William Easterling, dean of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, recently sat down for a Q&A to discuss his keynote address at Research Penn State 2016, a showcase for the University’s five interdisciplinary research institutes. This first-of-its-kind event, held over two days in October, highlighted the breadth and depth of research in the life sciences, energy and the environment, materials science and engineering, cyber-enabled science and the social sciences.
Through these University-wide institutes, Penn State is at the forefront of interdisciplinary research, which aims to break down the silos that separate traditional fields of research in order to pioneer new knowledge at the intersection of scientific disciplines.
Research Penn State 2016, with a theme “Competing in a Rapidly Changing World,” brought together representatives from more than 40 companies with over 200 graduate students and faculty who presented their research in an interactive poster session. In all, the event attracted 500 visitors. At the graduate-student-faculty-industry reception held at the Nittany Lion Inn, Easterling presented the keynote address, “Pasteur’s Quadrant in the 21st Century: Why We Need to Rediscover Fundamental Research.”
Q: Dean Easterling, your talk focused on the importance of funding so-called basic or fundamental research. Why is basic research important?
A: I think you can safely say that throughout history by far the largest source of new knowledge that has ultimately made a difference in how we live our lives has come from curiosity-driven fundamental research rather than research driven to solve a specific problem. It’s just scientists asking questions because they want to get the answers. They want to learn how the world works.
That has not always led to useful information. Sometimes the information is really quite esoteric with no immediately obvious applications. But there is always the chance it could turn out to be the basis for some unforeseen technical revolution. Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, an example of fundamental physics, is crucial to the Global Positioning System (GPS) we use every day in a variety of ways. It took 40 years for the basic research on nuclear magnetic resonance by Isador Rabi to produce the MRI machine used in hospitals.