Research Revealed: New Vice President for Research, Campus Climate Lab, and More
Spotlight
New Vice President for Research Emphasizes Convergence to Drive BU’s Research Growth and Impact
Boston University has appointed pioneering biomedical engineer and higher education leader Kenneth Lutchen as its new vice president and associate provost for research. Lutchen’s top priority is to identify strategic areas and cross-disciplinary strengths that can sustain BU’s research impact in a rapidly changing funding landscape.
As Global Challenges Evolve, BU Experts Gather to Rethink Security
In a world marked by climate change, migration, and shifting health landscapes, the concept of security is more complex than ever. On Tuesday, September 16, BU researchers will come together for a Research on Tap event to explore how these issues intersect with traditional security concerns. The event will highlight the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in addressing today’s most pressing global challenges, and invite conversations that could shape future research and policy.
Research Funding
Patient-Centered Research Funding Opportunities
Boston University Foundation Relations and Boston Medical Center’s Strategic Research Growth invite members of the BU/BMC research communities to a co-hosted webinar on funding opportunities available from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Presenters include PCORI Program Officer Mandy Rounds, PhD, and Megan Bair-Merritt, MD, MSCE, chief scientific officer of Boston Medical Center Health System. Register here.
PCORI supports patient-centered comparative effectiveness research, awarding up to $12 million plus 40% indirect costs. On October 1 at 12 pm, participants will learn about PCORI’s priorities, application process, and expectations for stakeholder engagement.
Save the date: On October 16 at 2 pm, interested faculty are invited to attend “PCORI 101,” a one-hour follow up session also co-hosted by the Boston Medical Center’s Strategic Research Growth and Boston University Foundation Relations. (Details to follow.)
Sustainability Research Funding for Student-Mentor Teams
Advance sustainability and climate solutions using the BU campuses as your living lab. Teams made up of students and their faculty, staff, or graduate student mentors are invited to submit research proposals for the fall 2025 round of Campus Climate Lab funding by September 19 at 3 pm.
Funding is awarded up to $10,000, including student stipends and research supplies.
Funding for Life Sciences Innovation and Health Equity
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center is now accepting applications for its 2026 funding programs to support innovation, research, and health equity in the life sciences ecosystem.
Extensive Database for Funding Across Disciplines
BU offers all faculty and staff a free subscription to Pivot-RP, a database updated daily with federal, non-federal, foundation, and private funding opportunities in every discipline. With the BU subscription, members can save search criteria and receive weekly updates on new and upcoming funding opportunities. Learn how to set up your account and get started on the Office of Research website.
More Funding OpportunitiesGrant Management
Updated Proposal Summary Form
Sponsored Programs has issued a revised Proposal Summary Form. Key updates include a new voluntary uncommitted cost share field for Charles River Campus National Institutes of Health (NIH) training/fellowship grants, updated IT requirements and contact emails, revised certification language to reflect CITI Research Security training, and added signature lines to better support multi-PI projects.
NIH Policy Updates
The NIH has released important updates on several key topics, including promoting fairness and originality in research applications, updated guidance for foreign subawards on active projects, requirements for inclusion of women and minorities in clinical research, and new flexibilities for registering and reporting prospective basic experimental studies with human participants.
More Grant ManagementEthics & Compliance
Preserve Valuable Mouse Strains
BU’s Mouse Assisted Reproductive Technology (MART) Core maintains a large repository of frozen sperm and embryo collections for the research community that can be revived anytime to generate live mice. MART core staff are experienced in collecting mouse sperm, recovery of unfertilized and fertilized eggs, conducting in-vitro fertilization and embryo transfer.
Enhance Patient and Participant Privacy
Recent U.S. federal actions and proposals have raised privacy concerns among our researchers and research participants. Researchers are encouraged to revisit their study materials, methods and procedures to enhance the rights and welfare of research participants.
More Research ComplianceCollaboration and Impact
Make Your Media Interviews More Powerful and Memorable
A virtual workshop on Thursday, October 16 will equip BU researchers with tools to sharpen their message and communicate with clarity and confidence. Participants will learn how to craft strategic, compelling key messages that resonate with non-expert audiences using customized frameworks tailored to their unique research or projects.
Recognizing Innovation with Real-World Impact
Technology Development is now accepting nominations for the 2025 Innovator of the Year Award, which recognizes a faculty member whose research has led to innovations with demonstrated or potential societal impact.
The award highlights translational research efforts that extend beyond the lab, resulting in products, services, or technologies protected by BU intellectual property. Faculty, staff, and students are invited to submit nominations by Monday, November 1. Self-nominations are welcome.
More Collaboration and ImpactNotes & News
The NIH awarded a $15.3 million grant to the CTE Center to help researchers diagnose the progressive brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in the living.
Professor Robert Davey, Virology, Immunology & Microbiology (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine), was named interim director of BU’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories.
Professor Lynne Allen, Art, Printmaking (CFA); Professor Louis Chude-Sokei, English (CAS); Professor Merav Opher, Astronomy (CAS); Professor Anders W. Sandvik, Physics (CAS); Professor Bruce J. Schulman, History (CAS); and Professor Quinn Slobodian, International History (Pardee) were awarded Guggenheim Fellowships.
Assistant Professor Kirsten Austad, Family Medicine (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine) was named the National Academy of Medicine’s 2025-2027 James C. Puffer, MD/American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) Fellow.
Assistant Professor Kayhan Batmanghelich, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG), was awarded a $3.1 million competitive renewal grant from the National Institute of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to continue his research on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Assistant Professor Jacob Brown, Political Science (CAS), became the first BU faculty member to win an Andrew Carnegie Fellowship, for his research in political homogeneity and understanding the roots of political partisan segregation and its consequences.
Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs Kathleen Corriveau, Applied Human Development (Wheelock) received nearly $2 million from the Templeton World Charity Foundation to launch an international study of how children’s beliefs form and change, with the goal of providing new insights into polarization.
Associate Professor Chuanhua Duan, Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science & Engineering (ENG), was elected a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Associate Professor Hui Feng, Pharmacology, Physiology & Biophysics (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine), and Professor Venetia (Vanna) Zachariou, Physiology & Biophysics (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine), were awarded $2.1 million from the NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences to fund their five-year, T32 grant project, “Training in Biomolecular Pharmacology.”
Professor Iván Fernández-Val, Economics (CAS), was appointed co-editor of the Royal Economic Society’s The Econometrics Journal.
Associate Professor Christina Lee, Clinical Practice (SSW), was awarded the Dora Goldstein Diversity in the Sciences Award by the Research Society of Alcohol for her research demonstrating that addressing stigma improves treatment outcomes for marginalized groups.
Assistant Professor Rachel Nolan’s, International History (Pardee), book Until I Find You: Disappeared Children and Coercive Adoptions from Guatemala, was named a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the General Nonfiction category.
Clinical Associate Professor Ashwini Ranade, Health Policy & Health Services Research (GSDM), became the inaugural recipient of an award from the Dr. Jonathan D. Shenkin, DDS, MPH Research Fund.
Professor Vickery Trinkaus-Randall, Biochemistry & Cell Biology (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine), and Associate Professor Steven Craig Borkan, Medicine, Nephrology (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine) received a Medical Science Training Program Award worth $1.6 million over five years, to recruit, train and inspire four or more MD/PhD students per year to become clinician scientists.
Professor Xin Zhang, Mechanical Engineering (ENG), received the 2025 Thomas A. Edison Patent Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers for her pioneering contributions to the field of metamaterials.
Mark Your Calendar
Trainings & How-to
- 9/25: Research in Action: Making a Local Impact with Boards and Commissions
- 10/1: Meet the Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute
- 10/16: Strategic Communications: From Complexity to Clarity
Seminars & Events
- 9/16: Research on Tap: Global Security in an Interconnected World
- 9/26: Small Island States in an Uncertain Global Economy
- 10/15: Research on Tap: AI for Life Sciences
- 10/23: Research on Tap: Parkinson’s Disease: From Bench to Bedside and Beyond