Harvard University's computer science faculty is about to increase by 50 percent. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, a graduate of the Ivy League institute, has put an undisclosed amount of funding behind an expansion of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
The future of computer science will be discussed in full Thursday at noon. Ballmer will be joined by Harvard President Drew Faust and Cherry Murray, dean of SEAS, at the Harvard Innovation Lab to formally share the news, which will be broadcast live here."CS at Harvard today is small, but excellent," said Ballmer in a statement. "It already punches above its weight."
Researchers from Harvard SEAS have 3D-printed batteries the size of sand, helped robotic insects take flight, created the first self-organizing thousand-robot flash mob and partnered with New Balance to build a "wearable robot." Breakthroughs in learning theory, data management systems, algorithmic economics and artificial intelligence have all spun from SEAS — the newest of Harvard's 12 degree-granting schools, having shifted in 2007 from a division to a separate school within the University.
Undergraduate enrollment in SEAS has increased three-fold. This semester, David Malan's introductory computer science course, CS50, attracted a record-breaking 818 undergraduates alone, according to the Harvard Crimson, serving as "the largest class offered at the College in the last five years." CS50 has become so popular, even rival Ivy League institutes are adopting it.
Harvard SEAS will be expanding into new state-of-the-art facilities on the University's Allston campus in the upcoming future. Although when that move happens, one factor will remain the same: the School won't have departments, but rather the interdisciplinary teaching areas and research interests that power the program now.
Added Ballmer:
CS is the operating system for innovation at Harvard. I think Harvard has a unique opportunity. Whether it's biology, history, public policy or medicine, the ability to help people get more done through CS is an area where Harvard has the resources and the perspective across these disciplines to be a leader.
Ballmer received his bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1977. He later joined classmate, and Harvard dropout, Bill Gates at Microsoft in the company's infancy, coming on as the 30th employee. Ballmer served as CEO from 2000 to 2014, and is now owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, which he purchased in August for $2 billion — the highest price ever paid for an NBA team.
(If he'll pay $2 billion for the Clippers, imagine how much money he is pouring in to SEAS. The Harvard Crimson claims roughly $60 million, and Ballmer said the student newspaper's arithmetic was "pretty good.")
Shared President Faust in a statement:
The growth in computer science at Harvard will enable our faculty to design their own future. We're so grateful for Steve's game-changing support and welcome this opportunity for the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences to take full advantage of the entire University's distributed strengths.
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