Academic summer is here. I’m off to Providence tomorrow for a quick meeting, then back to focus on the two construction projects that are now getting off the ground here. In the meantime we still are in the middle of three separate faculty recruitment efforts and I hope to have news on that front soon.

I left the conference with a tremendous appreciation for ape
research–particularly the complexities of their cognitive capabilities.
Having sponsored ape research in collaboration with the National Zoo, I
had thought I was fairly sophisticated in terms of understanding what is
going on in the field–I now know I'm not.

I think it is fair to say that ape research, both in the field and with
animals in captivity, is undergoing a similar revolution to what
happened in neuroscience over the past decade–the methodologies are
becoming ever more sophisticated which allow for asking more interesting
questions.

Our next Decade of the Mind symposium will be in January out at Sandia
National Laboratory. The focus will be robotics. Stay tuned.

Jim

Well….it's about a month till commencement. I can tell without looking
at the calendar, because when one walks around campus, the students are
creating “beaches” out of the lawns between the dorms, music blares
forth–except of course when it doesn't, everyone has white ear plugs
dangling, and my colleagues and I are engaged in a frenzy of end-of-the
semester rituals: preparing grades, grant applications and finalizing
hires for the next academic year.

This has been a very satisfying first year of my second term as
Institute director. We've continued our growth and for the first time in
my tenure, I feel as if there are very significant scientific
discoveries right around the corner (both in time and in space). Partly
this has come about from building a real critical mass of scientists
who, while in disparate fields, are willing to collaborate (which
involves a lot of listening and dropping of jargon). From those
trans-disciplinary conversations and subsequent collaborations comes the
low-hanging fruit–and hence truly significant discoveries.

It is impossible of course to predict the details of what progress lies
ahead–the trajectory of science is inscrutable. But having spent a
life-time among scientists who think about “mind”, my intuition is that
Krasnow will soon be associated with paradigm change. I base this on my
interactions with the faculty and trainees, reading the many grant
proposals and manuscripts (in progress) and the general buzz that seems
to permeate this place.

Jim

Yesterday afternoon, friends of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study celebrated the Super bowl early as they watched the Los Angeles Lakers blow out the Washington Wizards from a Verizon Box at the sold-out Washington Verizon Center. Among those attending the “friend raising event” were Len and Ginger Pomata, Bill Nitze, who have been instrumental in advancing the science of the Institute through their gifts.

This is the show that aired on January 17. At least part of the interview is available at the link.

Jim

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is the first day of the Spring semester here at Mason. Here are three things I want to accomplish before commencement:

–Recruit at least two new thought leaders to the Advisory Board.

–Garner foundation support for our doctoral programs. Both programs are now beginning to have real track records (normative time to Ph.D. is typically five years or so) and it’s time to gain external recognition of what we are doing in interdisciplinary graduate education and research training.

–Double the number of proposals for sponsored research funding over the same period last year. At the same time, we’ll move towards diversification of our grants portfolio–I would like to also double the number of agencies and foundations that we submit grants to.

Jim

The omnibus federal spending bill really gives experimental physics the raw end of the deal. This is a large cut for the fiscal year already under way. It’s going to only hurt this country’s competitiveness over the long haul.

Jim

The link is to a NYTimes.com piece by G. Pascal Zachary….

Successful research universities are increasingly allowing corporate privileged access to their latest findings in science and technology. I know there are positives and negatives to this…those arguments have been back and forth for years. What’s interesting are the perspectives from the players and what this all means, not that it’s happening.

Money quote:

The appeal of these arrangements is that “we get broad engagement with universities,” says Andrew Chien, Intel’s director of research. “Their researchers work on frontiers, in unexplored territory. We want explorers.”

Intel hopes to learn more about scientific and technical developments that might influence its business, even decades from now. The company says it benefits from having its own employees rub shoulders with professors, while gaining the chance to observe younger talent in Ph.D. programs.

“You can view this as a pure pipeline,” says Chien, himself a former professor.

This is a perspective that I think has particular resonance for the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study and its various stakeholders and friends–particularly those in the private sector. One of the strategic directions that we’ll be heading in the next year will be towards building relationships like the ones Intel has with Berkeley, University of Washington and CMU.

Financial Times’ Jonathan Guthrie waxes on the gulf between UK uber-scientists and their business counterparts. Not sure he’s right though. The best scientists think like an entrepreneur–just not with a dollar profit bottom-line.

Jim

Check out Professor Paul So’s blog–only it’s about his new art space in DC on the historic U St. corridor, Hamiltonian Gallery. Paul is an esteemed senior faculty member at the Institute, while also a member of the Physics department. Who says science isn’t about art!

Jim