A 62-year-old engineering professor at Boston University was found dead this morning in his laboratory at the institution’s Photonics Center, The Boston Globe reported. The police did not disclose a cause of death for the professor, Francesco Cerrina, but homicide has been ruled out. As part of the investigation, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been notified, which the Globe said is standard procedure for an unattended death in a lab. Professor Cerrina, chairman of the electrical- and computer-engineering department, was known for his role, while at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, in inventing a faster, cheaper way to manufacture gene chips, a technology that automates the search for particular segments of DNA.
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One Response to Engineering Professor Dies in His Lab at Boston U.
bjackerson - July 13, 2010 at 12:24 pm
One of our professors who was Chair of Communications also died in his office this past week. He was a great humanitarian as well as a vlued colleague. He was only 50 and it was also unexpected. I mounr the loss fo these hard workng colleagues, but also wonder why this articel is news. Is it the untimely death of a scholar or greater concern about work expectations in academia?