Appointment of Bennett Goldberg as Director of STEM Education Initiatives
From Dr. Jean Morrison, University Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Boston University faculty in the sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics have long worked to advance the quality of STEM education we offer our students, developing innovative curricula and pedagogies and often winning external funding for these efforts. It is now time to take the next steps to support those efforts: to develop a broad, coherent strategy for improving STEM education that will enable BU to move forward concertedly and increase our competitiveness for external funding.
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Bennett Goldberg, Professor of Physics in the College of Arts & Sciences, and Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical & Computer Engineering in the College of Engineering, has been appointed Director of STEM Education Initiatives at Boston University. In this role, Professor Goldberg will be responsible for oversight and coordination of BU’s efforts to increase effectiveness of instruction in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Areas of oversight will include:
- Leading an effort to articulate the aspirations of BU’s faculty for undergraduate STEM education in the varied fields;
- Working with schools/colleges, departments, and the Center for Excellence and Innovation in Teaching to coordinate and advance the sharing of best practices and effective STEM pedagogy;
- Working to increase the recruitment and retention of student populations under-represented in undergraduate STEM programs;
- Coordinating, facilitating and participating in the development, writing and submission of grants to support BU’s STEM education strategy.
Our expectation is that within two years, we will have built on the successful past efforts of faculty across the University to develop and begin implementing a University-wide plan to advance rich, stimulating and effective STEM education for majors and non-majors alike.
The Office of the Provost intends to support programs and projects that increase the use of proven effective pedagogy, and take new approaches to challenging and exciting students about the various fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This new position, which will report to the Associate Provost for Undergraduate Affairs, will assist faculty- and department-led efforts and develop university-wide coordination.
A world-class scientist, innovator and teacher who has devoted his career to impactful interdisciplinary scholarship, Professor Goldberg is exceptionally equipped for this responsibility, and I am delighted he has agreed to step into this role. Throughout his career, Professor Goldberg has committed himself to breaking boundaries, working across fields of scientific research in a way that pushes the limits of our capabilities, from the creation of higher-speed, lower-power, clean energy sources to the development of new methods for diagnosing disease, delivering drugs and therapies, and even recovering oil at the tiniest of scales.
The Director of BU’s Center for Nanoscience and Nanobiotechnology since 2004, Professor Goldberg is the author of dozens of internationally cited publications and the holder of numerous patents. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, and his ongoing research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Advanced Energy Consortium among others. This past year, Professor Goldberg was selected as Boston University’s United Methodist Scholar-Teacher of the Year. A graduate of Harvard University, Professor Goldberg earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics at Brown University and performed his post-doc work at MIT before arriving at BU in 1989 as a new faculty member. He has served as Chair of the Physics Department and supervised some 22 doctoral theses and more than a dozen master’s and undergraduate theses. Professor Goldberg continues to serve on the University Committee on Academic Program Review and on the advisory boards for Women in Science and Engineering at BU and the BU Cancer Center, among other appointments.
Please join me in congratulating Professor Goldberg on his appointment to this new role. Through his leadership and your excellent work, I am confident BU’s STEM enterprise will continue to flourish, enhancing the education we offer our students and advancing Boston University’s reputation as an internationally respected innovator in STEM education.
Appointment of Bennett Goldberg as Director of STEM Education Initiatives – 10.1.13