Science Report Calls for Broad Reforms

An interim report released last Friday by the University Planning Committee for Science and Engineering (UPCSE) introduced a set of recommendations that include placing “hands-on learning” at the core of undergraduate science courses and tearing down obstacles to cross-departmental research opportunities.

The UPSCE was formed in January with the charge of figuring out how Harvard can increase the effectiveness of its scholars, particularly in a time when the sciences are becoming increasingly interdisciplinary.

To facilitate the interaction across disciplines, the 97-page report emphasized that Allston must become a science and engineering center dedicated to research and education.

To centralize and streamline these efforts, the report also called for the establishment of a 12-person committee to oversee and partially fund interdisciplinary science research at Harvard.

The report recommended that the new 12-person Harvard University Science and Engineering Committee (HUSEC) hire and manage 75 interdisciplinary full-time employees (FTE) over 10 years; control research space on Harvard’s campuses; and fund interdisciplinary research proposals, ensuring the participation of appropriate individuals and departments.

HUSEC would also serve as a liaison between Harvard’s schools—including those not directly associated with the sciences—and hospitals.

“Harvard has traditionally been this decentralized power structure,” Professor of Astronomy and Physics Christopher W. Stubbs, who co-chaired UPCSE, said this week in an interview. He added that while collaborations across departments and schools happen, “we can take steps as a university to make it an easier thing to do and a more natural thing to happen.”

Former Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby and the deans of the School of Public Health and the Medical School appointed the 24 members of UPCSE, which was co-chaired by Stubbs, Smith Professor of Molecular Genetics Andrew Murray, and Kuhn Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology Christopher Walsh. The three professors are a physicist, biologist, and biochemist, respectively.

The committee’s final report is expected in December, according to a statement from interim University President Derek C. Bok.

The report also recommended that Harvard’s planned Allston campus contain “a critical mass of collaborative science,” which would include the School of Public Health, the Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and other biology and computing departments.

Explaining the report’s emphasis on undergraduate and graduate education, Stubbs said that current laboratory sessions in Harvard science courses “are, in many cases, fairly cookbook procedures where people go through a well-specified set of steps.”

Stubbs added that a “learning by doing” approach to laboratory instruction would improve the Harvard science experience.

“There have been some studies that people come away with a deeper understanding of the subject matter and what it means to be a scientist if they undertake gently-guided hand-drawn investigations using tools unique to that sub-discipline of science.”

Stubbs held up the Astronomy department’s sophomore tutorial as an example of hands-on learning, where students learn the process behind acquiring and analyzing astronomical data sets in the tutorial, whereas before the tutorial program only included chalkboard lectures from astronomy professors about their own research.

“We go through everyday tools and techniques that astronomers use,” Stubbs said. “That’s meant to try to set [students] up so that they can become involved in the research that’s taking place in the department.”

—Staff writer Katherine M. Gray can be reached at kmgray@fas.harvard.edu.