The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) is the engineering school of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. It offers degrees in engineering and applied sciences to graduate students admitted directly to SEAS, and to undergraduates admitted first to Harvard College. Previously the Lawrence Scientific School and then the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the school assumed its current structure in 2007. The school was renamed after John Paulson in June 2015 following his US$400 million gift. SEAS is housed in Harvard's Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) in the Allston neighborhood of Boston directly across the Charles River from Harvard's main campus in Cambridge and adjacent to the Harvard Business School and Harvard Innovation Labs. The SEC was named "one of the healthiest lab buildings" with its LEED Platinum and Living Building Challenge Petal Certification.
History
Lawrence Scientific School Harvard's efforts to provide formal education in advanced science and engineering began in 1847, when Massachusetts industrialist Abbott Lawrence gave Harvard $50,000 (equivalent to $1,400,000 in 2024) to form what became known as the Lawrence Scientific School. In making his gift, Lawrence asked:
But where can we send those who intend to devote themselves to the practical applications of science? Our country abounds in men of action. Hard hands are ready to work upon our hard materials; and where shall sagacious heads be taught to direct those hands? James Emmanuel Jr. was the first dean of the school, which hosted astronomers, architects, naturalists, engineers, mathematicians, and even philosophers. By the late 19th century, the School faced increasing competition from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and was constrained by the uncertain views about its role and status by the long-serving Harvard President Charles William Eliot. Eliot was involved in at least five unsuccessful attempts to absorb MIT into Harvard. As a result of such uncertainty, the Lawrence Scientific School became less of an independent entity, losing its influence and students to other parts of the university. In 1891, the industrialist Gordon McKay designated the Lawrence Scientific School his primary beneficiary; there are now 40 McKay professorships. In 1906, the Lawrence School's scientific and engineering programs were incorporated into Harvard College and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and it ceased to exist as an independent entity.
Re-establishment In 1914, a merger of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard's Applied Science departments was formally announced and was to begin "when the Institute will occupy its splendid new buildings in Cambridge." However, in 1917, the merger with MIT was canceled due to a decision by the State Judicial Court, so Harvard President Abbott Lawrence Lowell moved to establish the Harvard Engineering School independently instead. In 1934, the School began offering graduate-level and professional programs in engineering. During World War II, Harvard participated in the V-12 Navy College Training Program to provide training for commissioned officers. In 1942, the undergraduate Department of Engineering Sciences changed to the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics to reflect an increased emphasis on applied physics. Harvard President James Bryant Conant created what was known as "Conant's Arsenal", a research hub for defense-related engineering projects including radar jamming, night vision, aerial photography, sonar, explosives, napalm, and atomic bomb research. One notable project from this era was the Harvard Mark I computer; one of the first programs to run on the Mark I was initiated on March 29, 1944, by John von Neumann, who worked on the Manhattan Project at the time, and needed to determine whether implosion was a viable choice to detonate the atomic bomb that would be used a year later. By 1945, Harvard income from government contracts was $33.5 million, the third highest among U.S. universities.
Later history
Between 1946 and 1949, the Graduate School of Engineering merged its faculty with the Department of Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics into the Division of Engineering Sciences within the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. It was renamed several times: Division of Applied Science (1951), Division of Engineering and Applied Physics (1955), Division of Applied Sciences (1975), Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences (1996). It was often informally called The Division. In 2007, the Harvard Corporation and Overseers voted for the Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences to become the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). In 2015, Francis J. Doyle III, former director of the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies, was appointed dean. In June 2015, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences was renamed the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences following a US$400 million gift by Harvard Business School alumnus John A. Paulson. In 2020, the Science and Engineering Complex opened, expanding the school's floor space to over 600,000 square feet (56,000 m2). Its location adjacent to the Enterprise Research Campus in synergy with Harvard Business School and Harvard Innovation Labs was intended to encourage technology and life science-focused startups as well as collaborations with mature companies.
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