Provost
Academic year 2003 was a time of significant advances in the Institute's mission of education and knowledge creation, both for the advancement of our students and faculty on campus and for MIT's impact on the global community. This progress came at the beginning of a time of financial constraint created by the poor economic conditions and the negative impact of these conditions on the MIT endowment. The report of the Office of the Provost attempts to summarize some of the important issues that occurred during this academic year.
People
The senior officers of the Institute remained the same from AY2002 through AY2003 giving MIT great leadership and stability during the year. The five schools of the Institute were led by: Philip S. Khoury, dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; Thomas L. Magnanti, dean of the School of Engineering; William J. Mitchell, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning; Richard Schmalensee, dean of the Sloan School of Management; and Robert J. Silbey, dean of the School of Science
The senior staff of the Provost's Office continued as Claude Canizares, associate provost;
Alice P. Gast, vice president for research and associate provost; Doreen Morris, assistant provost for administration.
Stephen C. Graves, Abraham Siegal professor of management of the Sloan School of Management, completed the second year of his term as chair of the MIT Faculty and will be succeeded by Rafael Bras, Stockholm-Bacardi professor of civil and environment engineering in AY2004.
Another transition was set in place for AY2004 during the fall of 2002 when William Mitchell announced his intention to step down as dean of the School of Architecture and Planning. An Advisory Committee to search for a new dean was formed with Terry Knight, associate professor of architecture and associate dean, as chairperson with the plan of having a new dean in place by January 2004. Dean Mitchell stepped down as dean effective September 1, 2003 and Professor Knight assumed the position of interim dean.
There were no changes in the ranks of active Institute Professors, although we must note with great sadness the passing of Institute Professor emeritus Hermann Haus in May of 2003.
Research Policy Committee
The Ad Hoc Committee on Access and Disclosure of Scientific Information, formed in AY2002 by the provost and the chair of the Faculty, recommended in their May 2002 report that a standing committee of the faculty to monitor research policy changes within MIT. The provost and the vice president for research established the new Research Policy Committee in spring 2003 with Professor Rafael Reif, associate head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, as chair. Other members of the new Research Policy Committee include Professors June Matthews, Richard Samuels, Alice Gast, and Ms. Julie Norris. The committee reports to the vice president for research and associate provost.
Academic Programs
There were many developments in academic programs during AY2003. I have selected several to highlight in my report because they are particularly important to the continued evolution of programs at the Institute.
Biological Engineering Division
The Biological Engineering Division (BED), created in 1998, was launched with the agreement that the provost would appoint a faculty committee to review the progress of the division within five years of its creation and that the committee would report to the Faculty. This committee was formed in fall 2002 and was chaired by Professor Rafael Bras of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The committee included Lorna Gibson, the Salapatas professor of materials science and engineering; Graham Walker, professor of biology; and Gregory McRae, Bayer professor of chemical engineering. The review committee reported in the at the April 16, 2003 meeting of the MIT Faculty that BED's launch was a success. The report found BED intellectually strong, with a clear focus in terms of both education and research. It noted that BED was hiring distinctive faculty, and that its doctoral program was attracting unique and highly qualified students. Finally, the undergraduate minor in Biomedical Engineering supported by BED continues to have the largest enrollments of a minor at MIT. The report further noted that the mission of BED appears to be moving closer to the interface between modern biological sciences and engineering science than was first envisioned and that the time has come for BED to consider putting in place a undergraduate major in Biological Engineering. This recommendation was seconded by the BED Visiting Committee in AY2003, and planning for an undergraduate major has begun with the goal of initiating the approval process in AY2004.
MIT OpenCourseWare
MIT announced in spring of 2002, in partnership with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the intent to publish the content from the majority of all subjects taught at MIT in a web-based format and to make the web site that contains this material open to any world-wide user as long as the use is not for monetary gain. The initiative was named MIT OpenCourseWare (OCW). During AY2003 an enormous effort was begun to fulfill this pledge under the leadership of Anne Margulies, the executive director of OCW. The initial test web site was mounted in fall 2002 with 100 subjects while efforts were launched a publication protocols, a content management system for the material, and a web-based design team to help individual faculty publish their material. The goal for fall 2003 is to publish 500 MIT subjects.
Broad Institute
For approximately two years, MIT, the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (WIBR) and Harvard University (HU), have been in discussions aimed at developing a research partnership in genomic medicine based on the WIBR-MIT Human Genome Research Center led by Eric Lander, a Whitehead investigator and professor of biology at MIT. These discussions and negotiations were brought to conclusion in June 2003 with the signing of an MOU establishing the Broad Institute as an affiliation of MIT, Harvard University, and the WIBR with a naming gift of $100 million from Edythe and Eli Broad. The Broad Institute will operate as an inter-institutional research center administered by MIT according to our policies and procedures. It will report to the vice president for research at MIT and will be overseen by an Operating Committee and an Executive Committee, according to the affiliation agreement. The research in the Broad Institute will focus on the development of the tools to exploit modern genomics research in medicine and the demonstration of the power of these tools through studies of particular metabolic pathways and diseases. The Broad Institute will involve researchers from MIT, WIBR, HU, and the Harvard affiliated hospitals. The organization and the launching of this endeavor will occupy much effort in AY2004.
Facilities
Much of the campaign of the last five years for the renovation and renewal of our campus was completed in AY2003 with the opening of three major facilities for student life. Simmons Hall, an undergraduate residence for 350 students, designed by Steven Holl, opened with the fall term of 2002 and facilitated the housing of all freshmen on campus for the first time in MIT's history. The new graduate residence at Sydney and Pacific also opened in fall 2002 with housing for over 700 additional graduate students on campus. The Albert and Barrie Zesiger Sports and Fitness Center also opened in fall 2002 as part of the athletic complex. The Zesiger Center houses an Olympic-sized swimming pool, diving facilities, and a fitness center. By all accounts the Zesiger Center was an instant success on campus.
In May 2003 MIT officially opened 30,000 square feet of leased space in 500 Technology Square to house two important academic initiatives: expansion space for the Biological Engineering Division (BED) of the School of Engineering; and space for the home of the interdisciplinary research effort, the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (ISN), funded by the United State Army. The space for BED is badly needed to accommodate the growth in faculty and programs in this rapidly emerging field. The space for ISN will be the home of researchers involving 40 faculty and more than 100 graduate students and postdocs from 8 departments involved in the integrated research projects sponsored by ISN.
Construction continued on the Ray and Maria Stata Center that will be the home of the Laboratory of Computer Science, the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems, and the Department of Linguistics and Philosophy. The Stata Center will also house a major childcare facility, teaching facilities, and significant social space for students, staff, and faculty. The Stata Center is scheduled to open in spring 2004.
In spring 2003, ground was broken on the brain and cognitive science project (BCSP), which is a facility for neuroscience research on campus that will house the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, the Picower Center for Learning and Memory, and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Science. The combined space in these buildings will be approximately 200,000 net assignable square feet. Construction is scheduled for completion in fall 2005.
The major renovation of the bulk of the facilities for the Department of Chemistry also was completed in AY2003 with the reopening of the remainder of Building 18, the Dreyfus Chemistry Building. With the completion of this three-phase renovation project, the total of 130,000 gross square feet of this building have been transformed into a world-class facility for organic, inorganic, and biochemical research.
The process for site selection and for establishing the program for a new facility for the Sloan School of Management also continued in AY2003 working with the architectural firm of Moore, Ruble, and Yudell. The project advanced into the schematic design process with the intent of using the design and program to facilitate fundraising.
The Institute remained committed to an aggressive plan for renovation of our existing physical facilities. The process for prioritizing and planning space renovations was led by associate provost Claude Canizares as chair of the Committee for Review of Space Planning (CRSP). Other members of CRSP include the provost, the executive vice president, the chancellor, the vice president for research and associate provost, the chief facilities officer, assistant to the provost for space planning, the director of capital project development, the director of design and construction, and the staff liaison in the Department of Facilities. In FY2003 MIT allocated over $24.4M in funds for this purpose, including department and philanthropic contributions. $58.6M was spent on renovations in FY2003. Several major renovations were funded in AY2003. These include the DMSE undergraduate teaching lab in Building 8, classrooms in Buildings 1 and 5, consolidation of ESD's research activities in building E40, renovation of the Libraries' Preservation Center and study rooms, reoutfitting laboratories for nine new faculty members, developing temporary space for the McGovern Institute of Brain Research and the Picower Center for Learning and memory in building E19, and the completion of the School of Architecture and Planning's Master Plan I.
MIT also occupied approximately 52,578 nasf of new space in 500 Technology Square for the activities of the Institute of Soldier Nanotechnology and the Biological Engineering Department. The development of the fit-out of this space was led as a capital project by Alice Gast, vice president for research and associate provost.
Faculty
At the end of AY2003, 10 faculty members retired from MIT.
Faculty recruitment continued at a vigorous level. In AY2003, 52 faculty members were hired at untenured ranks, and 7 tenured faculty members were recruited. Of these (tenured and untenured), 17 are women and 4 are minorities. During 2003, 16 MIT faculty members were awarded tenure within MIT. Of these, 1 is an underrepresented minority.
MIT continues in its commitment to improving the gender and racial diversity of the faculty that began in AY2002 with the formation of the Council on Faculty Diversity. The council is cochaired by Professor Nancy Hopkins, Professor Wesley Harris, and Provost Robert Brown and includes faculty and administrative leaders from the five schools of MIT. The council's mission is to work with the faculty, departments, schools, and the senior administration to help the Institute aggressively promote faculty diversity. These efforts will work to establish a sustained institutional environment that will attract a diverse faculty that reflects the students we educate. The council put continued emphasis on faculty recruitment and on the application of the guidelines for search processes described in the Provost Memorandum of October 3, 2001 for aggressive recruitment of women and underrepresented minorities. The results of the process are summarized above. The Council on Faculty Diversity created a sub-committee chaired by Professor Samuel Allen, to monitor the progress of faculty searches and the effectiveness of faculty leave policies for recruiting and retention of women faculty members.
MIT continued its commitment to enhancing the diversity of the teaching staff of the Institute through the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor Program. This year, the program sponsored eight visiting faculty members: Xavier de Souza Brigss, Urban Studies and Planning; Jonathan Farley, Mathematics; Otis Jennings, Sloan School of Management; Mark Lloyd, Urban Studies and Planning; Sekazi Mtingwa, Physics; Olufemi Olowolafe, Materials Science and Engineering; Arlie Petters, Physics; and Gus Solomons, Music and Theater Arts.
Five new Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellows were named this year in recognition of their important contributions to the quality of undergraduate education at MIT. These awardees are: Isabelle deCourtivron, Foreign Languages and Literatures; Peter Child, Music and Theater Arts; Jesus del Alamo, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Ian Waitz, Aeronautics and Astronautics; and Barbara Imperiali, Chemistry. These additions bring the total number of active fellows to 42 with 12 emeritus fellows.
Graduate Student Fellowships
In AY2003 the Presidential Graduate Fellowship program awarded 170.5 fellowships across all academic departments, up from the 167.5 awarded in AY2002. These fellowships are distributed as follows, and included fellowships named for several individual and corporate donors:
- Akamai (Mathematics and EECS)
- Homer Burnell (Archiecture and Urban Planning)
- Robert T. Haslam (Chemistry and Chemical Engineering)
- William M. Lyson (Physics)
- Edward H. Linde (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
- Praecis (Biology and the School of Science)
| Graduate Student Fellowships by School | ||
|---|---|---|
| School/Unit | AY2002 | AY2003 |
| Architecture and Planning | 12.5 |
14.5 |
| Engineering | 56.0 |
57 |
| Humanities | 20.0 |
20 |
| Sloan School | 15.0 |
15 |
| Science | 57.0 |
57 |
| VP Research | 7.0 |
7 |
| TOTAL | 167.5 |
170.5 |
In addition, five students held provost's Women and Minority Fellowships (one in each school) and five underrepresented minority graduate students held Norman B. Leventhal Presidential Graduate Fellowships (three in Engineering and two in Science). This year, the School of Engineering added the Lemelson Fellowships to the Presidential Fellowship Program. The Lemelson Foundation provided funding for 6.5 underrepresented minority students with interests in innovation, and these fellowships were intended for incoming students.
Finally, two Presidential Fellowships were introduced that utilized a competitive nomination process at the Institute level. The first Samuel H. Maslak Presidential Graduate Fellowship was awarded to a student in the Division of Heath Sciences and Technology, and the first Robert M. Rose Presidential Graduate Fellowship was awarded to a student in Mathematics.
The Society of Presidential Fellows hosted several events during the academic year including beginning and end of year receptions, and a well-attended public lecture by Professor Rafael Bras. Fundraising for the Presidential Fellowship Program continued to be a high priority of the Institute.
Finances
Financial issues dominated the attention of the Office of the Provost through FY2003 because of the impact of the down turn in the economy on the growth of the MIT endowment and the impact of these results on the MIT budget; this trend promises to continue into FY2004. The lowering of income projections from the endowment caused pressure of the MIT operating budget that was manifested by the need for the restructuring of significant revenues and expenses in the planning for the budget for FY2004 and FY2005. Pressure also appeared on the operating budget during FY2003 because of reduced discretionary funds available in the Office of the Provost and the Office of the Executive Vice President to close gaps that arose during the fiscal year.
The completion of the cycle for the FY2003 budget on June 30, 2003 saw the Institute closing with a small (approximately $0.7M) surplus excluding funds used to established reserve accounts in several areas. This budget included continued funding of the CRSP program for renovation and funding of the Presidential Graduate Fellowship Program.
The performance of the FY2003 budget continued to benefit from the robust growth of the sponsored research base on campus. The research base bearing indirect costs (the MTDC base) grew 4.5 percent in FY2003, marking the fourth year of significant growth in on-campus research volume. Tuition revenue, net of financial aid rose 10 percent or $14.6M in FY2003, influenced most greatly by the increase in financial aid. Net tuition revenue showed an increase of 7 percent or $10.8M. This tuition increase was influenced most greatly by the increase in the number of graduate students at MIT to 6,139 in fall of 2002; this total compares to 5,091 a decade earlier, or a 21 percent increase. On the undergraduate side, the 4 percent tuition increase was absorbed almost entirely by a 10 percent jump in financial aid.
The financing of operations continued to rely heavily on income generated by the Institute's endowment. The endowment began FY2003 at $5.36B down from approximately $6.13B at the beginning of FY2002. The final returns for FY2003 reflect 4.2 percent decrease to $5.13BThe decreases in the endowment value from FY2000 to FY2003, coupled with the forecasts for lack of growth in FY2004 will have significant long-term impacts on the MIT budget. The FY2004 budget was developed with a slight decrease (the first in history) of the funds per unit distributed from the endowment from $42/unit in FY2003 to $41/unit in FY2004. The FY2004 budgets were developed with approximately $39M/year realignments of revenues and expenses, including the following large changes:
- The general institute budget for the Presidential Fellowship Program was discontinued. Fellowships allocated in FY2004 will be funded from income from endowment generated for the program and from discretionary funds available to the provost.
- Interest will not be paid on Pool C (expendable fund accounts) except when dictated by agreements.
- General budgets to academic units were decreased by $4M/year.
- General budgets to administrative units were decreased by $13.3M/year.
- In spite of the down economic conditions, The MIT capital campaign continued ahead of schedule. The campaign, which was launched in FY2000 to raise $1.5B in endowment and expendable gifts, was expected to run through AY2004 to reach this goal. The $1.5B hurdle was crossed in November 2002 and the goal was raised to $2.0B. At June 30, 2003, the campaign total stood at $1.7B.
Research
MIT remains the preeminent research university combining world-leading research across a spectrum of disciplines with intense undergraduate and graduate education. Research activities at MIT remainder vigorous across most of science and engineering.
There was a healthy increase in all sponsored research on campus, which was up 4.2 percent to $474M in FY2003 from $455M in FY2002. More importantly, the portion of this research volume that supports financial and administrative (F&A) costs rose 4.5 percent in FY2003 to $228M. As a result the F&A rate charged to research contracts and grants will fall from 63 percent charged in FY2003 to 60 percent in FY2004.
The federal government continued to dominate this budget, accounting for approximately 74 percent. MIT saw continued growth in health science research supported by Health and Human Services (HHS). In fact, HHS became the largest supporter of research on campus in FY2003 with $93M of support, compared to $86M for the Department of Defense and $68M for all of industry. Nongovernment support fell to 2.5 percent, as a sign of the difficult economic times. The Lincoln Laboratory research volume in FY2003 was $443M, up from FY2002 at $392M.
This report marks the completion of my fifth year as provost.