College Prepares New Summer Program

Starting in 2011, social science concentrators conducting research over the summer will likely be able to stay on campus as part of a new program.

College administrators say they are currently developing a program to support summer research in fields such as economics, psychology, sociology, and government. Called Behavioral Laboratory In the Social Sciences, or BLISS, the program will be modeled after the Harvard College Program for Research in Science and Engineering established five years ago.

PRISE provides students who conduct research over the summer with Harvard faculty with free housing and meals, and administrators hope to extend the opportunity to social science concentrators.

“PRISE is an awesome program, and BLISS is just an active next step,” said Dean of Undergraduate Education Jay M. Harris.

The new program may be the only one of its kind among colleges across the nation because of its unique focus on social science research, according to PRISE director Gregory A. Llacer, who will also be spearheading plans for BLISS as head of the newly created Office for Undergraduate Research Initiatives established this February.

Llacer will also be working with FAS Divisional Dean of the Social Sciences Stephen M. Kosslyn and the Office of Undergraduate Education to prepare for BLISS.

College administrators say they will seek the support of outside donors to help finance the new program, as they have with PRISE.

“I think [BLISS] would be especially appealing for donors in the social sciences,” Llacer said.

“It would be a really exciting opportunity for a donor to [contribute to] something novel,” he added.

The development of BLISS was encouraged by Dean of the College Evelynn M. Hammonds, who, according to Llacer, has said she wanted to create a “substantive informative research experience” available to all undergraduates.

Llacer said the College may also create a similar summer program for the arts and humanities, though the launch of that program is likely years away.

Though psychology professor Mahzarin R. Banaji said she had not heard of the program, she quipped in an e-mail that “the program indeed sounds like bliss to me given the struggle we face finding summer research support for our concentrators each year.”

Banaji said she believes that many students who would otherwise choose to do research over the summer miss out on the opportunity because of the prohibitive costs of living in Cambridge.

Psychology concentrator Denetrias J. Charlemagne ’11 agreed, stating that a program like BLISS would be very helpful to students.

“I’m going to be writing a thesis in the fall and the only real form of funding I can apply to now is the Harvard College Research funding,” she said. “It’s hard to commit to coming here all summer.”

—Melody Y. Hu can be reached at melodyhu@fas.harvard.edu.

—Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu.