VIRGINIA POSTREL: Paulson’s $400 Million Gift Represents Harvard’s Realization That You Can’t Be a First-Rate University Without A First-Rate Engineering School.

Ultimately, the Allston move arose from a conjunction of the university’s recognition that Harvard could not be a great university in the 21st century if it didn’t have a great engineering school, and students recognizing that there were lots of things they could learn by taking our courses that would help them to solve the world’s problems in a way that not only had significant impact but was fun. . . .

I’m arguing here for the importance of engineering and applied science as a discipline, rather than as a tool to be used by other people to solve their problems. We’ve always, in computer science and other areas of applied science, fought the perception that other people come to us with neatly formulated problems and then we do a couple of equations, or write a couple of programs, and give them back the solution. That’s not the way serious problems get attacked, and it’s certainly not the way inventions get created.

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