To the editors:



Re: “Faust’s Scientific Leadership,” oped, Apr. 4.

While we appreciate the editorial’s praise of the current state of science at the Radcliffe Institute and the acknowledgement of the role of President-elect of Harvard and Dean of the Radcliffe Institute Drew Gilpin Faust in its evolution, the piece could leave a reader believing that there were no scientists at Radcliffe prior to 2002.

Since the founding of the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study in 1960 (renamed the Bunting Institute in 1978), more than 1,300 scholars from all of the academic disciplines and the creative arts have worked productively at Radcliffe. With the founding of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in 1999, a decision was made to support science more robustly than ever before. Particular attention was given to attracting junior as well as senior science fellows. Under the leadership of Faust and Radcliffe Institute Dean of Science and Higgins Professor of Natural Sciences in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Barbara J. Grosz, that vision has become a reality.



WHITNEY T. ESPICH

Cambridge, Mass.

April 6, 2007



The writer is director of communications at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.