John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Coat of arms of the School
Former name
Lawrence Scientific School
Type Private
Established 1847
Endowment US$990.9 million (2015)[1]
Dean Francis J. Doyle III
Academic staff
80 full-time
Undergraduates 892 (Fall 2015)[1]
Postgraduates 441 (Fall 2015) [1]
Location Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Campus Urban
Website seas.harvard.edu

The John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is a school within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS). It offers programs in engineering, applied sciences, and technology. The dean of the school is Francis J. Doyle III.

SEAS has close ties to the College[2] and undergraduate programs,[3] the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences[4] and expanding links across the physical and life sciences.[5]

Academics and research

Undergraduates can pursue programs in Computer Science (AB and as a secondary field), Engineering Sciences (AB and SB, both of which are ABET accredited) and Applied Mathematics (AB and as a secondary field).

At the graduate level, the Division offers SM, ME and PhD options covering interdisciplinary research areas including: Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, Computational Science and Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. In addition graduate students may pursue collaborative options: Engineering and Physical Biology (with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences); Science, Technology and Management (joint with HBS); Medical Engineering and Medical Physics; (Harvard/MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology); and Systems Biology (with Harvard Medical School).

Faculty number approximately eighty [6](73 FTEs) who account for nearly $40M in annual research funds (2007/8 figure). The faculty have particularly close ties (including joint appointments) with the departments of Physics, Earth and Planetary Science and Chemistry and Chemical Biology. The facilities provide 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2) of interconnected labs, classrooms, clusters and offices in six buildings.

Areas of particular research focus include Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, Bioengineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Environmental Sciences and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

Renewal and growth

History

Abbott Lawrence

The formation of the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard University in 1847 marked Harvard's first major effort to provide a formal, advanced education in science and engineering.

The school was named for Massachusetts industrialist and entrepreneur Abbott Lawrence, who donated $50,000 (a then-unprecedented sum) to create the institution. While he did not attend Harvard, he had a long personal history with key faculty members such as Louis Agassiz and enjoyed the pursuit of and understood the value in science and engineering. In the letter that accompanied his gift, Lawrence explained his rationale for forming a school:

But where can we send those who intend to devote themselves to the practical applications of science? Our country abounds in men of action. Hard hands are ready to work upon our hard materials; and where shall sagacious heads to taught to direct those hands?

James Emmanuel, Jr. was the first Dean.

The School hosted astronomers, architects, naturalists, engineers, mathematicians and even philosophers.

The School’s initial success did not escape the notice of other institutions, leading William Greenleaf Eliot, president of Eliot Seminary (later renamed Washington University) to declare in 1854:

Harvard University is, at this time, gaining more credit and accomplishing greater good, by the Lawrence Scientific School than by any other agency. We need just such a school, here. Its effect would be to elevate mechanical, agricultural, and mercantile pursuits, into learned professions. It would annihilate that absurd distinction by which three pursuits, of Law, Medicine, and Theology, are called professions, and everything else, labor or trade...

While the School initially thrived, by the latter decades of the 19th century the institution faced increasing competition from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, founded in 1861) and was constrained by the uncertain views about its role and status by the long-serving Harvard President Charles William Eliot. Eliot was involved in at least five unsuccessful attempts to absorb his former employer (MIT) into Harvard.[8] As a result of such uncertainty, the Lawrence Scientific School became less of an independent entity, losing its influence and students to other parts of College and University.

In 1891 industrialist Gordon McKay designated the Lawrence Scientific School his beneficiary. The American inventor, engineer and entrepreneur was best known for machinery that revolutionized the shoe manufacturing. In 1906, before the first payment from his bequest, Lawrence's scientific and engineering programs were incorporated into Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The School ceased to exist as an independent entity. (McKay's gift still supports over 40 endowed professorships).

On March 10, 2009, Cherry A. Murray, a former executive at Bell Laboratories and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,[9] was appointed dean, effective July 1, 2009. She also became the John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences.[10] At the end of 2014, she resigned and returned, after a sabbatical, to teaching.[11] She was reappointed as Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy and Professor of Physics.[12]

On June 3, 2015, the school was renamed the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, following a $400 million gift by Harvard Business School (HBS) alumnus John A. Paulson.[13][14]

On May 14, 2015, Francis J. Doyle III, a distinguished scholar in chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and director of the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, was appointed Dean, effective August 1, 2015. Doyle succeeded Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science, who had served as interim dean since the end of 2014.[15]

In February 2007, the Harvard Corporation and Overseers voted for the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences to change its name to the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS).[16][17] In September 2008, "Engineering a Renaissance”[18] was held to mark the creation of Harvard’s first new school in seven decades.

Evolving structure

Research highlights

20th century

1995 to 2006

2006-

Alumnae

Simon Newcomb, Rear Admiral in the United States Navy and a leader in mathematical astronomy, graduated in 1858. Charles Sanders Peirce, who created America’s greatest legacy in modern philosophy (pragmatism), graduated in 1862. While staying for less than a year, the future doctor, psychologist and author William James enrolled around the same time, before switching to medicine.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Numbers | Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  2. "Harvard College". College.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  3. "Academics Harvard College". College.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on August 1, 2009. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  4. "Home - The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences". Gsas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  5. Harvard News Office (2006-09-14). "Bloxham named FAS divisional dean". News.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  6. "Harvard University | Best Engineering School | US News". grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com. Retrieved 2016-10-07.
  7. Jazkarta (1997-01-01). "Talking Points — Intranet". Intranet.seas.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on March 6, 2012. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  8. Alexander, Philip N. "MIT-Harvard Rivalry Timeline". MIT Music and Theater Arts News. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2014-07-07.
  9. Jazkarta (2009-07-01). "Cherry A. Murray — Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences". Seas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  10. Walsh, Colleen (2012-04-05). "Harvard Gazette". News.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on March 23, 2009. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  11. . Harvard Crimson http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/10/29/cherry-murray-seas-resign. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. Jazkarta. "Cherry A. Murray — Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences". Seas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2015-07-17.
  13. "Harvard receives its largest gift".
  14. "John Paulson Gives $400 Million to Harvard for Engineering School". The New York Times. 4 June 2015.
  15. "A new dean for SEAS". Retrieved 2015-07-17.
  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20080517010913/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2006/05/23-deas.html. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved June 24, 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  17. Harvard News Office. "Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences votes to change the name Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences to School of Engineering and Applied Sciences". News.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  18. Powell, Alvin. "HarvardScience | Harvard Gazette". Harvardscience.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on June 23, 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-18.
  19. 1 2 President's Reports for 1917-18
  20. "Our Campus TEACHING, RESEARCH, AND ADMINISTRATIVE SPACES". Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. President and Fellows of Harvard College. 2014. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
  21. "Palm NMR and 1-chip NMR". IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits. 46 (1): 342–352. Jan 2011. doi:10.1109/JSSC.2010.2074630.
  22. Jazkarta (2011-04-03). "Materials scientists at Harvard demonstrate the first macro-scale thin-film solid-oxide fuel cell — Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences". Seas.harvard.edu. Archived from the original on May 16, 2013. Retrieved 2012-10-18.

Coordinates: 42°22′21.67″N 71°07′06.73″W / 42.3726861°N 71.1185361°W / 42.3726861; -71.1185361

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