Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Name	Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Established	2007 (as named), roots 1847
Type	Private
Location	Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Parent	Harvard University
Dean	Claudia Sheinbaum
Students	~1,600
Undergrad	~650
Postgrad	~950

Contents

Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences is the engineering and applied science faculty of Harvard University offering undergraduate and graduate degrees and conducting interdisciplinary research across natural and computational domains. The school traces institutional antecedents to 19th-century initiatives in applied science and has evolved through relationships with entities such as Radcliffe College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and Broad Institute. Its programs interact closely with organizations like MIT Media Lab, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School, and corporations including Google, Microsoft, IBM, and Biogen through research partnerships and technology transfer.

History

The roots of the school extend from the 1847 founding of the Lawrence Scientific School and the later emergence of Harvard College curricula that responded to industrialization and the expansion of Massachusetts's manufacturing sector. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, figures associated with the school intersected with innovations by Alexander Graham Bell, Eli Whitney, Samuel Morse, Guglielmo Marconi, and collaborations with institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Radcliffe College. The 20th century saw growth in ties with federal programs at National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science Foundation, and Department of Defense research centers alongside faculty who interacted with awardees of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, MacArthur Fellowship, and National Medal of Science. The formal reorganization into a distinct engineering and applied sciences faculty culminated in the 21st century with capital campaigns involving donors like John A. Paulson and engagements with civic entities such as the City of Cambridge.

The school offers undergraduate concentrations, graduate programs, and professional degrees that interface with departments across Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Law School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Harvard Graduate School of Design. Undergraduate degrees emphasize cross-registration with Harvard College and research apprenticeships tied to laboratories affiliated with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the Broad Institute. Graduate offerings span doctoral and master's programs in areas linked to faculty with associations to the National Institutes of Health, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, European Research Council, and recipients of honors such as the Fields Medal and Breakthrough Prize. Curricula include courses co-taught with practitioners from Microsoft Research, Google Research, IBM Research, and collaborators from international universities like Stanford University, University of Cambridge, and ETH Zurich.

Research at the school is organized around interdisciplinary institutes and centers that collaborate with external partners including Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and private sector laboratories at Biogen and Moderna. Notable affiliated institutes include the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and joint laboratories with the Broad Institute and the Harvard Data Science Initiative. Research themes engage with computational systems studied alongside projects funded by the National Science Foundation, biomedical ventures supported by National Institutes of Health, and materials science programs linked to researchers who have held honors from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Royal Society, and National Academy of Engineering. Technology commercialization leverages relationships with Harvard Innovation Labs, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and venture entities connected to alumni who founded startups like Akili Interactive, Ginkgo Bioworks, and Traplight.

Primary facilities occupy sites in Cambridge near Harvard Square and include buildings adjacent to landmarks such as the Charles River and facilities that historically connected to Allston projects and the Longfellow Bridge. Laboratories and teaching spaces are situated in complexes that host equipment shared with Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute, and feature cleanrooms, advanced microscopy suites, and high-performance computing clusters comparable to resources at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory. The campus configuration supports collaboration with nearby institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and enables participation in regional initiatives coordinated with the City of Boston and state agencies like the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.

Faculty include scholars with appointments that span departments and centers, many of whom have previously held positions at Stanford University, Princeton University, California Institute of Technology, Yale University, and international institutions such as Imperial College London and Tsinghua University. Administrative leadership has engaged donors and policy stakeholders, working with corporate partners like Google, Microsoft, and Intel Corporation and liaising with funding agencies including National Science Foundation, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and National Institutes of Health. Distinguished faculty have received awards including the MacArthur Fellowship, Turing Award, Nobel Prize in Physics, and membership in the National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering.

Student life encompasses undergraduate and graduate organizations that collaborate with student groups at Harvard College, the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and cross-university clubs such as Harvard Engineering Society, Harvard Undergraduate Robotics Club, and entrepreneurial teams participating in Harvard Innovation Labs competitions. Students engage in professional development with recruiters from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Goldman Sachs, and McKinsey & Company, and participate in research symposia with presenters from MIT Media Lab, Wyss Institute, and the Broad Institute. Extracurricular activities include engineering design teams that compete in FIRST Robotics Competition, DARPA Challenges, and international contests associated with organizations like IEEE and ACM.