Back from Research Triangle

In spite of challenging weather, I had a most interesting visit to Burroughs Wellcome Fund yesterday. I learned about some very interesting STEM education approaches and a very similar interest in success stories in Finland and Singapore.

It’s clear to me that the education puzzle is central to future US economic prosperity.  My sense is that there is even national consensus on this. The devil is in the details in this case and learning what has worked for other countries is an excellent first step towards reform here.

In Finland, for example, the requirement for all K-12 teachers to earn a masters degree with a mix of pedagogy and research is admirable. But that’s for a population of 5.4 million. That simply may not be possible here in the US with a population of 300+ million. But the underlying idea of attracting the very best and the brightest to education does make sense.

So good first steps. It will be interesting to see what evolves here in the US.

Most interesting new book review…

It’s here in today’s FT: Sir Crispen Tickell’s review of Rupert Sheldrake’s new book, The Science Delusion: Freeing the Spirit of Enquiry published in the UK by Coronet (I’ll need to check whether it’s available as an e-book).

Starts off with the premise that there are certain dogmas in present day scientific thought that may not be true and then goes off into the world of self-organization and complexity, and his theory of “morphic resonance”.

P.S. Sheldrake’s views on science are to say the least quite controversial. In fact, there are some who say it’s pseudoscience since, the argument goes, his theories are unfalsifiable.

Macro changes in the Federal R&D funding world…

They are beginning to manifest themselves in seemingly small ways. Today, we see new rules on using NIH grants to support faculty salaries. For those readers with a Chronicle subscription see here. For those, without access, the bottom line is that there will be a salary cap of $179,700 for NIH grants used to support faculty…potentially a huge problem, especially at academic medical centers where faculty researchers may also be seeing patients.

My prediction: we’ll be seeing a whole lot more of this kind of stuff coming down the pike.

At Cru Cafe in Charleston SC

The annual Biological Bulletin Editorial Board dinner. Hosted by the Journal and SICB Secretary Lou Burnett. At the terrific Cru Cafe in balmy Charleston. Around the table from the left going counterclockwise: Managing editor Carol Schachinger, editor emeritus, Michael Greenberg, Charles Derby, Karen Burnett, Bill Kier, Lou Burnett and yours truly.

The editorial board meeting earlier in the afternoon was a great success. And I enjoyed viewing some excellent posters at SICB itself.

But above and beyond, I learned a new skill: manning the exhibition booth! In all honesty, it was a blast. The line of graduate students to take advantage of our swag and subscription promotions was incredible. And it was a real delight to confess, as folks perused the gorgeous hard copy issues of the Journal that I was actually the editor.

In the meantime, I’m back in DC and the nice weather followed me north. The leaves may be off the trees here at Krasnow, but it feels like the Spring weather is just around the corner.

Looking towards 2012

As we close out 2011, I’m looking forward to an incredibly exciting 2012 for the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study.  During the new year, we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Center for Social Complexity this next year, one of the real gems in the Institute’s science portfolio. At the same time, we will be launching our unique symposium with the Santa Fe Institute on The Science of Complexity: Understanding the Global Financial Crisis. Finally, we will be welcoming a new University President, Angel Cabrera on July 1.