Faculty Tenure and Promotions on the Charles River Campus
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
President Brown and I are delighted to announce the promotion of 31 faculty members on the Charles River Campus to the rank of Associate Professor with tenure, one to the rank of Professor with tenure, and two to the rank of Associate Professor, non-tenure track.
Each year, these promotions and awards of tenure mark an especially proud moment for the BU community, as we’ve had the pleasure of watching these talented women and men develop from promising junior faculty into teachers and scholars of national impact and recognition. In diverse fields across the University, these faculty members have fulfilled our hopes for them as they began their careers at Boston University. They are having demonstrable impact in their disciplines and excelling as teachers in our classrooms and laboratories. We continue to see great things ahead for them and are pleased they have chosen BU as the institution at which to advance their careers:.
Aaron Beeler, CAS, Chemistry, combines organic chemistry, engineering, and biology to synthesize complex small molecules for use in medicinal chemistry and the treatment of disease. He is a current National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award recipient, is supported by multiple major grants from the NSF, the Department of Defense, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and has authored nearly 50 widely-cited articles in top-level field publications. He is a past recipient of CAS’s Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education and the Thieme Chemistry Journals Award and is regional editor for the Journal of Flow Chemistry. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
James C. Bird, ENG, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering, specializes in fluid dynamics, studying the physical properties of drops and bubbles and their implications for areas as diverse as healthcare, energy, and materials. A past NSF CAREER and Office of Navy Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award winner, he holds three patents, has published extensively in leading scientific and engineering journals, including Nature, and was named this past year to PRISM Magazine’s “20 Under 40” list by the American Association for Engineering Education. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Peter Blake, CAS, Psychological & Brain Sciences, examines the development of children’s cooperative behaviors from early childhood, focusing on the cognitive and social processes – from altruism and fairness to competition – that underlie their interactions around material goods. He has published dozens of articles in premier field journals, including Nature, is a frequently invited speaker at national and international conferences, and has seen his work profiled by The Boston Globe, CBS Boston, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Yuri Corrigan, CAS, Russian & Comparative Literature, studies the intersections of literature, philosophy, religion, and psychology in the literature of late imperial Russia, with a special focus on Chekhov and Dostoevsky. In addition to several book chapters, reviews, and journal articles, he has published a book, Dostoevsky and the Riddle of the Self (2017), with two more titles in development surveying Chekhov’s and Dostoevsky’s influence on contemporary ethical and religious thought. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
David Decosimo, STH, Theology, explores the writings of Thomas Aquinas, Christian ethics, and Christian-Muslim comparative theology, focusing especially on philosophical, theological, and theoretical questions surrounding relations among Christians, Muslims, Jews, and atheists. In addition to numerous journal articles, essays, and book chapters, he has published a book, Ethics as a Work of Charity: Thomas Aquinas and Pagan Virtue (2014), which won the University of Heidelberg’s Manfred Lautenschlaeger Prize for Theological Promise. Two more books examining Christian ethics and domination in Christianity and Islam are in development. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Leslie Dietiker, Wheelock, Mathematics Education, specializes in the study and creation of mathematics curricula and in the professional development of future high school math teachers. A past NSF CAREER Award winner and recipient of the NSF’s Robert Noyce Teaching Scholarship Program award, she is an elected board member of the International Society of the Design and Development of Education, a frequent conference presenter, and has published numerous book chapters and articles in leading mathematics education journals. She is also a past Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators STaR Fellow. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Mary Dunlop, ENG, Biomedical Engineering, researches how microbes use feedback to respond to changes in their environments, focusing primarily on single-cell differences in antibiotic resistance. Considered an emerging leader in the field of synthetic biology, she is a past recipient of the American Chemical Society’s Synthetic Biology Young Investigator Award, has published dozens of articles in top scientific journals, includingScience, and is supported by several major grants from the NSF and NIH. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Theresa Ellis, SAR, Physical Therapy, investigates the effectiveness of rehabilitation and exercise interventions for patients with neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s Disease, focusing additionally on the use of mobile health technologies and behavioral interventions. She is the Director of the BU Center for Neurorehabilitation and the Neurologic Physical Therapy Residency Program, has published eight book chapters and more than 60 articles in leading therapy and scientific journals, and is currently supported by several major grants from the NIH and other organizations. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Daniel Erker, CAS, Spanish and Linguistics, specializes in sociolinguistics, exploring issues of language variation, acoustic and articulatory phonetics, Spanish in the United States, the languages of Latin America, and the evolution of human language. He is the director of the NSF-funded Spanish in Boston Project, has published seven book chapters and numerous articles in top-tier linguistics journals, and is a past recipient of CAS’s Templeton Prize for Excellence in Student Advising. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Jonathan Foltz, CAS, English, specializes in 20th-century British and American literature and film, with particular expertise in Modernism and the relationship between written texts and moving-image media. A frequent conference presenter and guest lecturer, he has authored a book, The Novel After Film: Modernism and the Decline of Autonomy (2018), as well as a book chapter and numerous articles, essays, and film reviews in leading literary publications. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Tal Gross, Questrom, Markets, Public Policy & Law, bridges health economics and health policy through his research, examining the impact of health insurance policy and coverage on labor supply, the utilization of public and private healthcare options, and consumer finance – particularly bankruptcy. He has published over 20 articles in premier economics journals and is a past recipient of the Raymond Vernon Memorial Award for best article in the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Paul Gugliuzza, LAW, specializes in civil procedure, federal courts, and intellectual property law, with particular focus on how patent law is formulated and applied. A past recipient of the School of Law Dean’s Award for Teaching, he is considered among the nation’s top scholars in patent litigation and has authored two book chapters and numerous articles for leading law reviews, including the Emory Law Journal, the Georgetown Law Journal, and the Texas Law Review. He has been promoted to Professor, with tenure.
Karen Hendricks, CFA, Music Education, is a scholar in K-12 music education, with a specialty in stringed instrument instruction. Additionally, she researches issues of power, privilege, and inclusion of marginalized groups in music education. She has published two books, including last year’s Compassionate Music Teaching(2018), six book chapters, and several articles for top music journals and is a past winner of the National Early Career String Researcher Award from the American String Teachers Association. She has been promoted to Associate Professor.
Douglas Holmes, ENG, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science & Engineering, investigates the mechanics, physics, and geometry of slender structures (typically comprising rods, plates, and shells), working to harness material and structural instability for advanced functionality. A past NSF CAREER Award recipient, he is supported by major grants through the NSF and Department of Defense and has published a book chapter and dozens of articles in leading engineering and physics journals. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Ahmad “Mo” Khalil, ENG, Biomedical Engineering, specializes in synthetic and systems biology, researching the function and evolution of molecular networks and how to build handles to control such networks in cells – a field with therapeutic and diagnostic applications. Supported by numerous major federal and private grants, he has published extensively in premier engineering and scientific journals and is a past recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), an NSF CAREER Award, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award, a BU Innovation Career Development Professorship, and ENG’s Outstanding Professor of the Year award. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
John Marston, CAS, Anthropology, studies the long-term sustainability of agriculture and land use, especially in the Mediterranean and western Asia, focusing on how people make decisions about land use within changing economic, social, and environmental settings. A past recipient of CAS’s Gitner Award for Distinguished Teaching and BU’s Peter Paul Career Development Professorship, he has authored two books, including, most recently, Agricultural Sustainability and Environmental Change at Ancient Gordion (2017), alongside dozens of manuscript reviews and articles in leading field publications. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Catherine “Ketty” Nez, CFA, Composition & Music Theory, is an opera composer and pianist, focusing her artistic work most recently on Eastern European folk tales and women’s experiences within these stories. She has published three CDs since arriving at BU, including two through Albany Records, the premier recording label for American music. A frequently invited lecturer at some of the nation’s top music schools, she has received nine commissions from institutions around the world, including in Italy, Macedonia, Hungary, Canada, New York, and Boston, with more than 90 performances of her works globally. She has been promoted to Associate Professor.
Alex Olshevsky, ENG, Electrical & Computer Engineering and Systems Engineering, researches optimization and control, especially in distributed, multi-agent, and networked systems. Supported by numerous major grants from the NSF, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Navy, he is a past NSF CAREER Award and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) Young Investigator Award winner and has published dozens of articles and papers in leading electrical and electronics engineering journals and conference proceedings. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Alexis Peri, CAS, History, specializes in the history of modern Russia and Eastern Europe, particularly the Soviet period, with strong interest in the history of modern warfare, terror and terrorism, women and gender, and the importance of literature in history. In addition to her book, The War Within: Diaries from the Siege of Leningrad (2017), which won the Pushkin House Russian Book Prize and the Southern California Book Prize in Literary and Cultural Studies, she has published four book chapters and three articles in leading Russian history reviews. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Deborah Perlstein, CAS, Chemistry, is a chemical biologist who works to understand the molecular details of how important enzymatic processes function in living systems – in particular, iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis and its role in bacterial cell growth and division. A current NSF CAREER Award recipient, she is supported by two major federal grants, has published more than 20 articles in top biochemistry journals, and has delivered dozens of conference presentations, including several invited talks at prestigious Gordon Conferences in her field. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Anthony Petro, CAS, Religion and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, examines the history of American religion, focusing largely on its intersection with other cultural forms, including sexuality, politics, medicine, and art. He has authored a book, After the Wrath of God: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion (2015), and has two projects in development exploring sex, art, and religion, and the history of religious engagements with U.S. health and disability policy. He has also published six book chapters and three journal articles and won numerous BU-based honors for writing and scholarship in the humanities. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Miloš Popović, ENG, Electrical & Computer Engineering, specializes in silicon chip technology, employing first-principles theory and photonics at the micro- and nanoscale to create integrated systems-on-chip that enable new modes of communication, computation, signal processing, and sensing. A past BU Innovation Career Development Professor and Fellow of the David & Lucille Packard Foundation, he holds 20 U.S. patents, has been supported by several major NSF grants, and has published two book chapters and dozens of conference papers and articles in premier scientific and engineering journals, including Nature. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Simon Rabinovitch, CAS, History, is a scholar of modern Jewish and European history, whose writings examine legal history, Jewish politics in revolutionary Russia, Jewish nationalist thought, and Jewish folkloristics and ethnography. A past recipient of BU’s Peter Paul Career Development Professorship, he has published three books, including Defining Israel: The Jewish State, Democracy, and the Law (2018), along with seven book chapters and several articles in leading history journals. His 2015 book, Jewish Rights, National Rites: Nationalism and Autonomy in Late Imperial and Revolutionary Russia, was named Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association’s Choice magazine. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Scott Robertson, Questrom, Finance, specializes in mathematical finance, focusing on theoretical and practical problems including portfolio choice for long-term horizons, large investor behavior, mortgage-backed securities, and valuation of contingent claims. He has published extensively in top math finance journals, is supported by a major grant from the NSF, and is a past recipient of Questrom’s Broderick Award for Excellence in Teaching. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Darren Roblyer, ENG, Biomedical Engineering, utilizes optical imaging and spectroscopy to study cancer at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels, with the goal of personalizing cancer therapies through continuous monitoring with label-free and safe optical technologies. Widely regarded as a pioneer in this emerging field, he is supported by major grants from the Department of Defense and NSF and is a recent recipient of the American Cancer Society’s Mission Boost Award, as well as BU’s Technology Development Ignition Award and the Coulter Translational Research Partnership Award. He has published three book chapters and dozens of articles in leading biomedical journals. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Christopher Salas-Wright, SSW, Human Behavior, investigates substance use disorders, cultural stress, and adaptation among immigrants, and works to develop prevention and intervention programs to tackle substance abuse and violence among Latino adolescents. Supported by major grants through the NIH, he has published a book, Drug Abuse and Antisocial Behavior: A Biosocial Life-Course Approach (2016), along with nine book chapters and more than 120 articles in high-impact social work journals. He recently received the 2019 Deborah K. Padgett Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Kaija Schilde, Pardee, International Relations, studies the political economy of security and transatlantic security, focusing on issues related to European defense industry policy, spending, and technology, as well as migration, trafficking, and border security. She has published a book, The Political Economy of European Security (2017), along with three book chapters and several articles in leading international relations journals. She is a recent recipient of the Pardee School’s Gitner Family Faculty Excellence Prize. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Trevor Siggers, CAS, Biology, specializes in molecular and computational biology, using integrative biochemical and genomic approaches to study gene regulation in the immune and inflammatory systems. A recent recipient of CAS’s Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education, he has been supported by major NIH and NSF grants and published a book chapter and numerous articles in top scientific journals, includingScience. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Linda Sprague Martinez, SSW, Macro Practice, researches urban community practice, focusing on improving conditions for communities of color suffering disproportionate consequences from a range of social and health problems. She is a past Resident Empowerment Honoree by the Boston Housing Authority, is supported by major grants from the NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services, and has published eight book chapters and 30 articles in leading social work journals. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Amanda Tarullo, CAS, Psychological & Brain Sciences, examines the effects of early experiences, including stress and adversity, on the neural and behavioral development of infants and young children across a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. She was named Outstanding Early Career Psychologist last year by the American Psychological Association, is an elected board member of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology, and is a past recipient of CAS’s Templeton Award for Excellence in Student Advising. She has published extensively in premier psychological journals. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Andrea Vedolin, Questrom, Finance, studies international finance and the effects of uncertainty on asset prices, constructing theoretical models around markets that are then followed by careful empirical analysis. She has published seven articles in some of her fields’ top journals, including Journal of Finance, and is a past recipient of the Mathematical Finance Days Best Paper Award from the Institute of Financial Mathematics in Montreal. She has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Michael Woldemariam, Pardee, International Relations, is a scholar of African politics, focusing on the dynamics of armed conflict, the behavior of rebel organizations and self-determination movements, and post-conflict institution building – largely within the Horn of Africa region. A frequent presenter at international conferences, he has authored a book, Insurgent Fragmentation in the Horn of Africa: Rebellion and Its Discontents (2018), as well as two book chapters and four articles in premier international relations publications, and is a Security Fellow at the Truman National Security Project in Washington, D.C. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Wilson Wong, ENG, Biomedical Engineering, researches synthetic biology, applying new advances in metabolic and immune cell engineering to T-cell therapy for cancer, drug-regulated synthetic gene switches, and biocomputing in mammalian cells. A recent recipient of American Chemical Society Synthetic Biology’s Young Investigator Award and of ENG’s Early Career Research Excellence Award, he is supported by numerous major NSF and NIH grants, holds four patents, and has published two book chapters and dozens of articles in leading scientific journals, including Cell. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Georgios Zervas, Questrom, Marketing, works on problems at the intersection of marketing, computer science, and economics, focusing especially on large-scale empirical studies of internet markets. A computer scientist by training, he has authored several widely-cited articles for top-tier marketing and computer science journals, including Journal of Marketing Research, chronicling issues ranging from Airbnb’s impact on the hotel industry to online reputation management. He is a past recipient of Questrom’s Shadadpuri Research Award. He has been promoted to Associate Professor, with tenure.
Please join us in congratulating these exceptionally talented rising scholars, teachers, and researchers on their recent promotions. The standards of academic excellence across a wide variety of fields that they – and you – continue to achieve herald an incredibly bright future for Boston University as both a research leader and an intellectual home for some of the nation’s finest faculty.
Faculty Tenure and Promotions on the Charles River Campus – 5.17.19