Robert A. Brown

Last updated

Robert A. Brown
10thPresident of
Boston University
In office
2005 July 31, 2023
Thesis The shape and stability of three-dimensional interfaces  (1979)
Doctoral advisor L. E. Scriven

Robert A. Brown (born July 22, 1951) is a chemical engineer and university administrator. He was the 10th president of Boston University and a former provost of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In 1991, Brown was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering for the application of computing techniques to fundamental and practical problems in fluid mechanics, rheology, and crystal growth.

Contents

Biography

Brown is a chemical engineer by training. A native of San Antonio, Texas, [2] he received his B.S. and M.A. in chemical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and his Ph.D., also in chemical engineering, from the University of Minnesota in 1979. [3]

In 1979, Brown joined the faculty of MIT as an assistant professor, where he worked for 25 years before moving across the Charles River to become the president of Boston University. During his tenure at MIT, he served as the Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering, co-director of the MIT Supercomputer Facility, head of the department of chemical engineering, and dean of engineering. In 1998, he became the provost of MIT.

Brown was selected as the 10th president of Boston University in May 2005. He was inaugurated in September 2005, succeeding Aram V. Chobanian, who served from October 2003 until June 2005.

In January 2006, Brown became an honorary citizen of Singapore for his key role in bringing world-class graduate research and educational programs to Singapore through the creation of collaborations between the National University of Singapore, the Nanyang Technological University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. [4] In February 2006, President George W. Bush appointed Brown to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), a panel established to maintain a steady stream of expert advice from the private sector and the academic community on a wide range of scientific and technical matters. [3] Brown is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a director of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. [5]

Brown served as a member of the board of the Aalto University from 2008-2010. [3] He was honored with the National Academy of Engineering Simon Ramo Founders Award in 2014 for his contributions to engineering and society. [6]

Presidency of Boston University

Under Brown's presidency, Boston University created the Arvind and Chandan Nandlal Kilachand Honors College, a residential honors college for Boston University undergraduates, which was dedicated in 2011, [7] and the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, established in 2014, which combines traditional international relations with faculty in the humanities and social sciences interested in global students, as well as the traditional area studies centers.

In 2013, the university created the Initiative on Cities, with the former Mayor of Boston Thomas Menino as a founding co-director. [8] The IOC focuses on engaging urban leaders, academics, and policy makers to help plan for the development of essential services and sustainable infrastructure necessary for cities to flourish. Following Mayor Menino's death in fall 2014, his legacy was continued through the Annual Menino Survey of Mayors. [9]

The progress of Boston University has been acknowledged in many ways, including improved academic rankings and by bond rating improvements. Most notably, in 2012, Boston University was admitted to the Association of American Universities (AAU), the group of premier public and private research universities in the United States and Canada. [10]

New facilities built during Brown's presidency include:

Many of these initiatives have been driven by the university's first-ever comprehensive fundraising campaign, which was launched in 2012 with the goal of raising $1 billion by the end of 2017. [20] The goal of the campaign was raised to $1.5 billion in September 2015. [21]

Brown retired as President of Boston University on July 31, 2023. [22]

Personal

Brown lives in Brookline with his wife, Beverly Brown, who works at Boston University as director of development, industry at the School of Public Health at Boston University. They have two grown sons. [3]

Awards and honors

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Institute of Technology</span> Research university in California, US

The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advances and is among a small group of institutes of technology in the United States that are devoted to the instruction of pure and applied sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Massachusetts Institute of Technology</span> Private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston University</span> Private university in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodists with its original campus in Newbury, Vermont. It was chartered in Boston in 1869. The university is a member of the Association of American Universities and the Boston Consortium for Higher Education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tufts University</span> Private university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S.

Tufts University is a private research university in Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts, with additional facilities in Boston and Grafton, as well as in Talloires, France. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. Tufts remained a small liberal arts college until the 1970s, when it transformed into a large research university offering several doctorates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technion – Israel Institute of Technology</span> Israeli research university in Haifa

The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a public research university located in Haifa, Israel. Established in 1912 by Jews under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire, the Technion is the oldest university in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agganis Arena</span> Arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Agganis Arena is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, on the campus of Boston University, built on the location of the former Commonwealth Armory. It is home to the five-time national champion Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey team. It is named after Harry Agganis, a football and baseball player for BU. The ice hockey rink is named Jack Parker Rink, after the legendary BU hockey player and coach. The arena is part of Boston University's John Hancock Student Village, which also includes dormitories and the university's five-story Fitness and Recreation Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert S. Langer</span> American scientist

Robert Samuel Langer Jr. FREng is an American biotechnologist, businessman, chemical engineer, chemist, and inventor. He is one of the nine Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manipal Institute of Technology</span> Engineering college in Karnataka, India

Manipal Institute of Technology is a private engineering college under Manipal Academy of Higher Education in India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston University College of Engineering</span> Engineering school of Boston University

The Boston University College of Engineering (ENG) is the engineering school of Boston University. Founded in 1950, it originally started as the New England Aircraft School and was later renamed the College of Engineering in 1963. The college offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in various engineering disciplines, with a wide range of concentrations available. The college also offers a study abroad program for its undergraduate students in Grenoble, Madrid, Sydney, Dublin, Auckland, and Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leo Rafael Reif</span> Venezuelan-born American electrical engineer, writer and academic administrator (born 1950)

Leo Rafael Reif is a Venezuelan American electrical engineer and academic administrator. He previously served as the 17th president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2012 to 2022, provost of the institute from 2005 to 2012, and dean of the institute's EECS department from 2004 to 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JoAnne Stubbe</span> American chemist

JoAnne Stubbe is an American chemist best known for her work on ribonucleotide reductases, for which she was awarded the National Medal of Science in 2009. In 2017, she retired as a Professor of Chemistry and Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subra Suresh</span> Indian-born American academic (born 1956)

Subra Suresh is an Indian-born American engineer, materials scientist, and academic leader. He is currently Professor at Large at Brown University and Vannevar Bush Professor of Engineering Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was Dean of the School of Engineering at MIT from 2007 to 2010 before being appointed as Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) by Barack Obama, where he served from 2010 to 2013. He was the president of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) from 2013 to 2017. Between 2018 and 2022, he was the fourth President of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where he was also the inaugural Distinguished University Professor.

Kristi S. Anseth is the Tisone Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering, an Associate Professor of Surgery, and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her main research interests are the design of synthetic biomaterials using hydrogels, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown University School of Engineering</span> Engineering school of Brown University

The Brown University School of Engineering is the engineering school of Brown University, a private Ivy League research university located in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown's engineering program is the third oldest civilian engineering program in the United States and the oldest undergraduate program in the Ivy League. The School of Engineering is noted for its historically prominent contributions to continuum and applied mechanics, originally led by European émigré researchers in the 20th century. Brown's Division of Engineering was elevated in 2010 to its current status as a school.

Martin (Maish) L. Yarmush is an academic, American scientist, physician, and engineer known for his work in biotechnology and bioengineering. His faculty career began in 1984 at MIT in the Department of Chemical Engineering as a Principal Research Associate and Lucille P. Markey Scholar in Biomedical Science. In 1988 he joined Rutgers University, as Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and a member of the Center of Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine. In 1995, he returned to the Boston area to serve as the Helen Andrus Benedict Professor of Surgery and Bioengineering in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, and to establish the Center for Engineering in Medicine at the Harvard Affiliated Teaching Hospitals. In 2007 he returned to Rutgers to hold the Paul and Mary Monroe Endowed Chair in Science and Engineering and serve as Distinguished Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. He also holds a Lecturer in Surgery and Bioengineering position at Harvard Medical School, and is a member of the Senior Scientific Staff at the Shriners children's hospital in Boston.

Barbara Shinn-Cunningham is an American bioengineer and neuroscientist. She is the founding Director of the Carnegie Mellon University Neuroscience Institute, the George A. and Helen Dunham Cowan Professor of Auditory Neuroscience, and Professor of Psychology, Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering.

Ioannis (Yannis) C. Paschalidis is a professor at Boston University with appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Systems Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Computing & Data Sciences. He serves as the Director of the Center for Information and Systems Engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xin Zhang (engineer)</span>

Xin Zhang is a Distinguished Professor of Engineering at Boston University (BU).

Jean Morrison is an American university academic. She is a professor of earth and environment at Boston University, where, from 2011-2023, she was the university’s provost and chief academic officer - the first woman to be appointed to that role. Prior to joining Boston University, she was executive vice provost for academic affairs and graduate programs at the University of Southern California.

Kenneth Lutchen is a biomedical engineer, researcher, professor, and university leader. He was named university provost and chief academic officer ad interim of Boston University in July 2023.

References

  1. "Beverly Brown". Boston University Office of the President. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  2. Bombardieri, Marcella (March 26, 2007). "At BU, a leader who's all ears". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Biography". Boston University Office of the President. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "The Honorary Citizen Award" . Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  5. "Robert A. Brown". Board of Directors. DuPont. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  6. 1 2 "Robert A. Brown". National Academy of Engineering. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  7. Jahnke, Art (September 23, 2011). "$25 Million Gift Largest in BU History". BU Today. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  8. Jahnke, Art (November 13, 2013). "Menino Lands at BU". BU Today. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  9. "2014 Menino Survey of Mayors". Boston University Initiative on Cities. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  10. "Boston University Joins AAU". Association of American Universities. November 5, 2012. Archived from the original on July 18, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  11. Seligson, Susan (September 18, 2014). "An Esteemed Name for BU's Center for Student Services". BU Today. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  12. Laskowski, Amy (September 19, 2013). "The Games Begin on New Balance Field". BU Today. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  13. "33 Harry Agganis Way". Boston University Housing. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  14. Friday, Leslie (September 24, 2012). "State-of-the-Art Med Student Residence Has It All". BU Today. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  15. "Law School Complex". Boston University School of Law. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  16. "Engineering Product Innovation Center at Boston University's College of Engineering". Boston University College of Engineering. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  17. Seligson, Susan (September 16, 2014). "New Visitor Center Named in Honor of Alan and Sherry Leventhal". BU Today. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  18. Freyer, Felice J. (October 6, 2014). "BU biolab nears OK amid hopes for tackling Ebola, safety concerns". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  19. "Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences & Engineering". BU Facilities Management & Planning. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  20. "BU to launch first University-wide campaign". Campaign for BU. August 10, 2012. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  21. Brown, Joel (September 18, 2015). "Campaign for Boston University Goal Boosted to $1.5 Billion". BU Today. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
  22. "BU Appoints Kenneth Freeman Interim University President as Search Continues". Boston University. May 11, 2023. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
  23. "BU President Honored by CASE". BU Today. February 6, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2016.