Promotions

Introducing the Newest Charles River Campus Associate Professors

Promotions for faculty from CAS, CFA, COM, ENG, Pardee, Questrom, Sargent, SSW, and STH

The 27 Charles River Campus faculty recently promoted to associate professor are “scholars of national impact and recognition,” says Jean Morrison, Boston University provost and chief academic officer. Photo by Above Summit for Boston University Photography

What do a biologist studying how human diseases alter gene expression, a philosophy scholar specializing in Aristotle’s views on knowledge, a sociologist focusing on how religion shapes politics and collective well-being, and a researcher combining advances in robotics and other fields to design rehabilitation treatments for patients with neuromotor impairments all have in common? They are among the 27 faculty on Boston University’s Charles River Campus who have recently been promoted to the rank of associate professor, including 25 with tenure.

“We have had the pleasure of watching these talented colleagues develop from promising junior faculty into teachers and scholars of national impact and recognition,” Jean Morrison, provost and chief academic officer, wrote in a letter sent to BU faculty announcing the promotions. “In fields as diverse as the natural, health, and social sciences, the arts, history, engineering, economics, and communication, these faculty members have fulfilled the promise we saw in them as they began their careers at Boston University.”

Promoted to associate professor, with tenure: 

Paula Austin, College of Arts & Sciences associate professor of history and African American studies, specializes in African American history, urban history, and the history of racism, gender, childhood, and the social sciences. She has authored an acclaimed book, 2019’s Coming of Age in Jim Crow DC: Navigating the Politics of Everyday Life, and numerous articles in top journals, including The Black Scholar, examining the inner lives, intellectual insights, and political impulses of poor and working-class young Black people in Depression-era, racially segregated Washington, D.C. She is a recent recipient of the history department’s Gitner Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and this past year was a junior faculty fellow with the BU Center for the Humanities.

Andrew Bell, CAS associate professor of Earth and environment, uses surveys and field experiments—drawing on geography, economics, and complex systems theory—to better understand decision-making around natural resource management, agricultural development, migration, and rural livelihoods. He is a lead or co-PI (principal investigator) on several major grants from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Agency for International Development examining environmental governance and the drivers of change in land and water systems in Malawi, among other places. He is on the editorial boards of several field publications, including Ecology and Society, and has published two book chapters and over 60 articles in leading environmental journals, including Nature and Environmental Research Letters.

Anushya Chandran, CAS associate professor of physics, is a condensed matter theorist whose research focuses on many-body theory, non-equilibrium systems, critical dynamics, and strongly correlated phases of matter. An NSF CAREER Award winner, she is recognized as a rising leader in the field of quantum science and engineering, with recent, federally funded work exploring the description of thermalization and localization in interacting quantum systems as well as the dynamics of periodically driven systems. She is regularly invited to present at conferences and has authored or coauthored 46 articles in leading physics publications.

Jerry Chen, CAS associate professor of biology, is a neuroscientist whose research combines large-scale in vivo imaging with molecular and genetic tool sets in awake-behaving animals to better understand the central nervous system and the neural mechanisms underlying perception and abstraction. He is a past Stuart and Elizabeth Pratt Career Development Professor at BU and his research—which includes using the sensory input from the whiskers in mice—is supported by several major National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants. He has published a book chapter and over 20 articles in high-impact scientific journals, including Nature, Science, and Nature Neuroscience.

Juan Fuxman Bass, CAS associate professor of biology, is a molecular systems biologist who studies gene regulatory networks and how these networks are altered in human disease and by infection with pathogens. His NIH-funded research uses cutting-edge approaches, including metabolic modeling and massively parallel reporter assays, to improve understanding of viral infection and human cancer. He is a recent recipient of the Keystone Symposia Early Career Investigator Award and the Milstein Young Investigator Award from the International Cytokine & Interferon Society and has published over 30 papers in premier scientific journals, including Cell, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and Genome Research.

Marc Gasser-Wingate, CAS associate professor of philosophy, is a scholar of classical philosophy, specializing in the theoretical and practical philosophy of Aristotle. His work focuses on Aristotle’s views of perception, both in the scientific understanding of knowledge and in virtue. He is a past recipient of the CAS Gitner Award for Distinguished Teaching, serves as his department’s director of undergraduate studies, and has authored a monograph, 2021’s Aristotle’s Empiricism, alongside several articles in top philosophical publications, including Journal of the History of Philosophy.

Christopher Grant, CAS associate professor of physics, is a particle physicist whose experimental research seeks to develop greater understanding of neutrinos—chargeless particles produced by radioactivity (including from nuclear reactors, cosmic rays, and fusion reactions in stars) that are considerably smaller than electrons and believed to carry secrets behind the existence of matter in the early universe. His research is supported by multiple grants from the NSF and the US Department of Energy (DOE), and he has published over 50 papers in leading physics journals, including Physical Review Letters and Journal of High Energy Physics.

Saida Grundy, CAS associate professor of sociology and African American studies, specializes in the sociologies of race and gender, focusing on formations and ideologies of gender and racialization within the Black middle class—specifically men. Her work examines masculinity and social justice capitalism, racialized rape culture, and bridging hegemonic masculinity theories to improve public understanding of campus sexual assault. She is a past recipient of the CAS Neu Family Award for Excellence in Teaching and has recently authored a book, 2022’s Respectable: Politics and Paradox in Making the Morehouse Man, along with a book chapter and numerous articles and essays in top field publications and magazines, including Social Problems and The Atlantic.

Joseph McGuire, CAS associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, is a neuroscientist whose research examines the cognitive mechanisms that enable people to make well-calibrated decisions in complex environments, including situations of delay, uncertainty, and volatility. His NIH- and Simons Foundation–supported work employs behavioral experiments, eye tracking, computational models, and functional MRI to study how decision processes are implemented in the human brain. He has published four book chapters and over 20 peer-reviewed papers and articles in high-impact psychology journals, including Journal of Experimental Psychology and Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience.

Robert Reinhart, CAS associate professor of psychological and brain sciences, examines the breakdown of visual perception and cognition due to normal aging and neuropsychiatric diseases (including schizophrenia) to develop novel, drug-free interventions to help slow, stop, or reverse brain disorders. His NIH-supported research was recognized last year with the Science & PINS Prize for Neuromodulation from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was also named to the Altmetric Top 100 in 2019, ranking in the top 0.007 percent of most-discussed research articles that year. He has published 33 peer-reviewed articles in premier medical and neuroscience journals, including Nature Neuroscience and Nature Medicine.

Pascual Restrepo, CAS associate professor of economics, is a macroeconomist whose research explores the implications of new technologies, such as automation, for labor markets, wages, inequality, the distribution of income, and growth. Recent NSF-sponsored empirical work has investigated the impact of industrial robots on US labor markets and how aging and shortages of labor induce firms to automate their production process. He is a faculty research fellow with the National Bureau of Economic Research and has received several excellence-in-refereeing awards from top field publications, including American Economic Review. A frequent conference presenter, he has published 12 refereed journal articles in premier economics outlets, including Journal of Labor Economics and Review of Economic Studies.

Andrew Robichaud, CAS associate professor of history, is a scholar of US history, who specializes in studies of 19th-century America, including urban, environmental, political, and animal history, as well as the history of Boston. He has authored an acclaimed book, 2019’s Animal City: The Domestication of America, with another forthcoming volume examining the history of ice and the ice trade in 19th-century America. He is a past recipient of the Michael Katz Award for Best Dissertation in Urban History from the Urban History Association and has received a featured review in American Historical Review and been the subject of a dedicated forum on H-Net. He has additionally published two book chapters, four book reviews, and two articles in top journals, including Environmental History.

Merav Shohet, CAS professor of anthropology, is a sociocultural anthropologist whose work focuses on medical, linguistic, and psychological topics among Vietnamese, North American, and Israeli populations. Recent work has examined end-of-life care in changing kibbutz communities as well as the COVID pandemic’s harmful effects on minority end-stage kidney disease patients in Greater Boston. A regular conference presenter, she is the author of 2021’s Silence & Sacrifice: Family Stories of Care and the Limits of Love in Vietnam, along with three book chapters and seven articles in top-ranked anthropology publications, including American Ethnologist. Last year, she received the Carole H. Browner Undergraduate Student Mentorship Award from the Society for Medical Anthropology.

Zeba Wunderlich, CAS associate professor of biology, is a biophysicist whose research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that govern gene expression control. Utilizing Drosophila fruit flies as model organisms, her NSF- and NIH-supported research seeks to better understand how a gene regulatory network’s tasks influence its architecture, robustness, and evolvability—from embryonic patterning to innate immune response. She is a frequent conference presenter and has published over 30 papers in high-impact biology journals, including Nature Reviews Genetics, Molecular Cell, and Cell Reports.

Charlotte Howell, College of Communication associate professor of film and television, is a television and media studies scholar whose research examines changes in the television industry, as well as fandom, genres, and media treatment of sports and religion. A frequent conference presenter, she has authored a book, 2020’s Divine Programming: Negotiating Christianity in American Dramatic Television Production, 1996–2016, in addition to a book chapter and seven articles in high-profile media studies journals, including Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, Critical Studies in Television, and Cinema Journal. A forthcoming book explores American television’s treatment of soccer since the 1990s.

Arunima Krishna, COM associate professor of mass communication, advertising and public relations, examines the public’s perception of controversial social issues—including anti-vaccine activism, climate change, and workplace gender discrimination—drawing on expertise in public relations, health communication, business, and social psychology. She additionally teaches courses in corporate communication, contemporary public relations, and crisis communication. She serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Public Relations Research and Health Communication and on the Advisory Committee of the International Public Relations Research Conference. She has written extensively for top field publications, including Communication Research and Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly.

Alexander Green, College of Engineering associate professor of biomedical engineering, uses computational design to engineer RNA molecules that provide useful functions inside and outside living cells—research with translational implications for sensing systems, low-cost diagnostics, and biomolecular circuits. Supported by major federal and private industry grants, he is a past Scialog Fellow, Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, and recipient of the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award. His research has resulted in 27 granted patents, and he has published six book chapters and 78 articles in top science and engineering journals, including Nature and Cell.

John T. Ngo, ENG associate professor of biomedical engineering, bridges cell biology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology to develop new tools for managing biomolecules in living cells and organisms—work with translational implications for better understanding cellular function and disease. Supported by a major NIH grant, he has secured four patents and is credited with advances in the development of cell therapies and tissue engineered systems. He is a past Reidy Family Career Development Professor at BU and has published 16 articles in leading science and engineering journals, including Nature Biotechnology and Cell Chemical Biology.

Gianluca Stringhini, ENG associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, researches computer security and computer science, focusing on the analysis and mitigation of online malicious activity, including cyberattacks, malicious software, online fraud, misinformation, and cyberbullying. His work is sponsored by multiple NSF grants (including a CAREER Award), as well as a Red Hat Collaboratory Research Incubation Award, and he has been recognized with ENG’s Early Career Excellence in Research Award and a best paper award from the Conference on Detection of Intrusions and Malware & Vulnerability Assessment. He has published two book chapters and 18 peer-reviewed journal articles and presented at dozens of national and international conferences.

Roberto Tron, ENG associate professor of mechanical engineering, combines automatic control, robotics, computer vision, and algorithmic and mathematical tools in the development of cooperative robotic teams—work that helps ensure robots do not collide with obstacles or one another and includes real-world applications, such as helping remove mobility obstacles for seniors living at home. His research is supported by major federal grants from the NSF, NIH, and the US Department of Defense, and he recently received ENG’s Early Career Excellence in Research Award. He is associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Robotics and has published 17 journal articles and 56 conference papers with more than 3,500 citations.

Noora Lori, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies associate professor of international relations, focuses on issues of citizenship, migration, and statelessness in the Middle East, East Africa, and the Indian subcontinent, specifically examining migration enforcement, citizenship regimes and naturalization policies, temporary migration schemes, and racial hierarchies. She has authored an acclaimed book, 2019’s Offshore Citizens: Permanent Temporary Status in the Gulf, which won best book prizes from the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association, in addition to three book chapters and articles in top international relations journals. Her research is supported by the Mellon Foundation, and she is a past recipient of the CAS Gitner Prize for Faculty Excellence and the Templeton Award for Excellence in Student Advising.

Marcus Bellamy, Questrom School of Business associate professor of operations and technology management, studies supply chains, using analytics and visualization techniques to investigate how a company’s suppliers can help it absorb new technology and be resilient to disruption risks. He is a past Isabel Anderson Career Development Professor at BU and a past recipient of the Academy of Management’s Best Paper in Supply Chain Management Award. A frequent conference presenter, he has published two book chapters and a dozen articles in top engineering and business journals, including Systems Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, and Journal of Operations Management.

Louis Awad, College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College associate professor of physical therapy, combines advances in biomedical engineering, neuroscience, clinical training, and robotics to design mobility-enhancing treatments for those with neurogenic impairments, including stroke survivors and Parkinson’s disease patients. A recent recipient of a best paper award from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the BU Office of Technology Development’s Ignition Award (for the design of smart textiles that enable wearers to bypass neural injury and better control motion), he is supported by major state, federal, and private awards, including from the NSF and the NIH. He is a regular conference presenter and has published two book chapters and over 40 widely cited articles in leading rehabilitation science journals.

Nicolette Manglos-Weber, School of Theology associate professor of religion and society, is an interdisciplinary sociologist who studies religious community life, focusing on how religion shapes politics and collective well-being. Her research has focused extensively on faith communities in English-speaking Africa, migrants in the US, and young adults in the US facing stress and adversity. Her current work examines Christian and Muslim leaders of community-based organizations in Africa. She recently received the Exemplary Teacher of the Year Award from the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church, and has authored a book, 2018’s Joining the Choir: Religious Membership and Social Trust among Transnational Ghanaians, along with several book chapters, encyclopedia entries, and articles in leading sociology, religion, and international studies publications.

Astraea Augsberger, School of Social Work associate professor of clinical practice, focuses her research on child welfare programs, youth civic engagement, and youth engagement in education and healthcare, primarily among marginalized, low-income minority populations. Supported by federal, state, and foundation grants, her work examines the multilevel factors that inhibit or facilitate a person’s ability to participate in decision-making within public and health institutions. A frequent conference presenter, she is a past winner of the American Journal of Community Psychology’s top-cited article award and has published three book chapters and dozens of peer-reviewed articles in leading social work journals.

Faculty promoted to associate professor, non-tenure track: 

Diana Dansereau, College of Fine Arts associate professor of music and music education, specializes in children’s music education, implementing innovative experiences in early childhood and elementary settings, working with pre- and in-service music teachers to critically analyze research and practice, and evaluating arts organizations’ and schools’ music programs for children. Regarded as an international leader in her field, she is an elected member of the editorial committee for the Journal of Music Teacher Education, principal editor of the International Journal of Music in Early Childhood, and on the advisory committee for the Music Educators Journal. She is a regular presenter at national and international conferences and has published a book, a book chapter, and over 40 scholarly articles in leading music education journals.

Nancy Leary, CFA associate professor of costume design, is an expert in costume design and production for live performance, whose teaching connects design both to artisanal techniques and to the historical, anthropological, sociopolitical, and psychological research behind each story and narrative. She has designed award-winning costumes for professional opera and theater productions throughout the world, including Royal Opera at Versailles, Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, N.Y., the Pittsburgh Symphony, Virginia Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Juilliard Opera, Opera Boston, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and New York Live Arts.