HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Rowland Institute for Science was founded by
Edwin H. Land Edwin Herbert Land, ForMemRS, FRPS, Hon.MRI (May 7, 1909 – March 1, 1991) was an Russian-American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, ...
, founder of
Polaroid Corporation Polaroid is an American company best known for its instant film and cameras. The company was founded in 1937 by Edwin H. Land, to exploit the use of its Polaroid polarizing polymer. Land ran the company until 1981. Its peak employment was 21,0 ...
, as a nonprofit, privately endowed basic research organization in 1980. The institute merged with
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
on July 1, 2002, and is now called The Rowland Institute at Harvard. The Rowland Institute is dedicated to experimental science across a wide range of disciplines. Research subjects at the institute includes chemistry, physics and biology, and focus on interdisciplinary work and the development of new experimental tools. It is located on the Charles River near Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is a few miles away from the main campus of Harvard.


Rowland Fellows

The flagship program at the Rowland Institute is the Fellows Program. The program supports early career
experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
al scientists. Rowland Fellows receive funding for salary and research expenses and are allocated their own
laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physi ...
space. The Rowland Institute also provides technical support from permanent expert staff. The Fellowship lasts for five years, with continuation past two years contingent on a favorable internal review.


Notable members and alumni

*
Howard Berg Howard Curtis Berg (March 16, 1934 – December 30, 2021) was the Herchel Smith Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University, where he taught biophysics and studied the motility of the bacterium ''Es ...
- biophysicist noted for his work on the
motility Motility is the ability of an organism to move independently, using metabolic energy. Definitions Motility, the ability of an organism to move independently, using metabolic energy, can be contrasted with sessility, the state of organisms th ...
of the bacterium
Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' (),Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. also known as ''E. coli'' (), is a Gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Esc ...
(E. coli) *
Steven Block Steven M. Block (born 1952) is an American biophysicist and Professor at Stanford University with a joint appointment in the departments of Biology and Applied Physics. In addition, he is a member of the scientific advisory group JASON, a senio ...
- pioneered the use of
optical tweezers Optical tweezers (originally called single-beam gradient force trap) are scientific instruments that use a highly focused laser beam to hold and move microscopic and sub-microscopic objects like atoms, nanoparticles and droplets, in a manner simil ...
to study step dynamics of
kinesin A kinesin is a protein belonging to a class of motor proteins found in eukaryotic cells. Kinesins move along microtubule (MT) filaments and are powered by the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (thus kinesins are ATPases, a type of enzy ...
and
RNA polymerase In molecular biology, RNA polymerase (abbreviated RNAP or RNApol), or more specifically DNA-directed/dependent RNA polymerase (DdRP), is an enzyme that synthesizes RNA from a DNA template. Using the enzyme helicase, RNAP locally opens th ...
on DNA templates * Colleen Cavanaugh - microbiologist recognized for her studies of
hydrothermal vent A hydrothermal vent is a fissure on the seabed from which geothermally heated water discharges. They are commonly found near volcanically active places, areas where tectonic plates are moving apart at mid-ocean ridges, ocean basins, and hotspo ...
ecosystems *
Donald A. Glaser Donald Arthur Glaser (September 21, 1926 – February 28, 2013) was an American physicist, neurobiologist, and the winner of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics for his invention of the bubble chamber used in subatomic particle physics. Educati ...
- physicist, neurobiologist, and winner of the 1960
Nobel Prize in Physics ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
for inventing the
bubble chamber A bubble chamber is a vessel filled with a superheated transparent liquid (most often liquid hydrogen) used to detect electrically charged particles moving through it. It was invented in 1952 by Donald A. Glaser, for which he was awarded the 1 ...
* Jene Golovchenko - physicist noted for his work on materials for
whole genome sequencing Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing, complete genome sequencing, or entire genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety, or nearly the entirety, of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a ...
*
Lene Hau Lene Vestergaard Hau (; born November 13, 1959) is a Danish physicist and educator. She is the Mallinckrodt Professor of Physics and of Applied Physics at Harvard University. In 1999, she led a Harvard University team who, by use of a Bose–E ...
- physicist noted for her work on
Bose–Einstein condensate In condensed matter physics, a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that is typically formed when a gas of bosons at very low densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero (−273.15 °C or −459.6 ...
, and ultracold atomic system optics *
Winfield Hill Winfield Hill is the Director of the Electronics Engineering Laboratory at the Rowland Institute at Harvard University. A self-proclaimed "electronics circuit-design guru" and trained physicist and electronic engineer, he co-authored the popular ...
- co-authored the popular text ''
The Art of Electronics ''The Art of Electronics'', by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, is a popular reference textbook dealing with analog and digital electronics. The first edition was published in 1980, and the 1989 second edition has been regularly reprinted. The ...
'' with Harvard Physicist
Paul Horowitz Paul Horowitz (born 1942) is an American physicist and electrical engineer, known primarily for his work in electronics design, as well as for his role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (see SETI). Biography At age 8, Horowitz achi ...


Past Directors

*
Edwin H. Land Edwin Herbert Land, ForMemRS, FRPS, Hon.MRI (May 7, 1909 – March 1, 1991) was an Russian-American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. He invented inexpensive filters for polarizing light, ...
: 1980 - 1992 *
Phil Dubois Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as a root ter ...
: 1992 - 1997 *Michael Burns: 1998 - 2002 *
Frans Spaepen Frans is an Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish given name, sometimes as a short form of ''François''. One cognate of Frans in English is ''Francis''. Given name * Frans van Aarssens (1572–1641), Dutch diplom ...
: 2002 - 2013 *
Cynthia FriendCynthia Friend is president and chief operating officer of Kavli Foundation (United States), The Kavli Foundation. She is on leave from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University. Friend was the first female full profes ...
: 2013 - 2019
Andrew Murray
2020–present


References

{{authority control Harvard University Multidisciplinary research institutes Research institutes in Massachusetts Scientific organizations Science and technology studies associations Research institutes established in 1980 1980 establishments in Massachusetts