The decision to move SEAS to Allston has some faculty and students worried that physical distance will hinder the school's mission of integrating engineering and applied sciences with the liberal arts.

In the spring of 2008, 15 undergraduates presented their final project for Engineering Sciences 96: “Engineering Problem Solving and Design Project” on “Bridging the Gap: Connecting Harvard’s Allston and Cambridge Communities.” The topic was particularly relevant at the time, with planning for the Allston Science Complex well under way, but it would lose valence just a few months later, when the financial crisis pummeled Harvard’s endowment and halted all construction indefinitely.

Now the report is newly salient: this February, University President Drew G. Faust announced that the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences will almost entirely relocate to Allston as development across the river resumes. The move, whose announcement was called the “Allston bomb” by one faculty member because of its abrupt timing, has nonetheless been heralded as an opportunity for much-needed expansion as SEAS continues to see its concentration numbers—and the external demand for engineers—balloon.

Still, the move will physically distance the engineering school from the undergraduate heart of Harvard’s Cambridge campus. And though facilities in Allston will not be ready until at least 2017-18, faculty members and students alike have already begun expressing concern regarding SEAS’ ability to remain integrated in a liberal arts education from its future home across the river.

SEAS AT HIGH TIDE

With a recent upswing in professional positions that prize engineering skills, the growth of SEAS has been catalyzed by a global interest in engineering and the applied sciences. Data collected by the National Science Foundation in 2010, for example, suggests that individuals with advanced degrees in engineering have higher employment rates.

“In recent years, there has been a greater emphasis on STEM [science, technology, engineering and math] subjects in the K-12 system, and more high-achieving college-bound students see engineering and applied sciences as viable and desirable career paths,” wrote SEAS Dean Cherry A. Murray in an email to The Crimson.

For many Harvard undergraduates, interest in engineering has pivoted around the field of computer science, which students see as a stepping stone to both startup work and conventional programming careers.

Having nearly doubled in size over the last two years, computer science is Harvard’s fastest-growing concentration. Its reach has stretched beyond the traditional engineer in large part because of Computer Science 50: “Introduction to Computer Science,” which has expanded under lecturer David J. Malan ’99 to enroll more undergraduates than any class except Economics 10: “Principles of Economics.”

“I think there’s a new entrepreneurial spirit amongst the students,” said J. Gregory Morrisett, a computer science professor. “They’ve seen the success of things like Facebook and realize they could do it too.”

In addition, professors said that an increasing demand for technological gadgets and medical devices may necessitate a generation of Americans capable of domestic engineering production. Engineering Sciences 50: “Introduction to Electrical Engineering,” the electric and mechanical engineering equivalent of CS50, has grown from 19 to 164 students in just five years, and the overall number of concentrators in SEAS has increased from 291 to 678 since the school was founded in 2007.

“We’re trying to show students and get them excited not just about writing programs, but also playing with the hardware, building things, electrical devices,” said electrical engineering professor Marko Loncar.

Professional opportunities have not only increased the appeal of SEAS but also generated new possibilities for entrepreneurship through collaboration with the Graduate School of Design and Harvard Business School.

“We’re trying to design even more classes along these boundaries and make additional bridges with disciplines not traditionally connected to engineering,” explained Loncar.

INTERNAL INNOVATION

As the global desire for engineering skills and tools has bolstered interest in the field, SEAS has promoted its own growth through internal efforts such as the restructuring of introductory classes, the implementation of innovative teaching methods, and an emphasis on hands-on design.