$2M to Benefit New Program

Harvard's University-wide interdisciplinary program on the environment and the newly formed undergraduate concentration in environmental science and public policy have both received a boost in the form of a $2 million unrestricted grant by the V. Kann Rasmussen Foundation.

The grant is expected to net more course offerings and faculty resources for the environment concentration, which was approved by the Faculty of Arts and Sciences last December.

The Dutch foundation visited Harvard last year to discuss the goals for the interdisciplinary program of research and teaching on the environment with the University Committee on the Environment, and invited the committee to apply for foundation funding.

Rotch Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Michael B. McElroy, who chairs the University Committee on the Environment, said much of the credit for winning the funding goes to President Neil L. Rudenstine and Provost Jerry R. Green.

"The success of this grant owes a great deal to the efforts of the provost and the president... They spent a great deal of time working on it," he said.

The grant money will be focused on the ongoing development and coordination of the interdisciplinary program.

"Our path-breaking interfaculty project in the environment relies on the strengths of different parts of the University," Green was quoted as saying in the Harvard University Gazette. "We want to build on those strengths."

With the grant money, McElroy said, the undergraduate program will be able to involve faculty members from different schools such as the Business School and Law School in offering courses and tutorials.

The grant will also allow the program to enrich the curriculum with new courses critical to the undergraduate concentration, McElroy said. New courses could appear as early as next fall, he said.

"The grant will allow us to make the concentration much better," McElroy said.

McElroy said the grant money will also give the Committee on the Environment venture capital to invest in creative interdisciplinary research projects which otherwise would not be possible.

"For example, we now have a project linking researchers interested in the economic development of China and India and the environmental effects of that development...[This research] can provide real advice for world governments," he said.

"Harvard in selected areas is already a global leader," said McElroy. "[Because of the grant] we'll be able to do things that cannot be done anywhere else in the world."

Students planning to concentrate in the new department said they are excited about the grant.

"Right now it seems like there's a lack of humanities-related courses," said Ramsay M. Rayenel '96.

"Since it's more of an interdisciplinary field, the grant will allow [the department] to pay faculty members to teach courses outside their own departments."

Joshua L. Tosteson '94, a special concentrator in environmental science, said "[The grant is] certainly wonderful, it will give a chance for the committee to implement some of the plans they've been cooking up."

"The [environmental] movement in general is coming together," said Tosteson.

"Passing the concentration and getting the grant have put environmental science on the map at Harvard," he said

McElroy said the grant money will also give the Committee on the Environment venture capital to invest in creative interdisciplinary research projects which otherwise would not be possible.

"For example, we now have a project linking researchers interested in the economic development of China and India and the environmental effects of that development...[This research] can provide real advice for world governments," he said.

"Harvard in selected areas is already a global leader," said McElroy. "[Because of the grant] we'll be able to do things that cannot be done anywhere else in the world."

Students planning to concentrate in the new department said they are excited about the grant.

"Right now it seems like there's a lack of humanities-related courses," said Ramsay M. Rayenel '96.

"Since it's more of an interdisciplinary field, the grant will allow [the department] to pay faculty members to teach courses outside their own departments."

Joshua L. Tosteson '94, a special concentrator in environmental science, said "[The grant is] certainly wonderful, it will give a chance for the committee to implement some of the plans they've been cooking up."

"The [environmental] movement in general is coming together," said Tosteson.

"Passing the concentration and getting the grant have put environmental science on the map at Harvard," he said