The Rowland Institute at Harvard, formerly the Rowland Institute for Science, was founded by Edwin H. Land (founder of Polaroid Corporation) as a nonprofit, privately endowed basic research organization in 1980. The institute merged with

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

on July 1, 2002. 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 was originally located on the Charles River near Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a few miles away from the main campus of Harvard. In 2024, the institute moved to Harvard's main campus, to a newly renovated building at 60 Oxford Street, in shared space with the Harvard Quantum Initiative.

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. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as schools ...

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 - biophysicist noted for his work on the

motility Motility is the ability of an organism to move independently using metabolism, metabolic energy. This biological concept encompasses movement at various levels, from whole organisms to cells and subcellular components. Motility is observed in ...

of the bacterium

Escherichia coli ''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...

(E. coli) * Steven Block - pioneered the use of optical tweezers to study step dynamics of kinesin 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 catalyzes the chemical reactions that synthesize RNA from a DNA template. Using the e ...

on DNA templates * Colleen Cavanaugh - microbiologist recognized for her studies of hydrothermal vent ecosystems * Donald A. Glaser - physicist, neurobiologist, and winner of the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics 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 th ...

* Jene Golovchenko - physicist noted for his work on materials for

whole genome sequencing Whole genome sequencing (WGS), also known as full genome sequencing or just genome sequencing, is the process of determining the entirety of the DNA sequence of an organism's genome at a single time. This entails sequencing all of an organism's ...

* Lene Hau - 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 Density, densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero#Relation with Bose–Einste ...

, and ultracold atomic system optics * Winfield Hill - co-authored the popular text ''

The Art of Electronics ''The Art of Electronics'', by Paul Horowitz and Winfield Hill, is a popular electronics design reference textbook dealing with analog electronics, analog and digital electronics. The third edition was published in 2015. The author accepts repo ...

'' with Harvard Physicist

Paul Horowitz Paul Horowitz (born 1942) is an United States of America, American physicist and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known primarily for his work in electronics design, as well as for his role in the search for extraterrestrial intellige ...

Past directors

* Edwin H. Land: 1980 - 1992 * Phil Dubois: 1992 - 1997 *Michael Burns: 1998 - 2002 * Frans Spaepen: 2002 - 2013 * Cynthia Friend: 2013 - 2019
Andrew Murray
2020–present

References

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