WHAT WE DON'T KNOW: the LSU RESEARCH Challenge
“We must remind ourselves, and the public, that our value to practical concerns like health, economic productivity, and national security accrues ultimately from our enthusiasm for mysteries—our readiness, and that of our students, to explore the truly unknown.”
—Charles M. Vest, from Chapter 6 (What We Don’t Know, pages 97-114) of Pursuing the Endless Frontier: Essays on MIT and the Role of Research Universities
In drafting his 1995 Presidential address to MIT, Charles Vest sought to convey a sense of research as, in essence, a calling to explore the unknown. He realized, “uncomfortably,” that the gaps in our understanding in every field are far greater than our knowledge:
“I began to realize that in the rush to explain to our governmental and industrial patrons the importance of what we in universities know, we avoided explaining that what we don’t know is more important…”
Vest called upon MIT faculty to submit what they felt to be the greatest unanswered questions of their respective fields. They responded by outlining the persistent mysteries in seven broad areas of inquiry: Earth and its climate, human systems, information technology, language and thought, energy and its uses, cancer and health, and the physical universe. From these submissions Vest crafted his address and the later adaptation as Chapter 6 in Pursuing The Endless Frontier.
WHAT DON’T YOU KNOW?
Continuing the Charles Vest Challenge, LSU Research magazine is soliciting short essays from university faculty, research staff and students that define the most important unanswered questions in their respective research fields. Essays should be no longer than 350 words or constructed as to allow easy excerpting for print, with full text versions to be published in the online edition. Writing should be tailored to a general audience; citations accepted but not required.
DEADLINE: 14 March, 2008
SAMPLE ESSAY (Courtesy Vince LiCata, Professor of Biological Sciences)
Please send questions, comments and your submissions to:
Matt Mullenix, mmullen@lsu.edu (578-5841)
|
Confirmed Presentations |
Program Guidelines |
Nomination Form (PDF) Presentation Locations | List of Past Lecturers | CDLS Home THE LSU RESEARCH CHALLENGE |
