Kenneth R. Lutchen, PhD

Dr. Kenneth Lutchen is the Senior Advisor to the President, leading a new University-wide office focused on Strategy and Innovation. In this role, Dr. Lutchen directs designs and initiatives that advance the institution and society. Example challenges include infusing AI throughout the academic and administrative enterprise of BU, leading a taskforce to elevate advancing the power of collaboration and convergence in education and research, and advancing a coordinated approach for supporting all dimensions of student and faculty innovation and entrepreneurship.

This appointment follows Dr. Lutchen’s service as BU’s interim University provost and chief academic officer, where – in addition to guiding the University’s overall academic, budgetary, and planning processes – he initiated the development of best practices and shared approaches for the use of Generative AI in education and research. During his term as interim Provost, Dr. Lutchen began the design of a university-wide approach to personalized student advising and mentoring.

Prior to his service as interim provost, Dr. Lutchen was dean of BU’s College of Engineering from 2006-2023, where he oversaw dramatic gains in the college’s national and global stature, including a rise from 54^th to 31^st  in its national graduate ranking and an overall ranking of 15^th among all private universities, and 15^th among all Colleges of Engineering in the country in research expenditures per faculty member.

Dr. Lutchen advanced the concept of “Creating the Societal Engineer” as a foundational principle of engineering education to prepare students for life-long learning and impact. He has overseen innovations in engineering curricula, including successful collaborations with BU’s programs in data science and business to ensure all engineers learn the basics of machine learning and how successful product innovation occurs. During his Deanship he oversaw fundraising and construction of three major hands-on facilities – the Engineering Product Innovation Center,  the Bioengineering Technology and Entrepreneurship Center, and the Robotics and Autonomous Systems Teaching and Innovation Center, all run and supported via deep partnership with industries. Dr. Lutchen has published op-ed pieces on education, technology transfer, and industry-academic partnerships for research and workforce development in Harvard Business Review, Forbes magazine, and Business Insider.

Among the world’s leading scholars in the field of respiratory mechanics, Dr. Lutchen is a professor of biomedical engineering and has published 154 peer-reviewed articles cited 10,000 time. He is past president of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) and is an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), and the International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE). He has served on the NSF Advisory Board for the Engineering Division, and the Board of Directors for Harvard’s Wyss Institute of Bioinspired Engineering. He is currently on the Board of Trustees for the Engineering Foundation of the University of Virginia.

Curriculum Vitae

Views on Engineering, Education and Society

Essays by Dean Lutchen that appeared in the College’s alumni magazine ENGineer.