The Harvard Brain Science Initiative is an academic and research collaboration designed to strengthen connections among neuroscientists across Harvard University and the Harvard Medical School community. Established in 2014, it acts as a hub that links faculty, postdoctoral researchers, students, and affiliated hospitals under a shared mission to advance brain science. The site serves as both an internal resource and a public facing platform, hosting directories of researchers and labs, announcements of funding programs and awards, updates on scientific discoveries, educational events and symposia, and outreach features such as the Connectome, the initiative’s community directory of members. It is intended to foster interdisciplinary work while increasing visibility for the breadth and depth of neuroscience across Harvard.
I built the Harvard Brain Science Initiative website in WordPress, based on a design provided by Epitome Studios. The development included a custom theme, several custom plugins, and a structured content model that supported the initiative’s diverse needs.
Custom Post Types and taxonomies were defined for News, People and Labs, Programs, and Events, ensuring editors could enter content consistently and reuse it across the site. Advanced Custom Fields provided predictable data entry, while Single Sign-On (SSO) was added for secure, restricted content. A faceted search interface was implemented so users could filter large directories and program listings by multiple criteria.
All templates and interactive elements were built to meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards in line with Harvard’s accessibility requirements. Performance was addressed through WordPress’s native srcset responsive images, custom image guidelines enforced via ACF, and server-side caching strategies. The front end was kept lightweight by avoiding unnecessary libraries and relying on semantic markup with minimal JavaScript. These practices ensured fast, consistent load times across devices and created a scalable foundation for future growth.
