D fabrication. She holds degrees from Dartmouth College, MIT, and the University of Toronto, and her innovative research has been supported through a Marie Curie/ETHZ Fellowship, as well as by the National Science Foundation. She has been featured in a TEDx talk and on a PBS NOVA special.
In addition to our impressive new hires, CAS also promoted 12 faculty members to full professor and 11 to associate professor with tenure. (See Appendix, Promoted, Tenured, and Retired Faculty, AY 2016/17.)
It is not enough just to hire great faculty; we also work hard to provide them with opportunities to grow as teachers and researchers. Among other things, this year we developed new mid-career faculty mentoring workshops, supported a digital humanities seminar through the BU Center for the Humanities for faculty and graduate students, and promoted a record number of lecturers to senior lecturer ranks.
Diversity
Diversity continues to be a priority both at BU and at CAS. Diversity in background, like diversity in thought, is crucial to superior education and groundbreaking research. This past spring, we launched a faculty committee to develop a Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan for CAS that will offer a comprehensive vision addressing faculty and staff diversity, the climate for diversity, the need for governance, and the diversity of our students and curricula.
Awards and Recognition
The high caliber of CAS faculty is evident both inside and outside the classroom. Each year, CAS faculty are the recipients of numerous prestigious awards and honors for their cutting-edge research and exceptional contributions to scholarship in their respective fields. These awards are a testament not only to the quality of our faculty but also to the impact that our faculty has both inside and outside the classroom.
CAS faculty members are also exemplary in their roles as educators—for the innovation, passion, and commitment with which they approach their craft. As such, several CAS faculty members have been honored for their teaching this year, including Azer Bestavros, professor of computer science, and Bonnie Costello, professor of English, who both received the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professorship, the highest distinction bestowed upon senior faculty members at BU. Additionally, Amber Navarre, senior lecturer of world languages & literatures, was the recipient of the Gitner Award for Innovation in Teaching with Technology.
Here is a sampling of the other awards and honors received by CAS faculty in 2016/17:
Biology: Thomas Gilmore, associate chair of biology, was awarded two grants to support undergraduate research at BU. The first is a four-year NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates Award, which will support the summer research of about 10 students per year in biology department labs. The second is a Beckman Scholars Program Grant, a highly prestigious three-year grant from the Arnold & Mabel Beckman Foundation that will support six BU undergraduates for two full years of research in labs of faculty mentors in biology, chemistry, or biomedical engineering.
Biology: Associate Professor Tim Gardner was recruited to start a neuroscience company founded by Elon Musk. The company, Neuralink, is developing ultra-high-bandwidth brain-machine interfaces to connect humans and computers.
Biology: Assistant Professor Jennifer Talbot received the Dr. Patricia McLellan Award for 2017. This award is given to a non-tenured junior faculty member, who has also demonstrated a commitment to encouraging women to study science, in support of her research. Talbot will use the funds to support her female students in presenting their research on understanding how soil microorganisms cycle energy and elements through the biosphere at national and international conferences this summer.
Chemistry: Assistant Professor Ksenia Bravaya received a three-year grant from the National Science Foundation’s Chemical Theory, Models and Computational Methods (MTMC) division to pursue her research into metastable electronic states.
Computer Science: Stan Sclaroff, associate dean of the faculty of mathematical & computational sciences and professor of computer science, was recognized for his exceptional record of accomplishments by two different organizations. He was named to the 2017 class of fellows of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and was also elected as a 2016 fellow of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR).
Earth & Environment: Dr. Farouk El-Baz, director of the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing, was elected to the prestigious committee of the TWAS-Lenovo Science Prize.
Economics: Assistant Professor Samuel Bazzi received an Excellence Award in Global Economic Affairs for 2017 from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, in Kiel, Germany. Bazzi’s research covers diverse topics such as how income growth in poor countries affects international migration, the role of recruiter intermediaries in facilitating international labor mobility, the importance of migrants’ skill transferability for regional economic development, and the effect of trade liberalization on labor reallocation across firms.
English: Chair and Professor Maurice Lee was awarded a 2017–18 fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. He will work on a book titled Overwhelming Words: Literature, Aesthetics, and the 19th-Century Information Revolution, about how 19th-century authors responded to—and participated in—the challenge of information overload.
History: Bruce Schulman, William E. Huntington Professor of History, won a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant will allow him to complete his forthcoming book, a volume of the Oxford History of the United States covering the years 1896 to 1929.
History: Associate Professor Jonathan Zatlin was named the 2017 Leonard Mellman Distinguished Lecturer at Temple University. His lecture, “Expropriating the Elderly: Eichmann and Theresienstadt,” dealt with a scheme concocted by the infamous Adolf Eichmann to rob and murder elderly German Jews.
History of Art & Architecture: Professor Ross Barrett received the 13th Annual Frost Essay Award from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The award was given to Barrett for his article, “Bursting the Bubble: John Quidor’s ‘Money Diggers’ and Land Speculation,” which appeared in the spring 2016 issue of American Art. Read more.
Mathematics/Neuroscience: Nancy Kopell, professor of mathematics and William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, won the Swartz Prize for Theoretical and Computational Neuroscience from the Society for Neuroscience. Kopell received the award in recognition of her pioneering and influential role in computational neuroscience, as well as for her strong collaborating and mentoring practices.
Mathematics & Statistics: Jennifer Balakrishnan was awarded a prestigious Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professorship for 2016–2022, which supports the research of women scholars in STEM-related fields.
Physics: Assistant Professor Kirill Korolev received a 2017 Cottrell Scholar Award to investigate the benefits of chirality—a type of morphological asymmetry—in the microbial world. Korolev and colleagues will study competition between strains of cells with different chiralities with the aim of understanding the origin and role of these puzzling phenomena. Korolev will also develop a new course in modeling, nonequilibrium physics, and biophysics at Boston University.
Physics: Liam Fitzpatrick, assistant professor, was named a 2017 Sloan Research Fellow for his research on quantum field theory as it relates to particle physics, cosmology, quantum gravity, and material science.
Political Science: Assistant Professor Rosella Cappella Zielinski received the Robert L. Jervis and Paul W. Schroeder Best Book Award from the International History and Political Science Section of the American Political Science Association for her book How States Pay for Wars.
Sociology: Professor Joseph Harris has been awarded a 2017–18 Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research in Thailand for a project on the global diffusion of public health policies in the areas of HIV prevention, pharmaceutical access, and tobacco control, among others. He is the author of a forthcoming book from Cornell University Press titled Achieving Access: Professional Movements and the Politics of Health Universalism.
Annual Report 2016/2017
From the Dean
The 2016/17 academic year was an exciting one for the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. We made tremendous progress on important fronts, including working to increase faculty and student diversity, providing enhanced experiential educational opportunities, expanding our research impact, and enhancing our academic programs.
Improving Undergraduate Education
Providing a world-class undergraduate education is no easy task, but at CAS it is part of our core mission. In 2016/17 we made curricular improvements, launched new career preparation programs, increased access to our world-class education, and gave our students a space to call their own, the CAS Think Tank.
Strengthening Graduate Education
The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences’ evolution continued in and out of the classroom, with a 10% increase in master’s applications in 2016/17 and continued high PhD acceptance rates affirming the strength of our programs.
Enhancing a World-Class Faculty
The quality of CAS’ academics and research depends on the quality of its faculty, and so we work hard to hire the best and brightest. In 2016/17, CAS hired 30 new professors across the humanities and the social, natural, and computational sciences.
Conducting Pathbreaking Research
Discoveries and innovations at CAS helped put BU at 32nd on the list of U.S. News & World Report’s top research universities in the world. Our faculty earned numerous prestigious awards and grants, helping to advance human understanding in the fields of biogeoscience, religion, computer science, and biology, just to name a few.
Building Our Future Together
In 2016/17, the seventh year of the Campaign for Boston University, numerous alumni, friends, and parents have helped to raise $121.6 million for CAS—far exceeding our aggressive goal of $100 million.
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