Founding Director of the Hariri Institute Featured in BU Today
Azer Bestavros, the founding director of the Hariri Institute of Computing at Boston University is now ready to take the helm as the Associate Provost for Computing and Data Science (CDS) at Boston University. Talking about his journey on becoming a William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and his utmost zeal for the field, BU Today shares his story in the article titled “Game Changer: Azer Bestavros’ Journey from Egypt to Cambridge to BU’s Computing Mastermind” published on March 4th, 2020.
Bestavros was first introduced to computers in December 1977, when the 16-year-old junior asked for career advice from his uncle. This spark was further ignited when he received an Apple II as a gift from his father a couple of years later and as Bestavros says, “The rest is history”. In 1987, Bestavros joined Harvard University to pursue a Ph.D. in Computer Science which was the start of his 30 years of research experience in the field.
In the spring of 1991, he joined Boston University as a junior professor where he was a part of the internet research community. Through the years and different teaching and administrative positions, Bestavros was appointed founding director of the Hariri Institute for Computing, BU’s first institutional effort to use computational and data-driven inquiry in creative ways to solve real-world problems. Under his leadership, the institute housed several initiatives and secured over $110 million extramural funding by the year 2019.
“Technology is not creative, people are creative” – Azer Bestavros
Now, as the Associate Provost of CDS, Bestavros looks forward to the challenges that come with the job. He will be responsible to extend the boundaries of the data-driven contributions made by faculty and students at Boston University. This multidisciplinary initiative will connect faculties across all 17 schools and colleges of Boston University.