Harvard SEAS Annual Report 2009/10

Annual Report

2009 2010Coming Into Our Own

ContentsDean’s Note .................................................... 1

Financial Statements ....................................... 5

Highlights ...................................................... 14

Annual Report 2009-2010 1

Cooking up a course … A general education course on science and cooking, first thought up in 2008, has become an international phenomenon. Seven hundred students showed up on the first day in hope of grabbing one of the coveted 300 seats. Lines snaked around the Science Center and onlookers wondered if a rock band was in town. “60 Minutes” visited campus to shoot a segment on innovations in the culinary arts.

Flying high … Thanks to a $10 million National Science Foundation Expeditions in Computing Grant, “Robobees” (or Micro Air Vehicles) have taken off. One day, mechanical fliers may perform everything from pollination to even earthquake rescue missions. The project involves faculty and students throughout SEAS, departments in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Wyss Institute, and nearby sister institutions in academia and industry partners.

Engineering innovation … With help from programs and courses dedicated to fostering innovation, a team of students created a soccer ball that, when kicked, charges a battery. Another group programmed a mobile app that connects the campus with surrounding businesses and events. The sOccket ball won a breakthrough award from Popular Mechanics and the app was featured as a lead story in the Wall Street Journal. Moreover, events like the CS50 Fair and the newly created Laboratory at Harvard brought thousands of Harvard community members together to see the results of hands-on learning first-hand.

Getting the call … I had my own personal surprise when I received a phone call from the White House requesting my participation on the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. As I told a group of Harvard College admissions recruiters, being called by the President of the United States to serve as an expert is one of the fantastic things you get to do as a dean of engineering at Harvard.

As we think about how we want to best present ourselves to the world, being a place that offers surprising connections, conducts cross-cutting research that makes people stop and wonder, and offers courses that makes engineering “cool” and relevant for everyone may be right on target.

Coming Into Our Own

Guided by the excellent work of my predeces-sors—in particular, former dean Venkatesh “Venky” Narayanamurti—and thanks to the dedication of the fantastic SEAS faculty and staff, we are truly coming into our own. Even better, we are not the only ones who think so.

Over the past year I had over 150 “encounters” with alumni and supporters, according to the calcula-tions by our Office for Resource Development. The message I heard was clear: People are proud to be part of the school and are excited by what the school is doing and where it is going.

As our community grows, we constantly look to engage and reengage with our alumni and friends,

Dean’s Note

…A Year of Surprises…

Reflecting upon my first year as dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), I can’t deny that it’s been a year of surprises. Good ones—and often incredibly great ones.

Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences2

no matter how recently graduated or previously distant.

Further, members of the extended SEAS community have been eager to get involved, whether by return-ing to campus like Sam Yagan ’99 did to speak to students about his experiences at mathematically-based dating site OKCupid or, as in the case of mechanical engineer and businessman Barry Griffin ’74, returning to his alma mater to help infuse our curriculum with design and active learning.

Perhaps most important, our increasing eminence has had a noticeable effect on admissions. Inter-est in concentrating in engineering sciences by prospective and current undergraduate students is up by 28 percent. In fact, applications from students interested in engineering have risen considerably more than applications as a whole.

The total number of concentrators is also at near-record levels, with 415 undergraduate students enrolled in our degree programs. We have seen a 30 percent increase in the number of applied math-ematics and computer science concentrators and a 57 percent increase in the number of engineering science concentrators.

Our graduate programs also continue to attract the best and brightest from across the globe. Less than 10 percent of students who apply are admitted. The National Research Council rankings, released on September 28, also highlight the growing strength and reputation of our graduate programs.

Thriving in the New Normal

In light of the global economic crisis and the drop in the University’s endowment (and more directly, the payout percentage) the economic situation of Harvard and SEAS has, indeed, been challenging.

Thanks to much prudent and thoughtful planning prior to my arrival, SEAS has been weathering the storm. I am pleased to report that even with the tough economic pressures, we ended the year with a net surplus and added $3 million to our unrestricted reserve, to use in the challenging years ahead.

Sponsored research, thanks in part to stimulus fund-ing, is at a healthy $42 million, a record level. Even more impressive, we consistently rank among our peers as having one of the highest levels of funding per faculty member.

All of us at SEAS have been working together to reduce our expenses across the board and to be more efficient. Always a lean-run operation, SEAS has been able to continue to make progress and remain ambitious, rather than retrench or retreat. In short, we are continuing to make progress towards renewing our faculty and enhancing our teaching and learning.

Ultimately, this means that as dean, I have to make sure we are fulfilling our role and promise as a school while ensuring that we are making prudent financial choices.

Thus, during my first year, I spent considerable time preparing for what will be our major tenets in the coming years and, in particular, as we gear up towards future fundraising.


The new structure stems from the past year’s strategic planning process and was outlined at the annual faculty retreat held on Friday, May 21.

The area dean structure has also evolved with the appointment of several new area deans to three-year terms.

Area deans—the official, new name per the faculty—are a clear single point of responsibility for each academic concentration (existing and proposed) and are responsible for mentoring tenure-track faculty and for the oversight of area-related searches, reviews, and promotions.

With the new area dean structure as a basis, we have more structural integrity,

» allowing consistency across courses and degrees;

» putting decision making at the right level and gaining more authority and control over SEAS’ curriculum, while still being part of the College/GSAS; and

» creating one primary point of contact for an academic area to help with planning and community building. Ultimately, this means we can be “there” for students.

A Year of Planning

I am, by nature, a planner. With help from a newly formed Steering Committee, we focused on realign-ing our academic structure to better meet the needs of teaching and research.

Putting teaching & learning first

The outcome of our academic planning boils down to putting teaching and learning first—as both a philosophical and an organizing principle.

As a school, we are grounded in the liberal arts and provide bridges to the professional schools. This is a fantastic role to play.

We help students discover, apply knowledge, and innovate. Our primary aim is to educate what I call T-shaped individuals: individuals who have depth, or expertise in a chosen field, as well as breadth, or the ability to reach out to other areas.

To ensure that we are enabling this ultimate aim, we set out to make sure that SEAS is organized in the right way.

The overall goal was to reorganize the SEAS academic management structure to parallel the areas in which SEAS faculty teach.

Beginning on July 1 (the beginning of the fiscal year for 2011), several enhancements were implemented to improve how teaching, research, and planning are managed at SEAS.


Enhancing Our Profile

In sum, I am proud of the progress we are making at SEAS.

As much of what we did over the past year was internally focused, we now have an opportunity to look outward.

In the coming years, we will explore ways to further our efforts to enhance SEAS, with the ultimate aim of creating stronger connections with our key constituencies, supporters, and the wider public.

To that end, I was very pleased to welcome Jonathan Zittrain, the first joint engineering-law appointment in history. This spirit of collaboration is a trend I expect to continue with the addition of more joint appointments and creation of cross-school research and learning experiences.

We have an amazing opportunity to work together. In the words of alum Tony Hsieh ’95, our aim is to light the path that connects our passions to a greater purpose.

Cherry A. Murray

October 2010


Financial Statements

In spite of a significant reduction in investment income due to the 2008 capital market collapse, SEAS finished the fiscal year 2009–2010 with a net surplus and added $3 million to its unrestricted reserve.

During fiscal 2009, SEAS had responded to the turmoil in global markets and prepared for more challenging fiscal realities by reducing its non-salary operating expenses. In fiscal 2010, SEAS continued to reduce its expense base in both personnel and non-personnel categories. Faculty and staff engaged fully in this effort and committed to manage within a reduced expense budget without compromising the School’s mission or aspirations.

Financial management efforts during the year have focused on taking advantage of increased sponsored research revenues and reducing targeted expense items, while continuing to invest in key strategic priorities.

Taking Advantage of Increased Sponsored Revenues

Nearly all income categories experienced a decline during fiscal 2010, except for revenues from sponsored research.

Income from sponsored research showed a 22 percent increase over fiscal 2009. This is all the more remarkable as sponsored research revenues had declined in 2009 for the first time in many years.

Part of the funding increase was due to the Ameri-can Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). SEAS faculty members received 12 ARRA awards from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Department of Energy (DoE). These awards totaled $13,977,048 to be spent from fiscal 2010 through early fiscal 2015. The majority, though, will be spent from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2012. Even without the ARRA funding, year-over-year increase in federal funding remained

very healthy at 8.2 percent.

Federally sponsored research funding was not the only source of the overall increase; funding from non-federal sources rose from $5.8 million to $8.5 million (a 47 percent increase).

Federal funding represented by far the largest contributor to overall sponsored research funding and accounted for 80 percent of such revenue in 2010, down from 85 percent in 2009.

SEAS faculty submitted 216 proposals for a total funding request of $198 million. NSF continued to be the most important federal (and overall) funding source, followed by DoD, NIH, and NASA. On the non-federal side, BASF was the largest source of research funding, representing 33 percent of the total non-federal spending in fiscal 2010, followed by GlaxoSmithKline and Advanced Energy Consor-tium (AEC).

The effective overhead rate for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences rose to 49 percent in fiscal 2010 from 43 percent in fiscal 2009. Awards from the DoD—which are subject to an overhead cap of 35 percent—continued to depress SEAS’ effective overhead rate. SEAS faculty received 24 such awards in fiscal 2010.


By contrast, endowment income, tuition-related income, current-use gifts, and other revenues all declined in fiscal 2010.

Endowment income was the most affected income category as a result of the 27 percent negative return of the Harvard endowment at the end of fiscal 2009. In planning for the fiscal 2010 budget, SEAS and other Harvard Schools were asked to plan for an 8 percent reduction in income from endowment funds.

Furthermore, due to investment losses, the value of many endowment funds had become lower than the original gift principal. Fortunately, the passage of the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA) by the state of Massachusetts on July 2, 2009, softened the income reduction blow by allowing Harvard and other nonprofit organizations to access some of these “underwater” endowment funds.

Nevertheless, income from the endowment expe-rienced a $5 million decline from $39.9 million in fiscal 2009 to $34.8 million in fiscal 2010.

Similarly, tuition-related income obtained through the SEAS–FAS compact also decreased during fiscal 2010.

Through a 2008 financial contract, SEAS and FAS jointly agreed that 4.5 percent of the net tuition in-come1 generated by Harvard College undergraduate students would be credited to SEAS. In addition, a formula established by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences returned approximately 45 percent of SEAS’s graduate tuition income to the school. Other aspects of the compact included sharing of the administrative assessment on the SEAS endowment and cross-school payments for space use.

An overall $17 million increase in undergraduate scholarships resulted in a $0.5 million decrease in SEAS’ share of net undergraduate tuition income. Part of that decrease was offset by a $0.25 million in-crease in graduate tuition income to SEAS, resulting in an overall slight decline in tuition-related income.

1 4.5 percent represented a weighted average of the proportion of SEAS concentrators out of all undergraduate students and the proportion of undergraduate courses taught by SEAS faculty. Net tuition income is calculated by subtracting total expenses related to undergraduate education from total tuition income after discounting for undergraduate financial aid.


Current-use gifts continued to be very strong in fiscal 2010, reaching $4.4 million. Support from industry for individual faculty research projects continued to be the dominant form of current-use gifts, representing 77 percent of gifts received.

When compared to fiscal 2009, however, current-use gifts seem to experience a large decline. This is due to the fact that total fiscal 2009 current-use gifts were skewed by a single, anonymous $7.5 million gift and totaled $11.6 million. Without the skewing effect of that large gift, current-use giving for fiscal 2010 was consistent with recent years’ trends.


Reducing Targeted Expense Items

SEAS responded to the overall decrease in revenue by reducing its expense base. Personnel as well as non-personnel expense budgets were cut.

Personnel

Salary and fringe benefit expenses represent more than 50 percent of overall school expenses. SEAS took several measures to reduce its salary budget in fiscal 2010. Following guidelines from the Central Administration, SEAS provided a zero percent annual salary increase for all faculty and non-union staff.

In addition, although SEAS did not initiate any employee layoffs, several positions were eliminated through attrition, especially by not replacing staff who took the University Voluntary Employee Retirement Incentive Program (VERIP). Exempt staff salaries were therefore reduced by $0.4 million from fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2010. Without reducing the quality of instruction, SEAS faculty optimized the use of teaching fellows, reducing the cost in these expense categories by $0.3 million.

Other salary categories grew for various reasons: union staff salaries grew commensurately with the contract-mandated salary increase, and more signifi-cantly, all research-related salaries grew to respond to the increase in sponsored research funding.

Other income consists of royalty payments, revenue from miscellaneous activities, transfers from the Central Administration, and—most importantly— interest income. In fiscal 2010, interest income earned by unrestricted funds in deposit at the Harvard Central Bank declined both because SEAS had a lower balance of distributed endowment income sitting at the Central Bank and because of a reduction in interest rate on such deposits.

Overall, the dramatic $7.6 million increase in sponsored research revenue could not offset the cumulative decline in endowment income and current-use gifts. As a result, total revenues decreased from $98 million in fiscal 2009 to $94 million in fiscal 2010, the first time in a decade that overall school revenues decreased.


Overall, total salary and fringe benefit expenses increased by 3.8 percent between fiscal 2009 and fiscal 2010. This represents a slower growth than the fiscal 2009 rate of 8.6 percent or the average rate of 7.6 percent for the previous five years.

However, the fiscal 2010 increase in salary expenses is attributable to the growth in sponsored research expenditures. In fact, whereas year-over-year change in overall salary and benefit expenses was approxi-mately only $2 million, year-over-year change in sponsored research salary and benefit expenses was $3.2 million. This indicates that salary and benefit expenses not related to sponsored research actually declined by $1.2 million during fiscal 2010.

Non-salary expenses

Despite the expense budget reduction efforts, many expense categories increased in fiscal 2010:

» Support to graduate students in the form of tuition or fellowships continued to grow. The increase from $6.9 million in fiscal 2009 to $8.4 million in fiscal 2010 is due to the annual tuition and stipend increases, a larger enter-ing class of doctoral students, and a greater number of students beyond their second year who required support from the school. The growth in this expense category is consistent with the school’s objective of growing the graduate student body and has continued the trend of previous years.


» The cost of space occupancy increased overall despite decreases of $0.4 million in utility expenses and $0.2 million in maintenance-related items. These savings were offset by a nearly $1 million increase in interest expense on loans for facility renovations and lab fit-outs and a slight increase in the net cost of space rental.

On the other hand, expenses for supplies, materials, and minor equipment declined by $0.3 million overall, although sponsored research–related expenses for this category were slightly higher than in fiscal 2009.

In sum, increases in sponsored research spending were greater than the expense cuts that SEAS undertook in salaries and selected non-salary expense categories.

Investing in Key Strategic Priorities

Even as it endeavored to cut some expenses, SEAS also continued to pursue its aspirations by investing in key strategic priorities.

» Starting in fiscal 2010, SEAS committed to share equally with FAS the costs of operating the Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS). The Center, which was started by FAS, is heavily used by SEAS faculty members and is an important asset in the emerging field of nanotechnology. As the agreement was reached halfway through the fiscal year, SEAS’ fiscal 2010 cost-share was one fourth of the total CNS and totaled $2.2 million. Starting in fiscal 2011, SEAS’ share will be half of the total cost of CNS.


» In addition, SEAS continued to invest in the faculty. Three junior faculty members were granted tenure at the beginning of fiscal 2010, resulting in increased salaries and start-up packages for all three. Three new junior faculty members were also appointed in fiscal 2010. Laboratories were fit-out or renovated for new or promoted faculty. SEAS debt-financed approximately $1 million for these capital improvements and funded $1 million out of the school’s reserves.

» Finally, as mentioned before, SEAS continued to invest in graduate financial aid, providing $6.9 million in fiscal 2009 and $8.4 million in fiscal 2010.

Overall, SEAS’ expenses grew by 7 percent in fiscal 2010, compared with 10 percent in fiscal 2009.

Beyond Fiscal Year 2010

The overall economic climate continues to be quite uncertain for the near future. The fear of a double-dipped recession continues to depress both financial and real markets. It can be prudently assumed that income from endowment will continue to present some level of financial risk.

Also, the spike in sponsored research funding experienced in 2010 will most likely not constitute a long-term trend as the ARRA funding is exhausted. For the near term, however, given the healthy rate of proposal submission by SEAS faculty and the growth in non-ARRA federal funding, a healthy level of federal funding for sponsored research can be expected. Non-federal sponsored research, on the other hand, remains a potential growth area for SEAS.

On the expense side, while SEAS can continue to monitor spending, budget cuts will soon reach a point of diminishing returns. One measure of optimization may be to relieve unrestricted budgets by making more aggressive use of appropriate restricted revenue sources, such as sponsored research funding.

The main risk to SEAS’ long-term growth, however, is in maintaining an undiversified and static income base. Attracting world-class faculty members and providing them with cutting-edge facilities and equipment is costly. Overhead is not expected to provide a complete payback for the large up-front capital investment required by engineering educa-tion and research, even after 15 years. Therefore, SEAS cannot count on income from sponsored research alone to offset the cost of growing the faculty.

Other sources of income, such as endowment, tuition income, and fundraising generally help to subsidize the research mission of engineering schools. SEAS is better positioned than most schools when it comes to the value of its endowment. This has made tuition income less critical in the past. However, given the recent significant reductions in endowment income and in light of the new School’s aspirations and commitments, SEAS recognizes that tuition income will have to play a more important role in the future. The School is committed to moving energetically in this direction to help diversify its income base.

Finally, one of the strengths of SEAS through the decades has been the strong support of its alumni and friends.

Fundraising will have to play a major role in the school’s growth and SEAS is well positioned to engage its network of friends in writing the next phase of the School’s history.

Statement of Change in Net Assets* » For fiscal year ending June 30» Numbers in millions of dollars

2010 2009 2008Revenues

Sponsored research 42.3 34.7 36.9

Endowment income 34.8 39.9 34.1

Gifts 4.4 11.6 3.2

Compact transfers 9.8 10.1 7.4

Other 2.6 1.6 0.1

Total Revenue 93.9 98.0 81.7

Operating Expenses

Salaries & benefits 47.6 45.8 42.0

Financial aid 8.4 6.9 6.1

Supplies, materials, & equipment 5.7 6.0 5.8

Space & occupancy 8.2 7.5 7.7

Interest, services, & other expenses 7.8 8.3 8.7

Transfers 1.6 1.9 1.9

Total Operating Expenses 79.3 76.3 72.2

Other Expenses

Nonoperating activities 8.5 7.9 3.7

Program investments1 2.2

Total Other Expenses 10.7 7.9 3.7

Total Expenses 90.0 84.2 76.0

Result of operations before program investments 6.0 13.7 5.7

Total Change in Net Assets 3.8 13.7 5.7

1 Program investments are major expenses (other than salaries or supplies) for new faculty and new initiatives

* This statement presents a managerial view of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences operations. It is not intended to present the financial results in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). A presentation in accordance with GAAP would include, for example, depreciation expenses and higher endowment.

Balance Sheet » For fiscal year ending June 30» Numbers in millions of dollars

2010 2009 2008 Assets

Cash 0.0 0.0 0.0

Receivables 73.6 65.4 52.1

Invested funds

Endowment investments 757.8 718.8 1,023.0

Facilities, fixtures, & equipment (net of depreciation) 81.8 78.4 71.2

Total Assets 913.2 862.6 1,146.3

Liabilities

Accounts payable 0.4 0.1 0.9

Facilities & equipment debt 46.7 45.0 35.6

Other debt owed to the University’s central bank 7.1 7.3 (0.3)

Total Liabilities 54.1 52.4 36.2

Composition of Net Assets

Unrestricted reserves 26.6 24.3 11.1

Undistributed income & Other 24.4 21.3 25.0

Pledge balances 7.0 13.3 16.3

Investment in facilities & equipment 35.1 33.4 35.6

Endowment & other investment funds 765.9 717.9 1,022.0

Total Net Assets 859.0 810.2 1,110.0

SEAS Payments and Contributions to Other Harvard Entities» Numbers in millions of dollars

Fiscal 2010 Fiscal 2009Harvard Central Administration

Strategic infrastructure fund 3.5 5.1

Annual assessment 2.0 2.0

Academic initiative fund 0.6 0.6

Faculty of Arts & Sciences

Administrative support assessment 1.9 2.1

Cost-share of Center for Nanoscale Systems 2.1 0.0

Total Contributions 10.2 9.7


Highlights

New Courses & Teaching Initiatives

Biomedical Engineering Concentration Approved

At the March 2, 2010, meeting of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS), the faculty voted unanimously to approve a new, dedicated undergraduate concen-tration in Biomedical Engineering.

“Science and Cooking” Dishes Up Collaboration

A collaboration with the Alícia Foundation, headed by internationally acclaimed chef Ferran Adrià of elBulli, led to the creation of a new General Educa-tion undergraduate course on science and cooking. The course draws on the expertise of some of the world’s most notable chefs.

Alumnus Energizes Engineering Design

Barry Griffin ’72, owner of Griffin Associates, a successful mechanical engineering consulting firm, is helping to revitalize the capstone engineering design courses with faculty members Robert Howe and Woody Yang.

For example, students in ES 96, “Engineering Design,” examined complex issues related to the renovation of the Harvard River Houses. Griffin will spend the next year integrating “real world” problems into the course through collaborations with industry.

Teaching Labs Foster Hands-On Learning

Anas Chalah, Director of Institutional Technology, seeks out everything from trashcans to cutting-edge laser devices to build creative, hands-on experiments for undergraduates in SEAS.

Over the past four years, the undergraduate teach-ing program has expanded its basic instructional labs with modern hands-on teaching labs represent-ing the following five disciplines: Mechanical, Electrical, Biological, and Environmental Engineer-ing, and Computer Science.

January Experience

The highlight of the January Experience at SEAS was a Brazil field study. Twelve Harvard students and 16 Brazilian students participated in field studies of the energy system in Brazil from January 7 to 21, 2010.

On campus, faculty and staff offered short courses in subjects such as CAD/CAM, communicating science, electron microscopy, and Matlab.

Graduates Get Community

Science Soirées, G1 talks, and enhanced orientation all greeted incoming and current graduate students. The end goal is to enhance the community for the SEAS graduate population.


Student Innovation

The Lab at Harvard

Launched in November of 2009, The Lab at Harvard is a new forum and platform for idea experimentation in the arts and sciences, directed by David A. Edwards, Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice in Biomedical Engineering (SEAS) and a core member of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

The Lab catalyzes the development of ideas through work-in-progress exhibits, monthly Idea Nights, and annual experiments between leading international artists and Harvard faculty and students.

The TECH I3 Innovation Challenge

Winners of the Harvard College Innovation Challenge (I3), organized by the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH), Harvard Student Agencies, and the Harvard College Entrepreneurship Forum, were announced in April.

Harvard students, representing 27 different concen-trations and all 12 Harvard houses, participated in the annual competition that showcases and rewards innovative student ventures (both commercial and social startups).

sOccket

The sOccket is a soccer ball that captures energy during game play to charge batteries for LEDs. The ball uses an inductive coil mechanism to generate electricity. Created by a team of Harvard under-graduate students (all non-engineers) in a novel Engineering Sciences course on idea translation, the sOccket was featured on CNN.

VertiGrow

Another project encouraged by the idea translation course, VertiGrow addresses two global problems: rapid urbanization and malnutrition.

The vertical farming device allows families to grow their own nutritious food on the sides of their homes, walls, or roofs, and is designed to conserve water, reinforce unstable housing structures, and maximize growing space.

Rover

Five Harvard undergraduates created Rover, a mobile platform for connecting students with each other, their school, and their community.

Begun as a class project in CS 50, Rover puts students in touch with what is happening in the campus “microenvironment” with information on local deals, events, news, and transportation. Rover was the winner in the AT&T Big Mobile On Campus Challenge and made the front page of The Wall Street Journal.


Cool Research

Shape-shifting sheets automatically fold into multiple forms

Relying on origami techniques, researchers showed programmable matter folding itself into a boat- or plane-shape.

Heat, moisture from Himalayas could be a cause of the South Asian monsoon

Climate scientists offered a revised view of what influences the water source for billions of people.

Environmental scientists say China could meet future energy needs by wind alone

A study suggested that wind is ecologically and economically practical and could reduce CO2 emissions.

Team moves from stem cells to functioning strip of heart muscle

This engineering feat was a giant step toward the possibility of using human stem cells to repair damaged hearts.

Inspired by cotton candy, engineers put new spin on nanofibers

Offering increased control and higher output, the device could be a boon for industrial applications, from biocompatible materials to air filters.

Discovery in “pop” science reveals the elegant, complex way bubbles burst

Rather than simply vanishing, ruptured bubbles create rings of smaller bubbles in a cascade effect.

Research team receives $10 million NSF grant to fund the development of small-scale mobile robotic devices

Using nature as inspiration, scientists worked to advance micro-manufacturing, ultra-low-power computing, and multi-agent coordination.

Industry Collaborations

Industry Partnerships Workshop on Nanophotonics

Held in May, the annual meeting brought together research leaders with members of industry to collaborate on the rich field of nanophotonics. Possible applications range from next-generation chip technology to novel solar panels, enhanced chemical sensing, and greener and cleaner forms of energy.

GnuBio

GnuBio is a new Harvard spinout that is poised to become an “eBay of Biomarkers.” John Boyce, formerly of Helicos Biosciences Corp., joined with SEAS’ Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics Dave Weitz and Jessica Tonani, former associate director of product marketing for Affymetrix Inc., to create a company that combines genome sequencing, database management, and a social network platform.

NVIDIA

NVIDIA Corporation, inventor of the GPU (Graph-ics Processing Unit), recognized Harvard University as a Center of Excellence for its commitment to teaching GPU Computing for a host of science and engineering research projects. The honor complements a prior $2 million grant the University received from the NSF for the development of GPU-enabled computational science.


New Faculty Hires & Tenure Appointments

New Faculty Hires

Katia BertoldiAssistant Professor of Applied Mechanics

Stephen ChongAssistant Professor of Computer Science

Neel S. Joshi (joint with Wyss Institute)Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Yue M. LuAssistant Professor of Electrical Engineering

Chad D. VecitisAssistant Professor of Environmental Engineering

Krzysztof GajosAssistant Professor of Computer Science

Tenure Appointments

Matt WelshGordon McKay Professor of Computer Science

Gu-Yeon WeiGordon McKay Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

David BrooksGordon McKay Professor of Computer Science

Major Awards & Honors

MacArthur FellowshipLakshminarayanan Mahadevan, Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics

Dan David PrizeMichael O. Rabin, Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Professor of Computer Science

Technology Review 35Erez Lieberman-Aiden ’10, James Carey ‘04, Kurt Zenz House ‘08

Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and EngineersRob Wood, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering; Patrick Wolfe, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering

DARPA Young Faculty AwardDebra Auguste, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering

Election to American Academy of Arts & SciencesDavid A. Weitz, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics; Evelyn Hu, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engi-neering

Department of Defense National Security FellowshipLene Hau, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics

National Science Foundation CAREER AwardYiling Chen, Assistant Professor of Computer Science; Shriram Ramanathan, Assistant Professor of Materials Science

Alfred P. Sloan FellowMarko Loncar, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering

Election to the National Academy of EngineeringDavid Mooney, Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering and a Core Member of the Wyss Institute

Election to the National Academy of SciencesDavid A. Weitz, Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and Applied Physics


Notable Gifts

Applied Math Innovation Fund

Established by an anonymous donor, this fund will address the growing demand for the applied math discipline by augmenting advising staff and hiring the most innovative and highly effective teachers.

Current-use Graduate Fellowship Support

Herbert “Pug” Winokur (A.B. ’65, A.M. ’65, Ph.D. ’67) and his wife, Deanne, established this fund to support fellowships for graduate students.

Current-use Graduate Fellowship Support in

Economics and Computer Science

This gift from R. Martin Chavez (A.B. ’85, S.M. ’85) will be used to support fellowships for graduate students working at the intersection of economics and computer science.

Flexible-use Annual Gifts

Andrew Garman (A.B. ’80); David Lloyd Gilmour (A.B. ’80, S.M. ’82, M.B.A. ’84) and Anula K. Jayasuriya (A.B. ’80, M.D. ’84, Ph.D. ’91); Gwill York (A.B. ’79, M.B.A. ’84) and Paul Maeder (M.B.A. ’84); Bob (A.B. ’76, S.M. ’76, M.B.A. ’79, J.D. ’80) and Susie Case (A.B. ’79, S.M. ’79, M.B.A. ’83); and Kathryn Ann Hopkins (A.B. ’80, M.B.A. ’84).

Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH)

Tom McKinley (A.B. ’74); Michael Cronin (A.B. ’75, M.B.A. ’77); Robert Kristoff (A.B. ’74); Thomas Quirk (A.B. ’74, M.B.A. ’78); Michael Noble (A.B. ’74); and Walter (A.B. ’74) and Cathy Isaacson.

Engagement

As SEAS has continued to fulfill its role as a school, our alumni have become increasingly engaged and energized by our mission to educate and inspire concentrators and non-concentrators alike and to connect what we do with the wider world.

Networks

In May 2010, SEAS revived the alumni reception series known as Networks.

The event was convened by six dedicated SEAS alumni: J. Christopher Flowers, Margo Seltzer, Christopher Thorpe, Harry Lewis, Mike Pascucci, and Susie Case.

Attracting over 100 people, the event gave Harvard and SEAS affiliates the chance to mingle and catch up as well as “relive” their classroom days with a lecture by Stuart Shieber on open scholarly access.

Alumni Talks

Dean Murray invited young alumni back to campus to speak to the SEAS student community. Highlights included discussions with Sam Yagan ’99 (OKCupid); Raj Bhattacharyya ’96 (Deutsche-Bank) and Alfred Spector ’76 (Google).

Shining City

For a new television show, “Shining City,” that highlights innovations in New England, Former Lt. Governor Kerry Healey ’82 visited the SEAS campus to interview faculty members about their research.

The financial generosity, intellectual guidance, and enthusiasm of our alumni and friends sustain our educational and research mission: within the classroom, across the campus, and around the world.

Support & Engagement

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Documents

Harvard SEAS Annual Report 2009/10