With the implementation of a new academic structure to parallel the areas in which faculty teach; the debut of a new dedicated concentration in bioengineering; and innovative gateways into engineering, Dean Cherry A. Murray aims to enhance learning at SEAS.

New Academic Structure

Beginning on July 1 (the beginning of the Fiscal Year for 2011), several enhancements will be implemented to improve how teaching, research, and planning is managed at SEAS.

The following new structure stems from the past year's strategic planning process and was outlined at the annual faculty retreat held on Friday, May 21st.

The overall goal is to reorganize the SEAS academic management structure to parallel the areas in which SEAS faculty teach.

See the full-sized organizational chart.

"By using teaching as our organizing principle, we can best promote excellence in research and scholarship, build stronger bridges across Harvard, and educate future global leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of society," says Murray.

Area Deans

The Area Dean structure will evolve with the appointment of several new Area Deans (to three-year terms). Area Deans (the official, new name per the faculty) will become a clear single point of responsibility for each academic concentration (existing and proposed) and be responsible for mentoring tenure-track faculty and for the oversight of Area-related searches, reviews, and promotions.

The plan now is to gradually add new degree programs, as will be done with bioengineering, over the next few years.

			Michael Brenner Area Dean for Applied Mathematics Area Administrator: Arlene Stevens
			Eric Mazur Area Dean for Applied Physics Area Administrator: Jill Larson
			Robert Howe Area Dean for Bioengineering Area Administrator: Arlene Stevens
			Michael Mitzenmacher Area Dean for Computer Science Area Administrator: Tristen Dixey
			Evelyn Hu Area Dean for Electrical Engineering Area Administrator: Tristen Dixey
			Steven Wofsy Area Dean for Environmental Science and Engineering Area Administrator: Jill Larson
			Joost Vlassak Area Dean for Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering Area Administrator: Jill Larson

The role of Associate Dean for Academic Programs will remain and faculty member Robert Howe, Abbott and James Lawrence Professor of Engineering, will continue his duties. In particular, he will chair the Engineering Sciences Committee that will now contain the relevant Area Deans for each ES track and have the power to determine the direction of the Engineering Sciences curriculum. (Special praise goes to Rob Howe who will now assume two roles.)

New Concentration in Bioengineering

At the March 2, 2010 meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), the faculty voted unanimously to approve a new, dedicated undergraduate concentration in Biomedical Engineering, to be managed by the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).

David Sengeh '10 and faculty member David Edwards in the lab.

The effort, led by SEAS faculty member David Mooney, Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering and a core member of the Wyss Institute, is part of an ongoing effort to enhance school's curriculum.

The new concentration, something that was seeded several years ago during the deanship of Venkatesh "Venky" Narayanamurti, John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Professor of Physics, will likely be offered starting in the Fall of 2010. The program will be separate from, yet complement, the subject-specific tracks in the broader, existing Engineering Sciences concentration.

Focused on biology, chemistry, and engineering, the Biomedical Engineering concentration will cater in particular to premedical students and will serve as a template for other future programs.

The new degree is also expected to be popular among prospective and current College students. In fact, the number of declared concentrators in SEAS has increased by nearly 40% from the 2007-2008 academic year (the year that SEAS was launched as a school) to the present.

More information about the new Biomedical Engineering concentration will be available in the coming months.

Innovative Gateways

Exposing students to the opportunities and challenge of cross-disciplinary fields is best accomplished through experiential learning (design projects and research experiences).

Postdoctoral student Amy Rowat is one of the organizers of a new course on explicating the principles of applied physics through cooking.

Moreover, by being embedded in a major research enterprise, organized by societal needs and major challenges, students gain a first-hand understanding of the latest approaches to science and engineering to address those needs and challenges.

Below are some of the ways concentrators and non-concentrators alike are engaging with engineering and the applied sciences.

General Education Courses

A collaboration by the Foundation Alícia (Alimentació i Ciència), headed by internationally acclaimed chef Ferran Adrià of El Bulli fame, and the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has led to the creation of a new undergraduate course on science and cooking. “Science and Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to the Science of Soft Matter,” will be part of the new program in General Education at Harvard College.

The course will bring together eminent Harvard researchers and world-class chefs, including Wylie Dufresne of wd-50 and Dan Barber of Blue Hill, as well as food scholar and writer Harold McGee, one of the leading authorities on kitchen science.

Enhanced Undergraduate Engineering Labs

Located in the ground floor of Pierce Hall, the undergraduate teaching labs at SEAS are host to a wide range of experiments that give students the chance to work with rapid prototyping and tissue engineering.

“We want to help students link concepts from the classroom to work in the lab,” says Anas Chalah, the newly appointed Director of Institutional Technology who is also a former cancer researcher at Harvard Medical School. Collaborating with SEAS faculty, he updates and designs new lab experiments that complement existing courses in computer science and bio-, mechanical, electrical, and environmental engineering.

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Opportunities for Student Innovation

I3 Innovation Challenge

As part of the the Harvard College Innovation Challenge (I3), organized by the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH), Harvard Student Agencies and the Harvard College Entrepreneurship Forum, 108 Harvard students, representing 27 different concentrations and all 12 Harvard houses, participated in the annual competition that showcases and rewards innovative student ventures (both commercial and social startups).

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The Laboratory at Harvard

"The Lab is a platform for experimentation—a place to share and develop ideas, it encourages creativity among students and the community at large, holding interdisciplinary exploration and collaboration at the heart of its philosophies, says W. Hugo Van Vuuren ’07, a fellow at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and The Lab."

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Alumni & Industry Engagement

Over the past year, alumni such as Alfred Spector '76 (Vice President of Research and Special Initiatives at Google); Sam Yagan '99 (Co-founder, Chief Executive Officer of OkCupid); and Raj Bhattacharyya (Managing Director at Deutsche Bank) have visited the SEAS campus to share their experiences with current students (and in some cases, recruit).

In addition, representatives from Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and other large firms all came to campus to meet with undergraduate and graduate students. More than half of SEAS alumni, in fact, go on to work in industry.

With the half-time SEAS appointment of Anthony Arcieri, Assistant Director for Careers in Science & Technology at the Harvard University Office of Career Services, the aim is to continue to cultivate such relationships and provide more opportunities in the form of internships.

Moving Forward

Dean Murray believes in educating individuals who have deep knowledge in a discipline but are able to collaborate across the boundaries of disciplines, as opposed to educating “mile-wide-but-inch-deep” individuals, or those who are interdisciplinary but have no intellectual depth.

Margo Seltzer (front) accepts the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Mentoring and Advising.

The approach is particularly important for enhancing undergraduate education, an activity that has become a top priority for SEAS.

Moving forward, a critical tenet is to keep in mind the synergy between and among disciplines and to expose students to cross-disciplinary challenges.