Funding Dispute Stymies Initiative

Four years ago, Harvard laid out an ambitious plan for a program to foster research at the intersection of computing and other scientific disciplines, then prepared for the initiative’s “rapid startup.”

“This plan is aggressive,” the faculty who organized the initiative wrote in a 2004 proposed framework. “But we believe it is highly achievable, based on the level of commitment, mutual agreement, and preparatory work already in place; and the great enthusiasm for this project across the Harvard Community.”

Since its founding, the Initiative in Innovative Computing (IIC) has delved into subjects such as astronomical medicine, quantum chemistry, and hemodynamics.

But today, after administrative changes in Mass Hall, the funding that would have sustained the IIC’s early growth rate has fallen short.

The financial disconnect has brought to light fundamental disagreements about how the initiative’s growth should proceed. While some of the initiative’s members say the University has reneged on its promise to maintain the project’s momentum, central administrators say the imbalance stems from overzealous expansion that lacked budgetary caution.

“In their enthusiasm, given how exciting the possibilities are, they outstripped,” said Provost Steven E. Hyman. “If I were to speak biologically, they outgrew their blood supply, and that’s always painful.”

Under the tenure of former University President Lawrence H. Summers, the IIC was promised dedicated fundraising.

Planners conceived of having a facility in Allston by 2011 with an 80 to 100-person staff of faculty and researchers, all “directly funded by Harvard University,” according to the 2004 planning document.

But as control of fundraising and funding shifted to the Harvard University Science and Engineering Committee (HUSEC)—created in January 2007 to coordinate University-wide science ventures—the flow of money to the initiative slowed, according to Alyssa A. Goodman, the IIC’s outgoing director.

“That is causing plenty of frustration for me and other people,” said Goodman, who is also an astronomy professor. “There are a lot of things that HUSEC is being asked to pay for. There is supposed to be very significant fundraising for these initiatives.”

Goodman said the University development office has not had the manpower to raise the money promised for ongoing projects, and HUSEC has not made up the difference from its own funds.

Hyman, who chairs HUSEC, said he supports the Initiative’s goals and has been actively fundraising for it, but that “there’s just a finite amount of money.”

The projects the Initiative began in its early years are now being reviewed by HUSEC to determine which of them will continue long-term, according to Rosalind Reid, the IIC’s acting executive director.

Pavlos Protopapas, a senior scientist at the IIC, said the slow-down in funding has hampered his projects, forcing him to rely on outside support. He added that the Initiative’s non-faculty members, like him, had been encouraged to pair up with faculty to get funding.

“When I started here, it was clearly stated to us, to me at least, that funding was not based on whether you were faculty—researchers can do their jobs,” he said. “Now, unless you are faculty, they’re not going to help you.”

Protopapas said that though the situation is “not dire,” many researchers have felt frustration with the unresponsiveness of the Hyman’s office to the IIC’s budgetary concerns.

In fact, the IIC did not have an approved budget for much of the last fiscal year because the budget that was initially proposed was “larger than we could expect to support,” Hyman said.

“A lot of people were about to abandon ship because they did not give answers to us,” Protopapas said, adding that he stayed because the IIC remains “the only place” he can do the cross-disciplinary research that he is pursuing.

With physics professor Efthimios “Tim” Kaxiras slated to replace Goodman on an interim basis, the extent of the Initiative’s future growth remains uncertain.

“It’s up to the next director to think strategically about where they can go, where they can get resources,” Hyman said. “I’ll help them raise money, I’ll be an advocate for space, but we do have to be realistic about what’s available.”

—Staff writer Aditi Balakrishna can be reached at balakris@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Nathan C. Strauss can be reached at strauss@fas.harvard.edu.