Monday, September 22, 2008

Microsoft officially launches Cambridge research center

By Christopher Calnan

The research division of Microsoft Corp. marked the official opening of its Cambridge laboratory Monday with a symposium at MIT. The day-long event, which includes a panel discussion with computer and social scientists, focuses on the interdisciplinary research, Microsoft officials said.

The facility, called Microsoft Research New England, opened at One Memorial Drive in July. Although the lab currently houses about 30 workers, the company is expecting it to eventually employ about 50. However, the laboratory has already hosted 30-40 visiting faculty members and six visiting post-doctoral students — expanding the facility’s reach beyond New England, managing director Jennifer Chayes said.

“We’re going to grow a lot,” she said. “But what’s important for the (Boston) area is how many people we touch and bring through here.”

Chayes, a former University of Washington and University of California professor, said researchers have been taking advantage of local tech talent and expanding their research to include experts in disciplines such as biotechnology.

“Wherever we go intellectually, the best people are right here,” she said. “It’s turned out better than my wildest dreams.” Chayes, who joined Microsoft Research in 1997, has led groups in the areas of mathematics, theoretical computer science and cryptography.

The research facility, which is in the same building in which Microsoft established a product development center, is the company’s sixth research center and its first on the East Coast. Microsoft recently enlisted to join the laboratory Danah Boyd, an ethnographer, social scientist and a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Chayes said.

The research facility expands the software maker giant’s presence in Massachusetts that already includes 580 workers in at least three Bay State locations, including Beverly, Cambridge and Waltham.

Plans call for the Cambridge facility to initially focus on core computer science, especially more algorithmically oriented areas, coupled with the social sciences. It will also include a small group focused on design, according to Microsoft officials. Microsoft Research, which was founded in 1991, operates laboratories in Redmond, Wash.; Silicon Valley; Cambridge, England; Beijing; and Bangalore, India.