2016-2017 Career Development Professorship Awardees
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Each year, Boston University has the pleasure of recognizing a handful of talented junior faculty who are emerging as future leaders within their respective fields with the award of Career Development Professorships.
Promising junior faculty who have been at BU for less than two years and who have held no prior professorships are eligible to be nominated for these awards by their Deans. These awards are made possible through the generous support of BU Trustees Peter Paul, Stuart Pratt and his wife Elizabeth, and Richard Reidy and his wife Minda; BU Overseer Ruth Moorman and her husband Sheldon Simon; the estates of BU School of Medicine alumnus Ralph Edwards and Isabel and Larz Anderson; and a donor who wishes to remain anonymous.
The awards highlight the caliber, potential, and continued vitality of Boston University’s diverse faculty and include a three-year, non-renewable stipend designed to support scholarly or creative work, as well as a portion of the recipients’ salaries. Peter Paul Career Development Professorships are awarded University-wide while the Stuart and Elizabeth Pratt Career Development Professorship highlights excellence within the College of Arts & Sciences. The Reidy Family Career Development Professorship recognizes faculty members in the College of Engineering and the Questrom School of Business and the Ralph Edwards Career Development Professorship is focused specifically within the School of Medicine.
We are excited this year to present three new Career Development Professorships. The Moorman-Simon Interdisciplinary Career Development Professorship recognizes a faculty member who is conducting truly interdisciplinary work and either holds or has the potential to hold appointments in multiple schools and colleges at BU. The Isabel Anderson Career Development Professorship supports the scholarship of a faculty member in the Questrom School of Business, and the University Provost’s Career Development Professorship, sponsored through an anonymous donation, advances the participation and success of women in the field of data science.
This year’s Career Development Professorship recipients have all been cited for their extraordinary accomplishments in their areas of study, their passion for the creation and transmission of knowledge, their efforts to enhance the student experience, and, most importantly, for their potential to develop into outstanding faculty members. I am delighted to announce that this year’s Career Development Professors are:
Peter Paul Career Development Professorship
- Charles Chang
Assistant Professor of Linguistics, College of Arts & Sciences
Charles Chang’s research explores language acquisition, focusing on the ways in which individuals’ native languages both influence, and are influenced by, the phonological systems of heritage or later learned languages. He is a graduate of Harvard University and received his doctorate and Master’s in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as an Master of Philosophy in English and Applied Linguistics from the University of Cambridge. - Daniel Cifuentes
Assistant Professor of Biochemistry, School of Medicine
A biochemist and developmental biologist, Daniel Cifuentes examines the early stages of embryo formation and the role of RNA during this period, using research on zebrafish to yield new insights into basic mechanisms of development. He is a graduate of the University of Barcelona (Spain), where he also received his doctorate in Biochemistry. He completed his postdoctoral training at Yale University. - Arturo Vegas
Assistant Professor of Chemistry, College of Arts & Sciences
Arturo Vegas uses his research in synthetic chemistry to develop novel chemical tools, materials, and approaches for targeting therapeutics to diseased tissues, with an emphasis on cancer and diabetes. He holds a doctorate in Chemistry from Harvard University and received his Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Cornell University.
Stuart and Elizabeth Pratt Career Development Professorship
- Jerry Chen
Assistant Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences
Jerry Chen’s research in neuroscience uses the sensory input from the whiskers in mice to study the relationship between local circuits and long-range networks in the neocortex and better understand the central nervous system in mammals. He received his doctorate in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his Bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Reidy Family Career Development Professorship
- John Ngo
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
John Ngo’s translational research bridges cell biology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology to develop new tools for managing biomolecules in living cells and organisms and reveal new insights into cellular function and disease. A graduate of the University California, Santa Barbara, he received his doctorate in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the California Institute of Technology.
Ralph Edwards Career Development Professorship
- Joshua Campbell
Assistant Professor of Medicine (Computational Biomedicine), School of Medicine
Using bioinformatics, Joshua Campbell’s research in DNA and RNA sequencing works to help detect and treat lung cancer and COPD at an earlier stage by identifying unique genomic mutations and then targeting them with novel therapies. He received his doctorate in Bioinformatics from Boston University and his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Biology from Anderson (IN) University. He completed his postdoctoral training at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.
Moorman-Simon Interdisciplinary Career Development Professorship
- Keith Brown
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering
Assistant Professor of Physics, College of Arts & Sciences
An expert in manufacture and transport processes at the nanoscale, Keith Brown focuses his multidisciplinary research on soft materials – liquids, polymers, emulsions, and gels – and how their makeup affects the way light, heat, electrons, and molecules can move through a system. He received his doctorate and Master’s degrees in Physics from Harvard University, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Isabel Anderson Career Development Professorship
- Marcus Bellamy
Assistant Professor of Operations & Technology Management, Questrom School of Business
Marcus Bellamy’s research in supply chain management uses analytics and visualization techniques to help businesses reveal and understand clusters, patterns, trends, and outliers of supply chain innovation not necessarily identified through traditional methods. He received his doctorate and Master’s degree, respectively, in Operations Management and Industrial & Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico.
University Provost’s Career Development Professorship
- Jessica Simes
Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences
Jessica Simes’s research merges studies of urban inequality and poverty with computational thinking, using innovative data-analysis techniques to better understand the widespread mass incarceration concentrated in disadvantaged communities. A graduate of Occidental College, she holds a doctorate and Master’s degree in Sociology from Harvard University.
Please join me in congratulating these talented educators for this achievement, and in wishing them the best of luck with their teaching and research in the years ahead.
2016-2017 Career Development Professorship Awardees – 9.14.16