Initiative in Innovative Computing (IIC) Harvard University

In a message to the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) community, Interim Dean Frans Spaepen described the IIC’s new status as of July 1, 2009. The text of the message follows.

Dear SEAS Community Members,

I am writing to let you know about the planned administrative transition of the Initiative in Innovative Computing (IIC) from its current status as an interfaculty initiative overseen by the Provost’s Office to a new effort managed by SEAS. We expect the transition will help to foster many existing activities begun at IIC and will fuel other new and exciting opportunities in computational science.

The IIC, proposed in 2004 as an experimental, interdisciplinary center at Harvard, was created to use innovative computing tools to accelerate discovery across all of the scientific disciplines.

Under the leadership of its current director, Tim Kaxiras, Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, the IIC has been preparing for this change since early 2009. An ad hoc SEAS committee, chaired by Greg Morrisett, Associate Dean for Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, has been formed to help direct the continuing transition by linking particular projects to existing academic areas within SEAS and by creating a strategic plan for developing and supporting computational science.

Like all interfaculty initiatives, the IIC was an experiment, and thus, was always intended to evolve. The IIC had a number of successes and I am pleased to say that many of those will continue at SEAS.

The transition is occurring primarily for two reasons: academic fit and the current financial environment.

First and most important, SEAS has long identified scientific computing, research computing, and applied computer science as key areas for development (all roughly falling under the heading of computational science). That is, many of the existing IIC projects will integrate with ongoing and emerging efforts at SEAS, and select others will be managed by other departments and Schools. Further, the transition is an opportunity to leverage existing SEAS-based efforts like the CI Labs and the Center for Research on Computation and Society (CRCS) and, as mentioned, to develop a long-term strategy to support computational science.

And, second, while the IIC was successful in raising money, it was still dependent on University funds (covering 65% of its costs in its third year). The IIC would likely have required several years as an interfaculty initiative to become self-sufficient. In light of the University’s challenging financial circumstances, and the opportunity to transition to a new model based in SEAS, this was not seen as a viable course.

Broadly speaking, the integration of the IIC is an opportunity for SEAS to build and grow even during these challenging economic times.

During the upcoming academic year, SEAS will integrate aspects of what now constitutes the IIC into its administrative structure. During this transition year, activities will be funded from a mix of sponsored sources and funding from the Provost and the Harvard University Science and Engineering Committee (HUSEC), which was established to fund strategic interdisciplinary science.

In subsequent years, we expect that all activities will be funded by sponsored sources. Toward this end, we will continue to seek grants to support existing and new research proposals for computational projects in which SEAS faculty will collaborate with other faculty on campus.

Moreover, some of the transitioning the IIC research projects already engage SEAS students in project-based learning and are expected to provide a number of internship, course-project, and research opportunities.

Ultimately, the goal of the administrative transition is to preserve and nurture the spirit of innovation and creative endeavor already established through the IIC. While the initiative may no longer exist in name, much of the excellent work will continue to evolve here at SEAS.

More information will follow once the committee finishes its planning.

With best regards,

Frans