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Ph.d. degrees.

Architecture, Design, & Planning

Explore our range of programs on critical issues facing the creation and continued quest for improvement of cities, buildings, and spaces.

Advanced Management Development Program in Real Estate (AMDP)

Harvard’s premier advanced leadership program in real estate. Become a Harvard alum in one year with five weeks of on-campus study.

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The architectural imagination.

Ongoing | Online

Story Building: Secrets of Narrative Placemaking and Design from Entertainment Architecture

December 4, 6, & 9, 2024 | Online 11:00am – 01:00pm Eastern

Hotel Design and Development: Secrets from Globally Renowned Properties (Workshop)

December 5, 2024 | Online 11:00am – 01:00pm Eastern

AI, Machine Learning and the Built Environment: Fundamentals and Proptech Applications

January 10, 13, & 15, 2025 | Online 11:00am – 1:00pm Eastern

From Crypto to the Metaverse: Blockchain Applications in Real Estate

January 16, 2025 | Online 11:00am – 01:00pm Eastern

Past Programs

Redesigning work & workplace: space, technology, and culture.

August 15 – 16, 2024 | On Campus 09:00 am–05:00 pm Eastern

Academic Libraries: Space Planning and Design Charrette

August 9, 2024 | On Campus 09:00 am–05:00 pm Eastern

Future Library Design: Emerging and Enduring Principles

August 6, 7, 8, 2024 | On Campus 09:00 am–05:00 pm Eastern

The Walkable City

May 30-31, 2024 | On Campus 09:00 am–05:00 pm Eastern

Designing the Creative & Collaborative Workplace : Space, Technology, and Culture

April 10, 12, & 15, 2024 | Online 11:00am – 1:00pm Eastern

Building Decarbonization 101: The Technology, Data, Operations, and Finances of Net Zero Development

March 20, 22, 25, & 27, 2024 | Online 11:00am – 1:00pm Eastern

Hotel Design and Development: An Industry Reset

Offered Fall 2020 | Virtual Workshop

Healthy Buildings

Past offering | On Campus

Master’s Program Admissions

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Application Available: September 2024

Application Deadline: December 2024

Financial Aid Application Deadline: January 2025

Admission Notification: Mid-March 2025

Office Address: Office of Admissions & Financial Aid 124 Mount Auburn Street Suite 165-South Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

Mailing Address: Office of Admissions & Financial Aid 79 John F. Kennedy Street Mailbox 94 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

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A Theory of (Climate) Justice

Britta Clark draws on the insights of philosophy to navigate the ethics of efforts to mitigate global warming  

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The summer of 2024 in the Northern Hemisphere continues to break records for extreme heat. Several US cities have experienced new record-high temperatures this year, and according to a report by the European Union’s Copernicus Programme, the June just past was the hottest ever recorded on Earth, narrowly beating a global temperature record set in June 2023. But while climate change poses challenges to all of humanity, the crisis affects different populations unequally, depending on location, infrastructure, and access to housing and air conditioning. New technologies could help mitigate the effects of climate change, though their full impact is still being tested.  

In these circumstances, what would it mean to work toward justice and equity in responding to the climate crisis? And, as researchers develop the technologies of the future, how should this concern for justice impact humanity’s actions in the present? 

As a PhD candidate in philosophy at the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), Britta Clark applies her discipline’s methods to reach a new understanding of the ethical and political issues raised by the climate crisis—and humanity’s response to it. Addressing the potential role of technologies like carbon removal and solar geoengineering, Clark expands existing notions of success in mitigating the effects of climate change to include considerations of justice and equity. 

Helping a Friend 

Carbon dioxide removal technologies pull carbon from the ambient air and then sequester it, typically burying the element deep underground. Solar geoengineering envisions shooting aerosols, usually sulfate aerosols, into the stratosphere to temporarily abate climate change impacts by reflecting some of the sun’s rays back into space and away from Earth. To illustrate the ethical dilemmas that accompany the deployment of these new technologies, Clark offers an analogy. 

“Imagine you have a big task to perform,” she says. “Say, you have to shovel your driveway in the winter. And you know that maybe, later in the afternoon, you'll have this set of technologies that will maybe make the challenge of shoveling your driveway a little bit easier. You’re fairly certain but not totally certain. There’s a chance that the new technology might make things more difficult, adding more snow to your driveway. What should you do with that information?”  

Clark argues that mainstream answers to that question––in terms of the climate response––take a narrow view of success. Specifically, when policymakers focus on economic metrics, they ignore other possibilities for a fair climate future. Continuing the analogy of snow removal as climate change mitigation, Clark explains, “The standard economic models will tell you, ‘Well, it's going to be easier to shovel your driveway later, with the new technology, so you should slow down.’” In other words, Clark says, economists have calculated that it is financially optimal to wait for these technologies to help us meet climate goals––and, according to this view, to move more slowly in current climate preservation efforts, like reducing carbon emissions.  

We know that climate change will impact already disadvantaged people the most, but in mainstream discussions, there’s been less focus on the relationship between fairness and . . . emerging [climate] technologies. —Britta Clark 

“But that's not the only response you could have,” Clark continues. “You might also say, ‘It's going be easier to shovel my driveway later, so I should get started now. And then later, I can go help a friend.’” In terms of climate change, well-resourced nations could potentially use their wealth to speed up their own response and then provide assistance to other countries. Clark says that “helping a friend” is an option that should not be ignored as we consider how to use climate technologies––and that economic models limit our thinking by closing off certain possibilities that may actually deserve careful consideration.  

“We know that climate change will impact already disadvantaged people the most,” she says, “but in mainstream discussions, there’s been less focus on the relationship between fairness and these emerging technologies.” 

Clark argues that a view informed by moral and political philosophy also helps us identify errors in common ways of thinking about new technologies. “Although most proponents of carbon removal are quick to say that the technology is not a substitute for reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Clark explains, “in practice, economic models do substitute carbon removal for emissions reductions in all those circumstances where doing so is supposedly cheaper. In other words, the models tell us we can shovel the driveway a bit slower.” But Clark argues that we should also consider the possibility that humanity should raise its standards in the climate change response. “Just because there’s the potential that a technology could enable us to meet our goals at lower costs,” she says, “doesn't mean that that is the only possible role of the technology. We also could raise the ambitiousness of our climate goals.” 

By approaching these issues from the perspective of philosophy, Clark hopes to “open up our thinking beyond what the economic models assume” and to consider more broadly the ways we could understand the role of new technologies. To do this, Clark critically analyzes climate debates––identifying their underlying assumptions––and then formulates and tests out principles of what justice and morality could look like in the current situation. She also specifically considers the issue of intergenerational justice or what moral responsibilities we have toward Earth’s future generations. 

Clark’s project requires extensive knowledge from outside her main field of philosophy. As her advisor, Associate Professor of Philosophy Lucas Stanczyk, explains, “Thinking about the ethical dimensions of climate change is difficult because it requires plural subject-matter expertise, hard-won philosophical insight, and a duly cynical orientation towards the politics. Britta Clark’s research brings all of these virtues to bear on urgent ethical questions at the intersection of science, technology, and climate change.”  

Harvard via the Green Mountains and New Zealand 

Britta Clark’s deep interest in the environment dates back to her childhood. Growing up in a town surrounded by Vermont’s Green Mountain National Forest led her to value time spent outdoors in natural environments––and, eventually, to become invested in environmental education and protection efforts. “I’m still pretty involved in a small nature center there, the Blueberry Hill Outdoor Center,” says Clark, “and with organizing trail workdays, events, and doing some conservation work.” 

As an undergraduate at Bates College, Clark became drawn to the interdisciplinary humanities field of environmental studies, which allowed her to pursue interests in the philosophical, historical, and cultural issues associated with environmentalism. This experience led her to then pursue a master’s degree in philosophy as a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Otago in New Zealand, where she focused on analyzing relationships between humans and nature. 

Studying overseas broadened Clark’s perspective because of the high value given to Indigenous traditional knowledge and practices. “If you told someone in the US to think of rivers as being people, for example, they might say that sounds insane––but people are much more willing to entertain ideas like that in New Zealand, just because they’re more accustomed and exposed to them,” Clark says. 

Over time, Clark realized climate change was a very human problem and wanted to devote more of her intellectual energy to thinking about policy debates, leading her to her eventual PhD research area––and to Harvard’s Department of Philosophy. “In general, I was very impressed by both the philosophical rigor and the willingness to speak to policy-related issues in Harvard’s department. It seemed like a group of people who wanted to do really good philosophical work on relevant, current issues,” she says.  

Needful Questions 

Following her graduation in fall 2024, Clark plans to stay at the University as a postdoctoral researcher in the Harvard Solar Geoengineering Research Program, a group of mostly scientists and engineers studying climate mitigation technologies. She looks forward to learning from their experiences––and to giving a voice to new ways of thinking that flow from an ethical, philosophical, and humanities-based perspective. 

Beyond Harvard, Clark hopes her work will inspire new ways of thinking about our response to climate change, allowing policymakers, scientists, and citizens to imagine a wider range of possible futures. Professor of Philosophy Gina Schouten, a member of Clark’s dissertation advising committee, says this contribution to the discussion on climate change is badly needed.  

[Britta’s] work is theoretically innovative but primarily oriented toward practical, needful questions such as, ‘Which technological strategies should we pursue, how, and why?’ —Professor Gina Schouten 

“Britta’s dissertation project develops and defends an actionable normative theory that can guide decision-makers with respect to climate policy in our unjust circumstances,” Schouten says. “ Her work is theoretically innovative but primarily oriented toward practical, needful questions such as, ‘Which technological strategies should we pursue, how, and why?’”  

Clark’s hope is that her work can bring increased clarity to these debates and open up possibilities foreclosed by standard ways of thinking about new technologies. “You often hear people say, ‘We know what we need to do about climate change––we just need the political will to do it,’” she says. “But once we think about all the different ways that we could transition away from fossil fuels, and which technologies we could use to make that transition, it becomes clear that there are tons of remaining ethical questions in this area.” 

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Stormquake: How Old Seismograms Could Reveal the Future of Hurricanes

Hurricanes are growing threats in the age of climate change, but incomplete records hinder our understanding of how they evolve. Graduating Harvard Griffin GSAS student Thomas Lee tries to bridge this gap.

Cold Facts about Global Warming

Research by PhD student Kara Hartig could help forecasters predict weather patterns as climate change makes them more extreme.

New Satellite Will Combat Climate Change

Its development overseen by Professor Steven Wofsy, PhD '71, MethaneSAT entered Earth’s orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket launched on Monday. It could soon play a key role in combating climate change. 

Before ‘Forever’

With her 2024 Harvard Horizons project, PhD student Heidi Pickard seeks to uncover the prevalence of the precursors of toxic 'forever chemicals' in our water and food and assess their impact on the environment and health.

2024 Conference Program

Conference Program

Open minds in dialogue, friday, september 20, 2024 2024 hilt conference harvard graduate school of education (hgse).

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Race, Gender, and Real Estate [Module 2]

This course examines historical and contemporary real estate practices that have negatively affected racial minorities in the United States and internationally. The course reviews the history of land ownership and housing in the United States as shaped by the legacy of slavery and subsequent discriminatory practices such as deed restrictions, redlining, predatory lending, and steering. These practices have negatively affected trajectories of intergenerational wealth as well as social outcomes in public health, education, and political power. The course also looks at the participation of underrepresented minorities in today’s real estate profession and efforts to create greater inclusion. While the course principally focuses on race and real estate in the United States, it also looks at race and real estate in the international context as well as gender, class, ethnicity, and religion in the United States and internationally. Classes include lectures, discussions of readings, presentations by guests, and student presentations. Students will be evaluated on their participation in class, group presentation, and a final paper.

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How to make the most of your first year at Harvard

Shop classes, avoid echo chambers, embrace the Red Line — and other faculty tips for new students

Harvard Staff Writer

For the more than 1,650 first-year students who moved in last week, College has already started amid excitement and occasional jitters. We asked faculty to share advice with members of the Class of 2028 on how to make the most of their first year. Here is what they had to say, in their own words.

‘Just about everyone feels overwhelmed, or lonely, or stupid, or unprepared for College at some point’

Alison frank johnson professor of history, department of history.

My first recommendation for new students is to take at least one risk academically. I don’t mean a course that seems like it’s going to be “hard” so much as something off the beaten track for Harvard first-years. There’s a lot of passed-down knowledge about what to do: take a freshman seminar, Ec 10, a big gen ed, expos, and maybe Math 1. Hundreds — literally — of your classmates will choose four out of those five options in the fall. And you might think that if everyone does it, it can’t be the wrong thing to do. Fair enough. But I would still say: Consider doing something else. Consider taking a class in a discipline that didn’t even exist in your high school but that you’re curious about. Maybe anthropology.

My second recommendation is to go to office hours, but I figure everyone says that, so I probably don’t have to elaborate.

As for as things to avoid — I guess I would say suffering in silence. It’s easy — especially at Harvard — to assume that everyone else is having a great time, that everyone else thinks classes are easy and has a ton of friends and is just having the best time ever and so if you are struggling with anything, it’s because you don’t actually belong at Harvard. But I would bet that, whether you know it or not, just about everyone feels overwhelmed, or lonely, or stupid, or unprepared for College at some point. Whatever you’re struggling with, there’s someone who wants to help you with it. There are tutors, and teaching fellows, and faculty; there are counselors, and proctors, and peer advisers, and coaches. Somewhere in that group of people is at least one person who deserves your trust and will help you. Reach out!

Dig deep when picking classes. Don’t overpack schedule.

Jie li professor of east asian languages and civilizations, department of east asian languages and civilizations.

In my last year of high school, I came across a memorable quotation from Arthur Miller at my public library. He recalled his university experience as “the testing ground for all my prejudices, my beliefs, and my ignorance.” I took this as my motto for what I wanted to get out of College as well. College is a space to meet kindred spirits, but this doesn’t necessarily mean spending time exclusively with people like you. Rather than the comfort of any echo chamber, you learn much more from people from different backgrounds. Be an empathetic listener and refrain from making quick judgments.

Don’t be afraid to take risks and venture out of your comfort zone in your choices of classes and extracurriculars. Apart from continuing what you excel at, follow your curiosity and try something new. Browse through lists of courses by department rather than only search for keywords you are already familiar with. Before classes began in my freshman year at Harvard, my roommate and I spent hours reading through a thick printed course catalog and sharing our discoveries of interesting classes and fields unavailable to us in high school. Had I only relied on algorithms to choose classes, I may not have ended up studying anthropology or film studies. Take some small classes. You will get to know your professor and classmates much better, feel more invested in the class, and thus participate more actively. Don’t overpack your schedule. Drop a class or extracurricular commitment if you no longer have time for fun, friends, meals, exercise, or sleep.

Attend events on campus and across the Charles. Explore library treasures.

Joseph blatt senior lecturer in education, harvard graduate school of education.

My daughter Talia graduated from the College last year; I graduated so long ago that I no longer divulge the year. But despite the time lapse, we find that our advice for first-years is quite similar. Our joint recommendations:

Your academic experience will be far richer if you make the effort to get to know some of your professors. Take advantage of office hours — they are often shockingly underattended — and don’t be shy about engaging in conversations that go beyond the boundaries of the course. You can even invite them to dinner, and Classroom to Table will pay!

Think of Harvard as your fifth course (or sixth for the overzealous). The torrent of talks, performances, and other events that flow across campus every week will offer some of the most powerful learning you’ll experience here — along with the chance to meet new people, exercise your body and mind, and indulge in an unbelievable amount of free food.

Explore Harvard’s more than 60 libraries, where you will find treasures not available on screen: wonderfully obscure books, an amazing historical map collection, precious manuscripts, famous people’s recipes … along with brilliant reference librarians who are unfailingly eager to help.

The Red Line, with all its faults, is your ticket to downtown Boston. Don’t miss the Freedom Trail, art museums, music venues, and cuisines from around the world. And that way, when people ask, “Where do you go to college?” and you respond “er … Boston,” you’ll be closer to telling the truth.

This is starting to sound too much like “Let’s Go,” so we leave you with two thoughts focused on your studies: Pay attention to how you learn and choose courses and classrooms that make you happy; and don’t compare yourself to your peers — be pleased for their success, not threatened by it.

Ask for help. Study abroad.

Gabriela soto laveaga professor of the history of science, antonio madero professor for the study of mexico, department of the history of science.

I would definitely tell first-year students to think of asking for help as a necessary part of being successful at Harvard and beyond. Time and again, I see that the most successful Harvard students are the ones who not only reached out for help (either with writing, math, mental health, for instance), but knew who or where to ask. First-years need to explore the support network that is offered to them and use it. It is there for them.

Also, they must all do a study abroad while they are students.

Try everything. Share projects. Requirements can wait.

Stephanie burt donald p. and katherine b. loker professor of english, department of english.

Starting with academics, and moving into the rest of your life:

DO: Take classes that look interesting, especially if they’re small. Your first year can let you explore your actual interests, even if they’re not connected to your planned concentration, grad school, or career. You might even change those plans to reflect a talent, or a power, or a strong interest you didn’t know you had!

DO: Shop. We’ve got an add-drop period for a reason. Listen to the professor and see if you vibe with that teaching style. Speak with the professor if you like! And talk to non-first-years who’ve taken courses with that professor before.

DON’T: Try to get all your requirements out of the way early. You can take the requirements that don’t matter to you (for most people those are gen eds) junior or senior year when your other classes are big-deal, high-effort courses in your concentration. There’s no reason to take more than one gen ed in a term: Especially curious or ambitious first-years might take none.

DO: Study the past. Don’t confine yourself to the present as you choose courses in the arts and humanities. A lot of fascinating people died a long time ago. Some of them made some cool stuff.

DO: Try everything, including stuff you didn’t think you were good at. Many of us got to Harvard by choosing, in high school, mostly to do stuff we considered ourselves very good at. You got into Harvard. You have room to experiment. Comp or do something you never thought you could do.

DON’T: Stay on campus all day every day. The musical, literary, theatrical, gamer-nerd, ethno-cultural, culinary, recreational, and technical offerings of the Greater Boston area far exceed what you can find on campus, even though campus has a lot to offer. You may find your favorite new band at the Middle East (the rock club in Central Square, not the geographic region). You could find your new best friend at MIT.

DO: Look for people like you. Intense Dungeons and Dragons players, fashion plates, curling obsessives — Harvard’s big enough that you can probably find at least a few peers.

DON’T: Assume people unlike you won’t hang out with you. Some of the friends you make this year will have backgrounds much like yours. Some very much won’t.

DON’T: Spend all your time studying. Honestly, Harvard students probably spend less time on average studying — especially if you exclude future doctors — than students at some other super-elite colleges, and that’s a feature, not a bug, for Harvard: You’ve got time to meet students who share your ambitions, and take part in massive shared projects, and build what you want to build, and discover what you want to discover, both with, and far away from, classrooms and grades and professors like me.

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Thomas Loughran, MD, and Aakrosh Ratan, PhD, Awarded $3.4 Million to Study Genomic Architecture of Large Granular Lymphocytic Leukemia

September 3, 2024 by [email protected]

(From left) Thomas P. Loughran Jr., MD, and Aakrosh Ratan, PhD

Thomas P. Loughran Jr., MD, director of the UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Aakrosh Ratan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Genome Sciences, have been awarded a five-year, $3.4 million National Cancer Institute grant to study the genomic architecture of large granular lymphocyte leukemia (LGLL).

LGLL is a hematological malignancy that results from a clonal expansion of antigen-driven cytotoxic lymphocytes and is associated with inflammatory cytokine production, autoimmune disease, and cytopenia. There are no curative therapies for LGLL, and the immunosuppressive agents prescribed to reduce symptoms exhibit slow and incomplete responses.

Dr. Loughran first identified LGLL while working as a fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and it has been a focus of his research group since then. This translational research is enabled and strengthened by the resources of the LGL Leukemia Registry, which is housed in the Loughran Lab and is the only national registry that collects, manages and analyzes information on people with LGLL. Over 2,000 patients have consented to join the registry and provide biological samples and clinical records that support research studies such as this funded grant.

Leveraging the registry, the Drs. Loughran and Ratan have identified recurrent somatic variants and changes in gene expression, chromatin accessibility, and DNA methylation to define the molecular pathogenesis of LGLL in some of the largest patient cohorts sequenced to date. These efforts identified several LGLL-relevant genes and pathways associated with specific clinical phenotypes and subtypes. The studies were published in Blood, and one of them is summarized in a UVA Health press release here .

This newly funded study will define the consequences of these identified molecular alterations and their impact on LGLL biology and function using preclinical models and patient cohorts. The project will leverage high-throughput experimental methods and computational techniques to identify and characterize cell-type-specific functional changes in LGLL of high translational relevance, leading to the identification of predictive markers of treatment response and new targets for therapeutic intervention.

David Feith, PhD, John Luckey, MD, PhD, Chongzhi Zang, PhD, and Todd Fox, PhD, are collaborators on the award. The LGL Leukemia Registry is supported by the Bess Family Charitable Fund and a gift from a generous anonymous donor. The Loughran Lab research program is additionally supported by P01CA171983, R01AR079404, and a Scarlet Feather Fund donation to UVA’s Translational Orphan Blood Cancer Research Initiative.

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Urban Planning and Design

As a post-professional studio-based program, the Master of Architecture in Urban Design (M.A.U.D.) combines intense design instruction, extensive applied research, and knowledge of urban history and theory. Taking advantage of the remarkable international makeup of the faculty and student body, the M.A.U.D. program establishes a common intellectual ground among architects who have a strong interest in engaging the practice and theory of contemporary urbanism.

Jointly administered by the Department of Urban Planning and Design and the Department of Landscape Architecture, the program leading to the Master of Landscape Architecture in Urban Design (M.L.A.U.D.) is intended for individuals who have completed a five-year undergraduate professional program in landscape architecture or its equivalent. Students enrolled in the GSD’s professional programs in Landscape Architecture are also encouraged to apply for a concurrent Urban Design degree, for which an individual curriculum may be arranged.

Accredited by the Planning Accreditation Board and open to students with an undergraduate degree, the two-year professional Master in Urban Planning (M.U.P.) degree program engages with critical issues facing cities and regions in coming decades. Drawing on the strengths of the department, school, and university, GSD planning students learn how to understand, analyze, and influence the variety of forces—social, economic, cultural, legal, political, ecological, and aesthetic, among others—shaping the built environment.

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