Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is the engineering and applied sciences school within Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it integrates foundational science with practical engineering disciplines. The school grants undergraduate and graduate degrees while conducting interdisciplinary research that bridges fields like computer science, bioengineering, and materials science.

History

The school's origins trace to the 1847 founding of the Lawrence Scientific School, one of the first formal efforts in the United States to offer advanced scientific education, championed by Abbott Lawrence and early faculty like Louis Agassiz. For much of its history, engineering instruction at Harvard University was dispersed, notably within the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences (DEAS) under the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. A pivotal transformation occurred in 2007 when Harvard University elevated DEAS to become the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), a full-fledged academic school. This move was significantly advanced by a 2015 gift from John A. Paulson, a Harvard Business School alumnus and founder of Paulson & Co., leading to the school's current name. Key leadership figures in its modern development include former deans Venkatesh Narayanamurti and Cherry A. Murray, and Harvard President Lawrence Bacow.

Organization and academics

The school is organized into several academic areas and institutes, including Applied Mathematics, Applied Physics, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Environmental Science and Engineering. It offers the Bachelor of Science (S.B.), Master of Science (S.M.), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees, with many students pursuing joint concentrations with other Harvard University departments such as Physics or Molecular and Cellular Biology. The academic leadership includes Dean David C. Parkes, who succeeded Francis J. Doyle III, and the faculty is integrated with affiliated appointments from institutions like the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the Broad Institute. The curriculum emphasizes collaboration with Harvard College, the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Research and initiatives

Research is highly interdisciplinary, spanning frontiers in nanotechnology, quantum computing, robotics, and climate science. Major centers include the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, and the Harvard Quantum Initiative in collaboration with the Department of Physics. Significant initiatives are housed at the Active Learning Labs and the Harvard Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), funded by the National Science Foundation. The school partners closely with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering on bioengineering projects and with the Broad Institute on computational biology. Other key research areas involve data science through the Institute for Applied Computational Science and energy studies via the Harvard University Center for the Environment.

Campus and facilities

The school's primary facilities are centered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, across the Harvard University campus. The flagship building is the Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) in Allston, a state-of-the-art facility designed by Behnisch Architekten that houses labs, maker spaces, and the Active Learning Labs. Other important structures include Pierce Hall, home to Applied Physics and the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems, and Maxwell Dworkin, which hosts Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. The school also utilizes resources at the Harvard Innovation Labs and collaborates on facilities with neighboring institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University.

Notable people

The school's community includes distinguished faculty, alumni, and researchers. Notable faculty and affiliates have included Nobel laureates such as Roy J. Glauber and Eric S. Maskin, Turing Award winner Leslie Valiant, and pioneers like roboticist Robert Wood. Influential alumni span various fields, including technology leaders like Steve Ballmer (former CEO of Microsoft), Shantanu Narayen (CEO of Adobe Inc.), and Sheryl Sandberg (former COO of Meta Platforms). Other prominent figures are inventor Ray Kurzweil, former United States Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, and mathematician Lene Hau, known for experiments slowing light.

Category:Harvard University Category:Engineering universities and colleges in Massachusetts Category:Educational institutions established in 1847