Boston University College of Arts & Sciences

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Boston University College of Arts & Sciences

As Boston University's largest academic division, the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences is the heart of the BU experience. www.bu.edu/cas

The College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) is the academic heart of Boston University and its largest school. Home to more than 6,500 undergraduate and 1,700 graduate students, the College offers students a journey of learning and discovery into the humanities and the social, natural, and computational sciences—the fundamental disciplines that underlie contemporary knowledge creation.

09/02/2026

Welcome back, Terriers! 🐾

We can't wait to see what boundless possibilities are ahead in the new academic year! 📚

08/30/2026

Congratulations to Anand Sahu (GRS’28) and Pridhi Balhara (GRS’29) on being awarded the 2026 Merck In Silico Innovation Cup for AI Agents!

The award is based on an international competition for exploring the use of AI agents to understand and discuss scientific research and development challenges.

"We built an AI that acts like a research assistant for chemists, it can propose and virtually test new ideas for painting microscopic circuit patterns onto computer chips with pinpoint precision, and our AI's idea beat teams from 18 countries," Sahu said.

08/29/2026

After more than 10 Spider-Man movies, the superhero still seems to have us wrapped up in his web. Why is that?

Francis “Frankie” Vanaria, Boston University lecturer in writing, says, "There’s a vulnerability that Spider-Man is in touch with that a lot of the other superheroes don’t have."

Read more: https://bit.ly/4wRuIO4

08/28/2026

Tortoise beetles may be tiny, but their colors are anything but ordinary.

Boston University PhD student Sara Parker shares her research in the Cassidine Ecology and Evolutionary Genomics Lab, where she studies how behavior, ecology, and genomics shape the metallic, striped, and dotted patterns found across tortoise beetles.

08/22/2026

After studying abroad together in Madrid, Alex Chappuis (CAS’26) and Isaac Robillard (Pardee’26) returned with a shared passion for cooking and a hunger to host.

Now, they organize small dinners in their Boston apartment, cooking the Spanish food that inspired them during their time overseas.

Read more: https://www.bu.edu/pardeeschool/2026/08/05/two-bu-alums-are-recreating-spains-communal-dining-experience-in-their-boston-apartment/

08/19/2026

Sophia Lorenz (CAS’28) is a junior majoring in biology with a specialization in cell biology, molecular biology & genetics and a minor in public health. This summer, thanks to support from the Summer Internship Support Program and the Yawkey Nonprofit Internship Program, Sophia is interning with a research team at Boston Children's Hospital, focusing on access to genetic testing for critically ill newborns. Through her work, Sophia gained not just valuable experience but also academic credit from CAS IN 299, a 2-credit course available through the EL connector. When she is not at Boston Children's, she is also a volunteer in the Pediatric Neurology Clinic at Boston Medical Center.

“I care about all the people who come through these doors. I'm seeing them in their most vulnerable moments, and it’s really cool to be able to help them, whether that’s by talking to parents about genetic testing or organizing resources so people know how to navigate the insurance side of things. We all walk the same streets, but different parts of Boston also have very different health experiences. I think I’ve gained a strong sense of community in the idea that we are all here to help each other.

The EL Connector program has been really helpful for me to gain experiential learning experience. The class I took through the Experiential Learning Connector last spring allowed me to show my team how dedicated I was to their mission and was fundamental to being offered the internship for the summer. Because it is an unpaid internship, I was able to get support through BU, so I know that I'm set if I have any unexpected medical expenses or emergencies or even just for food. Knowing that I'm taken care of has allowed me to be a lot more present with this research because I've been able to stay late, work on projects, meet with people, and have an impact.”

08/15/2026

Jennifer Bhatnagar, associate professor of biology and director of Boston University’s Biogeoscience Graduate Program, found an unlikely partnership in California’s wine country.

Napa Valley landowners Frank Naeymi-Rad and Theresa Kepic were interested in understanding the ecology of their properties and exploring whether truffles might be cultivated there.

With support from Naeymi-Rad and Kepic’s Ecotechnology and Landscape Restoration Research Fund, Bhatnagar’s team has spent the last three years exploring how wildfire, urbanization, and ecological restoration shape forest recovery in Northern California—and how forests can become more resilient in a future where severe wildfires are increasingly common.

Read more about Bhatnagar’s research: https://www.bu.edu/cas/arts-sciences/article/what-comes-after-fire/

08/14/2026

What does physics have to do with cooking the perfect steak?

In Boston University’s Physics of Food and Cooking course, Associate Professor of Physics Indara Suarez introduces non-science majors to the scientific principles behind the meals they make. During a class demonstration, chef Michael Leviton of Boston University's Metropolitan College uses concepts such as heat transfer and temperature control to explain what happens as a steak cooks.

Throughout the course, students apply physics to everyday cooking techniques before putting their knowledge to the test in a final project, where they prepare a complete meal using the concepts they learned.

08/12/2026

Kiko Yoshihira (CAS'27) is helping make Boston's transportation system more accessible for all.

A rising senior majoring in political science and environmental analysis and policy, Kiko is currently completing a summer internship at the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) with support from SISP. At the MPO, Kiko is working with digital population maps to help update the Language Assistance Plan, a policy document helping ensure equitable resource access for people with Limited English Proficiency living in the Boston metropolitan area.

“I use census and housing data sets to map the population of limited English speakers in different parts of Boston, and then, using this data, the MPO–Metropolitan Planning Organization–can figure out what languages to translate information on maps and stuff into: think Vietnamese, Spanish, Chinese. I mean, the Boston area is so diverse and has a lot of good public transport, but communities need to be able to understand their public transportation and also communicate about it. So community engagement is a really big part of what MPO does because if a certain community opposes, like, creating a bus line where they live, or wants to create a bus line, they need to be able to communicate that. So community engagement materials–like maps–need to be accessible to everyone, to comply with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. Basically, we make sure they are translated into different languages that are present in the populations living in the areas of the maps.”

08/08/2026

This summer, MaryKate Smolenski (GRS’27) interned at the Boston Athenaeum to dive deeper into her dissertation research on nine loyalist families in New England.

Over the summer, Smolenski created lesson plans and teacher resources on Black Bostonians, women, Indigenous communities, and other groups, and developed a three-day workshop for K-12 teachers looking to incorporate diverse perspectives into their Revolutionary War teaching.

Read more: https://www.bu.edu/articles/2026/internship-boston-athenaeum-marykate-smolenski-revolutionary-war/

Address

725 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA
02215

Website

http://www.bu.edu/cas

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