A fascinating story of an educator

Dr. Animikh Biswas joined UMBC as a tenured associate professor in 2013. He was promoted to the rank of professor in 2015, and in 2019 was was elected Chair of the Department by a vast majority of the faculty. Dr. Animikh Biswas is currently a Professor and Chair at the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Maryland Baltimore County.

This page focuses on one of Dr. Biswas' research contribution and one PhD student:

  1. A. Biswas, Maximal principle in commutant lifting and systems, Chapter VI.5 in Metric constrained interpolation, commutant lifting and systems 657 - 686. Edited by C. Foias, A. E. Frazho, I. Gohberg and M. A. Kaashoek, O.T. Adv. Appl. vol. 100, (1998), Birkhauser.
  1. Vincent Martinez, who successfully defended his PhD thesis on 4/23/2014 while co-mentored by Dr. Biswas
At the time of Dr. Biswas' application for a position with UMBC in 2013 the publication was listed on his CV under the ``Publications" section together with other refereed journal publications. At the time of the 2015 promotion it was listed on the CV (still available at Dr. Biswas' UMBC web page to read and download for all) separately under the ``PUBLICATIONS (Other)" section. In 2019, during the Department Chair election campaign, it was not listed at all. Nowadays internet documents have tendency to disappear without a trace (see e.g. the amazing Theodore Hill story). To avoid a sudden disappearance the 2015 CV was downloaded and stored locally here. The vol. 100 table of contents ends on page 587, and lists neither the paper, nor Dr. Biswas as a contributing author or in any other capacity.

Starting from the rank of Associate Professor the UMBC Faculty Handbook requires the candidate to demonstrate ``proven ability to offer graduate instruction and to direct graduate research." As a rule a candidate for promotion to the rank of Professor is expected to graduate at least one PhD student. Mr. Martinez is the only PhD student graduated under Dr. Biswas mentorship listed on the 2015 CV. However, Martinez's abstract and thesis available from ProQuest list Michael Jolly as thesis advisor. Dr. Biswas is listed as a committee member only.

The UMBC Faculty Handbook describes Instances of Professional Misconduct as

Falsification or distortion of one's own or another's credentials with the intent to deceive. Adding to or removing from personnel files documents that could affect the evaluation of faculty members, with the intent to misrepresent the faculty member's credentials. Using grades to extort personal favors.

As a result of the above controversies at the time of Dr. Biswas' promotion to the rank of Professor the Department produced two reports. The majority report strongly endorsing the promotion, and the minority report strongly opposing the promotion. On December 15, 2015 an email went to the Department Promotion and Tenure Committee (DP&TC), Dr. Suri, the DP&TC Chair, Dr. LaCourse, the Dean; Dr. Rous, the Provost, and Dr. Hrabowski, the UMBC President. The email brought up the story of the non existing publication, and the recently graduated PhD student Vincent Martinez supervised by Michael Jolly. One week later an email from Dr. Patrice McDermott, Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs responded by explaining that concerns raised ``will come forward to higher levels of review for consideration as the dossier moves through the process required by the UMBC Faculty Handbook." In May 2015 Dr. Biswas was successfully promoted to the rank of Professor.

In Spring 2019 Dr. Biswas was selected by the Department for the Chairmanship. An email went to the Department, Dean LaCourse responsible for the Chair's appointment, as well as Provost Rous, and President Hrabowski. Four weeks later the Dean responded assuring Dr. Kogan that ``All other publications are readily found using Google Scholar." In Summer 2019 Dr. Biswas was appointed a Chair. Since that time he represents the department to the administration and the outside world, and leads it forward.