Applied Mathematics

Applied mathematics at Harvard School of Engineering is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on the creation and imaginative use of mathematical concepts to pose and solve problems over the entire gamut of the physical and biomedical sciences and engineering, and increasingly, the social sciences and humanities.

Working individually and as part of teams collaborating across the University and beyond, faculty and students in Applied Mathematics seek to quantitatively describe, predict, design and control phenomena in a range of fields. This involves the study of relations between models and observations, while examining the mathematical foundations and limitations of these models and techniques.

Students are drawn to Applied Mathematics - now among Harvard's top five concentrations - by the flexibility it offers in learning about how to apply mathematical ideas to problems drawn from different fields, while remaining anchored to empirical data that drive these questions. 

Research and educational activities have particularly close links to Harvard's efforts in Mathematics, Economics, Computer Science, and Statistics. Graduates go on to a range of careers in industry, academics, to  professional schools in business, law, medicine, and, well, just about anything.