AT A GLANCE

With the Chancellor's Colloquium Distinguished Speakers Series, Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi brings in scholars and government leaders who promise to spark engaging conversations with the academic community and broader public around pressing issues of our time.

WHO: Charles Vest, president, National Academy of Engineering

WHAT: "The 21st-Century Research University: Purpose, Promise and Problems," second program in the 2011-12 Chancellor's Colloquium Distinguished Speakers Series

WHEN: 4 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 30

WHERE: Vanderhoef Studio Theatre, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts

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The entire series, including video of the first speaker, Cathy N. Davidson, the Ruth F. DeVarney professor of English and John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute professor of interdisciplinary studies at Duke University, speaking about rethinking education in the digital world.

Basic research and preparing young people to be lifelong learners in a globalized economy are vital roles for universities in the 21st century, says Charles Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering, who is due on campus next week to give a talk in the Chancellor’s Colloquium Distinguished Speaker Series.

Vest, president emeritus and professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has strived to bring more public attention to issues of education and research, and strengthen national policy on science, engineering and education.

He was a member of the National Academies’ committee that authored report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm,” first published in 2007, on the urgent need to energize America’s efforts in science and technology innovation. Members of the committee issued a follow-up report in 2010, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Revisited: Rapidly Approaching Category 5."

Dateline UC Davis posed some questions to Vest in advance of his talk.

What is the purpose of the research university in the 21st century? What are the problems?

I think that the primary purpose of research universities is to create opportunity. We create opportunity for our graduates by helping to prepare them for life and career. We create opportunity for industries and institutions by supplying them with knowledgeable people, new ideas and new technologies. We create opportunity for cities, states, regions and nations by fueling economies through our research results and our graduates. This will be even more true in the 21st century when we will have to compete well in a global economy.

As part of the committee that authored the “Gathering Storm” report, you called for more investment in K-12 education, teacher training and innovation, especially in energy research. Since the report's publication in 2007, what progress has been made, especially where universities are concerned?

The short answer is that research budgets in engineering and the physical sciences have been roughly in line with what we recommended; the federal government actually did create ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency — Energy) that we called for; but I am very disappointed in our lack of progress in K-12 STEM education. The federal government has not even done things as obvious and straightforward as making the research and development tax credit permanent, and they have not solved the problems around visas an green cards that would make us more welcoming to bright young men and women from around the world.

You have argued that investment in basic research has propelled national success. “No research, no chance,” you said in a 2010 address. Why is basic research so important? Can’t we just apply what people in other countries discover?

This is the knowledge age, and we can only compete and lead through application of superb brainpower. For many decades, we have been the most innovative nation on the planet, and all the really transformative things have driven our economy have originated in basic research. We have to be first out of the box with the newest and best products and processes and capitalize on them until they become commodities and move elsewhere. A strategy of implementing only ideas from elsewhere would move us toward becoming a low-wage economy.

Do U.S. universities need to do a better job of connecting basic research to real products and markets? How can they do that?

We can and should do better, but our primary commitment must be to education and research. That’s what we are good at. Having said this, we do need to become more effective and nimble in our interactions with the private sector through entrepreneurship and partnership.

What is the role of universities in training the future work force?

That is one of our major responsibilities, but in doing so, we must prepare graduates to be flexible and to be lifelong learners. We cannot predict what their jobs will actually be throughout their lives. We also should strive to help them become good citizens of the U.S. and of the world.

How would you persuade students entering university to major in engineering, science or math instead of something else?

I would first appeal to their innate curiosity of how the world works and how things operate. Then I would try to demonstrate that this is the most exciting era in science and engineering in human history. And above all, I would try to explain that engineering and science are the essential elements in addressing the major challenges humans will face in their lifetimes: sustainability, climate, water, energy, food, security, health, etc.

What is the role for universities in improving K-12 education?

This is a complicated issue, but I think first and foremost we should educate a 21st-century teacher corps that is well educated in academic disciplines as well as prepared for the classroom. And in every way possible, we should strive to make teaching the most respected profession in America.

Andy Fell covers the physical and biological sciences, and engineering for the News Service unit of University Communications.