2026 Career Development Professorship Awardees
From Dr. Colin Duckett, Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Each year, Boston University awards Career Development Professorships to several talented early career faculty members emerging as future leaders in their chosen field of study.
This year’s awards are made possible through the generosity of BU Trustee Nathaniel Dalton (LAW’91) and his wife Amy G. Dalton (LAW’91); BU alumna Sylvia Tailby Earl (Wheelock ‘54); BU Trustee Emeritus Richard Reidy (QST’84) and his wife, Minda G. Reidy (QST’82,’84).
The professorships include a three-year, non-renewable research award designed to support research, scholarship, and creative work. In addition, a portion of the recipient’s salary is covered by the award, with funds directed to the recipients’ schools to offset costs. Nominations are submitted by the academic deans, and awardees are selected by the Office of the Provost on an annual basis, with input from a committee of William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professors.
I am pleased to announce this year’s Career Development Professorships and their awardees:
The David R. Dalton Career Development Professorship supports junior faculty members working at the nexus of natural sciences and computational and data sciences.
- Emily Cunningham, assistant professor of astronomy in the College of Arts & Sciences, conducts research that uses observations and simulations of the Milky Way halo to address questions that are fundamental to understanding galaxies and dark matter.
The Innovation Career Development Professorship recognizes those whose translational research is likely to lead to future licensed technology.
- Chang Xiao, assistant professor of computer science in the College of Arts & Sciences, researches human-computer interaction, human-AI interaction, graphics, and AR/VR, particularly at the intersections of these areas, where novel ways of augmenting human capability and interaction can be unlocked.
The Margaret McGuire Earl Career Development Professorship was created to attract and retain early career faculty and support excellence in education at BU’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.
- Michael Chang, assistant professor of language & literacy education in Wheelock College of Education & Human Development, is a learning scientist and computer scientist who envisions AI-supported possibilities for teaching and learning that go outside the dominant, status quo instructional practices of schooling. He builds on ethical, relational, and speculative approaches to participatory design and closely partners with students, their families, and their teachers.
The Reidy Family Career Development Professorship is given to a junior faculty member excelling in the College of Engineering or the Questrom School of Business.
- Shabnam Raayai-Ardakani, assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the College of Engineering, conducts research in the general areas of flow control and passive drag reduction techniques, with focuses on riblet-covered surfaces, and applications of formation flight and group motion. Raayai-Ardakani’s research combines experimental, theoretical, and computational efforts and is mostly inspired by observations from nature and how nature-inspired ideas can be used in fluid/aerodynamic applications.
Please join me in congratulating this year’s Career Development Professorships awardees. We look forward to celebrating their further accomplishments in the years to come.