IU's Commitment to Indiana's Future
Leadership
Basic Research and Academic Freedom:
Driving Technological Innovation in the 21st Century
Michael A. McRobbie
President
Indiana University
In 1895, German scientist Wilhelm Roentgen was experimenting with electrical discharges in gases. Thus, X-rays were discovered. In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin by chance through his work on bacteria cultures. In 1985, Sir Alec Jeffreys' pioneering work on human genetic fingerprinting grew out of a study involving the myoglobin gene in grey seals.
Scientists like Roentgen, Fleming, Jeffreys, and countless others exemplify the need for intellectual freedom that allows the researcher to embrace unexpected discoveries that can have far-reaching impact. Try to imagine the countless millions of lives saved through developments related to X-ray technology or antibiotic medicine. The genetic fingerprint will, no doubt, have equal if not greater effects on our medical community and our society as a whole.
During the last century, industry laboratories often were at the vanguard of basic research. Labs associated with American technical giants such as Bell, General Electric, IBM, and Xerox performed basic as well as applied research that led to such revolutionary innovations as the transistor, the tunneling electron microscope, and Ethernet technology. Once committed to long-term basic science research, however, many of these labs have fallen prey to the shortsighted, profit-driven business model that has come to dominate in recent history.
A second engine driving basic research in the last century was the government laboratory, which originally started as a venue for weapons research. Even with this specific focus, these laboratories developed innovative technologies with broad-ranging impact. In fact, the first large-scale, electronic, reprogrammable, digital computer was developed by researchers associated with the U.S. Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory and was designed to calculate artillery trajectories. National security remains the primary focus of these laboratories, and, despite their many contributions in areas such as information and transportation technologies, their commitment to basic scientific research is less robust than it has been in the past.
The research university still remains at the forefront of basic scientific research, fueled by intellectual collaboration and academic freedom. In his groundbreaking 1945 report "Science: The Endless Frontier," Vannevar Bush asserts, research universities "provide the environment, which is most conducive to the creation of new scientific knowledge and least under pressure for immediate, tangible results. With some notable exceptions, most research in industry and government involves application of existing scientific knowledge to practical problems. It is only the colleges, universities, and a few research institutes that devote most of their research efforts to expanding the frontiers of knowledge."
In the post-World War II boom, the United States saw a vast expansion of the system of higher education triggered in part by the GI Bill and the return of thousands of soldiers to the ranks of student. During that time, scientists at Indiana University were sowing the seeds of revolutionary change in their laboratories, preparing for the dawn of the "century of biology." Great advances in molecular biology during the 1940s and 1950s attracted the likes of James Watson (co-discoverer of the DNA molecular structure, identified through the use of X-rays) as students and faculty. In fact, like Watson, each of Indiana University's other Nobel Prize winners received their awards for work in the life sciences.
Indiana University continues in that same great tradition. The amount and intensity of research being conducted both on the Bloomington campus and at the School of Medicine in Indianapolis are on the rise though the rate of increase of federal funding that supports that research has slowed. Patenting and licensing activities on both campuses have also increased sharply. All of this has improved our ability to recruit and retain world-class faculty in the life sciences, including a winner of the MacArthur Foundation "genius" award.
Generous grants from the Lilly Endowment and capital project support from the state have helped support significant investments in buildings, laboratories, and personnel. With all of this tremendous progress, it may be no surprise that Indiana University, in addition to Purdue University and the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership, is playing a major leadership role in regional efforts to strengthen economic development in life sciences industries.
Indiana University and Purdue University, as the two leading research universities in the state, complement each other's strengths with their unique programs in the life sciences. Working together with large and small regional pharmaceutical and medical device companies, they provide the state of Indiana with a great advantage in the increasingly global life sciences marketplace.
The fate of this nation's industrial and government laboratories can teach current business, community, and educational leaders a crucial lesson. In order to create an environment where innovative and revolutionary research can take place, we need long-term commitments and the freedom to travel intellectual avenues that may not seem immediately productive. What will Indiana University's current research into protein folding, horned beetle evolution, and superhybridization ultimately yield? We can only imagine at this point. This is the nature of basic research.
At the same time as the state and region focus on economic development, research universities must continue to recognize that basic research should not be restrained by concerns about short-term profit or immediate practical commercial application. American research universities and their medical centers advance new ideas and spur innovation as they prepare the next generation for the challenges of the future. They provide the vast infrastructure vital to basic research. Now is the time to leverage our strengths.
Monday, January 08, 2007
