Robert A. Brown, President Emeritus, Professor of Engineering, and Professor of Computing and Data Sciences at Boston University, has been selected to present the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ (AIChE’s) William R. Schowalter Lecture on October 30 at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting in San Diego, California (October 27–31).
Endowed by the AIChE Foundation, the annual lectureship is named for William Schowalter, Professor Emeritus of Chemical Engineering at Princeton University — a pioneer in the field of fluid mechanics and an influential academic leader. Reflecting Schowalter’s contributions to chemical engineering, the lecture’s subject matter alternates between topics related to fluid mechanics and typically delivered by a speaker from academia, and topics of general interest to the profession and typically presented by a speaker from industry. This year’s lecture focuses on topics of general interest.
In Brown’s lecture, entitled “Organizing Universities in the Century of Convergent Research,” he will discuss how emerging societal needs and advancing technology call for and enable interdisciplinary collaborations in research and problem solving, and necessitate that research institutions restructure their traditional approaches in order to adapt to these opportunities and demands.
Robert Brown served as President of Boston University from 2005 to 2023. During his tenure, he emphasized the continued improvement of academic quality across the university, while underscoring the central importance and interrelationship of teaching and research, with a focus on the interconnections spanning disciplines and programs. His key academic initiatives have included establishment of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory, the Kilachand Honors College, the Pardee School of Global Studies, and the Rajen Kilachand Center for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering.
Prior to his appointment at Boston University, Brown served as provost and Warren K. Lewis Professor of Chemical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was on the faculty from 1979 to 2005. He has published more than 250 papers in areas related to mathematical modeling of transport phenomena in materials and he served as executive editor of the journal Chemical Engineering Science from 1991 to 2004.
Brown is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Engineering — the latter of which granted him its Simon Ramo Founders Award for his contributions to engineering and his leadership in transforming disciplines in institutions. He earned BS and MS degrees in chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota.
Brown is a frequent contributor to the literature on leadership of modern research universities. He has a forthcoming book.
The Schowalter Lecture is a highlight of each year’s AIChE Annual Meeting — a foremost educational forum for chemical engineers working in research and development. Additional information about the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting is available at www.aiche.org/annual.
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About AIChE: AIChE is a professional society of more than 60,000 members in more than 110 countries. Its members work in corporations, universities and government using their knowledge of chemical processes to develop safe and useful products for the benefit of society. Through its varied programs, AIChE continues to be a focal point for information exchange on the frontier of chemical engineering research in such areas as nanotechnology, sustainability, hydrogen fuels, biological and environmental engineering, and chemical plant safety and security. More information about AIChE is available at www.aiche.org.