Featured series 
Tag: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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Science & Tech
Researchers control the assembly of nanobristles into helical clusters
From the structure of DNA to nautical rope to distant spiral galaxies, helical forms are as useful as they are abundant in nature and manufacturing alike. Researchers at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study have discovered a way to…
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Science & Tech
Researchers see exotic force for first time
For the first time, researchers have measured a long-theorized force that operates at distances so tiny they’re measured in billionths of a meter, which may have important applications in nanotechnology as scientists and engineers seek new ways to create devices far too small for the eye to see. The advance, by researchers by Harvard and…
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Science & Tech
New visualization techniques yield star formation insights
New computer visualization technology developed by the Harvard Initiative in Innovative Computing has helped astrophysicists understand that gravity plays a larger role than previously thought in deep space’s vast, star-forming molecular clouds. The insight, to be reported in the Jan. 1 issue of the journal Nature, is being illustrated in the journal’s online version through…
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Science & Tech
Thinking globally and mapping locally
Akiyuki Kawasaki thinks globally and maps locally. To do that, the Japanese researcher, who is spending the academic year as a visiting scholar at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has developed software that allows researchers to predict how changes in population, land use, climate, urbanization, agriculture and other variables will affect water flow…
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Science & Tech
David Clarke appointed as professor of materials in School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
David R. Clarke, an inventive materials scientist recognized worldwide for his out-standing contributions to the study of ceramic materials, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Materials in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sci-ences (SEAS), effective Jan. 1, 2009. Clarke, 61, is currently professor of materials and mechanical engineering at the University of…
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Science & Tech
Evelyn Hu named professor of applied physics, electrical engineering in SEAS
Evelyn L. Hu, a pioneer in the fabrication of nanoscale electronic and photonic devices, has been named Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering in Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), effective Jan. 1, 2009. Hu, 61, is currently professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Uni-versity of California,…
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Science & Tech
Hansjorg Wyss gives $125 million to create institute for biologically inspired engineering
Engineer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss MBA ’65 has given Harvard University $125 million to create the Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. Investigators at the Wyss Institute (pronounced “Vees”) will strive to uncover the engineering principles that govern living things, and use this knowledge to develop technology solutions for the most pressing healthcare…
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Science & Tech
NHGRI/NIH awards team $6.5M to advance DNA sequencing using Nanopores
The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded a $6.5 (over 4 years) grant to a team of Harvard University researchers to further develop electronic sequencing in nanopores. The grant is part of more than $20 million in total funding given by NHGRI/NIH to spur innovative sequencing…
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Science & Tech
Five faculty members named young innovators by Technology Review
Work on flying robots, surgical tape modeled on gecko feet, energy tips gleaned from plants, new ways to grow stem cells, and dramatically smaller medical imaging equipment has landed five Harvard faculty members on a list of the world’s top 35 young innovators. The annual list is compiled by Technology Review magazine and features what…
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Campus & Community
Frans Spaepen named interim dean of Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Materials scientist Frans Spaepen will serve as interim dean of Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) effective Sept. 15, Michael D. Smith, dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, announced today (Aug. 15).
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Science & Tech
Scientists demonstrate highly directional semiconductor lasers
Applied scientists at Harvard collaborating with researchers at Hamamatsu Photonics in Hamamatsu City, Japan, have demonstrated, for the first time, highly directional semiconductor lasers with a much smaller beam divergence than conventional ones. The innovation opens the door to a wide range of applications in photonics and communications. Harvard University has also filed a broad…
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Health
GlaxoSmithKline and Harvard Stem Cell Institute announce major collaboration agreement
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) today announced that they have entered into a five-year, $25 million-plus collaborative agreement to build a unique alliance in stem cell science to hasten the development of treatments and cures for a range of diseases. GSK’s investment, one of the largest by a pharmaceutical company in…
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Science & Tech
Creating semiconductor lasers
Lasers are often considered to be highly directional light sources: their beams are able to propagate over long distances without substantial spreading. This, however, is not always the case. Semiconductor lasers, the most commonly used among all lasers, suffer from a large beam divergence. Such divergence is governed by the principle of diffraction, which predicts…
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Science & Tech
David Parkes named professor of computer science
David C. Parkes, a leader in research at the nexus of computer science and economics, has been appointed Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences(SEAS). Parkes, 35, was previously John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Natural Sciences and associate professor of computer science at Harvard, where…
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Science & Tech
Researchers develop new technique for fabricating nanowire circuits
Scientists at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), collaborating collaborating with researchers from the German universities of Jena, Gottingen, and Bremen, have developed a new technique for fabricating nanowire photonic and electronic integrated circuits that may one day be suitable for high-volume commercial production. Spearheaded by graduate student Mariano Zimmler and Federico Capasso,…
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Health
Video game technology may help surgeons operate on beating hearts
Surgery has been done inside some adults’ hearts while the heart is still beating, avoiding the need to open the chest, stop the heart and put patients on cardiopulmonary bypass. But to perform intricate beating-heart operations in babies with congenital heart disease or do beating-heart complex repairs in adults, surgeons need fast, highly sophisticated real-time…
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Health
NIH awards Harvard Medical School $117.5 million, five-year grant for patient-centered research
The National Institutes of Health today announced that Harvard Medical School (HMS) will receive $117.5 million over the next five years for the establishment of a Clinical and Translational Science Center (CTSC) that will transform patient-oriented, laboratory-to-bedside research at HMS and its affiliated hospitals. Harvard University, HMS, and a number of the affiliated hospitals are…
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Science & Tech
“…An important experiment for Harvard.”
When the Harvard University Science and Engineering Committee (HUSEC) gathered for its first meeting late last April, it was charged by not one, but two Harvard Presidents. Then President-designate and now President Drew Faust told the 18 members of the new committee that theirs is both a unique and “historic” body, created to forge meaningful…
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Science & Tech
Dean of Engineering and Applied Sciences to step down
Venkatesh Narayanamurti, dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), who for 10 years has directed the renewal and expansion of the former division and its transition to a School, has announced today (Feb. 15) his intention to step down from his position in September 2008. “Venky’s leadership has had a genuinely…
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Science & Tech
Compact, wavelength-on-demand Quantum Cascade Laser chip created
Engineers at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have demonstrated a highly versatile, compact and portable Quantum Cascade Laser sensor for the fast detection of a large number of chemicals, ranging from infinitesimal traces of gases to liquids, by broad tuning of the emission wavelength. The potential range of applications is huge, including homeland…
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Science & Tech
Turning on cells with magnetic switches
Harvard scientists have figured out how to turn cells on and off using magnets, an advance with potentially broad applications as researchers around the world work to find new ways to manipulate cells and correct cellular functions that diseases send awry. Donald Ingber, the Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and…
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Science & Tech
Engineered weathering process might mitigate climate change
Researchers at Harvard University and Penn State University have invented a technology, inspired by nature, to reduce the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) caused by human emissions. By electrochemically removing hydrochloric acid from the ocean and then neutralizing the acid by reaction with silicate (volcanic) rocks, the researchers say they can accelerate natural chemical…
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Science & Tech
Harvard, Japanese science organization sign memorandum of understanding
Officials of Harvard and RIKEN, Japan’s equivalent of the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Lanoratories have October 29 signed a Memorandum of Understanding to encourage and facilitate collaborations between Harvard and RIKEN researchers. Michael D. Smith, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Venkstesh Narayanamurti, Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences,…
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Science & Tech
Nanowire generates its own electricity
Harvard chemists have built a new wire out of photosensitive materials that is hundreds of times smaller than a human hair. The wire not only carries electricity to be used in vanishingly small circuits, but generates power as well. Charles M. Lieber, the Mark Hyman Jr. Professor of Chemistry, and colleagues created the nanowire out…
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Campus & Community
Jarred Brown: Engineer, cheerleader, goatskinner
Harvard sports will lose a big fan when Jarred Brown graduates today. And the goat roasters at Dunster House will have to find another goat skinner.
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Campus & Community
Dust from Asia invades North America
On the dustiest days in the western United States, 40 percent of the grime blows in from Asia. And fine particles can travel all the way around the world from Africa’s Sahara Desert. These unwanted visitors show up in a new model of dust imports developed by researchers from Harvard and the National Aeronautics and…
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Science & Tech
Negative vibes from space
Astronomers have discovered the first negatively charged molecule in space, identifying it from radio signals that were a mystery until now. While about 130 neutral and 14 positively charged molecules are known to exist in interstellar space, this is the first negative molecule, or anion, to be found. “We’ve spotted a rare and exotic species,…
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Campus & Community
Laser advance could open up new markets
Applied scientists from Harvard University have, for the first time, demonstrated high-power continuous wave (cw) room-temperature quantum cascade (QC) lasers made by a well-established mass production semiconductor synthesis technique. The breakthrough could soon lead to the large-scale commercialization of QC lasers and open up new markets for laser-based chemical sensors. The new generation of QC…