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Preserving genius in California By Robert M. Berdahl Two years ago, when I visited with members of the California Legislature, I always shared with them a copy of the New Yorker published that spring, for it expressed, better than I ever could, my concern about the effects of faltering state support for the University. The New Yorker offered a two-page photo of twenty-two of California’s Nobel laureates gathered on a beach north of San Francisco with a brief commentary: “The affiliations of California’s Nobelists are also telling. Of the total, a huge number—thirty-two—taught at the state’s public university system … (At) Berkeley, the jewel of the system, a natural-sciences major there in the fifties could, for a modest tuition, be taught by close to a dozen past and future Nobel laureates. California in its heydey managed to make genius public property…. “The hard question for California is whether— in the wake of recent budget cuts—these achievements will continue…We know that if, 30 years from now, California’s Nobel laureates once again assemble on a beach, not all of them will be men and not all of them will be white. It is less clear to what extent assembled genius will still belong to the people of California.” This year, as I go to the Legislature, I have a happier story to tell. The University of California garnered fully 30 percent of the Nobel prizes awarded to scholars this year, including that awarded to Berkeley economist Dan McFadden. Even more important for the future is Governor Davis’s decision to invest $100 million over the next four years to build four California Institutes for Science and Innovation on UC campuses. Recognizing that the future economic growth of the State depends heavily on the intellectual capital generated by the University, Governor Davis approved three Institutes in last year’s budget, and has called for the funding of a fourth Institute in his budget for the current year. Among the three approved is a UCSF and Berkeley collaboration, the Institute for Bioengineering, Biotechnology, and Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), in the health sciences. The fourth Institute the Governor is supporting is a Berkeley-led initiative, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS). These Institutes are extraordinarily important for Berkeley in several ways. First, they will help provide much needed new research space for the scientists and engineers on the campus. Funds from the QB3 Institute will help build the new building for the Health Science Initiative that will replace Stanley Hall. Funds from the CITRIS program will be used for two buildings: a small one north of Soda Hall and another on the site of Davis Hall. Second, the new buildings made possible by these initiatives will permit us to organize teaching and research in new, cross-disciplinary ways. Each Institute will address major societal problems that require the work of researchers from many disciplinary perspectives. QB3 will involve chemists, physicists, and biologists working with new imaging devices for the detection of disease. For example, it will engage people in developing new technologies for the delivery of medication, or the development of artificial tissues that mimic those found in the human body. CITRIS will work to apply the miracles of information technology to the solution of societal problems in the areas of transportation, energy, education, emergency preparedness, health care, and business growth. It can work, for example, toward the development of small, low-cost sensoring equipment—equipment that can monitor the condition of facilities in remote locations, make buildings more energy efficient, or alert medics to patients with heart problems developing difficulties. CITRIS plans on a broad reach throughout the campus, involving faculty in computer science, engineering, professional schools, and the social sciences. Finally, these Institutes help forge public-private partnerships in support of cutting-edge research. With a requirement that each obtain twice the state match with outside funding, the Institutes have stimulated remarkable support from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Between May, when it was selected as a finalist, and October, when the final submission was due, CITRIS raised $170 million of commitments for support. By far the most important benefit of these Institutes to the University, however, is that they make it possible to continue to recruit outstanding faculty. During this year, for example, Berkeley has been able to compete successfully with Michigan, Yale, Harvard, and MIT to recruit four distinguished scientists. Drawn to Berkeley in large part by the rich research environment provided by the Institutes, these scientists will help answer the question posed by the New Yorker two years ago; in the future, genius will still belong to the people of California. Back to Top |
 Chancellor Robert M. Berdahl
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