Murray To Be Next SEAS Dean

Physicist Cherry A. Murray has been selected as the Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, effective July 1, 2009.

Murray, who is currently the principal associate director for science and technology at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will also be appointed the John A. and Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The selection was announced to SEAS faculty in an e-mail sent yesterday afternoon, according to Venkatesh “Venky” Narayanamurti, a professor of physics at SEAS who served as dean for a decade. He was succeeded in the interim by Applied Physics professor Frans A. Spaepen.

“It’s just delightful she’s decided to come,” said Venky. “I am really happy she will be succeeding me as Dean.”

Venky, who stepped down as dean last year after spearheading an effort to transform SEAS from a division to a school, said in an interview last year that the next phase of SEAS—turning it into a “model engineering school aimed at the broadly educated”—would be a “ten year job.”

Venky and several SEAS faculty members said that Murray was a “fantastic” choice to take the reins for this transition because of her broad scientific and managerial experiences and “visionary” outlook.

“She has the achievements as a scientist herself, but also has the broad perspective of scientific issues both nationally and internationally,” said Evelyn Hu, a professor of applied physics and electrical engineering at SEAS.

After receiving her undergraduate and doctoral degrees in physics from MIT, Murray went to work at Bell Labs, where she started as a staff scientist in 1978, and eventually became senior vice president. There, she worked alongside many current SEAS faculty.

“I have to disclose everything,” said Federico Capasso, a professor of applied physics at SEAS who served on the advisory committee for the SEAS dean search. “She was my boss at Bell Labs, and partly because I know her so well, I think she’s an absolutely terrific choice from every angle.”

After working at Bell, Murray went to the Lawrence Livermore National Labs in 2004, a nuclear security laboratory managed by Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Her years of experience in both positions have given her a “unique breadth of experience” in managing both research and industrial labs, Capasso said.

“She is a world-class scientist, capable of managing from basic science and applied research to talking to business units and handling communications,” he added.

Murray is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is serving as president of the American Physical Society this year.

Her research focuses on three subjects: light scattering, in which photons are fired at an object of interest; surface physics, which studies phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases; and complex fluids that have properties of different phases.

She has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles, served on more than 80 scientific advisory committees, holds two patents, and was named one of the “50 Most Important Women in Science” by Discover magazine in 2002.

“You don’t get that kind of recognition just for doing average work,” said Capasso. “She is, I would say, in a class by herself.”

He apologized for interrupting his interview with The Crimson when another colleague walked into his office. “We were just sharing our joy,” said Capasso.

This sentiment seemed to be shared by other SEAS faculty.

“I can’t be happier with anybody else who would be considered,” said Joanna Aizenberg, a professor of materials science at SEAS.

Murray could not be reached for comment last night.

—Staff writer Alissa M. D’Gama can be reached at adgama@fas.harvard.edu.