That is if I can manage to get to JFK in weather that’s certainly less than perfect. Plans for the week include a Neurotech Conference, some networking meetings with technology folks and a talk at the University of Helsinki.
Last time I was in Finland was in 1975 (remember the Helsinki Accords)? Actually learned how to drive a manual shift on Finnish roads courtesy of my Dad’s largesse. I imagine it’s changed a lot since the Cold War.
It’s here and well worth reading.
Money quote:
Hacker and Dreifus reserve their strongest criticisms for a handful of elite institutions—the “Golden Dozen” as they call them—that set the tone (unjustifiably in their opinion) for higher education as a whole. The list is familiar: the eight Ivy League institutions, plus Duke, Stanford, Williams, and Amherst. They are the prestigious schools that all ambitious students hope to attend, even though only a small fraction of them can hope to win admission. The existence of this elite stratum of institutions seems to violate the authors’ sense of democratic fairness. In their view, these schools are overrated and do not merit the hallowed reputations they have been assigned.
I barely made my connection in Denver, and arrived after midnight, but I’m back for the weekend, before heading out again Monday to a meeting in Helsinki.
As usual, the meeting at Sandia National Laboratory was extremely interesting and the scientific discussions fruitful. The Lab’s efforts in cognitive sciences are really beginning to show pay-off.
In the meantime, a day to catch up on work at the Institute…..
Just some “catnip” to get our folks excited. On the right hand side of the rendering is our current great room. Phase III will include our Center for Social Complexity and two new centers along with collaboration space, faculty offices and an auditorium.
Phase II, the new laboratory wing, is off the rendering to the right.
One minor leak, otherwise no problems. As many of you know, there was more rain than wind.
I’m off to Sandia National Labs today to learn about their efforts in cognitive sciences.
We are now actively preparing the Institute for Hurricane Irene. For our staff and students:
That’s the office of our CFO, Jane Wendelin. It all happened about 90 minutes ago and reminded me of my native California. Turns out it was a 5.9 earthquake, about 80 miles south of us. All of our equipment and labs are fine. Same with all of our staff.
Thanks to colleagues and friends from around the world who’ve emailed and texted.
As we get ready this week for the return of our students and the beginning of another academic year, it’s useful to take a bit of time for some perspective on what lies ahead here at the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study…..
In terms of research, the Institute’s full complement of wet labs are now on-line and, together with our faculty, constitute a critical mass to move the experimental aspects of our neuroscience inquiries forward. We are well-funded, we have imaginative scientists and students, and we can ask the next level of questions. This is propitious for high-risk, high-payoff experimental science.
At the same time, we are engaging with students at all levels of higher-education, through our programs. The quality and quantity of our students continues to increase. This is both a function of commitment and support for graduate education from the central administration here at Mason, but also of some recent private gifts, which ensure our ability to attract and train the very brightest.
We are also committed to enhancing undergraduate education here at Mason as part of the University’s Quality Enhancement Program, Students as Scholars. Embedding undergraduate student scholarship within an institute for advanced study represents an “out-of-the-box” approach to improving learning outcomes, particularly in STEM fields.
We are also getting traction on our Krasnow Phase III project (stay tuned for images) which will expand our computational social sciences programs beyond what they are now, and, at the same time, bring them under the central roof of the Krasnow Institute facility. My hope is to raise approximately $14M in new gifts over the next year or so, to bring Phase III into being.
We are also moving ahead full-speed into two new arenas for the Institute: executive education and international initiatives. In some cases, we’ll combine the two. The goal is to broaden the Institute for Advanced Study’s research and education portfolio. We’ll work closely with other academic units here at Mason and our long-term external partners in these efforts.
It’s an exciting time to be serving as institute director and chief academic unit officer. I’m looking forward to a great year.
Is interviewed by Slate’s William Saletan, here. Crow has a vision for the modern public research university that is quite interesting. I’m particularly intrigued by his notion of trans-disciplinary institutes–it would be enjoyable to have him visit Krasnow.
Discoverers and Discoveries 