Appointment of Dr. Adam Smith as Professor of Computer Science through the Boston University Data Science Initiative
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
In the summer of 2014, my office launched the Boston University Data Science Initiative (DSI), a major multidisciplinary effort that bridges the fields of computer science, statistics, and electrical and computer engineering and works to leverage BU’s existing strengths and expand our capacity to lead in this strategically important area of education and research. At the core of the DSI is a push to recruit some of the world’s finest interdisciplinary faculty with proven track records in data science and strong potential for long-term impact at BU and beyond.
Anchored at the Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering, the DSI over the last three years has both complemented and helped to grow BU’s research footprint in data science, developing significant new cross-campus collaborations, harnessing exciting new platforms and technologies to advance our research, and interviewing dozens of top scholars from around the world to serve at the forefront of this effort.
After a rigorous first round of recruiting, which considered a diverse cohort of outstanding candidates across a host of core data-science disciplines, and with the completion of the initial appointment process, it is my great pleasure to announce that our first professorship through the Data Science Initiative has been awarded to Dr. Adam Smith, Professor of Computer Science in the College of Arts & Sciences. Professor Smith will hold a secondary appointment as Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering and an affiliated appointment as Professor of Mathematics & Statistics in the College of Arts & Sciences.
Professor Smith arrived at BU this fall from Pennsylvania State University, where he has taught since 2007 and most recently served as Professor of Computer Science and Engineering. Professor Smith’s scholarship and contributions have covered many areas of research ranging from information theory, coding theory, and cryptography, with applications to biometric-based security; to data privacy and cryptography, with connections to statistics, machine learning, and quantum computing. He has earned international recognition for founding a new field within data science that puts on solid bases the modeling and evaluation of the privacy of individuals in the age of big data. Professor Smith’s research is supported broadly by a diversity of government agencies, industry, and foundations indicating the cross-disciplinary nature of data privacy as a critical dimension of data science. Over the last few years, his research sponsors have included NSF, NIH, the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Army Research Laboratory, Google, and the Sloan Foundation.
Professor Smith is a past recipient of an NSF CAREER Award and a U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. This year, he was awarded the Gödel Prize, among the most coveted international awards in the field of computer science, for his writings on theoretical computer science. Professor Smith holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from McGill University. In addition to his work at Penn State, he has held visiting positions at Weizmann Institute of Science, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard University.
Professor Smith’s hiring follows the appointments this past spring of John Byers, Professor of Computer Science in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Ahmed Ghappour, Associate Professor of Law in the School of Law, as Boston University’s inaugural Data Science Faculty Fellows. The Faculty Fellows program is an integral component of the DSI that brings together uniquely talented faculty – from outside and within BU – whose expertise transcends the field’s traditional boundaries of computer science, statistics, and electrical and computer engineering to enable fundamental advances across the entire academic landscape. The next set of nominations for this program is due next spring.
All of these scholars bring enormous talent and potential through their unique interdisciplinary portfolios to advance BU’s data science capabilities, and we are excited for what the future holds for them and their research. Please join me in welcoming Professors Smith, Byers, and Ghappour to their new roles and wishing them continued success through the DSI. I would also like to give special thanks to our DSI Chair, Hariri Institute Director, and William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor Azer Bestavros for his continued leadership on this important initiative.
We look forward to logging many important breakthroughs in the years ahead to further develop excellence and innovation in data science as part of our vibrant academic community.