Scientist for Harvard helm debated
Could lead effort to boost research
Harvard University faculty and alumni, and outside scientists, are debating whether the university needs a scientist to take the reins as president as the institution embarks on a historic effort to expand and improve its scientific research and teaching.
The search committee, which may name a president within weeks, has put at least two scientists on its short list of candidates. They are Steven E. Hyman , Harvard's provost and a neurobiologist, and Thomas R. Cech , president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, according to people familiar with the search process.
Some science advocates outside Harvard have their fingers crossed for one of their own because they believe a scientist would be best positioned to fulfill the university's potential. In an era in which science is rapidly expanding human knowledge, Harvard's priorities will set an example for universities across the country and even the globe.
But others take a counterintuitive view: It might actually be easier for a non scientist to lead a big expansion in the sciences because that person would be seen as making unbiased choices, not favoring a pet discipline.
And some Harvard professors and alumni contend that leadership skills are more important than any particular body of knowledge.
"It's really an administrative, executive position," said Richard A. Holt , a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Western Ontario who earned his doctorate at Harvard. "You wouldn't want Einstein running your university."
When Harvard last went looking for a president six years ago, science was already at the top of the agenda. There was a sense that the university, while home to hundreds of the world's top scientists, had not achieved the preeminence in some fields that it should have.
At the time, search committee members said that they were looking for scientific leadership. "Different periods demand sometimes different competencies," Hanna H. Gray , former president of the University of Chicago, said in 2000.
The person they chose, Lawrence H. Summers , is an economist who was seen to have a good understanding of science and the ability, as a former Cabinet secretary, to lobby effectively for federal funding. Summers stepped down last summer.
Under Summers, Harvard began moving aggressively in the sciences in several ways. The university developed a plan for its new Allston campus that includes a heavy science focus and will lead to millions of square feet in new laboratory space. Science buildings are also under construction in Cambridge.
Harvard also took a bold public stand by supporting researchers seeking to clone human embryonic stem cells, despite strong political opposition to the work.
And the university is currently working on a high-level effort, led by Hyman, to encourage more collaboration and interdisciplinary research. Both have been hampered by the university's decentralized nature, which has made it difficult for people to communicate across different schools within the university.
In addition to Cech and Hyman, the Globe has identified two other people who are on Harvard's search list, although there may be others. The two are Drew Gilpin Faust , a historian and dean of the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, and Elena Kagan , dean of the law school.
Alan I. Leshner , chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said that while he thinks Harvard should pick the best person for the job, he would prefer a scientist.
"We expect Harvard to provide intellectual leadership but also to show scientific courage," he said, referring to the stem cell work. "We want Harvard to be as spectacular as it can be. The better its science, the better the world's science."
Scientists not only understand what it takes to run a top-flight lab but generally have skills that would benefit a college president such as a methodical style of thinking based on examination of the evidence, said Rita R. Colwell , former director of the National Science Foundation.
However, someone from outside the sciences may actually have a strategic advantage, said Barbara J. Grosz , a computer scientist and Radcliffe's dean of science, who praised Faust for having a sophisticated understanding of science. Phillip A. Sharp , a Nobel Prize recipient and biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, made a similar point.
"Many times a non scientist who is an informed citizen can effect change because they are not associated with" the subject, said Sharp, who has known Cech for years. "What they do doesn't appear to be self-serving."
Maria Sacchetti of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Marcella Bombardieri can be reached at bombardieri@globe.com. 