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Interfaculty Collaboration
Interdisciplinary Science
In the fall of 2003, President Summers established four task forces to suggest how Harvard might utilize the new Allston campus. The Task Force on Science and Technology [PDF] was asked to envision the future of science at Harvard and its implications for Allston and for existing science facilities. In January 2004, the Task Force issued a “call for ideas” to Harvard science faculty and received nearly 70 “one-pagers” in response. The Task Force then charged interdisciplinary teams of faculty with developing these topics into “white papers.” Upon completion, the Task Force reviewed the papers and prioritized them, according to such factors as scientific quality, innovative character, committed faculty participants, and the presence of a faculty leader who could work with planners. Although we expected priorities to change as new ideas emerge and take shape, the initial list of prioritized projects was considered as the first iteration of the University’s scientific development agenda for Allston specifically and for Harvard more broadly. This process also informed the preliminary planning for the first science building in Allston.
The priorities that were identified by the Task Force at that time led to the formation of the following initiatives through the combined efforts of the Provost’s Office and the relevant deans: the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Initiative for Innovative Computing, the Initiative for Quantum Science and Engineering, the Origins of Life Initiative, the Microbial Sciences Initiative, and the Institute for Quantitative Social Science. In addition, the Task Force endorsed the goals of the Harvard Initiative for Global Health (HIGH) and the Harvard University Center for the Environment (HUCE).
The University continues to plan for science beyond these initial stages. Allston will be the site of a large expansion of science and technology research over the coming decades, and the University will need to continue bringing new ideas forward for consideration while reassessing former priorities. With this in mind, the University Planning Committee on Science and Engineering (UPCSE) was convened in January 2006 to identify ways to strengthen research and education in science and engineering across Harvard, and ensure that the University could capture emerging opportunities.
Among the recommendations contained in the final UPCSE report was the creation of a University-wide planning body dubbed the Harvard University Science and Engineering Committee (HUSEC), which will bring together administrators and faculty leaders from all parts of the University – from the Medical School, the School of Public Health, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (with its departments in the physical sciences, life sciences, and math and statistics), and the Harvard-affiliated hospitals.
