Fall/Winter 2007
Transcript from Sept. 20, 2007 tion. Now engineers and applied scientists
Dean’s Message
Moving Forward
Thanks to the support of countless indi-
viduals, the celebration and launch of
the Harvard School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences—nearly 160 years in
the making—went off without a hitch.
In the days following the event, the entire
planning team told me how much they
would miss the weekly meetings, the fran-
tic phone calls, the countless emails, and
the early mornings and late nights. It’s
like the strange regret students have when
they bind their theses or the silent sadness
a researcher experiences when a paper
goes to press or a patent finally gets filed.
In the spaces between big events or proj-
ects we are faced with the inevitable
question: Now what? As a newly chris-
tened School we face that same question.
As an answer, I am presenting an abbre-
viated version of the dinner speech I gave
on the evening of the launch. The wheel
has indeed come full circle; the trick now
is to keep it—and us—moving forward.
L et me tell you, today has proven to me
beyond any possible doubt that you
are never too old to be excited by the first
day of school. It’s a unique kind of energy,
isn’t it? If we could
bottle it we’d solve our ...in challenge lies opportunity. SEAS fundamental and often
energy crisis and many
of the world’s other intends to lead the way as a model of At the same time, solv-
problems, too.
engineering research and education
But I imagine we are
all feeling some varia- for the 21st century and the way an
tion of the same mix of
emotions that students
engineering school should connect to engineering enterprise;
of all ages feel across and serve the wider world.
campuses everywhere
each September. We feel pride in our past
accomplishments that helped bring us to
this moment, and we feel gratitude to those
who helped us achieve them.
Of course, we feel excitement for all the
promising possibilities that lie ahead, and
we feel trepidation about both our ability
to meet the tests we know are coming and
to ready ourselves for the unknown—those
inevitable pop quizzes.
We feel a sense of belonging—to an institu-
tion and tradition that is much bigger than
we are and that compels us to expect more
of ourselves. Veritas unites and elevates us.
Engineering joins the other great schools
of Harvard in the pursuit of truth, defined
here by what works—what can be designed
from the truth of science and crafted within
the truth of culture, laws, and marketplace
to serve the true needs of society.
We feel humility at the realization that the
institution is counting on us to carry it on,
to reinvent it and continually bestow it
with meaning in the midst of change. The
creation of the Lawrence Scientific School
at Harvard in 1847 at the early stages of
the Industrial Age marked and catalyzed
a change in the perception of an engineer:
from tinkerer to educated professional.
With the development since of fields, stan-
dards, societies, awards, and much else,
the professionalization of engineering was
well accomplished and the professional en-
gineer gained status as a provider of excel-
lent technical service.
In 2007, we find ourselves in the midst of
another marked shift with the advent of
the Digital Age and a knowledge revolu-
often are leaders and shapers of societies.
The present age also underscores the
engineer’s role in the advancement of
knowledge, which stands to benefit global
eco-human welfare in
unpredictable ways.
ing complex real-world
problems is a direct ser-
vice to society and will
always be central to the
technologies developed
by engineers have con-
tributed immeasurably to human well-be-
ing, although humanity still is faced with
enormous challenges.
The hyperspecialization of fields, which
helps us add to, and sort through, the
abundance of knowledge, also demands
that we go beyond a stovepiped world. We
must collaborate, integrate, and synthesize
to solve problems that transcend narrow
knowledge domains.
This changing context in turn demands
that we prepare our students for this
shift—from professionals to leaders, from
providers of service to creators of value,
from expert guides and master builders
to explorers, discoverers, synthesizers, and
innovators.
But as they say, in challenge lies opportuni-
ty. SEAS intends to lead the way as a model
of engineering research and education for
the 21st century and the way an engineer-
ing school should connect to and serve the
wider world.
As we do all this, one of our great challeng-
es is that neither the education of students
nor the advancement of research nor the
application of knowledge through entre-
preneurial endeavors can possibly be done
in isolation. We each have a role to play,
and to play together. J
For complete transcripts from the launch, see:
www.seas.harvard.edu/highlights/celebration.html
Venkatesh “Venky” Narayanamurti
Dean, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering
and Applied Sciences, Professor of Physics
 Life On & Around Oxford Street
Links and nodes
Celebrating past, present,
and future
On September 20, Harvard’s School
of Engineering and Applied Sciences
hosted “Engineering a Renaissance: A
Celebration of the Past, Present, and
Future and the Launch of the Harvard
School of Engineering and Applied Sci-
ences.” Over 600 students, staff, alumni,
and faculty gathered on the Pierce Hall
lawn to usher in the first new school at
Harvard in seven decades.
In addition to lunch under the big top
(the huge white tent seated more than
500 guests), attendees heard remarks
from two past presidents of the Harvard
Board of Overseers—Thomas E. Everhart
’53, former president of the California
Institute of Technology and Professor
of Electrical Engineering and Applied
Physics, Emeritus, and Susan Graham
’64, Pehong Chen Distinguished Pro-
fessor of Electrical Engineering and
Computer Science at the University of
California, Berkeley—as well as Dean
Venky and President and Lincoln Profes-
sor Drew Faust. After two banners with
the new SEAS seal were unfurled, Peter
Gomes, Plummer Professor of Chris-
tian Morals and Pusey Minister in the
Memorial Church, conveyed a blessing
upon the school.
The launch was followed by symposia
held in Sanders Theatre. Charles Vest,
former President of MIT and President
of the National Academy of Engineer-
ing; H. Vincent Poor, Dean, Princeton
School of Engineering and Applied
Science; and Subra Suresh, Dean of the
School of Engineering, MIT, all offered
a mix of practical advice for managing
the newly christened school as well as
a broader perspective on the state of
engineering and applied sciences across
the globe.
Harvey Fineberg ’67, ’71, ’72, ’74, ’80,
President of the Institute of Medicine
and former Harvard Provost; Paul M.
Horn, Senior Vice President and Direc-
tor of Research, IBM; and John Hol-
dren, Teresa and John Heinz Professor
of Environmental Policy at the John
2 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007
F Kennedy School of Gov’t; Professor
of Environmental Science and Public
Policy, tackled the “big three” topics: us-
ing advances in engineering to make a
meaningful impact on medicine, busi-
ness, and energy and the environment.
At the evening gala dinner, where much Dean Venky, whom President Faust called a “rock star”, takes in
some applause. (Photo by Tom Fitzsimmons.)
of the talk was “where did you get that
handsome SEAS tie” (ties along with
custom-made scarves were later given
to many of the guests), a video, “Engi-
neering a Renaissance,” which traces the
history of engineering and highlights
those instrumental in the creation of
the SEAS, made its debut. In the video,
Steve Hyman summed things up beau-
tifully: “Having an engineering school
is absolutely critical to any vision for a Former Associate Dean for Computer Science and Engineering,
successful Harvard in the 21st century.” Michael D. Smith, acclimates to his new University Hall environs and
role as Dean of FAS. (Photo by Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard News Office.)
Engineering is everywhere
at Harvard
In keeping with SEAS’s mission to be a
“connector and integrator,” faculty and
administrators with roots in engineer-
ing and applied sciences have played
an increasingly strong role in filling
highly visible and influential positions
throughout the University.
Sandia National Laboratories has entered into a relationship with
One, Michael Smith, Gordon McKay universities, including Harvard, and industries around the country to
Professor of Computer Science and establish the National Institute for Nano-Engineering (NINE).
Engineering and former Associate
Dean at SEAS, has settled into his new
role as the Dean of the Faculty of Arts
and Sciences. In a Boston Globe article,
Harry Lewis, Gordon McKay Professor
of Computer Sciences, was quoted as
saying, “Faust’s choice is a sign that Har-
vard is willing to take engineering and
computer science as seriously as more
esoteric subjects.”
Despite his new office in the white
marble-clad University Hall, Smith has
remained close to SEAS; he still parks
his car in the Pierce lot each morning.
Succeeding Smith, Greg Morrisett, Al-
len B. Cutting Professor of Computer
Science, was appointed as Associate
Dean for Computer Science and Engi-
neering in July.
Barbara Grosz, Higgins Professor of The beautiful beams and skylights of the Gordon McKay Library
Natural Sciences, also settled into a new were uncovered during the renovation.
role as the Interim Dean of the Radcliffe NINE for Nano of Texas at Austin, University of Illinois,

Links and nodes

Institute. The fit was a natural one; Gro-
sz has long been connected with Radc-
liffe, serving as its first dean of science.
Former Radcliffe Dean and now Harvard
President Faust commented, “Barbara
has played a critical role in almost every
aspect of the evolution of the Radcliffe
Institute. She has been enormously ef-
fective as the architect of the science
programs, building a highly successful
model for science fellowships that in-
corporates laboratory research, fosters
engagement with the broader scientific
communities at Harvard and in Bos-
ton, and encompasses a wide range of
scientific fields.”
Finally, kudos to NASA astronaut Steph-
anie Wilson ’88 (S.B., Engineering Sci-
ences) who was elected to the Harvard
Board of Overseers.
Harvard is among the participants
of the National Institute for Nano-En-
gineering (NINE), a partnership among
industry, the federal government, and
U.S. universities, spearheaded by Sandia
National Laboratories. The partnership
is driven by concerns over the health of
America’s science and engineering edu-
cation and innovation engine, as high-
lighted in the 2005 report Rising Above
the Gathering Storm from the National
Academies.
In addition to Harvard, the initial NINE
members include Intel Corp., Exxon Mo-
bil Corp., IBM, Lockheed Martin Corp.,
Corning Inc., Goodyear Tire and Rubber,
Proctor and Gamble, University of Wis-
consin, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
University of California at Davis, Univer-
sity of Florida, Yale University, University
Rice, Notre Dame, University of New
Mexico, and Harvey Mudd College.
Gordon McKay Library
sees the light
The light streaming in through the Gor-
don McKay Library’s skylights (covered
over in the 1970s) tells only half the
story. Glancing down from the beauti-
fully restored support girders, visitors
are greeted with a granite-topped circu-
lation area, soft yellow bamboo floors,
new shelving units, and retro-modern
chairs and tables. The hallway leading
to the library also underwent a dra-
matic makeover during the past year.
In addition to new faculty offices and a
conference room, a student lounge with
cozy couches and chairs is now tucked
into a sweeping corner. J

Overheard
Upon being asked about the potential for engineering and applied sciences to make an impact,
Harvard University President Drew Faust remarked, “To study technology in an environment
where you reach beyond the simple implications or complicated implications of the technology
itself into the even more complex social, political, and ethical questions is, I think, essential
to our advance as a human race and to our advance as learners, and retrievers, and dissemi-
nators of information.”

(above and left) Joanna Chang ’91
once a financial analyst, traded
her life in the financial district for
one in the kitchen. (below) While
today’s Engineering Society has
its roots in the 19th century, ac-
tivities (such as building robots)
have kept up with the times.
Random Bits
Sticky situations
Our grads do it all, from circuit to dessert design. Joanne Chang ’91 (Applied Math-
ematics), owner of Flour Bakery, bested celebrity chef Bobby Flay in a sticky bun
throw-down. For those who are not Food Network junkies, a “throw-down” is a
head-to-head cooking challenge centered around a single item. With about 90 hun-
gry Harvard students bussed in for the taping, the judges included Dan Andelman of
Boston’s “Phantom Gourmet” and Larry Kessel, Executive Chef for Residential Din-
ing, Harvard University Dining Services. If you want to make some sticky goodness of
your own, Chang’s famous (and amazing) recipe is available at the Food Network site:
www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_37125,00.html
Good society
The original Harvard Engineering Society debuted in 1893 and lasted until 1967. Taken
from the Crimson archives: “About sixty men interested in the new engineering society
met last night in L.S.S.1. Professor Hollis presided. It is not intended to displace the
Electric Club, but hopes to encourage it and to be the cause of the growth of other clubs
in different departments of engineering. The new society is to be more general and is
intended: 1. To promote general knowledge and discussion of engineering subjects, and
2. To promote intercourse and acquaintance between members of the society and profes-
sional men.” The society was reinvigorated in 2004 and is now called the Harvard College
Engineering Society.J

SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 3
 A Roundup of Discoveries & Innovations
Recent findings
Muscular thin films grip,
pump, walk, and swim
Achieving an innovative marriage of
living cells and a synthetic substrate,
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering
Kevin “Kit” Parker and postdoctoral
scholar Adam W. Feinberg have found
that a rubberlike elastic film coated
with a single layer of cardiac muscle
cells can semiautonomously engage in
lifelike gripping, pumping, walking,
and swimming. The tissue engineering
feat was reported in the September 7 is-
sue of the journal Science.
The researchers reported that the exact
movement undertaken by these hybrid
muscular thin films (MTFs) can be tai-
lored by controlling muscle alignment
relative to the shape of the flexible film.
Some MTFs even contract spontane-
ously, an intrinsic property of cardiac
muscle that allows the devices to move
around without user intervention.
The thin films can be sliced into any
shape with an ordinary scalpel, hinting
at the way these biohybrid materials
may one day be used in the operating
room. Both the shape of the MTF and
the orientation of the sarcomeres (the
basic contractile units of muscle tissue)
on the film affect the type of action per-
4 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007
(above left, top and middle right)
Researchers grew cardiac cells on a
thin plastic sheet. When stimulated
the engineered material can be
made to grip, walk, and even swim.
(bottom right) Tribler, a peer to peer
system, may be ideal for e-commerce.
formed. For example, rectangular MTFs
with sarcomeres arrayed lengthwise
roll up into tubes upon muscular con-
traction, resulting in a pumping action.
A narrower, stiffer rectangular film
contracts in a pinching motion, while
a triangular MTF engages in a kind of
walking.
Parker and Feinberg’s coauthors on the
Science paper are Alex Feigel, Sergey S.
Shevkoplyas, and George M. Whitesides
of Harvard’s Department of Chemistry
and Chemical Biology and Sean Sheehy
of Harvard’s School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences. The work was funded
by the Defense Advanced Research Proj-
ects Agency’s Biomolecular Motors Pro-
gram, the Air Force Office of Sponsored
Research, the Harvard Materials Re-
search Science and Engineering Center,
and the U.S. Army Research Office.
Researchers aim to make
bandwidth a global currency
Instead of the usual cash or credit, imag-
ine paying for your next purchase with
a pocketful of bandwidth. David Parkes,
John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the
Natural Sciences, and colleagues have
modified a peer-to-peer video-sharing
application called Tribler to explore a
model for electronic commerce that re-
lies on file uploads and downloads as a
form of currency.
Peer-to-peer systems like Tribler allow
individual users to share and download
content in a manner akin to a digital
swap meet. With a decentralized struc-
ture, such systems are incredibly robust
and fast and can scale smoothly, since
the software adjusts to the number and
behavior of individual users.
But there’s one very human problem:
People don’t always play fair (taking
more content than they give) or act ethi-
cally (giving away or downloading, for
example, copyrighted materials). Thus
a few big players centrally control most
file-sharing sites and e-commerce plat-
forms, limiting the variety of content
and narrowing the means of distribu-
tion and form of payment.
As a way to break the monopoly, Parkes
and his team incorporated simple rules
into the Tribler software to best har-
ness the power of peer-to-peer while
minimizing the problems. The more
a user uploads content (i.e., earns) and
the higher the quality of those contribu-
tions, the more a user is able to down-
load later (i.e., spend) and the faster the
download speed. Thus the ebb and flow
of bandwidth becomes a form of global
currency.

(above right) Graduate
student Alexander
Wissner-Gross holds
some “warm ice” (photo
by Stephanie Mitchell/
Harvard News Office);
(bottom right) Rob
Wood’s robotic fly takes
a short flight; (far right)
Howard Stone and col-
leagues’ work on control-
ling liquid shape was
cover-worthy.
To keep an eye on the virtual economy,
the researchers envision creating a “Web
of trust,” a network among users to
evaluate the trustworthiness of fellow
file swappers—all aimed at preventing
content theft, counterfeiting, and cyber
attacks. To learn more and to download
the software: http://tv.seas.harvard.edu
Applied physicists create
“warm ice”
Alexander Wissner-Gross, a doctoral
student, and Efthimios Kaxiras, Gordon
McKay Professor of Applied Physics,
have developed a technique of using
nanoscale “warm ice” to make diamond-
toughened medical implants more bio-
compatible. The New Scientist reported
the discovery in its September 4 issue:
“The researchers arrived at their result
by using a computer simulation based
on ‘molecular dynamics.’ In particular,
they simulated the motion of water at-
oms sitting on top of a sodium-diamond
surface at different temperatures over
long time periods. The calculations
show that the ice layer can remain fro-
zen at elevated temperatures thanks to
dipole interactions between the water
molecules and the film surface.
“In 2001 researchers produced tiny tubes
of ice inside carbon nanotubes; last year
another group created nanoscale ice at
room temperature, and showed that
this could act like unwanted ‘glue’ in
extremely small devices of the future.
But the new theoretical result is the first
to suggest a practical application for
nano-ice.”
Robotic fly takes off
We reported on Assistant Professor of
Engineering Robert J. Wood’s creation
of a life-sized robotic fly in the last issue;
over the summer the 60-gram bug re-
ally took off. Technology Review reported,
“Other researchers have built robots that
mimic insects, but this is the first two-
winged robot built on such a small scale
that can take off using the same motions
as a real fly.
The dynamics of such flight are very
complicated and have been studied for
years by researchers such as Ron Fearing,
Wood’s former Ph.D. advisor at the Uni-
versity of California, Berkeley. Fearing,
who is building his own robotic insects,
says that he was very impressed with
the fact that Wood’s insect can fly: ‘It
is certainly a major breakthrough.’ But
Fearing says that it is the first of many
challenges in building a practical fly.”
The broader-based media took to the
story as well. A picture of the critter ap-
Recent findings
peared in Metro UK, one of the highest-
circulation papers in Britain, and on
the front page of the Washington Post
Website. To see the first flight:
www.technologyreview.com/player/
07/07/19Ross/1.aspx
Fluid experts control liquid
shape
Howard Stone, Vicky Joseph Professor of
Engineering and Applied Mathematics,
and his collaborators’ ability to control
liquid shape on surfaces made the cover
of the August edition of Nature Materials.
The microfluidics mavens discussed
wetting on topographically patterned
but chemically homogeneous surfaces
to demonstrate how to select shapes
during the imbibition of the texture—
the absorption of fluid by a solid or col-
loid that results in swelling.
They obtained different shapes of the
spreading of droplets, including octagons,
squares, hexagons, and circles, depending
on the topographic features and the liquid
through its equilibrium contact angle.
Applications could include the design of
“self-cleaning” surfaces and hydrophilic
spots to automate the deposition of probes
on DNA chips. More broadly, Stone hopes
to create a designer’s toolbox for research-
ers in wetting. J
SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 5
Crosscurrents
Harvard Innovations Revealed
High-quality and high-resolution cameras, day/night cameras used for security and surveillance, and high-sensitivity detectors and imagers for biotechnology applications could all
benefit from black silicon (pictured above).
W e say it … SEAS strives to find more ways to get
research off the journal page and onto the global
stage. We do it … in large part, by commercializing
science and technology. It sounds easy—like the flicking
of a switch—but the commercialization of science is a
science in itself, as well as an art form.
At Harvard the process of commercial-
ization applies whether faculty or stu-
dents intend to ready a product for the
marketplace, share a process or device
with the potential to advance fields
from physics to genetics, or promote an
“open source” technology for improving
the health of the population or protect-
ing the planet. Commercializing an idea
or innovation may mean starting a new
for- or not-for-profit company, partner-
ing with industry and government lead-
ers, or licensing innovations for profit
and/or the public good.
Increasingly, SEAS is partnering with
the University’s Office of Technol-
ogy Development (OTD) to navigate the
complexities of intellectual property
management, sponsored research, and
6 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007
business development. In 2005, the
University appointed Isaac T. Kohlberg
as Senior Associate Provost and Chief
Technology Development Officer to
reinvigorate the OTD. As quoted in the
Boston Globe, Kohlberg is not shy about
his expectations: “‘I want people to say
five years from now, even three years
from now, that Harvard has the most ef-
fective technology-transfer program in
the country.’”
In the following pages we shed some
light on the sometimes arcane com-
mercialization process by presenting a
case study of a startup in its early stages;
highlighting the kinds of innovations
available for future development and
licensing; and reporting on two novel
models for licensing technologies.
Two Case Studies In The
Commercialization And
Power Of Silicon: Sionyx
And Sienergy
The “black silicon company”—present-
ed in understated, lowercase type, the
tagline for the startup SiOnyx hints at a
nefarious firm you might see portrayed
in a conspiracy thriller. However, the
angelic subhead, “Harnessing the power
of light,” rapidly dispels such a notion.
Started to commercialize black silicon, a
synthetic material able to efficiently ab-
sorb light, SiOnyx is at the first stage of
moving from a Eureka! moment in the
lab to a brand name in the marketplace.
Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Ap-
plied Physics and Professor of Physics,
and his students discovered the “black-
ening” process serendipitously in the
lab eight years ago. The team subjected
ordinary silicon, a material commonly
used in everything from computer
chips to solar cells, to a series of very
short, very intense laser pulses while
inside a halogen gas-filled chamber. In
“I’m excited to see the results
of my research begin to be
commercially developed.”
the presence of the laser light, the gas
reacts with the silicon surface, etching
away some of it and leaving a pattern of
conical spikes behind.
While normal silicon absorbs a small
amount of visible light (40 percent is re-
flected), light hitting the surface of the
black silicon flits between the spikes.
As a result, only 2 to 4 percent of light is
reflected; the rest remains trapped. Sub-
sequent research revealed that, when
subjected to a magnetic field, the mate-
rial also emits electrons. It didn’t take an
engineer or venture capitalist to see the
value in a material that absorbed light
(think of storing energy) and emitted
electronics (think of any modern com-
munication device, from cell phones to
GPS systems).
Moreover, because the spiked silicon
surfaces absorb nearly all light at wave-
lengths ranging from the ultraviolet to
the infrared, the material has potential
use in improving the performance of
existing silicon devices. High-quality
and high-resolution cameras, day/night
cameras used for security and surveil-
lance, and high-sensitivity detectors
and imagers for biotechnology applica-
tions could all benefit from the novel
material.
“I’m excited to see the results of my re-
search begin to be commercially devel-
oped,” said Mazur. “SiOnyx is poised to
take black silicon to the next level.”
Scale of a black silicon chip shown by comparison
with a quarter.
Crosscurrents
One great appeal of solid oxide fuel cells is that they generate electricity with very little pollution. In this
process, oxygen atoms are reduced on the porous cathode surface by electrons. The oxide ions diffuse
through the electrolyte to the fuel rich and porous anode, where they react with the fuel (hydrogen) and
give off electrons to an external circuit and produce a harmless byproduct, namely water
A solid start such as transportation (from forklifts
to scooters), telecom, and portable elec-
Shriram Ramanathan, Assistant Pro- tronics (especially for backup energy).
fessor of Materials Science, made the
move from a corporate to an academic With his team, including Alex Johnson,
campus with ease. Prior to joining Har- a Fellow at the Harvard University Cen-
vard in 2006, he worked at Components ter for the Environment, Ramanathan
Research, Intel in Oregon in the areas has been developing initial proof-of-
of wafer bonding and non-invasive mi- concept prototypes. OTD entered the
croscopy of buried interfaces. He clearly picture in 2007 soon after he disclosed
took some business sense with him, as the new invention. This led to inking
SiEnergy, a spin-off co-founded by Ra- a deal with Applied Minds, which has
manathan that aims to commercialize provided seed funding to develop this
solid oxide fuel technology, received innovation further.
$500,000 in funding from Allied Minds
in October. Striving for commercialization
As with most research breakthroughs,
While solid oxide fuel cells are prized
the process of going commercial is not
for their efficiency in converting chemi-
like the overnight success stories at-
cal into electrical energy, they must op-
tached to many a famed IPO or insanely
erate at extremely high temperatures
popular product. Technology, especially
(around 800-1000 degrees Celsius) for
a lab-based innovation like black silicon,
desirable power density. Moreover, high
takes time—often decades—to weave
temperature means a slow start-up time
its way into a manufacturing process or
and the use of exotic (that is, expensive)
to reach store shelves. In short, patience
materials to bear the heat.
is as important as patents.
SiEnergy lowers the (temperature) bar,
cutting the operational temperature sig-
nificantly while still retaining efficient
The “cool” invention can deliver a wide-
power density. To do so, Ramanathan is range of power in an environmentally
investigating proven and robust micro-
scale fabrication methods. The “cool”
friendly manner, is highly scaleable, and
invention can deliver a wide range of has potential use as a power source in
power in an environmentally friendly
manner, is highly scaleable, and has
areas such as transportation, telecom,
potential use as a power source in areas and portable electronics.
SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 7
 “Even when doing applied research, I’ve elements are not in an inventor’s favor. Back on the ground floor, Mazur, al-
Crosscurrents

always appreciated how long it might
take to understand the potential value
of any breakthrough, let alone com-
mercialize it,” says Robert L. Wallace
Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton
Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electri-
cal Engineering Federico Capasso, who
has high expectations for his co-inven-
tion of the plasmonic laser antenna (see
sidebar below). “Moreover, research in
the basic sciences, which may not ini-
tially seem to have any immediate ap-
plication, could one day lead to a device
that will end up in everyone’s home
many decades later. There’s no magic
ball that let’s you see what research—
even if application-directed—will end
up translating well.”
Further, university culture is not always
open to commercializing research, and
sometimes the right-place/right-time
In a Crimson article, Mazur recalled the
initial resistance he ran into when he
attempted to file the original patent
for the process of creating black silicon
soon after its discovery. Although it’s
not much solace, several decades earlier
Harvard, by downsizing its computer
research efforts, missed out on licensing
core memory, invented by computer pi-
oneer An Wang ’48 (Ph.D., Applied Phys-
ics) before he started Wang Industries.
Dean Venky, who arrived at Harvard in
1998, says he has seen a gradual culture
change at Harvard with regard to com-
mercializing science and technology. “It
is now recognized that in a world where
technology is playing an ever greater
role, commercialization provides a
powerful way for universities like Har-
vard to achieve their educational and
research mission,” he says.
though pleased with where SiOnyx is
headed today, said that the patenting,
licensing, and startup process, even
during a time when the University and
administrators are providing increased
support to innovators, is complicated
and demands a lot of hard work.
There is some light at the end of the tun-
nel for Harvard innovators. The reorga-
nized OTD is seeking to make the com-
mercialization process much easier,
guiding students and faculty through
all the hoops and being there when
things go awry. Judging from OTD’s ini-
tial success (see “Model licensing” side-
bar), this approach appears to be gain-
ing traction.
In the coming years, a “SiOnyx Inside”
logo might not be that far-fetched. J

Technologies Available For Partnership With Industry

SEAS and OTD are seeking industrial partners to commercialize a number of emerging technologies developed by SEAS
researchers. A few examples follow below.

Instrument for rapid, real-
time measurement of ther-
mal properties of materials
Inventor: Joost Vlassak, Gordon
McKay Professor of Materials
Engineering
Technology: An instrument that
relies on a novel microscale sensor
design and achieves an ultra-fast,
high-precision measurement of
thermal properties of materi-
als using only thin films of the
materials
Potential: This is of particular use
for companies that are synthesiz-
ing new materials or new alloys
or for anyone involved in thin film
deposition
Slowing and trapping light
in photonic crystals
Inventor: Frank Vollmer, Junior
Fellow at the Rowland Institute
Technology: A novel technique for
slowing down light in a small opti-
cal chip to enhance the interaction
of light and molecules; the device
is smaller than traditional optical
devices, delivers ultra-high-sensi-
tive detection and measurement,
and is compatible with other
micro- and nanotechnologies
Potential: The technology can
be used for optical sensing and
chemical and biological detec-
tion as well as the fabrication
of exceptionally small lasers for
applications in displays and tele-
communications, quantum optical
devices, and barcoding
Optical antenna
Inventors: Kenneth Crozier, As-
sistant Professor of Electrical En-
gineering, and Federico Capasso,
Robert L. Wallace Professor of
Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes
Senior Research Fellow in Electri-
cal Engineering
Technology: The plasmonic
laser antenna technology has
demonstrated high-intensity
radiation (~1 GW/cm2) and spot
sizes dramatically smaller than
conventional optics would allow
Potential: The optical antenna can
be readily adapted to a wide range
of wavelengths, from the visible
to the far-infrared, and has been
implemented as a relatively simple
modification to off-the-shelf
semiconductor laser diodes, en-
abling advances in optical storage,
near-field optical microscopy, and
maskless lithography
Droplets in droplets
Inventor: David Weitz, Mallinck-
rodt Professor of Physics and
Applied Physics
Technology: The formation of
double emulsions, droplets of one
liquid within another droplet
Potential: The relative drop-
let sizes can be carefully and
uniformly controlled and are
compatible with a wide variety
of chemistries, allowing diverse
applications in the personal
care, food, and pharmaceutical
industries J

8 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007

Model Licensing

Novel technologies often require equally novel licensing agreements. A nonprofit bioengineering startup found a way to
extend a helping hand to those in need, and a nanotechnology pioneer covered new ground in an unprecedented licensing
agreement for fabrication methods.
Helping hand
In June, Medicine in Need (MEND),
founded at SEAS by David Edwards, Pro-
fessor of the Practice of Bioengineering,
and students, entered into a licensing
agreement to bring innovative vaccine
and drug products to people in develop-
ing countries.
Efforts will focus initially on tuberculo-
sis and are expected to expand rapidly
to other infectious diseases. MEND, a
nonprofit drug delivery technology
platform corporation, combines pro-
prietary compound formulations with
low-cost, high-throughput spray-drying
technologies to turn existing, proven
injectable drugs and vaccines into dry
powders, enabling effective, safe treat-
ment delivery via pulmonary, oral, and
injectable routes.
Under the terms of the agreement, Har-
vard has granted a royalty-free license
to MEND for its work relating to drugs
and vaccines geared toward developing
countries. MEND is also pursuing com-
mercial markets in the developed world
for the sole purpose of supporting its
charitable mission.
MEND will pay Harvard a royalty on
these revenues, and under an innova-
tive gift-back mechanism, Harvard will
donate most of these payments back to
MEND to support MEND’s nonprofit
effort to develop advanced treatments
and preventative therapies for diseases
of poverty.
Small science comes up big
OTD licensed a broad portfolio of issued
and pending patents covering nano-
and microscale molecular fabrication
methods developed by Professor George
Whitesides, Woodford L. and Ann A.
Flowers University Professor, and his
laboratory to Nano-Terra, Inc., a newly
formed, privately held company.
The transaction represents one of the
largest technology transfer arrange-
ments in Harvard’s history.
Crosscurrents
Nano-Terra focuses on developing and
commercializing industrial applica-
tions of these technologies with corpo-
rate and government partners. Harvard
will receive royalties from products de-
veloped from the licensed technologies
and will receive a small equity stake in
Nano-Terra.
The license granted Nano-Terra provides
exclusive commercialization rights to
these technologies in areas outside the
biomedical field such as electronics,
aerospace, energy, industrial products,
military uses, environmental testing,
and consumer goods. The intellectual
property, involving molecular self-
assembly, rapid prototyping, electrical/
optical systems, soft lithography, and
microfluidics, has a potentially wide
range of applications in a number of
important industries.
The company has already entered into
codevelopment agreements with 3M;
Merck KGaA, a major Asian electronics
manufacturer; and the Department of
Defense. Nano-Terra expects that these
agreements will result in products be-
ing brought to market or into active use
within the next 18 to 36 months. J

Protecting public interest in technology licensing

In March of 2007 Harvard
University joined with a number
of the nation’s other leading
universities and the Association
of American Medical Colleges
(AAMC) to develop a set of shared
guidelines intended to protect the
public interest when universities
grant licenses for the rights to
their latest scientific advances to
private parties.
The white paper-titled “In the
Public Interest: Nine Points to
Consider in Licensing University
Technology” aims to encourage
technology transfer agreements
to facilitate broad development
and dissemination of university-
generated technologies.
The white paper emphasizes avoid-
ing excessive litigation, minding
export controls, and managing
conflicts of interest. A summary
of the nine points is as follows:
• Universities should reserve
the right to practice licensed
inventions, and to allow other
nonprofit and governmental
organizations to do so.
• Exclusive licenses should be
structured in a manner that
encourages technology develop-
ment and use.
• Strive to minimize the licensing
of “future improvements.”
• Universities should anticipate
and help to manage technol-
ogy transfer related conflicts of
interest.
• Ensure broad access to research
tools.
• Enforcement action should be
carefully considered.
• Be mindful of export regulations.
• Be mindful of the implications of
working with patent aggregators.
• Consider including provisions
that address unmet needs, such
as those of neglected patient
populations or geographic areas,
giving particular attention to im-
proved therapeutics, diagnostics
and agricultural technologies for
the developing world. J

SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 9
Faculty News
From creative teaching to global-minded research, SEAS faculty caught the eye of major media in 2007.
Nota Bene
Good fun ... Lola England de Valpine
Professor of Applied Mathematics L. Ma-
hadevan received an Ig Nobel award for
the study of wrinkle patterns on sheets,
saying, “There’s no reason good science
can’t be fun.” The Ig Nobel Prizes are
awarded each October for “10 achieve-
ments that first make people laugh, and
then make them think.”
Superheroes … The October 1 issue
of Newsweek featured bioengineering
Professor David Edwards and graduate
student Ling Wong among the superhe-
roes fighting global disease. In addition,
Edwards penned an editorial for the
journal Nature, “Paris gets a new cul-
tural crucible,” about the creation of Le
Laboratoire in Paris, which “will present
L. Mahadevan, who won a famed Ig
Noble Prize for studying wrinkle
patterns, believes that good science
can be fun.
10 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007
to the public art and design works-in-
progress resulting from seasonal experi-
ments. Leading international artists and
scientists will explore, for example, the
experience of cell division through visual
art, making plants smarter using fluid
mechanics, personalizing urban homes
through biometric testing, or designing
a synthetic world where avatars evolve
through the uploading of personal bio-
metric data.” His new book, Artscience:
Creativity in the Post-Google Generation,
is due from Harvard University Press in
January 2008.
Head start … Bioengineer and Army
Reservist Kit Parker provided firsthand
knowledge and technical expertise about
head trauma injuries on the battlefield for
an article in Technology Review: “‘The big
question for scientists like me is how the
shock wave is propagated into the skull …
We don’t know that; we don’t know what
the nature of these injuries are—if nerves
are being compressed, sheared, the extent
of vascular injury, and what is going on in
the microcellular environment.’”
Virtual hours … Inside Higher Ed reported
on instructor David Malan ’07 (Ph.D.,
Computer Science) and his use of virtual
office hours in Computer Science 50: “Af-
ter connecting, students find themselves
in a program resembling a traditional chat
room, but with a window that can show
what the instructor is seeing on his or her
own computer. To demonstrate program-
ming concepts or debug an assignment,
a teaching fellow even has the option
to take control of a student’s computer
and operate it remotely, much like an IT
specialist at a corporate help desk.”
Plumbing research … Wired Science
blogged about David Weitz’s advances
in microfluidics: “David Weitz of the de-
partment of physics at Harvard University
showed that he and his team can make
microfluidic devices that do all sorts of
tricks. They can sort tiny drops of liquid,
split them apart, combine them, and
even make remarkably identical drops
inside of drops. One of his students even
founded a startup company, RainDance
Technologies, to commercialize chips as
research tools.”
Computer scientist Barbara Grosz, now
Interim Dean at the Radcliffe Institute,
has continued to work to remove barri-
ers for women faculty.
(above) David Weitz’s “fluid
factories” wowed the Wired
editors
Next generation ... Science magazine
highlighted Assistant Professor of Bio-
engineering Debra Auguste’s decision to
move to Harvard. She said in the article,
“They’re investing a lot in each and every
one of us.”
Pumped up … The New Scientist, BBC
Radio, National Geographic, Ars Technica,
Chemistry World, and other members
of the media were all pumped up about
Kit Parker’s research on muscle-powered
thin films (see p. 4).
Digg it … The aim of computer scientist
David Parkes and colleagues. to make
Internet bandwidth a currency (see
pp. 4–5) caught the attention of New
Scientist and the BBC. The research also
was dug by Digg.com, a site which allows
users to vote on what they consider the
most interesting content. For two days,
a short blurb about the efforts of Parkes
made it to the site’s front page for mil-
lions of visitors to see.
Doing the math ... Nature Boston profiled
newly appointed Interim Dean at Radc-
liffe Barbara Grosz: “Harvard computer
scientist Barbara Grosz was told as a
child that girls couldn’t do math. She has
proven that wrong and worked to remove
barriers for women faculty.”
Best and brightest ... Computer scientist
Radhika Nagpal received airtime in a
Microsoft Research video about their
New Faculty Fellowship program.
 New Arrivals Remembrance

Joanna Aizenberg
Gordon McKay Professor of Materials
Science; Susan S. and Kenneth L.
Faculty News
David Turnbull, whose last appointment was Gordon McKay
Professor of Applied Physics, died on April 28. His seminal
work included theoretical and experimental studies of nucle-
ation of crystals, the glass transition and the amorphous
state, crystal growth, and atomic diffusion. The Materials Re-
search Society (MRS), which has awarded a lectureship prize
in his name since 1992, summed up Turnbull’s contributions
in this way: “David Turnbull was a towering figure in materials
science. He distinguished himself in many areas of materi-
als research, including kinetics to crystal nucleation and growth, diffusion in metals, and
glass formation. Among his numerous honors and awards were the MRS von Hippel award
in 1979 and the Japan Prize in 1986 … his legacy lives on in all his published work as well
as through his students, associates, and colleagues, and through the tremendous volume
of work within materials science.”

(above) The New York Times said Eric
Mazur is “as experimental in his class-
room as he is in his research laboratory.”
(below) While money doesn’t grow out
of Ethernet wires, David Parkes and
colleagues are looking for a better and
safer means for e-commerce.
Beautiful mind ... The New York Times
took a teaching lesson from applied
physicist Eric Mazur in a Q&A entitled,
“Using the ‘Beauties of Physics’ to
Conquer Science Illiteracy”: “Mazur’s
own Harvard course, Physics 1b, is the
kind of science class that even a literature
student might love — playful, engag-
ing, something like a trip to a science
museum. Indeed, Dr. Mazur, 52, is as
experimental in his classroom as he is in
his research laboratory.”
Lifesavers ... Princeton Engineering
School’s EQUAD News highlighted col-
laborative research on nanoparticle drug
delivery methods with Harvard bioengi-
neer David Edwards.
Feel the Force ... In a feature story,
the June 14 issue of the journal Nature
unwrapped the mystery of the curious
Casimir force with applied physicist Fed-
erico Capasso. J
Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe
Institute for Advanced Study; Professor
of Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Background:
Ph.D. from the Weizmann Institute of
Science, Israel
M.S. and B.S. from Moscow State
University
Areas of focus:
Biomineralization; biomimetics;
self-assembly; crystal engineering;
surface chemistry; nanofabrication;
biomaterials; biomechanics and
biooptics
www.seas.harvard.edu/aizenberg_lab/
Hanspeter Pfister
Gordon McKay Professor of the Practice
of Computer Science; Director of Visual
Computing, Initiative in Innovative
Computing
Background:
Ph.D. in Computer Science, State Uni-
versity of New York at Stony Brook
M.Sc. in Computer Science, State Uni-
versity of New York at Stony Brook
M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering, Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology (ETH),
Zurich, Switzerland
Areas of focus:
Computer graphics; machine learn-
ing; computer vision; scientific
visualization; computer graphics
hardware
Awards
Jeremy Bloxham, Harvard College Profes-
sor and Professor of Computational Sci-
ence; Division Dean for the Physical Sci-
ences, FAS; and Mallinckrodt Professor
of Geophysics, was appointed as a New
Fellow of the Royal Society.
Materials scientist Joanna Aizenberg was
named the 2008 recipient of the Ronald
Breslow Award for Achievement in Bio-
mimetic Chemistry. The award, which
recognizes outstanding contributions to
the field of biomimetic chemistry, was
established on March 24, 2001, at a
symposium held at Columbia University
in honor of Ronald Breslow ’52, ’54, ’55.
David A. Edwards, Gordon McKay Pro-
fessor of the Practice of Biomedical En-
gineering, was awarded Michigan Tech’s
highest honor, the Melvin Calvin Medal
of Distinction.
Daniel Jacob, Vasco McCoy Family Pro-
fessor of Atmospheric Chemistry and
Environmental Engineering, and Steven
Wofsy, Abbott Lawrence Rotch Professor
of Atmospheric and Environmental Sci-
ence, were among the participants of the
IPCC report, an assessment of climate
change research, for which the 2007 No-
bel Peace Prize was awarded.
Promotions and Appointments
Fawwaz Habbal, Executive Dean, was
appointed Senior Lecturer on Applied
Physics. Habbal teaches “Introduction to
Nanobiotechnology: Concepts and Appli-
cations” at the Harvard Extension School
and is part of the team-taught seminar,
Applied Physics 289r, “Interdisciplinary
Chemistry, Engineering, and Physics.”
L. Mahadevan, Lola England de Valpine
Professor of Applied Mathematics, and
Jan Skotheim received the 23rd François
Naftali Frenkiel Award for Fluid Mechan-
ics for their paper, “Soft lubrication: The
elastohydrodynamics of nonconforming
and conforming contacts.” This award
was given in 2006 by the American
Physical Society.
Venkatesh Narayanamurti, John A. and
Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of
Engineering and Applied Sciences and
Dean of SEAS, was elected a fellow
of the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences.
Michael Rabin, Thomas J. Watson Sr.
Professor of Computer Science, was
appointed as a Foreign Member of the
Royal Society.
James R. Rice, an expert in theoretical
mechanics, was awarded the 2007 Mau-
rice A. Biot Medal for Poromechanics.
The nomination letter read in part, “Jim
Rice’s contributions to the mechanics of
porous materials are so extensive, funda-
mental, and diverse that it is difficult to
summarize them succinctly, even though
they constitute only a part of his contri-
butions to the broader area of mechan-
ics, including fracture, plasticity, compu-
tational mechanics and geomechanics,
materials science, and geophysics.”
Matt Welsh was promoted to Associate
Professor of Computer Science.
Anthony G. Oettinger was appointed
Gordon McKay Research Professor of Ap-
plied Mathematics and Research Profes-
sor of Information Resources Policy.

SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 11

Student News
Graduate
Driven
A second after her cap dusted the
ground at the University of Colo-
rado at Boulder, the Swedish-born Maria
Persson Gulda grabbed her clubs to join
the ranks of professional golfers. Prior to
her arrival at Harvard to pursue a Ph.D.
in applied physics, she was on courses,
not taking them.
Her journey began by happenstance.
Her parents, who do not play, lived a
few steps from one of Sweden’s most
famed greens, the Halmstad Golf Club.
At 10 Gulda took up the sport—and
discovered that her love of the game
was equal to her talent. She then set her
sights on the U.S. for college because of
the increased opportunities to combine
academics with athletics.
Maria Persson Gulda (above), who entered the Ph.D. program in the fall of 2007, practices her swing (below).
12 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007
“I was actually “You get a feeling in your body before you hit Entering graduate
just going to come
over to the U.S. for a ball that this is going to be a great shot...
a year to learn Eng- That can be the same thing with problem sets plans to give up
lish and to see a
lot of the country,” .. You see everything: it is just there.”
she says. But a coach at CU Boulder took
an interest in her game and her grades
(Gulda earned a 3.911 GPA in engineer-
ing physics) and suggested nearly from
the start that she consider going pro.
During her first and only summer
among the professionals, she did not
make the cut for the major LGPA tour-
naments; she did, however, come close,
landing in the top 30 during her second
try. To put this in perspective, it nor-
mally takes about five years to break
into the majors. In short, she could have
made it—but chose not to.
As a pro, Gulda watched girls whose
entire lives sunup to sundown were
spent golfing, with personal trainers,
coaches, families, and partners all like
a kite’s tail in tow. Moreover, she says
that “until you make it to those years
when you can support yourself,” life is
composed of nonstop practice, play, and
plane rides.
“I have so many passions for other
things that I want to fit in my life,” she
says about her decision to leave the links
for the lab. With a laugh Gulda adds
that she did have the occasional dream
about having her own “brand” like An-
nika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie. She
adds, “I think when it starts to get dark
and the weather starts to get bad and the
problem sets start to take 20 to 30 hours,
I will think it would be nice to be on the
golf course.”
school does not
mean that Gulda
golf. Not only is
golf a lifelong
sport, but she’s found a way to relate her
sporty side to her academic one—both
are as much mental as physical. “You
get a feeling in your body before you hit
a ball that this is going to be a great shot.
Some days you can just stand there and
be ‘oh my gosh, this is going to go in’ …
and it will go in. It is a flow that you get.
That can be the same thing with prob-
lem sets. Some days you really feel this
is a great day of doing homework. You
see everything: it is just there.” J
Student Awards
Graduate student Adam C. Siegel and his colleagues
received honorable mention in Science’s Visualization
Challenge for their entry “Tiny Metal Pathways.” The
team tied a microstructure 200 micrometers wide into
a beautiful knot to showcase a potential technique for
blending tiny electrical circuits into fabric materials.
Computer science graduate student Kelly Heffner was
honored with the Derek C. Bok Award for Excellence in
Graduate Student Teaching of Undergraduates.
Paul Novotny, an engineering sciences Ph.D. candidate,
won a best student paper award for his paper “GPU
Based Real-time Instrument Tracking with Three-
Dimensional Ultrasound” at the 9th Medical Image
Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention
(MICCAI) conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
A group of Harvard undergraduates traveled to Tokyo to
compete in the Association for Computing Machinery’s
31st annual International Collegiate Programming Con-
test (ACM-ICPC) on March 12–16. From among 6,099
teams selected from 1,756 universities in 82 countries
competing at 205 sites and hundreds more competing
at preliminary contests worldwide, 88 teams of students
competed for bragging rights and prizes. The Harvard
team received an honorable mention for its efforts. J
 Student News
The goal becomes giving
students sufficiently
interesting projects to
help them decide
“whether or not they are
going to slog through
four years of EE.”
Faculty member Todd Zickler adds some punch to ES 50: Introduction to Electrical Engineering.

Undergraduate out there in terms of textbooks,” says

Zickler. Year-to-year courses continue
Teaching on cue evolve, especially in fields like engineer-
ing. The goal becomes giving students
is not surprised that most concentrators
do not end up turning their courses into
a direct career path. “Where do students
end up? I don’t really have that concern”

T he cover of the 2007–08 CUE Guide

parodies the Wikipedia site, the
popular yet often controversial user-
generated open source encyclopedia.
As with Wikipedia, students often re-
ceive their first impressions of Harvard
courses by reading what others have
said about them.
As with all entries, the one for Engineer-
ing Sciences 50: Introduction to Electri-
cal Engineering, a course that Assistant
Professor of Electrical Engineering Todd
Zickler painstakingly reengineered
three years ago, can be reduced to a
single rating: 4.3 (that’s the mean rank-
ing [out of 5] of the course, and among
similar courses that’s quite high).
But because tastes differ, the more dis-
criminating future patron might ask
a deeper question: Just what goes into
a course? Judging by Zickler’s experi-
ence with the revised ES 50, the proper
ingredients and careful preparation are
as essential as seamless execution. For
the specifics that go beyond the CUE
Guide, we asked Zickler to give his own
personal assessment of what’s involved
in crafting a course.
Use primary and secondary sources. “I
think every time you have a new class
there’s somewhat of a learning curve.
As part of an initial planning effort,
it is a combination of looking at other
places, your past experience, and what’s
sufficiently interesting projects to help
them decide “whether or not they are
going to slog through four years of EE.”
Vary the course based on the class.
“Group dynamics can totally change
from year to year,” says Zickler. Depend-
ing on the nature of the students en-
rolled in a course—especially a smaller
one like ES 50—a class can be different
every year. Even with the most road-
tested materials, an instructor must be
ready to “adapt on the fly.”
Grades, especially in the hard sciences,
are guideposts. Zickler views grades as
indicators, especially because they are
part quantitative and part qualitative as-
sessments. Grades give students a sense
of where they are relative to their peers
and a way to measure progress through
the semester. “I think in a lot of large
engineering schools, especially public
institutions, grades are used to weed
people out,” he explains. “At Harvard we
are trying to do the opposite. I definitely
think we have to be conscious about
how grades are assigned.”
Academics are one part of an education.
Just as faculty members balance re-
search, teaching, and committee work,
today’s students juggle their courses
with everything from writing for The
Crimson to playing rugby to working a
job or running a startup company out
of their dorm room. Given that, Zickler
whether they end up as professional
engineers, Zickler says. His goal is to en-
courage, even if indirectly, more Ameri-
can students to learn about science and
engineering.
CUE scores are relative. Everyone, even
faculty, likes getting good marks. Zick-
ler does use the CUE as a key reference,
saying, “The way that I found it useful is
when people actually write comments.
I am not really sure how to read the
numbers as they are highly variable.”
His mixed experience with the CUE
likely echoes the experiences of other
faculty. “I’ve had years where I have
said, ‘This is best year ever’ and my CUE
scores are lower than in other years,” he
points out.
Teaching is a two-way street. A professor
learns as the students learn—although
the lessons are somewhat different. “If it
wasn’t for ES 50 I’d almost forget I was an
electrical engineer,” says Zickler with a
wink. “The class is a way of keeping you
in touch with basic fields and forces you
to stay broad.” Zickler also applauds the
Harvard students themselves, consider-
ing them some of the best he has ever
interacted with anywhere. “Having this
sort of excuse to meet interesting stu-
dents and hear their stories and watch
them learn and for some of them to shift
their focus and become engineers—
that’s probably the best part.” J

SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 13

In Profile
Applied mathematician Michael Brenner, who earned a Ph.D. in physics, realized his true academic calling was to solve
eclectic problems.
Michael Brenner
Questioning (mathematical) authority
R esearch into the evolutionary rela-
tionship between fungi and feces
takes Michael Brenner, Glover Professor
of Applied Mathematics and Applied
Physics, into what he dubs the “zone of
repugnance.” But don’t expect to see the
following problem in a standard math
text:
Fungi grown in animal waste must
escape the waste to ensure reproduc-
tive success. Animals, which serve as
carriers, eat outside a zone of repug-
nance around the dung. Thus, the fungi
14 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007
launch their spores into the air at high
velocities so they land beyond the “no-
eat” zone. How do evolutionary pres-
sures affect the shape of spores so as to
minimize drag, ensuring the spores are
flung farther and faster?
Brenner teaches undergraduates in
Applied Mathematics 50 how to use
unorthodox situations like the repro-
ductive dilemma of humble fungi as
material for quantitative investigation.
His lectures, in fact, resemble in pace
and execution the projectile motion of
flying spores. When he speaks about
his favorite subject—interdisciplinary
approaches to problem-solving—his
sentences pop and plunge. Brenner has a
habit of stopping mid-predicate to allow
the next thought to hurtle into the air.
“The whole game is defining what the
question is,” he says. “Everybody thinks
that they know what the question is.
But the truth is that nobody knows
what the question is!”
Faculty members and students come to
Brenner to collaborate on tricky prob-
lems, from understanding how biofilms
evolve to unearthing the mechanics of
a whale’s ultra-efficient flipper. Brenner
acknowledges that sometimes he will
send them away with only a question.
The scenario is less bleak than it ap-
pears. Half the struggle of doing science,
Brenner says, is posing a question about
a topic in such a way that the answer
ends up quantitatively sound while
revealing a truth about the initiating
physical system. A good question guides
thinking and research, ensuring that
the conclusion will lead to something
new that can also be measured.
“If you really understand something in
science,” says Brenner, “you can describe
it in a sentence as precise as an equation.
It’s as simple as that. The difficulty lies
in looking at a problem in such a way
that it becomes simple. The math itself
isn’t hard! Everyone thinks the problem
is with math.”
Mathematical thinking
Downplaying the difficulty of the math
might seem counterintuitive—to both
those who love and those who loathe
numbers. Brenner, who admits he can
be an academic gadfly, has his sights on
broader aims. During his tenure on the
University’s General Education Com-
mittee he lobbied his fellow members
to create an introductory quantitative
thinking requirement. His radical goal:
positioning applied mathematics as an
epistemology—a way of thinking, not
just as a practice.
“It’s true that a lot of my colleagues are
offended by the notion that applied
mathematics is just a ‘user facility’ like
an electron microscope,” he explains.
“The whole game is defining what the question is,” he says.
“Everybody thinks that they know what the question is.
But the truth is that nobody knows what the question is!”
“We all think we’re in the center of the
universe. Of course I really believe ap-
plied mathematics is ‘It.’ We’re about
the art of asking the question. The nice
thing about Harvard is that everyone
wants to know what the question is.”
Brenner’s conversion to the discipline
occurred as he was earning a Ph.D. in
physics from the University of Chicago.
He realized that he loved solving eclec-
tic problems, regardless of their field of
origin. At the time, Brenner wasn’t even
aware that had stumbled into applied
mathematics—he didn’t even know
that what he enjoyed had a name.
Quantifying the world
At SEAS, the former physicist now col-
laborates with researchers from across
the University, working with evolu-
tionary biologists and engineers alike.
The collaborative and interdisciplinary
nature of his research continually soft-
ens his partiality for his “found” field of
study. In his ideal world, faculty mem-
bers in applied mathematics, statistics,
and economics at Harvard would work
together to create a concentration for
undergraduates in which disciplinary
questions and problems are dropped in
favor of allowing students to learn how
to state problems quantitatively. He
sketches aloud the outlines of a quanti-
tative liberal arts degree.
“You ought to be able to come in, think
about some aspect of the world—what-
ever you find interesting—and quantify
it. Fifty percent of undergraduates enter
Harvard interested in math or science,
but we only get 10 percent as concen-
trators. That’s because their idea of
mathematics is based on the definition
of math in high school, which is only
about method.”
In a way, the reform proposals are his
own manner of grappling with the one
problem he says he cannot solve: how
to teach undergraduates how to think.
“How does one learn it? I don’t know. It-
eration. The challenge is how to build
a set of courses that will allow—” he
breaks off mid-sentence.
He must be narrowing in on a question:
Surely if spores have found a brilliant
solution for survival in the dank forest,
academics can find a way to seamlessly
integrate mathematics into the groves
of academe. Once the problem is clearly
defined, just solve for x. J
Fungi spores, shown close up, turn out to be
ripe material for mathematical analysis. (Inset
image courtesy of Marcus Roper, Ph.D ’07 and
Anne Pringle.)
In profile
Brenner is collaborating with colleagues at Harvard
Medical School to understand the way biofilms, akin
to pond scum, form and grow. (Photo courtesy of
Roberto Kolter.)
Solving for x
The evolution of hemoglobin. In collaboration with
Ron Milo, Systems Biology Fellow; Marc Kirschner,
Professor of Systems Biology; and Jennifer Hou, a
graduate student in the Physics Department, Brenner
investigates using hemoglobin, responsible for the
high oxygen saturation of blood, to understand the
effect of physiological adaptations on evolutionary
adaptations. How did hemoglobin come to adjust our
oxygen levels in the blood during and after physical
activities like climbing a mountain?
Limiting the growth of biofilms. Limiting the growth
of biofilms, ubiquitous microorganisms like the
muck that forms on the surface of the water in an
aquarium tank, is critical for industry (from aiding
in oil recovery to saving ship hulls) and medicine
(mitigating infection in medical implants). Working
with Roberto Kolter, Professor of Microbiology
and Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School,
Brenner wants to determine whether understanding
the basic physics of the morphology of biofilms will
allow researchers to better understand its evolution.
Splitting a jet. Technologies from inkjet printers
to microfabrication rely on the fragmentation and
precise control of liquid jets into droplets. Brenner
and former physics graduate student Srinivas Paru-
churi have demonstrated the possibility of splitting
a flowing liquid jet into two separate subfilaments
by applying sufficient stress to the surface of the
jet. Such a process could be used to create small
polymeric fibers, something once considered a mere
theoretical fantasy.
Figuring out whale flippers. Humpback whales, de-
spite their massive scale, are incredibly agile swim-
mers. Scientists believe there could be a relationship
between their swimming skills and the bumps on
their back flippers, which might affects stall delay
(the sudden increase in angle of a ‘flipper’ or wing
due to a change in water or air flow). Brenner is
working with Silas Alben (a former postdoctoral fel-
low at SEAS) and Ernst van Nierop, a current SEAS
graduate student, to understand the aerodynamic
mechanism of the bumpy whale tale and then apply
such findings to wing design in airplanes.
SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 15
Intersections
Interactive Attraction
I n late September, timed with the re-
lease of Halo 3, a widely anticipated
video game, a group of MIT hackers
gave the John Harvard statue a make-
over. Adorned with a battle helmet and
clutching a futuristic assault rifle, the
bronze figure mimicked the game’s
hero, even looking ready to leap from
its foundation.
For Ben Decker ’08, one of the founders
of the Harvard Interactive Media Group
and creator of a custom concentration
in the area, the hack conveyed a mes-
sage: Interactive media is Ivy League
material. For the uninitiated, Decker of-
fered a definition of the emerging field
(via email, of course) that spanned sev-
eral pages and contained footnotes.
It boils down to “platforms which al-
low for conversations across space and
time,” he wrote. Put another way, he’s
interested in finding
out “what happens “Imagine millions of people in real-time is that they present
when media stops be-
ing only a passive, re- environments, what an opportunity to lable, ground-up re-
ceptive experience.” study ethics and other social attributes. creations of reality,”
Such interactions are In essence, it’s the lab conditions
not limited to pulver-
izing pixels, Decker everyone dreams of.”
points out. Interac-
tion could be in the form of a phone
call, or anytime an input-stimulus loop
is occurring, from ATMs to APBs. In fact,
such “conversations” go on far more
than many expect in a world where ev-
eryone seems engaged in screen- or ear-
bound isolation.
16 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007
“Interactive media devices, mobile or
otherwise, are no more isolating than
traditional media,” he says. “You’re not
talking to the guy next to you if you’re
sitting reading a book either.”
That girl engrossed in her Game Boy
might be networking with friends even
if the Blackberry execs thumbing in a
few after-work emails look more pro-
ductive. In fact, life lived in the Matrix
may offer more stimulus than standard
options like hanging out at the mall or,
for the over-21 set, cruising a club. “In
many cases, we think interactive media
produces a much better social environ-
ment, as you’re doing fun, epic things
with the people you meet, not just awk-
wardly standing around drinking beer,”
Decker says.
Such epic quests led Decker to pursue
an academic one. Digital interactions
can be tracked, distilled, and studied.
“The beauty of many interactive tech-
nologies, particularly video games
and virtual worlds,
absolutely control-
wrote Decker in an es-
say. “Imagine millions
of people in real-time
environments; what
an opportunity to study ethics and oth-
er social attributes! In essence, it’s the
lab conditions everyone dreams of.”
Sim university
Here at SEAS, David Parkes studies how
people behave in online economies (see
(left) In a sign that video games have become universal,
the hack of the John Harvard statue (dressed as Master
Chief, a character from “Halo 3”, by MIT students) in
September sent blogs all abuzz. (below) Ben Decker,
one of the co-founders of the Harvard Interactive Media
Group feels right at home in virtual settings.
pp.4–5); instructor David Malan ’07
(Ph.D., Computer Science) offers virtual
office hours; and entirely virtual cours-
es, like one taught by graduate student
Rebecca Nesson at Harvard Law School,
are becoming more common. Facebook,
the social network site developed in a
Harvard dorm room, has already defined
a generation. In short, something is go-
ing on, and it merits further study.
“I think you study interactive media as
you study anything: with the broadest
toolset possible,” writes Decker. “I think
you need straight, empirical, measure-
and-record lab work (on, say, skin con-
ductance in response to the presenta-
tion of ....), and I think you need deep,
analytical, rambling ethnographies. You
need proposed conceptual frameworks
and meta-reviews.” In short, the tried
and true tools of the human sciences
still apply.
Hitting a moving target, however, re-
quires ever-evolving aim. “Technology’s
tough because it’s always new, so I think
there’s more room than in many disci-
plines for ‘nothing fancy, let’s just figure
out what’s going on here’ kinda stuff,
but there’s plenty of room for the nitty-
gritty as well, I think.”
Decker, happy to gaze into the LCD ball,
says he senses trends. For example, Nin-
tendo’s video game system, the Wii—
which offers a controller that allows
the user’s actions to directly influence
events on-screen—is just “the tip of the
iceberg.” Hardware, says Decker, will
become even more alive and dynamic.
More broadly, the convergence of enter-
tainment media and the high-technolo-
gy sector will continue.
“The ‘next big thing’ in interactive me-
dia is ubiquitous computing,” he says,
referring to fully immersive computing
hardware that is built into everything
from trashcans to billboards. “With
ubiquitous computing, you stop us-
ing various forms of interactive media
discretely and begin simply to exist
digitally. This may seem a bit odd, but
we are halfway there already as virtual
goods and services are sold and people
are buying virtual real estate, game
characters, and so on.”
Even via email, Decker exudes intel-
lectual passion most lifelong scholars
rarely achieve, as if on the cusp of a new
truth. “For sure, I am constantly and
viscerally amazed by technology. In par-
ticular, wireless technologies really just
do it for me—controlling, with infinite
precision, the sea of electrons flowing
around you, flowing through you. How
can you not like that?!” J
Events
Visit www.seas.harvard.edu/newsandevents for the
latest details, dates, and times for SEAS events. Here
are some highlights from the past months and a list
of future opportunities:
The science of pizza - On December 15th, children,
families, students, teachers, and the curious are in-
vited to spend an hour exploring the science behind
one of our favorite foods. Check the SEAS website
for more details.
In November, researcher Jonathan Schaeffer, Univer-
sity of Alberta, told the story of his nearly two decade
personal and professional quest of programming a
machine to win the World Checkers Championship.
Under his tutelage, Chinook became the first program
in any game to win the right to play for a human world
championship. While the program lost the champion-
ship match in 1992, Chinook became the undisputed
champion in 1994. By 1996, it became clear that the
program was much stronger than any human, so Chi-
nook uttered its last “King Me!”
The Winston Chen lecture series continues to bring
some of the brightest minds to Oxford Street. In Oc-
tober, L. B. Freud of Brown University presented “The
Mechanics of a Molecular Bond Under Force.”
Look for several industry-related events in the spring,
including the Industrial Partnership Program’s annual
workshop on topics in materials science and “Frontiers
of Spintronics and Spin-Coherent Phenomena in Semi-
conductors: A Symposium in Honor of E. I. Rashba.”
Law Professor
Empowered by
the Grid
A few months after arriving at
Harvard Law School, Assistant
Professor Jim Greiner turned to com-
puter scientists at the nearby School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences for
some legal power—of a sort. He sought
the computational muscle of Crimson
Grid, based at SEAS, and other grid sys-
tems, including the Research Comput-
ing Environment at the Harvard-MIT
Data Center, to analyze and uncover
the often-hidden complexity of the
redistricting process in elections.
Typically, after a census the boundar-
ies of various U.S. elective districts
are redrawn to ensure that equal
representation is maintained relative
to any changes in the population. Some
creative state legislators redraw the
lines in ways that disfavor racial and
ethnic minorities, a tactic called ger-
rymandering.
Greiner points out that because vot-
ing happens behind closed curtains,
finding the truth between the lines—
the way redistricting affects voting
results—proves difficult, especially
because data from standard methods
like exit polls might not be available or
reliable.
Grid computing—relying on drips and
drabs of idle cycle time from hundreds
Intersections
Ternary plot of Bush versus Gore as run in the precincts
constituting Texas Congressional District 24 in 2000
of individual computer processors—
has the oomph to crunch through
decades of census and voting data and
the ability to run sophisticated Bayes-
ian algorithms. Working with Govern-
ment Department Professor Kevin
Quinn, Greiner has harnessed this
power to compute a voter’s-eye view of
an election.
For example, the diagram above il-
lustrating data from the 2000 election,
provides a compelling way to look at
voter behavior. The larger dots indicate
more populous precincts; brighter
shades indicate a greater Gore share
of the two-party vote. If one drops
an imaginary vertical line from the
Hispanic vertex to the bisector of the
triangle’s bottom leg, one sees that,
generally, most non-Hispanic voters in
predominantly Hispanic districts were
white voters. If white voters in pre-
dominantly Hispanic precincts voted
more Democratic than white voters in
predominantly white precincts, aggre-
gation bias could affect the estimates of
the preferences of Hispanic voters, who
turned out in low percentages.
In short, Greiner and Quinn are using
clever computation to reveal how
individuals voted—without violating
their rights or revealing their identities.
Combining a knowledge of law with
statistics, Greiner can then determine,
for example, if a district is racially
polarized along party lines. J
SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 17
 vinyl. I have always loved working with
Alumni Notes

words, and I have long loved nonsense

poems and songs. I just had to try my
hand at computer-related parody. It was
pretty awful stuff, but more recently I
have had some sonnets and other for-
mal poetry accepted by The Lyric, Iambs
and Trochees, and Möbius, so maybe that
early doggerel was good practice in the
mechanics.

You pursued computer science when

programmers were likely singing to a
small audience. Did anyone know what
a programmer did in the 1970s?
I was part of a teenage gang that ag-
gressively sought out computer time.
Vincent Learson of IBM had arranged
for his alma mater, Boston Latin School,
to have an IBM 1130 minicomputer; I
learned to program in Fortran in ninth
grade. I can remember touring the Ai-
ken computer lab and being shown the
Harvard IMP (Interface Message Proces-
sor) a few weeks before it was actually
Guy Steele ‘75 is a Sun Fellow for Sun Microsystems Laboratories, working on the Programming Language Research
project. His “claim to fame” is that he co-wrote the specification of the Java programming language. connected to the ARPANET.

Guy Steele ’75 So you entered college running.

By the time I arrived at Harvard as a
Making language sing student, I had been programming for al-
most four years, had learned five differ-

“M achines are alive with the

sound of Fortran/With num-
bers they’ve crunched for a thousand
undergraduate and graduate years shut-
tling between Harvard and MIT, where
he received his Ph.D. in 1980. After a
ent programming languages, and had
implemented the LISP language on the
IBM 1130. In the end, I got a fine liberal
hours/They add and subtract to the short stint as a professor at Carnegie arts education at Harvard as well as two
sound of Fortran/And raise fractions Mellon, he joined the famed yet ill-fated
to unheard of pow- Thinking Machines, a
In addition to writing and coding, Steele did some
ers.” (Sung to the “I originally wanted to be a pure math- company not shy about doodling for the famed New Hacker’s Dictionary.
tune of “The Sound its ambitions for AI.
of Music.”)
ematician, perhaps with a side interest He eventually settled
Long before emoti- in physics, and thought of computers down at Sun Microsys-
cons, computer lan- as merely a pleasantly diverting.” tems, where he helped
guage pioneer and make Java the current
sometime amateur librettist Guy Steele lingua franca for coding. Despite his
’75 was expressing his trials and tribula- programming prowess, Steele says: “At
tions in musical parodies. (Those ready heart I’m really—well, I was about to
for more cringe-inducing classics only say ‘a software guy,’ but the truth is that
need to bring up www.poppyfields.net/ I’m a writer.”
filks in their Web browser.) Steele, one
of the grand masters of CS, spent his stu- You’re famous for the Great Quux
dent days doing more than hacking lyr- (Steele’s pseudonym) poem collection.
ics, literally inventing entirely new pro- Were you an Andrew Lloyd Webber
gramming languages (notably Scheme) wannabe?
for the then nascent field. Please! Maybe a Tim Rice wannabe; I can
A New England native, he graduated still remember when Jesus Christ Su-
from Boston Latin before spending his perstar came out and I listened to it on

18 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007

very different perspectives on computer And you helped make programming paragraph about nine times, and I think

science. I think I exasperated a number
of professors at both ends of Cambridge
by too frequently countering opinions
and assertions with, “But Prof. So-and-so
[at the other school] says ...”
Did you have a sense that something big
was coming in computing?
Apparently I overlapped with Bill Gates
at Harvard but never met him. I didn’t
know much about the homebrew scene
in the 1970s; I was working on my
graduate degree and had access to large
computers. Occasionally I dreamed that
I might have exclusive access to a com-
puter that big and that fast (one mega-
hertz! one megabyte! one megabuck).
So when did it really hit home that com-
puting was not simply for scientists?
In 1987 I bought a Macintosh II and a
LaserWriter, and I used them to desktop-
publish the second edition of Common
LISP: The Language. It was then that I re-
ally appreciated the personal computer
revolution.
Survey Says
more personal through your clear (and
often humorous) writing. Is that a natu-
ral gift or did you develop that skill?
Any humor I have, I got from my father,
I suppose, and I should credit the jokes
that Donald Knuth put in his indexes
with making me feel that maybe I could
get away with a little humor in techni-
cal writing, too. Writing is a skill that I
have pursued quite intentionally. I have
worked very hard to develop a style of
technical writing that avoids ambiguity
without sounding overly fussy. That has
required thinking carefully about, and
coming to grips with, some of the defi-
ciencies of English.
What’s your litmus test for success?
As I read over what I have written I ask
myself: “For every sentence, how could
this be misunderstood? Can this sen-
tence be parsed in more than one way?”
I rewrite to avoid ambiguity and pay
very careful attention to word place-
ment, especially with ”only.” “I have
reread, reworded, and rearranged this
Alumni Notes
it’s now ready to ship.”
Such a philosophy—writing as rewrit-
ing—likely applies as much to crafting
lyrics as to programming as to life.
I have very broad interests. I originally
wanted to be a pure mathematician,
perhaps with a side interest in physics,
and thought of computers as merely a
pleasantly diverting (well, okay, obses-
sively diverting) hobby. But I did take
a computer course in my first year, and
when I realized I really didn’t have the
right sort of imagination for higher
mathematics, I was well positioned to
make the switch. I did do a graduate
minor in quantum mechanics and also
studied circuits and hardware design at
MIT; this breadth has served me well.
And for you, breadth boils down to … ?
I care about communicating clearly and
precisely. Computer languages are espe-
cially good for precisely describing pro-
cesses and relationships, but I like all
languages. Square dancing and carpen-
try and heraldry and music and cooking
have their specialized languages, and I
love them all. J

In the spring, 22,700 Harvard alumni received a survey designed to assess their ex- Recent Gifts
periences at and attitude about Harvard University. Seventeen hundred of the ran- In the late spring, SEAS received an anonymous
dom samples were directed to SEAS alumni. Overall, those surveyed reported strong corporate gift of $250,000 to establish the Liviu
agreement with the overall vision for the School; believe that increased faculty con- Librescu Graduate Student Research Fellowship in
tact and hands-on learning are the most important aspects of a first-rate education; Engineering and Applied Sciences. The gift honors a
man who contributed to the field of engineering and
and would like more specific ways to engage with entrepreneurship and professional
celebrates Professor Librescu’s commitment to the
activities during their reunions. On a scale of 1, meaning very negative, to 6, meaning community of Virginia Tech.
very positive, alumni rated their feeling towards SEAS at a healthy 4.43.
In response to the announcement of the transition
from a Division to a School, John Fetcher SB ’34, SM
Very negative Very positive
’35 made a donation. His letter announcing the gift
Mean 1 2 3 4 5 6 not only congratulated Dean Venky on the success of
the new school but also outlined Fetcher’s extraordi-
nary 60-year career in environmental engineering.
4.43 1% 4% 13% 35% 30% 18%
Recent foundational and corporate gifts of particular
note included the Patterson Family Foundation, $1.5
Look for the complete survey results to go online in the coming months. J million for the John H. Finley Jr. Professorship; the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, approximately $3
million in pledge payments and support of Professor
David Edwards; Microsoft, $710,000; and the Kavli
Be part of the Renaissance... Foundation continued its support of the new Kavli
Institute at Harvard.
The Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences thrives because of insti- The Heller Family Foundation supplemented previous
tutional, governmental, industrial, and alumni support. Such financial generosity, gifts to Harvard with an additional $25,000 this
intellectual guidance, and enthusiasm will enable us to continue to enhance educa- year to support the creation of new businesses by
tion and research and better society. students enrolled in David Edwards’s course on idea
translation. Altran Technologies continued to support
To learn more about giving opportunities, please contact Linda Fates, Director, SEAS
the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center (TECH).
Office of Resource Development, at ord@seas.harvard.edu.

SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007 I 19
 Sign of the Times
Connections

T he SEAS Celebration and Launch on September

20 was blessed by good weather and good words.
You couldn’t have engineered a more beautiful day. A
sun-filled blue sky. Eighty degrees. The tops of trees
1 2 edged in burnt orange. As if brilliantly distilling na-
ture’s gift into words, Peter J. Gomes, the Plummer
Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in
the Memorial Church, conducted the official blessing
for the School, saying: “For there to be a new school
which exists in a strangely metaphysical relationship
with the Faculty of Arts and Science … suggests that
the age of miracles is not over … May this whole hu-
4 man family be much the beneficiary of all the good
that will issue forth from this place.”
An archive of photos, video, and audio from the event
is available at:
www.seas.harvard.edu/highlights/celebration.html J
1 The new SEAS seal at the center of attention.
2 Charles Vest, former President of MIT and President of
the National Academy of Engineering, and Barbara Grosz,
Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences and Interim Dean
of the Radcliffe Institute, share a moment over lunch.
3 5 3 Former Dean of the FAS, Jeremy Knowles, makes his
feelings known.
4 Peter J. Gomes ’68, Plummer Professor of Christian
Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, gives
his blessing.
5 President Drew Faust talks about how engineering at Har-
vard has been a leading force in building bridges across
disciplines and to industry.
6 Left to right: Susan Graham ’64, Pehong Chen Distin-
guished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Comput-
er Science at the University of California, Berkeley, and
President of Harvard’s Board of Overseers (2006–2007);
6 Drew Faust, Lincoln Professor of History and President,
Harvard University; Dean Venky; Thomas E. Everhart ’53,
Former President of the California Institute of Technol-
Feedback loop ogy and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied
We welcome and appreciate your comments, Physics and President of Harvard’s Board of Overseers
suggestions, and corrections. Please send (2004–2005).
feedback to communications@seas.harvard.edu
or call us at 617-496-3815. This newsletter 7 H. Vincent Poor, Dean of Princeton’s School of Engineering
is published biannually by the Harvard School and Applied Science, speaks at Sanders Theatre.
of Engineering and Applied Sciences 8 Joy Sircar (right), Associate Dean for Information
Communications Office.
Technology and CTO at SEAS, steals a bit of time from
Harvard School of Engineering 7 Mike Smith, Gordon McKay Professor of Computer
and Applied Sciences
Pierce Hall Science and Electrical Engineering and Dean of FAS.
29 Oxford Street 9 President Drew Faust and Dean Venky debut SEAS fashion.
Cambridge, MA 02138

Managing Editor/Writer
Michael Patrick Rutter
Designer, Producer, Photographer
Eliza Grinnell
Copy Editor
Darlene Bordwell, Ambient Light
Proofreader
James Clyde Sellman, PhD ’93
This publication, including past issues,
is available on the Web at
www.seas.harvard.edu
8 9
Copyright © 2007 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College

20 I SEAS – Fall/Winter 2007