IBM Gives Harvard $5 Million Grant For Study of Effects of Automation

With the aid of a $5 million grant from the International Business Machines Corp., the University will undertake a ten-year program of studies of the social impact of technological change and automation.

Disclosure of the program, designated the University Program on Technology and Society, was made yesterday in a joint annoucement by President Pusey and Thomas J. Watson, Jr., chairman of IBM.

"One objective of the program," Pusey said, "Is to help us understand the social conditions and public policies that foster scientific and technological progress and that influence its direction. At the same time, we are seeking to examine the ways in which science and technology affect our lives and institutions.

"Out of these studies, we hope to develop suggestions for anticipating and controlling change, and for adjusting to its effects," he added.

The program will involve research studies by Faculty members, post-doctoral scholars, and doctoral candidates. Those working in the program will participate in research seminars.

In addition, there will be projects in which representatives of other institutions--academic, business and government--will work independently or with members of the Faculty.

Finally, the program will include teaching seminars in the graduate schools and conferences designed to acquaint businessmen and government officials with research findings and suggested action programs developed under the program. In a further attempt to broaden the program's impact, selected working papers and symposia will be published as books or monographs.

Preliminary discussions indicate that research topics will probably include such areas as methods of forecasting technological developments; impacts on labor and industrial structure; changing skill requirements and educational policy; and international economic competition.

George P. Baker, dean of the Business School, will head a ten-member Faculty committee administering the program. Other members will include: Dean Ford; Don K. Price, dean of the Graduate School of Public Administration; Theodore R. Sizer, dean of the Ed School; Harvey Brooks, dean of the Division of Engineering and Applied Physics; Carl Kaysen, professor of Economics; and John T. Dunlop, professor of Economics.

Besides the Faculty committee, Pusey will also appoint an advisory committee to advise in planning the scope and character of the program. This second committee will include representatives of industry, labor, and federal and state governments.

The day-to-day workings of the program will be supervised by an executive director to be appointed by the Faculty committee.