Boukai Steps Down as Mathematical Sciences Chair; Shen Appointed New Chair of Mathematical Sciences

IUPUI School of Science Acting Dean Bart S. Ng has announced the appointment of mathematics professor Zhongmin “James” Shen as the next chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences. Shen will succeed Professor Benzion Boukai, who is stepping down as chair after 10 years of outstanding service. Shen will assume the position on July 1, 2009.

“Professor Shen’s outstanding research record as a differential geometer and his significant service contributions to the U.S. mathematical community makes him an ideal leader for the department,” said Ng.

“For the past 10 years, our campus and the School of Science have been very lucky to have someone of Professor Boukai’s extraordinary commitment and outstanding administrative skills at the helm of a department that is central to the education mission of IUPUI,” Ng said.

Ng noted that during Boukai’s tenure as chair, the Department of Mathematical Sciences has grown in faculty and staff and in the number of students served each semester, and the department has expanded its course offerings and programs that now include an actuarial sciences option for its undergraduate majors and a new Ph.D. program in biostatistics.

Building on the department’s traditional strengths in mathematical physics, integrable systems and dynamical systems, Boukai expanded significantly its research programs through targeted faculty hiring in several interdisciplinary areas—including mathematical neuroscience, bio-fluid dynamics, scientific computing, applied statistics and biostatistics.

Under Boukai’s leadership, the department also embarked on a number of initiatives aimed at increasing student success in mathematics. In partnership with IUPUI’s University College, the department established the Mathematics Assistance Center (MAC). The MAC provides many beginning students with section- and course-specific mentoring, one-on-one tutoring and other forms of supplemental instruction. Additionally, a summer mathematics preparatory program has been implemented as have other curricular innovations, including the incorporation of MAPLE–TA as a tool for assessing student learning in key mathematics courses.

In early 2005, Boukai led the effort to develop, jointly with the Division of Biostatistics in the IU School of Medicine, a Ph.D. degree program in biostatistics, designed to meet the growing national need for highly trained statisticians with specialized skills in the area of health and life sciences. This new Ph.D. program was subsequently approved by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education in May 2008 and is now admitting its second cohort of students for the fall 2009 semester.

Boukai also founded the IUPUI Signature Center for Mathematical Biosciences (CMB) to spearhead research and programmatic activities in biomathematics. The Center, located on the 4th floor of the Health Information and Translational Sciences Building at IUPUI, houses several faculty affiliates, post-doctoral fellows and graduate students working on research problems in computational neuroscience and bio-fluid dynamics, as well as the modeling and analysis of proteomics and genomics data.

After stepping down as chair, Boukai plans to return to full-time teaching and research and will continue to assist in departmental administration by serving as director of the graduate programs in biostatistics and statistics and as acting director of the CMB. He especially looks forward to continuing his research in mathematical statistics and applications of sequential methodologies and his service as associate editor of Sequential Analysis.

“I am very pleased to become the next chair of the Department of Mathematical Sciences,” said Shen. “I want to work with other units on campus to promote interdisciplinary research and to continue to strengthen the undergraduate and graduate programs in the department.”

Shen received his doctorate degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1990. Before joining the IUPUI faculty in 1993, Shen held visiting appointments at the Mathematical Science Research Institute in Berkeley, Calf., and at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich. From 2005 to 2007, Shen took a leave of absence from IUPUI and served as Program Director for Geometric Analysis at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC.

A highly prolific researcher, Shen is the author of four research monographs and nearly 70 papers in top journals. He is a member of the editorial boards of several leading mathematics journals, including Differential Geometry and Its Applications. Shen is especially well-known for his pioneering research in Finsler geometry. Together with his collaborator, the late Shiing-Shen Chern, Shen has played a decisive role in the revival and the explosive growth of research activities in this area during the past decade. A highly sought after speaker, he has given more than 100 invited talks in many countries around the world, including Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Iran, Mexico and Romania. Additionally, Shen holds honorary appointments at several leading universities in China, including the K. P. Chao Professorship at Zhejiang University and a guest professorship at the University of Science and Technology of China.