Prestigious Metcalf Chair Awarded to David Boas

The Boston University Arthur G. B. Metcalf Chair, recognizing an internationally known scholar in mathematics, science, or engineering, has been awarded to Professor David Boas (BME, ECE). The professorship, which is for a fiveyear renewable term, provides support for research and scholarship

“I am, of course, quite honored to be recognized by BU in this way for the work that I have done,” says Boas, who directs the BU Neurophotonics Center. “It also means a great deal to me that BU has the trust in me to use this professorship to help further enrich the BU community. I’ll take this as a new challenge going forward.”

“David [Boas] is among the elite world leaders in all of neuroengineering and neu- roscience,” Kenneth Lutchen, dean of ENG and a professor of biomedical engineering, wrote in nominating Boas for the Metcalf Chair. “David combines neuroscience, bioengineering, photonics and optics, imaging science, computation and data science all to transform our understanding of brain structure and function” to develop treatments for diseases.

Boas developed high-resolution imaging of cerebral blood flow, advancing medical understanding of ailments from migraines to strokes, while also developing complementary “robust measurements” of oxygen flow to the brain, Lutchen wrote.

In a discipline dependent on numbers, numbers sum up Boas’s accomplishments, the dean added: his research has garnered 49,000 citations, including more than 300 papers with more than 10 citations each.

Boas has also begun working with the new BU Center for Brain Recovery (CBR), whose mission is to bring together multidisciplinary teams to look for new ways to prevent, treat and cure brain disorders such as stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. In one CBR project, Boas is using his wearable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) technology to monitor people’s brain activity outside of the lab.

“BU has a growing number of faculty with expertise in neurorehabilitation, and also has great strength in the neurosciences and neuroimaging,” says Boas. “This new center will leverage all of this expertise to address a timely problem that our collective knowledge and tools are enabling us to tackle.”

Boas received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. His research is supported by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. — RICH BARLOW, ANDREW THURSTON