Our Questions change the way we think. Our answers change the way you live.
From the President
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I’m pleased to share with you Boston University’s 2024 Annual Report and to reflect on a year of many successes. Our scholars are asking challenging questions and pursuing answers with creativity and zeal. Our groundbreaking science is rooted in a deep commitment to impact. For example, under the leadership of Mark Grinstaff, a National Science Foundation Trailblazer, a team of scientists is investigating self-amplifying RNA, which could revolutionize vaccines. Ioannis Paschalidis and Rhoda Au, in collaboration with the Framingham Heart Study, are developing a promising new artificial intelligence model that could help predict the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.
At Boston University, our community members care about each other and the world in which we live. In 2024, we examined ways climate-vulnerable and debt-laden countries might invest in climate and development. We served our local Boston community, through scholarship advocating for the homeless and by mentoring children battling serious illnesses. We addressed misinformation in the media, and we explored the power of the arts to promote mental health. With the seminal research of our Black Women’s Health Study, we have almost 30 years of data on this understudied population.
“Our community members care about each other and the world in which we live.”
—President Gilliam
Boston University was founded to be academically rigorous and open to all people regardless of their background. We continue that tradition to this day. We boast an outstanding student body: This year we had 78,769 applications with an 11.1% admission rate. One in five members of the Class of 2028 is the first in their family to attend college. Our students in this class hail from 49 states and 70 countries and regions.
My optimism for where we are headed is buoyed by the strong support that I’ve seen from our community. Over the past year, we benefited from new and continuing generosity from alumni and friends of the University. They are connecting to campus life by contributing to everything from scholarships to train more primary care physicians to the hiring of faculty who teach art history and appreciation.
In the year ahead, we will continue to build on our existing strengths. Working together, our community will keep transforming Boston University into something even greater than it is today.
Sincerely,
Melissa Gilliam