Microsoft Research’s newest lab officially opened with a symposium hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Microsoft Research New England was founded this past July by Managing Director Jennifer Chayes, Ph.D., and Deputy Managing Director Christian Borgs, Ph.D., with a charter to build on Microsoft Corp.’s commitment to advancing the state of the art in computing. The lab’s focus will be on interdisciplinary research to explore the boundaries between traditional computer science and social sciences, in collaboration with the broader research community.

Microsoft Research New England will focus initially on the combination of core computer science — especially as it relates to new algorithms — and the social sciences, including economics, psychology and sociology.

An additional team of researchers also will focus on design. The combination will bring together form and functionality in the context of how people use — or want to use — technology, with a goal to envision and begin developing the technology experiences of the future.

Chayes has established an initial core team of 33 distinguished researchers, post-doctoral students, interns and visiting researchers to begin serious research in earnest. Six of the principal researchers who have joined the lab have long ties to Microsoft and the broader research community. Others have joined the lab from around the world, making the team both multidisciplinary and multinational in nature.

In addition to the foundational team, Chayes said she and Microsoft Research as a whole continue to look for the best researchers in the world to join the organization, as well as to collaborate on research projects.

The new lab also is expected to benefit other research and academic institutions in the New England area, providing opportunities for collaboration and connections with top Microsoft researchers. The lab already is working on two joint seminars with MIT — one with the MIT Laboratory of Information and Decision Science and another with the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.

Microsoft Research New England also is interacting with Harvard University’s Initiative in Innovative Computing and Berkman Center for Internet and Society, as well as the Janelia Farm Research Campus, a new stand-alone interdisciplinary biology institute founded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Jaya Sinha/ITvoir Network