The Mind/Brain/Behavior (MBB) Initiative recently received a $1 million pledge from Gordon Gund '61 and his wife Llura, as part of the University's $2.1 billion capital campaign.
"We wanted to do something for the campaign that would have impact in the near term, while also seeding a program that would eventually have support from other sources," Gund said.
This pledge marks the largest gift ever received by MBB, an initiative created to deepen understanding of how the mind and brain influence human behavior.
The initiative was created in 1991 by the University to promote a sustained dialogue among Harvard faculty and departments, bringing the neurosciences into contact with the social sciences and humanities to address pressing societal and intellectual problems.
The Gunds' gift will provide $200,000 per year to "We have just gone into the new undergraduate tracks and we need help very much there to support the teaching and research enterprise," Rudenstine said. Although MBB does not offer its own field of concentration, students can pursue one of four MBB "tracks" in the fields of biology, computer science, history and science or psychology. Currently, close to 100 students are currently enrolled in one of the tracks. The Gunds The Gunds' gift to MBB is only the family's latest donation for the promotion of research relating to the study of the brain and the mind. The Gund name is already associated with another Harvard research venture, the Berman-Gund lab. The laboratory is housed at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. Gund, who has been blind since 1970, began losing his sight in his late 20s because of a degenerative disease of the retina with no known cure. Since then, the Gunds have been active in funding research for a cure. In 1971, they co-founded an organization, The Foundation Fighting Blindness, dedicated to seeking cures for retinal degenerations. Gund said his loss of sight spurred his interest in the study of the mind and the brain. "My own experience had a lot to do with MBB being intriguing for me," Gund said in a press release. "I've been fascinated with how my other senses and my memory have adjusted to the loss of sight.
Read more in News
Joseph Heller Reads, Reflects at BrattleRecommended Articles
-
`Sex' Professor Hauser Tenured in PsychologyProfessor Marc D. Hauser was thankful that he knew the day's lecture subject like the back of his evolved hand.
-
Think About the Green RabbitSeveral weeks ago during my introductory cell biology course, my professor interrupted the usual drone about the fascinating world of
-
Harvard To Hire MIT Psych ProfessorIn a major coup for the psychology department, psychologist Steven Pinker has decided to leave MIT for an appointment at
-
Council Approves Mandatory EvaluationsThe Faculty Council voted yesterday in favor of requiring all Faculty members to undergo student evaluations and granting the Committee
-
Under New Regime, Harvard's 'Tubs' Find a Common BottomThey called it “Every Tub on Its Own Bottom”—a philosophy of decentralized governance that for centuries gave Harvard’s divisions unmatched
-
‘CommuniTea’ Briefs Students About MMBA handful of students discussed human psychology and neurobiology with professors yesterday at the Harvard Society for Mind, Brain and Behavior’s biweekly “CommuniTea” event in Emerson Hall.
