Microsoft Corporation announced the opening of a sixth research lab in Cambridge, Mass. The new lab, which will open in July, continues the company's dedication to theoretical research, which has increased eightfold since 1997. The Boston area lab is to bring experts in computers and social science together in new interdisciplinary areas of research.

"Microsoft Research New England will create additional opportunities for researchers to pursue their passions in the Cambridge area, one of the world's foremost centers of innovation, setting the stage for new discoveries and scientific breakthroughs," said Rick Rashid, senior vice president of Microsoft Research.

Veteran Microsoft researcher Jennifer Tour Chayes has been appointed the managing director of the new lab, the first woman appointed to lead one of Microsoft's international research labs.

"I hope my new role will serve as an inspiration for other women in scientific fields, and particularly for young girls who may be interested in math and science. I want to show them that math and science are cool, that research is creative and exciting, and that there is a path for women in technical fields at companies like Microsoft," Chayes said.

Besides her longtime work at Microsoft, she has also been a professor at the University of Washington and the University of California, Los Angeles. The research center will be located in offices near MIT.

Microsoft already has similar labs set up in Redmond, Wash.; Silicon Valley, Calif.; Cambridge, England; Beijing, China; and Bangalore, India. Microsoft Research was founded in 1991 and its labs are virtually the only expanding corporate theoretical research labs besides those of Google Inc.

This was also remarked by Venkatesh Narayanamurti, dean of Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, who said most companies, and even government organizations, are shrinking or eliminating these kinds of risky investments, "Microsoft's ongoing commitment to basic research makes it a notable exception."