Innovation, creativity, and imagination lead to personal growth, professional success, and world-changing discoveries. Arts & Sciences encourages students to engage creatively, explore fresh ideas, and employ innovative approaches within and beyond the classroom. We want students to be excited about the ways in which their coursework relates to the real-world and feel welcome and included in all disciplines—and future careers. Here are some spaces where our students—and faculty—honed their creativity—in and out of the classroom—during the past year.
Mapping the Universe
For Dillon Brout, an assistant professor of astronomy and physics, participating in the Dark Energy Survey (DES)—a decade-long effort to map the universe and to understand what it’s made of—was the continuation of a family legacy. Brout’s great-granduncle—the man who encouraged him to pursue cosmology—was a renowned physicist who also had been drawn to the mysteries of the universe’s expansion.
Faster, Safer, Smarter
Computer scientist Renato Mancuso’s Cyber-Physical Systems Lab, in BU’s Center for Computing & Data Sciences, is focused on safety-critical cyber-physical systems—for example, the systems that control planes and cars, both manned and autonomous—and ensure they operate safely and efficiently.
New CAS Class Teaches the History of Empires through Fashion and Beauty
In lieu of a traditional exam, Jilene Chua, a College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of history, assigned her students a different kind of final for their Fashion and Beauty Under War and Empire class: designing and constructing an entire outfit. The course spans the time periods from settler colonialism in the 1800s to the modern day and sets out to examine how clothing and makeup can provide insights into war and empire in the 20th century.
Boundless Possibilities
For nearly two decades, Associate Professor of Chemistry Pinghua Liu searched for ways to regulate or reverse the human biological clock. His solution may come from an unlikely source: mushrooms. With the creation of Ergo-health, the company he cofounded with Mark Grinstaff, a professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at BU’s College of Engineering, Liu has taken a major step toward answering that question.
Stitching Together the Past
CAS architectural studies major Shaw Hutton (CGS’23, CAS’25) creates 18th- and 19th-century garments using historical techniques. He says he is drawn most to the turn-of-the-century styles of the Belle Époque period, a time of enlightenment for European art and science, spanning from the 1870s to World War I, which led to a proliferation of creative energy, technological advances, and industrialization.
Digital Spiritualities
From a podcast about metahumans to Voodoo-themed video games to #witchesofcolor on Instagram, Margarita Guillory’s research leads her into some fascinating corners of the digital and religious universes. Guillory, an associate professor of religion and African American & Black diaspora studies, explores the ways in which African Americans use the internet, social media, mobile applications, and gaming to express their spiritual and religious identities—stories she’ll publish in her upcoming book, Africana Religion in the Digital Age.
Secrets of Ancient Egyptian Nile Valley Settlements Found in Forgotten Treasure
Ancient Egypt’s riches—its pyramids, temples, and treasures—have drawn archaeologists and explorers to the country for centuries. But one student found Egyptian treasure of a different kind, from a time before the pharaohs, in a long-forgotten cardboard box in a BU lab: chunks of wood charcoal burned 5,000 years ago that could unlock secrets of ancient life in less prominent villages and worksites across the vast country.
Learning the Science of Personality
BU was a launch pad for Richard Davis’ organizational psychology career. Today Davis is a seasoned industrial and organizational psychologist specializing in CEO succession, executive coaching, and helping people do their jobs better. He recently published his second book, Good Judgment: Making Better Business Decisions with the Science of Human Personality, a guide to learning how to better read and understand people and make more informed business decisions—as he did as a masters student in need of a research practicum nearly 30 years ago.
BU Students Launch New Event and Activity Aggregator Popple
A new app designed at the BUild Lab by Prianna Sharan (CAS’25) (left) and Remi Chester (Questrom’25) helps students alleviate boredom and find new friends. Popple aggregates events at BU and around Boston geared towards college students, like Innovate@BU’s IdeaCon or Indie Music at Wonderland Allston. Users can filter events based on their interests, such as art, technology, hiking, and more.