Rathindra Bose
by Tom Parisi
Rathindra Bose, vice president for research and dean of the Graduate School, will leave NIU this summer to accept a post at Ohio University.
Ohio University announced Monday that Bose has been named its vice president for research and creative activity and dean of the graduate college. He will work through June at NIU and begin his new job July 1.
Bose, who holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Georgetown University, will be responsible for managing Ohio University’s research division, spurring economic development through technology transfer and overseeing the new graduate college, which will be established this fall.
He said he took the post to advance OU’s research agenda in biomedical sciences and engineering, to help create the new college there and to advance his efforts to develop a new generation of cancer drugs. In partnership with the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, he will conduct pre-clinical trials on compounds he has developed that have the potential to treat ovarian and testicular cancers.
“In in-vitro tests, the compounds are showing good results,” he said. “My affiliation with Ohio University’s medical college as a tenured professor in the department of biomedical sciences will help advance the processes for FDA approval and patents.”
After spending 16 years at Kent State University, Bose arrived at NIU in 2003 to take his current position. During his tenure here, external funding for research and sponsored programs grew from $45 million annually to as much as $61 million.
Bose also made joint hires with Argonne National Laboratory, worked with Argonne to create a Ph.D. program at NIU in nanoscience and engineering, facilitated development of the Institute for Nanoscience, Engineering and Technology, assisted in the creation of the NIU Institute for Neutron Therapy at Fermilab and created the NIU/Argonne Distinguished Graduate Fellowship program.
“Rathindra is an exceptional scientist, and he took the initial kernel that we had and broadened it to encompass some of the areas of nanoscience with the greatest potential,” said Clyde Kimball, executive director of NIU’s nanoscience institute.
“Rathindra also has been a principal force in enhancing graduate-student interaction with Argonne,” he added. “He was responsible for making the distinguished graduate program happen. Thanks to him, our graduate students now have joint mentoring between senior scientists at Argonne and faculty at NIU, as well as access to cutting-edge instruments that are not available at the university or, in some cases, at any university.”
Bose’s wife, Anima, also will leave NIU. Currently associate director of the Fuel Cell Initiative in the College of Engineering, she will begin work next fall as an assistant professor in the Fuel Cell Research Laboratory at Ohio University in the department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering.
“We’ve been very blessed to have wonderful colleagues here,” Rathindra Bose said. “Anima and I have totally enjoyed our time at NIU and will sincerely miss all of the people we’ve worked with.”