Interdisciplinary Consortium To Study Energy and Environment

When Michael J. Aziz taught an undergraduate course on thermodynamics, what began as a curious venture into the looming energy crisis turned into an urgent call to action.

“I decided that I’d better become interested in this area and see where I could help,” said Aziz, a professor of materials science.

In January, he will bring this passion to the classroom as part of the Harvard Graduate Consortium on Energy And Environment, a new program that will pool the intellectual resources of doctoral students across the University to help solve two global crises.

“Climate change and energy security—these are two of the greatest issues confronting the world,” said Daniel P. Schrag, professor of earth and planetary sciences and the program’s mastermind. “Harvard has a responsibility to train future leaders that are going to help solve this problem.”

The consortium—the first of an array to come under the new Harvard Interdisciplinary Consortia—is open to Ph.D. or Sc.D. Harvard students who have completed at least one year in their home departments or schools.

The program is not designed to “distract” students from their research or supplant requirements within their programs, according to Schrag. Rather, the consortium will provide “a little bit of breadth and exposure” to energy and environment issues, he said.

“We’re going to try to get these students together so that they’re not isolated in labs,” said Allan M. Brandt, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. “Students are eager to put things together beyond single perspectives.”

The consortium—which will offer courses in energy consequences, policy, and technology next year—takes an interdisciplinary approach, reflecting the wide range of expertise, including economic and public policy, required to solve the energy and environmental crises, according to Schrag.

“The energy and environmental challenges we are likely to face in the future have very important aspects that are grounded in the physical sciences but are constrained by what policy is feasible and what technology is available,” said Erich J. Muehlegger, a professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School who will co-teach the course on energy policy.

“The important areas of knowledge are just so disparate right now,” Aziz said.

With this in mind, the consortium will facilitate communication between students from different fields, according to Muhelegger.

He hopes the program will focus on how economics and political science can provide frameworks for addressing problems that arise in the making of energy or environmental policy.

The consortium—an “experiment” at the moment—will serve as a template for fields such as microbial sciences and global health, according to Schrag.

The level of student interest has been a driving force behind the program’s implementation, he said.

“When we created this, I was sort of hoping we would have 20 or 30 the first year,” Schrag said. “Now I’m a little worried about having too many people in the program.”

—Staff Writer Esther I. Yi can be reached at estheryi@fas.harvard.edu.