Physics professor and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Brent Nelson will serve as the interim dean of the College of Science, or COS, starting July 1 as the search for a permanent dean continues, according to a June 26 email from the Office of the Provost to the Northeastern community.
Nelson will succeed Hazel Sive, who announced her resignation in November 2024. Nelson, who attended the University of California, Berkeley for both his bachelor’s degree and doctorate in theoretical and mathematical physics, has been a member of Northeastern’s faculty since 2006. He first joined the university as an associate professor after completing postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania.
Serving the Northeastern community for nearly 20 years, Nelson has spent eight years in his current role as senior associate dean for academic affairs. He has also served on the Faculty Senate and the vice-provost’s Academic Advisory Task Force.
“His leadership contributed to significant achievements, including increasing undergraduate yield, expanding the Summer Bridge program for incoming underrepresented students, and establishing the Science Connects to Innovation Program, which empowers undergraduate science students to create entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges,” Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs David Madigan wrote in the June 26 email.
In addition to his leadership experience, Brent conducts research in high energy particle physics with a focus on string theory and its connections to observable physics. In 2017, he received Northeastern’s College of Science Excellence in Teaching Award, according to Madigan.
Madigan ended the email thanking Sive for her leadership. Sive, who has a background in chemistry and zoology, joined Northeastern in June 2020. Prior to her tenure at Northeastern, she was a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. In a November 2024 interview with The Huntington News, Sive said that she will continue her “deep commitment to higher education.”
