Microsoft Research New England

Overview
July 2008

Microsoft Research New England was founded in July 2008 in Cambridge, Mass., by Managing Director Jennifer Tour Chayes and Assistant Managing Director Christian Borgs. It is Microsoft Corp.’s sixth basic research facility to be established since 1991, joining labs in Redmond, Wash.; Cambridge, United Kingdom; Beijing, China; Silicon Valley, Calif.; and Bangalore, India, with a world-class team of more than 800 scientists worldwide.

The New England lab’s mission is to become a leader in the interdisciplinary approach to basic research by uniting hard sciences such as theoretical computer science, physics and mathematics with social sciences such as economics, sociology and psychology. For example, algorithms developed to optimize physical sensor networks may also be used to optimize the flow of information in social and economic networks on the Internet. In fact, similar methods may help experts tackle a wide range of apparently unrelated problems, from fighting disease through a better understanding of the structure of gene regulatory networks, to determining the best way to distribute scarce water resources in drought-prone regions of the developing world.

Microsoft Research has a long-standing and deep commitment to collaborating with the research community to advance the state of the art across broad areas of computing research. This newest lab continues Microsoft’s commitment, and its members are particularly excited about the opportunities to collaborate with the large community of faculty and students at nearby world-class universities.

Since opening its doors, the lab has already hired a core team of six established researchers, as well as a large group of postdocs, interns and distinguished visiting faculty members. It will continue to expand its research team and operations over the next several years until it reaches critical mass. Additional information about the members of the lab is available at http://research.microsoft.com/aboutmsr/labs/newengland.