Thanks to an effort that began more than a decade ago, bioengineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) has finally taken root. In fact, with new faculty members, a cross-cutting University institute in biologically inspired engineering, the launch of an undergraduate concentration (and a graduate degree program in the wings), bioengineering…

With little more than a conventional photocopier and transparency film, anyone can build a functional microfluidic chip. A local Cambridge high school physics teacher perfected the process; now, thanks to a new undergraduate teaching lab at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), students will be able explore microfluidics and its applications. The Microfluidics…

January’s Green Tip of the Month from the Office for Sustainability urges the Harvard community to kick off the new year with a sustainable resolution! Why? Because Harvard has one of the most ambitious climate change goals in the Ivy League–30% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2016. Not sure where to start? Join thousands…

HSPH’s Michael VanRooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, spoke to the Harvard Gazette about HHI’s response over the past year to the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which included a joint effort with Brigham and Women’s Hospital to manage a temporary field hospital on the border of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The…

Barry R. Bloom, Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and Joan L. and Julius H. Jacobson Professor of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), is among 15 Harvard faculty members named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for 2011. Bloom, who served as dean of the HSPH…

January is National Mentoring Month, an annual media campaign calling on Americans to mentor the estimated 15 million young people who are in need of mentors. A FoxNews.com story describes the campaign, which is spearheaded by the Harvard Mentoring Project at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH), MENTOR, and the Corporation for National and…

Monica Duffy Toft, associate professor of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, has been named a project scholar in a new interdisciplinary project at Georgetown University to study religious freedom. The Religious Freedom Project, launched in Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, is funded by a $2 million grant from the John…

The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, located at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, is pleased to announce its spring fellows. “We start the spring semester with, as usual, a very strong group of fellows, ranging from experienced journalists — foreign and domestic — to a distinguished journalism educator,” said…

Biomedical engineer Amy Kerdok, Ph.D. ’06, knows firsthand how much a technological solution can affect a person’s life. During her time on campus, Kerdok served as both “poobah” and women’s captain of the Harvard University Cycling Association. A well-rounded athlete, she led the team to success, but due to a congenital hiatial hernia, she suffered…

Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) Dean Michael D. Smith and Harvard College Dean Evelynn Hammonds today (Jan. 14, 2011) announced that Old Quincy House will be used as a test project to explore design and construction options for a future system-wide House renewal project. “The Houses are the cornerstone of the Harvard undergraduate experience,”…

The Topics in Bioengineering (TIB) seminar series, sponsored by the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), will kick off on Jan. 18. The talks are open to anyone interested in bioengineering research, including undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and faculty. TIB lectures will be held on Tuesdays from noon to 1 p.m.; lunch…

With its picturesque island beaches, festive and colorful luaus, and a summery climate year round, many view Hawaii as the ultimate tropical paradise. “There is no question that Hawaii is a beautiful place,” said Jim Secreto, M.P.P. ’11. “But the experience that tourists have while visiting Hawaii masks the very real, day-to-day struggles of the…

Among the many issues raised by the Tucson, Arizona shootings that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition, six people dead and more than a dozen injured on Jan. 8, 2011 are questions about the nature and culture of gun violence in the United States. Two researchers from HSPH’s Harvard Injury Control Research Center, director David Hemenway…

Russian boys exposed to unusually high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are smaller than their peers, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health researchers published in the January 2011 issue of Pediatrics. Boys with the highest levels of PCBs in their blood were more than an inch shorter, and averaged two points…

Atul Gawande, associate professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at HSPH, spoke with Tom Ashbrook of NPR’s “On Point” about health care and health reform on Jan. 4, 2011. Republicans in the House of Representatives are bringing forward a vote to repeal the reform law, which was passed last March, but Gawande…

Daniel Wikler, Mary B. Saltonstall Professor of Population Ethics and professor of ethics and population health, was interviewed Dec. 17, 2010, on Public Radio International’s “The World,” about health care rationing. The interview was part of a week-long series, “Rationing Health,” which looked at the issue in the United States, South Africa, United Kingdom, Zambia…

By rethinking what happens on the surface of things, engineers at Harvard University have discovered that Bacillus subtilis biofilm colonies exhibit an unmatched ability to repel a wide range of liquids—and even vapors. Centimeters across yet only hundreds of microns thick, such slimy bacterial coatings cling to the surfaces of everything from pipes to teeth…

As announced in December, the Harvard Corporation will expand from seven to thirteen members, as part of a broader set of changes involving the Corporation’s composition and work. All members of the extended Harvard community are invited to send advice on the search and nominate individuals who would be strong candidates for the Corporation. Email advice…

Two members of the SEAS faculty recently received the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The honor is considered one of the most prestigious for up-and-coming researchers in science and engineering. Stephen Chong, assistant professor of computer science Chong will use the $86,000 grant to develop new methods of…

Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology, gives a presentation about the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, discussing the challenges faced by public health professionals and the lessons learned to more effectively handle a similar outbreak in the future. (49:13)

Lawrence H. Summers, who until recently served as assistant to the president for economic policy and director of the White House National Economic Council (NEC), returns to Harvard University this month. Summers, the Charles W. Eliot University Professor at Harvard University, will be based at Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), where he taught prior to taking…

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Council on Economic Education (MCEE), the International Economic Summit Institute (IES), and Harvard University, along with funding support from the Challenger Foundation, conducted the second ever New England high school trade simulation at Harvard’s Murr Center on Dec. 20. During the daylong simulation, 72 teams of…

A team of researchers led by a Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) postdoctoral research fellow and a Massachusetts General Hospital physician report for the first time that using antidepressant medication to treat depression among HIV-positive individuals not only alleviates suffering from depression but improves adherence to HIV antiretroviral medication and virologic outcomes. The study…

Undergraduates in Engineering Sciences 51: “Computer-Aided Machine Design” had spent a semester learning to design gadgets in SolidWorks, building candy-flinging catapults, and mastering the use of the soldering iron. Then came the jaw-dropping final assignment: “Transform a cordless power screwdriver into a functional all-terrain vehicle.” The students were given a small kit of extra materials,…

Adam Bernstein, research fellow in the Department of Nutrition, discusses sodium intake in the U.S. adult population.

Before you take off for holiday break, remember that a few simple energy saving actions can make a big difference in helping Harvard University meet its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2016.  In this month’s Green Tip, the Office for Sustainability (OFS) challenges us all to take part in the “Turn Off…

“Refecting upon my first year as dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), I can’t deny that it’s been a year of surprises. Good ones—and often incredibly great ones,” writes Cherry A. Murray. Cooking up a course … A general education course on science and cooking, first thought up in 2008,…

More than 66 million people live in regions of the United States that have a shortage of primary care physicians. Learn what Harvard Medical School is doing to help by  reading about the new Harvard Center for Primary Care. Also, share your thoughts on this and other topics in the Harvard Medical School idea lab.

The Dudley House Jazz Band and Harvard University’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) are proud to present Mary Lou Williams’s classic, rarely heard Zodiac Suite on Friday, Dec. 17, at 8 p.m. in Harvard’s Paine Hall. The concert will mark the first large ensemble performance of the work in 65 years. The event…

Tune in hear what leading journalists and other watchdogs have to say during the Nieman Foundation’s conference “From Watergate to WikiLeaks: Journalism and Secrecy in the New Media Age” on Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010. Although the event is now full, live streaming of the sessions will begin at 9 a.m. You may also follow the…