Dear College of Science Faculty and Staff,
From the compendium of science fiction stories in my mind, one that has stuck goes like this. In a distant land, people are required to be connected all the time, and to wear arm and ear devices. There’s a constant stream of information given to every citizen, wherever they are, all day and night (I hoped not during sleep). A renegade removed his devices and began to go about unconnected. Law enforcement was on this immediately and arrested him. It was such an unusual event that the charge escalated to the highest levels of government. The renegade said he wanted to have a more peaceful life and so had unplugged. And the thing that made this story memorable for me is that in the end, the accused was not punished in some dire way, but was allowed to remain unconnected, and to enjoy his peace and quiet. Smiley emoji.
Few science fiction stories have become real – space travel was supposed to become routine and extensive but remains difficult. Computers and their algorithms were not identified as the extraordinary force they’ve become. The plugged-in bit is almost real though. I gave away my air pods a few years ago. They were always falling out of my ears, sometimes into a frying pan of supper, but mostly, wearing them made me feel isolated. My mom had poor hearing and I’m grateful to be able to hear well. I love listening to everything: people chatting, the wind, squirrels scampering on the roof, traffic, the sizzle of cooking, it helps ground me in the real world. Sometimes, deep in the night, I hear a life and death battle in the garden outside. A swoop, probably an owl, a few plaintive cries of someone caught, then silence and likely a good supper for the owl. You can get a lot from listening.
In the 4+ years I’ve been your Dean, I’ve listened a great deal, to support every College of Science member in your trajectory. We’ve worked through your concerns and complaints. We’ve worked on ideas together, some of them wildly innovative, and we’ve agreed to give some a try. We’ve had success in every goal we set as we build the Good Power of Science.
One important goal is to ‘INCREASE UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH’ and I’m thrilled to report that working together we’re having considerable success meeting it, across every COS department. The benefits to students involved in research are stunning. Some explore the excitement of research in advance of a future academic or industry career. Students bound for every other career benefit from tackling how to solve real, often cross-disciplinary problems, how to formulate and test hypotheses, how to understand when data is reliable and when it’s not, how not to be discouraged by the omnipresent failures of research projects, and how to communicate the why, what and how of a research project. It’s hugely effective education for every student’s future.
Some College of Science majors help students explore research through excellent lab classes, but students also hope to join a faculty research group. Funding these opportunities is complex, and through wonderful donors and foundations, we’ve significantly increased the number of funded COS students over the last couple of years. Last night, we held an inspiring College of Science Undergraduate Research Celebration! Dozens of students, faculty, postdocs and donors attended, and we listened to nine selected students give fantastic lightening talks. Congratulations! to everyone involved (please see Image of the Week for a longer attribution). Thank you! to every faculty member who has hosted an undergraduate in your group. THANK YOU! to everyone who is helping open the magic of research for our outstanding COS students.
Sans ear buds, I’m available to listen, and you’re always invited to come and talk with me. Our tagline: CONNECTS is real, and we’ve been so successful together because we are talking, listening, collaborating and connecting. Thank for your outstanding work. As we end Week Three of the semester, thank you for contributing to excellence in the College of Science and at Northeastern University.
Warm wishes to everyone.