Venky said the school would become the only Harvard professional school with undergraduates, and the only one that retains a strong integration with the sciences.

Harvard’s plan to build a new campus in Allston may likely play a large part in the growth of the engineering division.

“If we grow significantly there will be some expansions in Allston,” Dean Venky said, though he added that “I’m not imagining that all of engineering will be moving.”

The Allston Science and Technology Task Force, charged with considering the future of science at Harvard in light of expansion across the Charles, recommended last May that the University commit to a significant expansion in several fields, including engineering.

The report said Harvard “is significantly under-invested in technology; most notably its engineering efforts, though qualitatively strong, are much smaller than those of our competitor institutions by almost any measure.”

“Harvard must grow engineering and applied sciences,” the report said.

Venky said he is confident Harvard would achieve that goal.

“In certain selective areas, we should be second-to-none,” he said, citing the interfacing between engineering and biology, and the study of applied physics and material sciences, as two such areas.

“We are still under-invested, but at least now we have a presence,” he said. “I’m going to work my tail off to make us the best in selective areas.”

—Staff writer William C. Marra can be reached at wmarra@fas.harvard.edu.