Harold Abelson

Harold Abelson is the Class of 1922 Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and an IEEE Fellow. He co-directs the MIT-Microsoft iCampus Research Alliance in Educational Technology, co-chairs the MIT Council on Educational Technology, and serves on the HP-MIT Alliance steering committee, driving foundational initiatives like MIT OpenCourseWare and DSpace.

Education:

• A.B. from Princeton University
• Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT

Research Interests:

Abelson pioneers computation as a conceptual framework for education, exemplified by his development of Logo (1981) and Scheme programming languages. His work spans computer science pedagogy, amorphous computing for unreliable distributed systems, and information technology policy, notably through teaching MIT's Ethics and Law on the Electronic Frontier course and co-founding organizations like Creative Commons and the Free Software Foundation to strengthen intellectual commons.

Scientific Awards:

• MacVicar Faculty Fellow (MIT, 1992) for sustained teaching excellence
• Bose Award (MIT School of Engineering, 1992)
• Taylor L. Booth Education Award (IEEE Computer Society, 1995) for Logo/Scheme pedagogy
• IEEE Fellow for professional contributions

Advising and Grants: While specific advisees and grants aren't listed, Abelson's leadership in the MIT-Microsoft iCampus Alliance and HP-MIT Alliance demonstrates extensive grant management for institutional educational technology projects. His MacVicar Fellowship and Bose Award underscore a decades-long mentorship impact on undergraduate education at MIT.

Labs and Teams: Abelson co-directs the MIT Project on Mathematics and Computation with Gerald Sussman, focusing on amorphous computing to develop programming systems for vast networks of unreliable units (e.g., 'smart paint' for structural monitoring). He also leads teams within the MIT Council on Educational Technology and MIT-Microsoft iCampus Alliance, directly shaping OpenCourseWare and DSpace's global deployment.