In this blog entry, I’ll be writing about the most urgent metric for success at any institute: scientific discovery. Certainly if it were possible to create such outcomes with any degree of predictability then our more senior sister institutes would be vastly more successful. In fact, there is a large consensus (at least among US scientific administrators) that the major discoveries when they come, are the product of at least as much serendipity as anything else.
Nevertheless, it’s my belief that there are certain strategies that one can take (the best analogy would be to growing a garden) that can maximize the probabilities for success in this most important area.
First: laying out the garden bed. As with the necessities for good soil and water drainage, an Institute like Krasnow needs a fine infrastructure that includes the tools for research (instrumentation and the like) along with appropriate housing for scientific staff and breakout space for collaborative discussions and seminars. It helps to be surrounded by a beautiful environment (other examples are Woods Hole and the Santa Fe Institute).
Second: select good seed. As with everything, you get what you pay for. Here the notion is to select the absolutely best scientists (based on their track records and also their ideas) and then provide them with the salary, resources and time to focus on their science. This always entails both risk and opportunity. One of the Nobel Laureates involved early on in Krasnow’s founding only received his tenure after his Prize.
Third: Cultivate, fertilize and water. Discovery depends on experimentation which is not always predictable. There are “dry spells”. More resources must be supplied and scientists must be provided with the crucial time to think and digest their data. When bridge-funding is required, it must be, in general, provided.
Fourth: Sometimes hybridization can lead to better results. It’s my opinion that the lowest hanging scientific fruit (i.e. the zero-th order questions) are inherently trans-disciplinary in nature. To get at these opportunities for truly paradigm changing discoveries, investigators from different disciplines must collaborate and discuss. They must come together across the jargon-divides of their various fields.
Fifth: always be ready to re-seed. Sometimes things don’t work out. It’s crucial not to let those failures get in the way of trying again. But it’s also crucial to learn from one’s mistakes.
Discoverers and Discoveries 