Jamshed Bharucha

Jamshed Bharucha is an Indian American cognitive neuroscientist who has served in leadership roles in higher education. He is the founding vice chancellor of Sai University, Chennai, and is a member of the board of advisors of India's International Movement to Unite Nations (I. I. M. U. N.). Bharucha is President Emeritus of Cooper Union, a college located in Manhattan, New York City, having served as the 12th President of Cooper Union during the time of Cooper Union's financial crisis and tuition protests. Prior to becoming president of Cooper Union, Bharucha was provost and senior vice president of Tufts University and professor in the departments of psychology, music, and neuroscience. Before his time at Tufts, Bharucha was the John Wentworth Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences and dean of the faculty of arts & sciences at Dartmouth College. Bharucha was a distinguished fellow and research professor at Dartmouth, where his research and teaching were focused on education data science. His research is in cognitive psychology and neuroscience, focusing on the cognitive and neural basis of the perception of music. He was editor of the interdisciplinary journal Music Perception.

Jamshed Bharucha was born in Mumbai, India. His father Jal Bharucha, from which Jamshed graduated. Bharucha studied violin in Mumbai, received an Associate’s Diploma in violin performance from Trinity College of Music (London) in 1973, and then continued to study violin at Vassar. Bharucha graduated from Vassar College where he majored in biopsychology (1978), then received an M. A. in philosophy from Yale University (1979) and a Ph. D. in cognitive psychology from Harvard University (1983). At Harvard he worked with Stephen Kosslyn, William K. Estes and Roger Brown.

Bharucha began his academic career at Dartmouth College, where he was John Wentworth Professor and rose from associate dean for the social sciences to deputy provost to dean of the faculty of arts & sciences. His principal faculty appointment was in the department of psychological & brain sciences, but he also taught in the program in linguistics & cognitive science and the program in electroacoustic music (now called "digital musics"). As an academic administrator, he launched initiatives on teaching and research, as well as their integration in the form of active learning, encouraging undergraduates to get involved in research with their professors. After spending 2015 2016 at Harvard, Bharucha was appointed distinguished fellow at Dartmouth, where he taught in two departments: education, and psychological & brain science. As provost, Bharucha oversaw the seven schools, the Tisch College, the Institute for Global Leadership, the Fares Center and the Clinical & Translational Research Institute. Bharucha launched the Summer Scholars program, which provides opportunities for undergraduate students to work on collaborative research with faculty across the university and its affiliated hospitals. He also launched the University Seminar, a cross disciplinary course, open to undergraduate, graduate and professional students.

Bharucha was appointed as the twelfth president of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art effective July 1, 2011. His tenure at Cooper Union was marked by a financial crisis and tuition protests. An investigation by the New York State attorney general's office ensued into the institution's decision to charge tuition for the first time in its history and other financial decisions made by the trustees. This eventually led to the attorney general's office brokering a settlement of a lawsuit filed by a group of students, alumni and faculty. On June 10, 2015 five of the trustees, who had been supporters of tuition and were opponents of the settlement, resigned. The following day, Bharucha announced that he would be resigning to become a visiting scholar at Harvard University.

Bharucha served as the inaugural Vice Chancellor of SRM University, Amaravati, a new university in the newly designed capital city (Amaravati) of the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. He established a partnership with Minerva Schools at KGI to adopt their active learning platform.

Bharucha serves as the founding vice chancellor of Sai University, a new university being launched in the city of Chennai.