MIT Reports to the President 1999–2000

• DEAN, SCHOOL OF SCIENCE
  • DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY
  • DEPARTMENT OF BRAIN AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES
  • DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY
  • DEPARTMENT OF EARTH, ATMOSPHERIC, AND PLANETARY SCIENCES
  • DEPARTMENT OF MATHMATICS
  • DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
  • CENTER FOR LEARNING AND MEMORY
  • GEORGE RUSSELL HARRISON SPECTROSCOPY LABORATORY
  • GEORGE R. WALLACE, JR. ASTROPHYSICAL OBSERVATORY
  • EXPERIMENTAL STUDY GROUP
  • LABORATORY FOR NUCLEAR SCIENCE
  • CENTER FOR CANCER RESEARCH
  • CENTER FOR SPACE RESEARCH

DEAN, SCHOOL OF SCIENCE

The School of Science at MIT continues to play a leadership role, both nationally and internationally, in science education and research. Our graduate education programs are ranked among the very top in all the disciplines of the School by a variety of organizations. Maintaining that high standard is the highest priority of the faculty and administration in the School.

The School of Science continues to do a major part of the undergraduate education at MIT. Biology has grown in the last decade to become the second largest major (after EECS) at the Institute. In addition, the Departments of Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry have some of the largest student contact hours. This overall excellence of teaching is exemplified by the number of Macvicar Fellows in the School (43% of the total). In 1999, Professor Chris Kaiser of Biology was selected as a new Macvicar Fellow, and in 2000, Professor John Belcher (Physics) and Professor Steven Pinker (BCS) were chosen as Macvicar Fellows. The School of Science Teaching Prize for Undergraduate Education for 1998—99 was awarded to Professor Alan Guth of Physics. There was no award made for graduate teaching that year. In 1999—2000, the undergraduate teaching prize was awarded jointly to Professor Tania Baker of Biology and Professor Greg Fu of Chemistry. The graduate teaching award for 1999—2000 was awarded jointly to Professor Ann Graybiel of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Professor Mriganka Sur, also of BCS.

The quality of an academic unit such as the School of Science is determined by the caliber of the faculty involved. One of the highest priorities of the School administration is to support our existing outstanding faculty and to recruit to MIT exceptionally talented young researchers and educators, especially underrepresented minorities and women, to our faculty. In 1998—99, twelve new faculty joined the School as Assistant Professors, including three female and four underrepresented minority Assistant Professors. Our faculty received many honors and awards during the past year, both external and internal. Of particular note is the awarding of Howard Hughes Medical Investigator status to three of our young faculty: Professor Sebastian Seung (BCS), Professor Angelika Amon (Biology and CCR) and Professor Steven Bell (Biology).

The many new research initiatives and fundamental discoveries that occurred in the various departments and laboratories of the School of Science are discussed below in the reports of those units.

Fund raising in the School of Science reached all time highs over the past few years with a total received exceeding $30 Million in fiscal 1999.

Academic Programs

There were 822 undergraduate majors in the School of Science during the past academic year, a 2.1% increase from the previous year. The number of minority student majors at the undergraduate level changed as follows:

The number of minors in the School of Science in 1998—99 were 137, a decrease of 17 percent from a total of 161 last year. The female undergraduate population decreased marginally from 429 to 318. 25 percent of the Institute’s upperclass undergraduates were enrolled in the School of Science.

Graduate enrollments in science decreased from 990 to 955. The total enrollment represents 18 percent of the graduate population at MIT. The number of minority students at the graduate level changed as follows:

The number of female graduate students decreased from 292 to 285 (-2.4%). However, the overall percentage of female graduate students remained at 30%.

The 260 faculty members in the School this past year represents a 0.8% increase from the previous year. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio was 3.1 to 1, and the graduate student-to-faculty ratio was 3.7 to 1.

Research Volume

The FY99 research volume was $117 million, a slight decrease over the FY98 research volume. This figure does not include the significantly increased research volume by MIT faculty at the Whitehead Institute (>$30 million), HHMI faculty (>$10 million) as well as the research volume associated with School of Science research carried out in the interdisciplinary laboratories reporting to the Vice President for Research.

Robert J. Silbey

MIT Reports to the President 1999–2000