ENG professor remembered as innovator, mentor

On Monday, beloved College of Engineering professor Francesco Cerinna passed away at age 62.

Cerrina was an engineer, researcher and teacher &- but above all, he was a friend and mentor to Boston University students and faculty.

Cerrina came to BU in 2008 after being a part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty for 24 years, where he also served as Director of the Center of Nanotechnology and received the Semiconductor Research Corp.’s Aristotle Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1998.

At BU, Cerrina helped establish a new laboratory in the Photonics Center and taught in ENG.

He was instrumental in bridging ties between engineering departments through his broad interests ranging from lithography and fabrication to synthetic biology and materials, said ENG professor David Castañón.

“He recruited four young faculty in strategic areas, helping rejuvenate the computer engineering program,” Castañón said. “He led the [Electrical and Computer Engineering] department through a successful accreditation review last year. Unfortunately, he had started to formulate several new initiatives for the department that he will be unable to complete.”

Prior to his teaching career, Cerrina, a native of Italy, received his PhD at the University of Rome. He was also a fellow of the Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers, the American Physical Society and the Optical Society of America.

Cerrina held 16 patents and had over 250 reviewed publications. He was known for being a leading scholar in optics, lithography and nanotechnology.

On the side, he co-founded five companies &- NimbleGen Systems, Genetic Assemblies Inc., Condon Devices Inc., Biolitho Inc. and Gen9 Inc. &- and worked on nanolithography and patterning.

More recently, he developed SHADOW, an X-ray optical ray-tracing program for the development of synchrotron-based X-ray beamlines, according to his academia website profile.

Cerrina was loved by his colleagues and students, who said they will remember him as a talented engineer and kind person.

Wayne Rennie, director of the electrical and computer engineering department, said Cerrina brought a freshness and vitality and created a welcome camaraderie among all the faculty and staff.

He was an extremely generous person and very talented, obviously, in his research, Rennie said, describing Cerrina as an excellent leader.

Ashwin Gopinath, who recently got his doctorate degree from ENG, said he worked closely with Cerrina until he graduated two months ago.

He was too nice of a person, Gopinath said. When you are doing your Ph.D and you don’t see the end in sight, he really helps you frame your work.?

Castañón said Cerrina was a tremendous advocate for BU students, faculty and the ENG program.

“He led by example, participating in many student and faculty activities, and showed the same curiosity for discovery that you would expect of new undergraduates,” he said. “I’ll miss most his enthusiasm and his cheerful, low-key demeanor.”

ENG Dean Kenneth Lutchen said the ENG community is “deeply saddened” by Cerrina’s passing.

“Although he was here for just under two years, he left his mark on the College as a department chairman, teacher, researcher, colleague and friend,” he said. “He will be missed greatly.