Information Technology and the Research University
Every issue explores cutting-edge developments in technology, medicine, education, climate change, and much more. Articles provide in-depth analyses of science and technology’s impact on public policy, the economy, and society—bringing today’s best minds to bear on tomorrow’s most critical topics.
From the Hill
From the Hill – Fall 2005
Energy bill signed, little impact seen on oil and gas use After several years of impasse in Congress, President Bush on August 8 signed into law a bill that includes a broad… Read More
Perspectives
Flirting with Disaster
In the aftermath of catastrophes, it is common to discover prior indicators, missed signals, and dismissed alerts that preceded the event. Indeed, in reviewing the accident literature, there are many notable examples… Read MoreIn Agricultural Trade Talks, First Do No Harm
Trade negotiators at the World Trade Organization (WTO) are struggling to meet a self-imposed deadline of December 2005 to agree on the broad outlines of new trade rules that would cover global… Read More
Real Numbers
Reversing the Incredible Shrinking Energy R&D Budget
The federal government and private industry are both reducing their investments in energy research and development (R&D) at a time when geopolitics, environmental concerns, and economic competitiveness call instead for a major… Read More
Features
The Challenge of Protecting Critical Infrastructure
In protecting critical infrastructure, the responsibility for setting goals rests primarily with the government, but the implementation of steps to reduce the vulnerability of privately owned and corporate assets depends primarily on… Read MoreEnvisioning a Transformed University
Rapidly evolving information technology (IT) has played an important role in expanding our capacity to generate, distribute, and apply knowledge, which in turn has produced unpredictable and frequently disruptive change in existing… Read MoreCyberinfrastructure and the Future of Collaborative Work
One of the most stunning aspects of the information technology (IT) revolution has been the speed at which specialized, high-performance tools and capabilities originally developed for specific research communities evolve into products,… Read MoreEven Universities Change
U.S. research universities are going to change, and education leaders would be wise to begin now to direct that change. This will not be easy, but they have the advantage of being… Read MoreThe Economic Imperative for Teaching with Technology
In 1997, management guru Peter Drucker predicted that in 30 years the big university campuses would be relics, driven out of existence by their inexorable increases in tuition and by competition from… Read MoreManaging the Digital Ecosystem
Benjamin Disraeli’s ironic comment, “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” aptly describes the feelings of many college and university administrators as they develop institutional plans for information technology… Read MoreIntegrated Pest Management: A National Goal?
The original intent of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) was the coordinated use of multiple tactics for managing all classes of pests in an ecologically and economically sound way. Pesticides were to be… Read MoreThe Case for Carbon Capture and Storage
Human activity spills about 25 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere every year, building up the levels of greenhouse gases that bring us ever closer to dangerous… Read More
Book Reviews
Patagonia dreaming
There once was a world so lush with life that colonies of animals stretched as far as the eye could see. Of course this is not news. We’ve had glimpses of this… Read More
Tech talk
At a meeting on Bali a decade ago, just as the Internet bubble was inflating, University of California, Berkeley, Nobel laureate Charlie Townes held an audience of Asian entrepreneurs spellbound as he… Read More
Archives – Fall 2005
Bruce Alberts Bruce Alberts recently finished a distinguished 12-year run as president of the National Academy of Sciences. Among his many accomplishments, Bruce played a key role in a successful development program… Read More