SMA

MIT, NUS, and NTU comprise a very broad spectrum of interests, inclinations, and talents. Professor Eugene Fitzgerald (SMA Fellow, AMM&NS) succinctly describes SMA-1 as a “bucket of water from the MIT and NUS/NTU ponds.” As a relatively small activity, SMA-1 is of course not nearly as diverse as the parent partner universities; however, SMA-1 does encompass a breadth of perspectives that, ultimately, has proven very beneficial. SMA-1 is very much the product of many different individual and collective initiatives and voices.

There are SMA faculty enthusiastic about very new disciplinary areas – and faculty that remain focused on foundational subjects.

      There are faculty focused on near-term and more time-critical issues – and faculty with decade or even many-decade horizons.

   There are faculty involved in research that is applied, responding to identified needs– and faculty involved in research that is “pure,” driven largely by curiosity.

        There are faculty with ideas that will prove extremely successful – and faculty with ideas that will be recognized as resounding (but instructive) failures.

        There are faculty who wish to design and create – and faculty who wish to model, measure, and analyze.

        There are faculty who are successful and prolific entrepreneurs – and faculty more focused on building new academic enterprises.

      There are faculty focused on research and development – and faculty more interested in teaching and scholarly efforts of a didactic nature.

       There are faculty who embrace new educational technology – and there are faculty who prefer to deliver their messages more simply.

And of course, there are many faculty whose interests and activities defy any categorization.

There is also great diversity amongst our SMA students: diversity in culture, ethnicity, and nationality; diversity in earlier educational and industrial experiences; diversity in current professional and personal interests; and diversity in future aspirations. Perhaps the only common denominator is exceptional talent and dedication.

This year, two denizens of our SMA-1 “bucket” will return to the MIT and NUS/NTU ponds whence they came: as planned --- after a successful run of five years --- AMM&NS and HPCES accepted their last cohort of (SMA-1) Masters and PhD students in July of 2003. We applaud the efforts of the faculty and students in these two inaugural SMA-1 programmes; they, and their many contributions to SMA, are greatly appreciated.

We look forward to the continuing accomplishments of the remaining members of the SMA-1 ecosystem ---- the IMST, MEBCS, and CS programmes. And, of course, next year will also bring the inauguration of SMA-2, and a rich influx of new ideas.