In accordance with his Strategic Plan to unite studies among Boston University’s colleges, President Robert Brown and the administration will be welcoming a scientist as a new associate provost and vice president of research come fall.
Andrei Ruckenstein, known for his work in biology and physics, will join the faculty June 1, according to a May 3 press release issued by BU spokesman Colin Riley.
Ruckenstein is the founder and co-director of the BioMaPS Institute for Quantitative Biology, an interdisciplinary institute combining biomedical sciences with life-science research. He is also a Rutgers University physics professor and the president of the Aspen Center for Physics, a scientific organization educating different studies of physics.
“[Ruckenstein] has proven to be an inspirational, influential and visionary academic leader who brings a deep understanding and appreciation of the research process and the synergistic potential of cross-departmental and multi-school collaborations,” said Provost David Campbell in the press release.
Ruckenstein, who received degrees from Cornell University and Harvard University, also received the German-based Alexander von Humboldt Prize, given to scientists to perform long-term research in Germany.
At the Aspen Center for Physics, Ruckenstein has held the presidency for three years and has served on its Board of Trustees for about 20 years, said Ruckenstein’s colleague, Jane Kelley, the administrative vice president of Center. Ruckenstein added an in-depth exchange to the Board – which organizes public lectures and dialogues – by allowing physicists to work with non-scientists, Kelley said.
“As president [of Aspen], I can’t believe all he does,” she said. “He instigates a lot of new things. He puts together a lot of new things for the future. He has good insight about things we need to address.”
Kelley, who described Ruckenstein as a “charismatic” Renaissance man, said although he is primarily a physicist, he majored in music and played piano while aspiring to be a conductor, before he switched to scientific studies. She recalled how Ruckenstein worked with musicians last summer and arranged to have a piano donated to the Center. He also organized weekly concerts exclusively for physicists, in which he would sometimes join in and perform.
“He has a lot of ideas, and he throws them out there,” Kelley said, “and once it sticks, he sees them through. . . . He’s a hands-on kind of guy and very talented.
“I think BU is very fortunate to have him,” she continued. “He really has an outstanding personality. You meet people who have parts of a personality, but you pretty much never meet someone with so much creativity joining together.”
Ruckenstein did not respond to multiple phone messages left at his office.