{"id":64284,"date":"2022-11-28T14:28:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-28T19:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/?post_type=r_cas_magazine&p=64284"},"modified":"2022-12-05T12:43:50","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T17:43:50","slug":"digging-into-knowledge","status":"publish","type":"r_cas_magazine","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/arts-sciences\/fall-2022\/digging-into-knowledge\/","title":{"rendered":"Digging Into Knowledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Archaeology professor David Carballo (second from left) gave Mark Mobius (CFA\u201958, COM\u201959) (second from right) a tour of his Mexico excavation. Photo courtesy of David Carballo<\/p>\n

By Sydney Gross<\/p>\n

When Mark Mobius gets curious about something, he digs in\u2014traveling to a new place and learning all that he can. That could mean the consumer clothing industry in Turkey, the electronics business in Taiwan, the medical business in China, the construction materials business in India, or, most recently, archaeology in the Americas.<\/p>\n

Mobius (CFA\u201958, COM\u201959), a financial industry pioneer and founding partner of Mobius Capital Partners, recently gave $1 million to establish the Mark Mobius Student Research and Travel Endowment Fund at the College of Arts & Sciences. The permanently endowed fund will support research and fieldwork conducted by undergraduate and graduate archaeology students.<\/p>\n

\u201cArchaeology in the Americas has not gotten as much support as it deserves. So much is undiscovered and misunderstood,\u201d says Mobius, former executive chair of the Templeton Emerging Markets Group, where he spent more than 30 years investing around the world. \u201cYou have to understand history in order to understand human behavior, how to avoid the mistakes we made in the past. The work BU archaeologists are doing is adding to our historical body of knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mobius\u2019 generous gift invests in emerging archaeologists, enabling students to travel to digs and conduct lab or fieldwork and giving them important hands-on learning experiences.<\/p>\n

\"Daniela
Daniela Hern\u00e1ndez Sari\u00f1ana (GRS\u201923,\u201923) shows Mark Mobius a lab during his tour of David Carballo\u2019s excavation in Mexico. Photo courtesy of David Carballo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTravel and field studies are expensive, and we think it is essential that every student who wants to engage in archaeological fieldwork be able to do so, not just those who are able to afford it,\u201d says David Carballo<\/a>, a professor of archaeology, anthropology, and Latin American studies and assistant provost for general education. \u201cMark\u2019s generous gift helps us to address a critical need in a way that allows for more equitable student engagement with the human past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gift will be transformational in its ability to assist the next generation of archaeological professionals,\u201d says John M. Marston<\/a>, an associate professor of archaeology and anthropology and director of the BU Archaeology Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mobius didn\u2019t study archaeology. He came to BU on scholarship as a theater major, then studied the psychology of communication at the College of Communication. He went on to earn a PhD in economics from MIT. As an investor, Mobius continues to study. \u201cI read a lot of history, because when I\u2019m investing, history plays a very important role. You have to know the background of the people, the background of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

From his investment work in the Middle East and Asia, he knew about the scholarship of BU archaeologists in Egypt, but was curious about work in other geographic areas. When he learned from BU President Robert A. Brown about Carballo\u2019s archaeological excavations in Mexico, he decided to support emerging research in the department.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it would be a great opportunity to give back,\u201d he says. \u201cYou should follow in the footsteps of other people who have given and give in the way that it makes sense, for the University and the students.\u201d<\/p>\n

In July, Mobius did what he always does when he\u2019s curious: he took a trip, this time to Carballo\u2019s excavation in Mexico. He toured an underground passageway, where students found remains of a major ritual deposit and visited the field lab, where they are analyzing pottery, bones, and rocks recovered from the excavations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was terrific,\u201d says Mobius. \u201cThe students thanked me for my help and I thanked them for their work. I think what they\u2019re doing is incredibly important. The work that they\u2019re doing is adding to our body of knowledge. I\u2019m excited to be part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archaeology professor David Carballo (second from left) gave Mark Mobius (CFA\u201958, COM\u201959) (second from right) a tour of his Mexico […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":64287,"template":"","department":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/64284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/r_cas_magazine"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/64284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64927,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/magazine-articles\/64284\/revisions\/64927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"r_cas_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=64284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}