Kenneth Lutchen

Dr. Kenneth R. Lutchen, affiliated faculty with the Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS), is Boston University Provost ad interim, former College of Engineering Dean, and Professor, Biomedical Engineering. He has over 150 peer-reviewed journal articles cited over 9,000 times.

Prior to being Dean of the College of Engineering, Dr. Lutchen was Chair of Biomedical Engineering, improving that department’s rankings from 18th to 6th in the nation. As Dean, the College’s Graduate Ranking has improved from 54th to 36th and is ranked 16th among all private universities. He oversaw the creation of new Divisions in Materials Science and Engineering and in Systems Engineering, the creation of a 20,000 sq. ft Engineering Product Innovation Center (EPIC) and a 5000 sq. ft. Bioengineering Technology and Entrepreneurship Center (BTEC), both designed to instill interdisciplinary product design skills throughout engineering education in partnership with industry.

Dr. Lutchen has advanced the concept of “Creating the Societal Engineer” as a foundational principle to prepare students for life-long learning and impact. He has overseen innovations in engineering curricula including creating concentrations in Energy Technologies, Technology Innovation, and Machine Learning and the capacity for all students to learn the fundamentals of data science. He has also published op-ed pieces on academic-business partnership models in Harvard Business Review, Forbes magazine, and Business Insider.

Dr. Lutchen served on the Advisory Committee to the Directorate for Engineering of The National Science Foundation. He is Past-President of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and has served on the Board of Directors of the Biomedical Engineering Society and is currently on the Board of Directors of The Wyss Institute for Bioinspired Engineering at Harvard and for Beta Bionix Inc. He is an elected fellow of the Biomedical Engineering Society and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering. Dr. Lutchen has been the recipient of many awards including the AIMBE Pierre Galletti Award, AIMBE’s highest honor.