News Release

Computational science researcher named one of 50 most important Blacks in research in 2004

BU's Roscoe Giles, active in fight to close 'digital divide,' honored by communications group

Grant and Award Announcement

Boston University

(Boston) — Roscoe C. Giles, deputy director of Boston University’s Center for Computational Science and a professor of computer and electrical engineering in the university’s College of Engineering, has been named one of the “50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science” in 2004. The award from the Maryland-based publishing company, Career Communications Group, Inc. (CCG), will be conferred during the Emerald Honors Conference for Research Science, in Nashville, Tenn., September 17 – 18.

With its “50 Most Important Blacks in Research Science” awards and event, CCG aims to recognize the accomplishments of people of color to science in the U.S., to promote their greater representation among science professionals, and to provide young people of color with role models in science and research.

Giles’ area of research is computational science, which is the use of advanced computer systems to understand and solve problems. His projects focus on the use of high-performance parallel computers to solve problems in physics and materials science and on the development of algorithms for large-scale micromagnetic modeling and molecular dynamic simulation.

In addition to this research, Giles works to bring computing to people and people to computing through his involvement as a founder and the executive director of the Institute for African-American ECulture (http://www.iaaec.org). This NSF-funded institute addresses cultural issues of the “digital divide,” the gap in access to information technology experienced by members of minority and poor communities in the U.S. The Institute attempts to help close this gap by working to understand and develop environments that foster the creation, development, deployment, and ownership of information technologies by diverse communities.

Giles’ efforts to change how computers are used and by whom also includes his role as team leader in the National Science Foundation’s Education, Outreach, and Training Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (EOT-PACI) group (http://www.eot.org). This effort builds on the national investment in cyber infrastructure to help people, especially educators and students, better learn to use advanced computing systems to model, understand, and solve problems.

A theoretical physicist, Giles earned his doctorate from Stanford University in 1975, an accomplishment that had historical significance because Giles was the first African-American to earn a Ph.D. in this field from the California-based institution. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Chicago in 1970.

CCG publishes US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Hispanic Engineer & Information Technology, and Science Spectrum, a career development magazine targeted to multicultural communities. Giles and the other 2004 award recipients will be featured in the September issue of Science Spectrum.

Founded in 1990, Boston University’s Center for Computational Science seeks to coordinate and promote computationally based research, foster computational science education, and increase opportunities for the expansion of computational resources and support.

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Boston University, with an enrollment of more than 29,000 in its 17 schools and colleges, is the fourth-largest independent university in the United States.


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