Launching the Task Force on Convergent Research and Education
From Dr. Melissa Gilliam, President
and Dr. Gloria Waters, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
March 6, 2025
Dear Members of the Boston University Community,
We are pleased to announce the launch of the Boston University Task Force on Convergent Research and Education. This initiative will build upon our University’s strong foundation in impactful and collaborative work across disciplines. Convergent research integrates diverse fields—from, and not limited to, the sciences, engineering, and medicine to public policy and business—to address scientific questions and help solve complex societal challenges. Boston University’s researchers who work in this way have already driven breakthroughs in health, synthetic biology, neurophotonics, climate science, and AI.
The task force will be charged with making recommendations on how to best adopt convergence, University-wide and within individual schools and colleges. This effort will further our ability to make transformative contributions to society, remain highly competitive for external funding for our research and educational programs, excel in educating the future workforce, and continue attracting intellectually fearless and ambitious faculty and students to our University.
The task force will be charged with seeking the valuable perspectives of faculty and staff from across the University. In addition, the task force will have the following objectives:
- Determine how to position BU so we remain a leader in convergent research, including gathering information about effective practices adopted at peer institutions and developing strategies for identifying new and emergent areas for convergent research and education
- Identify current organizational barriers to convergent research and teaching that can be removed to make it easier for researchers from different fields and across our campuses to collaborate effectively
- Recommend key investments from Boston University and external partners to catalyze success in convergent research and education
- Determine best approaches for recruiting new talent and developing current faculty
- Examine the role convergence should play to enhance undergraduate and graduate educational programs and better prepare graduates to embrace the power of working across disciplines
- Identify metrics, short- and long-term, that could be used to measure and track success of our efforts over time
We are grateful to the task force members for their service and especially to cochairs Ken Lutchen, professor of biomedical engineering and senior advisor to the president for strategy and innovation, and Darrell Kotton, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine.
We have asked the task force to share their initial set of recommendations by July 1, 2025, which we look forward to sharing broadly with the University community. From there, we will work together to implement their most compelling ideas.
We are confident that with this focused initiative, in conjunction with our proven history of excellence in research, we will develop an institutional strategy for convergence that charts a bold future for research, leverages and builds on our many strengths, and uniquely positions Boston University to achieve eminence in this area for years to come.
Sincerely,
Melissa Gilliam, President
Gloria Waters, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Boston University Task Force on Convergent Research and Education
Cochairs:
Darrell Kotton, Professor of Medicine, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine; Director, Center for Regenerative Medicine
Kenneth Lutchen, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering; Senior Advisor to the President for Strategy & Innovation
Members:
David Boas, Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering; Director, Neurophotonics Center
Deborah Carr, Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences; Director, Center for Innovation in Social Science
Christopher Chen, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor; Professor of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering
Kevin Gallagher, Professor of Global Development Policy, Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies; Director, Global Development Policy Center
Lucy Hutyra, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Earth & Environment, College of Arts & Sciences
Jonathan Levy, Professor and Chair of Environmental Health, School of Public Health
Jay Mizgerd, Professor of Medicine and Virology, Immunology & Microbiology, Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine; Director, Pulmonary Center
Ioannis Paschalidis, Distinguished Professor of Engineering, College of Engineering; Director, Rafik B. Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering
Benjamin Sovacool, Professor of Earth & Environment, College of Arts & Sciences; Director, Institute for Global Sustainability
Ex Officio Members:
Thomas Bifano, Vice President and Associate Provost ad interim for Research
Sean Mullen, Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences; Associate Provost for Graduate Affairs
Michael Sorenson, Professor of Biology, College of Arts & Sciences; Associate Dean ad interim of the Faculty, Natural Sciences