Research Revealed: Navigating BU’s AI Revolution and the Future of Research and Learning

Spotlight

BU Task Force Releases Guidance for Generative AI in Research and Education

This month, BU’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Task Force released a comprehensive report on Generative AI in research and education, including opportunities, challenges, and guiding principles of relevance to BU researchers, as well as 100+ policies and advice documents on generative AI in higher education. The report offers resources and recommendations to improve and accelerate learning and research outcomes through the use of Generative AI while helping to prevent its misuse or negative impact.

Research Funding

Artificial Intelligence for Information Security

The spring 2024 call for proposals for Amazon Research Awards is open through Tuesday, May 7. The awards fund machine learning (ML) research on the following topics in information security:

  • Threat, intrusion, and anomaly detection for cloud security
  • Generative AI and foundation models for information security
  • Graph modeling and anomaly detection on graphs
  • Learning with limited/noisy labels and weakly supervised learning
  • ML for malware analysis and detection
  • Finding security vulnerabilities using ML
  • Causal inference for information security
  • Zero/one-shot learning for information security
  • Reinforcement learning for information security
  • Protecting and preserving data privacy in the cloud
  • Securing Generative AI and foundation models

Federal Funding Opportunities for Foreign Languages and Culture Initiatives

A new listing of funding opportunities for foreign language and culture initiatives offered by federal agencies is available on the Federal Relations website (Kerberos log-in required). It covers programs that aim to foster cultural understanding and global cooperation by supporting language learning and exchange initiatives between the US and international educational and research communities.

Support for Early Career Researchers

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is accepting applications for the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program through Wednesday, July 24. Assistant professors are encouraged to apply. Answers to frequently asked questions are available on the NSF website.

Limited Submission Opportunities

Faculty require institutional endorsement for the following opportunities. All current competitions can be found at bu.infoready4.com.

Extensive Database for Funding Across Disciplines

BU offers all faculty and staff a free subscription to Pivot-RP, a database updated daily with federal, non-federal, foundation, and private funding opportunities in every discipline. With the BU subscription, members can save search criteria and receive weekly updates on new and upcoming funding opportunities. Learn how to set up your account and get started on the Office of Research website.

More Funding Opportunities

Grant Management

Important National Science Foundation Updates

NSF has announced updates to its Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, Award Terms and Conditions, and Grants.gov Application Guide. If you have questions, please contact your Sponsored Programs pre-award officer.

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Ethics & Compliance

EHS worker with waste bag

Required Change to Satellite Accumulation Areas in BU Labs

A satellite accumulation area (SAA) allows research teams to collect hazardous waste near the work area where it’s generated. While it was once common practice for these areas to be located inside chemical hoods in BU research labs, this practice is no longer acceptable, per fire code. This change is effective immediately. If your designated SAA is currently set up in a fume hood, please relocate it to another area in your lab such as under laboratory benches; on open, un-used counterspace; in flammable or corrosive cabinets; or on a lab cart. Learn more in this guidance from BU Environmental Health & Safety (EHS).

Batteries and Fire Safety

Lithium-ion batteries, commonly used in consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and micromobility devices (e.g., electric bikes and scooters), contain highly flammable electrolytes that can ignite if the battery is punctured, overheated, or overcharged. BU community members are encouraged to educate themselves on practices for battery safety, including proper charging, safe storage, monitoring, maintenance, and disposal. Learn more on the EHS website or reach out to oehs@bu.edu with questions.

Procedural Changes for Expedited Review of Human Subjects Research

The Charles River Campus Institutional Review Board is discontinuing annual progress reports for expedited research and moving instead to a triennial review cycle. For research teams, this will go into effect at the next expedited annual progress report review and will apply to all newly approved expedited research going forward. Annual continuing review will remain for research reviewed by the full board, per regulatory requirements.

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Collaboration & Impact

Researchers conducting interview with camera

Get to Know Your Campus Communicators

For researchers ready to promote findings, it can be invaluable to loop in communications professionals around the University for assistance amplifying your scholarship and expertise. Communicators embedded in schools, colleges, centers, and departments are an excellent first contact. They are connected to other communicators around BU’s campuses and have a broad view of the channels and resources available to get the word out about your work. Learn more about promoting your research.

BU Inventors and Entrepreneurs to Offer Insights and Advice for Aspiring Innovators

On Tuesday, May 7, BU faculty and alumni will share their diverse paths from invention to market to impact at the final Office of Research event of the academic year: The Innovator’s Journey. Each researcaher will offer insights on their challenges, opportunities, mentors, and institutional supports. The event also includes the presentation of the BU Innovator of the Year Award to Dr. Thomas Bifano, professor of mechanical engineering and director of the BU Photonics Center.

The Latest Innovations at Your Fingertips

The Innovator’s Quarterly is a newsletter for BU faculty, staff, and students that provides the latest on research innovations and industry collaborations coming out of BU—and the resources offered by BU Industry Engagement and Technology Development to help researchers move their work into the world. Sign up to receive updates on the Office of Research website.

More Collaboration & Impact

Notes & News

Professor Vivek Goyal, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG), was named a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

A group of students at the College of Engineering won this year’s Anthony Janetos Climate Action Prize for a project piloting bicycle-mounted air pollution monitors with funding from the Institute for Global Sustainability’s Campus Climate Lab. The research team, which was featured in a recent video on BU sustainability research, is now in talks with the Bluebikes bikeshare program about collecting air quality data from bike trips around the city.

Associate Professor Nahid Bhadelia, Infectious Diseases (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine) and founding director of the Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases, participated in a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee that developed a government-requested report on smallpox readiness based on the lessons of COVID-19 and mpox.

Professors Deborah Carr, Sociology (CAS), and Vivien Schmidt, International Relations (Pardee), were named members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

BU’s Center on Forced Displacement became the first US-based research center to join the International Migration Research Network, the leading global consortium of universities focusing on migration and forced displacement.

Assistant Professors Chuanfei Dong, Astronomy (CAS), Meg Younger, Biology (CAS), and Hadi Nia, Biomedical Engineering (ENG), have been named 2024 Sloan Research Fellows.

Assistant Professors Ana Fiszbein, Biology (CAS), Jonathan Huggins, Mathematics & Statistics (CAS), Rabia Yazicigil, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG), Wenchao Li, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG), and Andrew Sabelhaus, Mechanical Engineering (ENG), received NSF Early Career Development Awards.

Sarah Hokanson, assistant vice president and assistant provost for research development and PhD and postdoctoral affairs, became the first nonfaculty principal investigator to be awarded the Gallagher Mentor Award by the National Postdoctoral Association.

Professor Jaimie Gradus, Epidemiology (SPH), and Associate Professor Patricia Janulewicz Lloyd, Environmental Health (SPH), were appointed to serve on a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine committee examining possible connections between veterans’ military service exposure to toxic substances and potential mental health conditions.

A team of researchers led by Professor Darrell Kotton, Medicine (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine), has been awarded a five-year, $14 million grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for their research, “Developing Pluripotent Stem Cells to Model and Treat Lung Disease.”

Assistant Professor Sean Lubner, Mechanical Engineering (ENG), was awarded a Young Investigator Program award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research for his project, “Investigating Coupled Thermal, Mechanical, and Electrical Phenomena in High-Temperature Materials using Thermal Wave Sensors.”

Professors Siddharth Ramachandran, Electrical & Computer Engineering (ENG), Bradley Lee Roberts, Physics (CAS), and Daniel Segrè, Biology (CAS), were named American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows.

Assistant Professor Dane Scantling, Surgery (Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine), was awarded the C. James Carrico, MD, FACS, Faculty Research Fellowship for the Study of Trauma and Critical Care from the American College of Surgeons to improve access to trauma care for underserved victims of firearm violence.

Professor Cara Stepp, Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences (Sargent), was inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows.

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