亚洲AV鈥檚 Michael Buschmann is being remembered by friends and colleagues as a brilliant mind and translational researcher with a gentle spirit and a burning love for jazz.
Buschmann, who died at his home last week, had been an Eminent Scholar and the chair of the within Mason鈥檚 since his arrival at Mason in 2017.
鈥淚n 2017, the department was only in its fifth year of existence,鈥 recalled , the dean of the College of Engineering and Computing. 鈥淲hile it got off to a successful start, it was a young department that needed a strong and well-respected leader to take it to the next level and to build its research program commensurate with that of an R1 research university. Mike did exactly what we had hoped鈥攈e established a strong research culture while building a high level of collaboration and collegiality within the department, with students and teaching at the forefront.鈥
Buschmann came to Mason with his wife, , a bioengineering professor in the College of Engineering and Computing, after having spent the previous 20 years at 脡cole Polytechnique in Montreal.
, former chair of the Department of Computer Science and now the interim divisional dean of the within the college, knew Buschmann well and praised his collaborative efforts with his Mason colleagues. He cited Buschmann鈥檚 entrepreneurial nature as the driving force behind his strong record of translational research.
鈥淚n the five or so years since he joined Mason as chair of Bioengineering, the department has become one of the strongest research departments in the College of Engineering and Computing,鈥 Setia said. 鈥淭his is a department that is ready to make the jump to the next level in national reputation, and Mike鈥檚 leadership was a big reason for this.鈥
But it was more than his impressive academic credentials that quickly endeared Buschmann to Setia鈥攊t was also their shared love of modern jazz.
鈥淢ike and I were very good friends,鈥 Setia said.
They frequently attended live jazz concerts together, along with Caroline Hoemann and other colleagues from the college.
But it was his passion for research that drove Buschmann most.
Most recently, he had formed the start-up AexeRNA Therapeutics Inc., in partnership with the university鈥檚 Office of Technology Transfer. He and his team had licensed the commercial rights of four patent applications to the company. The technology would make mRNA vaccines less costly, with fewer side effects and more readily available worldwide.
鈥淢ike was a true intellectual,鈥 said Ball, who also remembered Buschmann for being an outstanding mentor for many junior faculty and students alike. 鈥淭here are many very intelligent people in academia, but Mike had a brilliant mind. He was able to see connections between different research topics and results that were not apparent to almost every other researcher.鈥澨
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