Prof. Venky Narayanamurti will give Birck Distinguished Seminar at 3pm on Monday Dec. 13 at Burton Morgan 121. See below the abstract of his talk.

Venky will share several thought provoking ideas about the nature and nurture of discovery research. Venky’s unique perspective about basic and applied research, finding and answering questions, paradigm shifts and consolidations are important for individual researchers who care about their impact in the society and interdisciplinary centers such as Birck that bring people together to work on societal grand challenges.

I encourage you to attend the seminar below and participate in the discussions afterwards.

Best regards,

Ali

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Birck Nanotechnology Center Distinguished Seminar

“Rethinking the Nature and Nurture of Discovery Research”

Monday December 13, 2021, 3-4pm, Burton Morgan 121
with extended informal Q&A and discussion for 30m immediately following.

Speaker: Venky Narayanamurti (Harvard University)

Abstract: Research, particularly on the “discovery” end of the R&D spectrum, is complex and easily misunderstood. Scientific advance doesn’t always precede, it often follows, engineering advance. Answering questions isn’t always the goal, finding questions often is. We don’t always seek to strengthen conventional wisdom, sometimes we seek to surprise it. What if we could rethink research so that its nurturing, through policy and management, harmonizes with its nature?

Join us for a conversation between Venky Narayanamurti and Ali Shakouri on Venky's new book with Jeff Tsao, “The Genesis of Technoscientific Revolutions” (Harvard University Press, Nov 2021) addressing this question.

Speaker Bio: Venkatesh Narayanamurti is Benjamin Peirce Professor of Technology and Public Policy, Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Physics Emeritus at Harvard University. He was formerly: Director of the Science, Technology and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School (2009-2015); John L. Armstrong Professor and Founding Dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Professor of Physics and Dean of Physical Sciences at Harvard (1998-2009); Dean of the UCSB College of Engineering (1992-1998); VP of Research at Sandia National Laboratories (1987-1992); and researcher then Director of the Solid State Electronics Research Laboratory at Bell Labs (1968-1987). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an elected member of the U.S National Academy of Engineering, of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and of the World Academy of Sciences. He is also co-author, with Professor Tolu Odumosu (James Madison University), of “Cycles of Invention and Discovery” (Harvard University Press, 2016).

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