Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
SCIENCE POLICY May 30-31 Symposium To Honor Vannevar Bush The late Vannevar Bush of MIT, who organized and led America's science and technology effort during World War II, will be saluted at a May 30- 31 symposium for his pioneering contributions to the nation's science policy. The symposium, "Remembering the Past and Shaping the Future of American Science Policy," will be held in the Wiesner Building's Bartos Theater, Rm E15-070. It is sponsored by the MIT Defense and Arms Control Studies Program and is one of a series of events marking the May 10 inauguration of Charles M. Vest as MIT's 15th president. The MIT community is invited to the Bartos Theater sessions. Professor Harvey Sapolsky, chairman of the Defense and Arms Control Studies Program, is the coordinator of the Vannevar Bush symposium. "As the official leader of American science and engineering during World War II, Vannevar Bush helped formulate the policies that have for nearly 50 years guided engineering education, the federal government's support of basic research, and the generation and utilization of technical knowledge for America's military and industry," Professor Sapolsky said. "Celebrating the 100th anniversary of his birth provides an opportunity to reflect on his initiatives and to consider what needs to be done today if the policy challenges of the future are to be met." The symposium will begin at 9:30am Thursday, May 30, with a welcome by President Vest and an address, "Bush and MIT," by Howard W. Johnson, MIT president emeritus, former chairman of the MIT Corporation and special faculty professor emeritus. Professor Jack Ruina of MIT will chair the opening session, "The Civilian Role in Military R&D." Other first-session speakers will be Harold Sorenson, a vice president with MITRE; Michael Dennis, Smithsonian Institution Fellow at the National Air and Space Museum; Duke University history professor Alex Roland; and Carnegie Corporation scholar-in-residence Rodney Nichols. The speaker at a luncheon at the MIT Faculty Club will be David Hamburg, the well-known behavioral scientist who is president of Carnegie Corporation, a New York-based foundation. The title of his talk is "Science Policy from Bush to Bush and Beyond." MIT Professor Emeritus Carl Kaysen will chair the second session, "National Policy for Basic Research." Other speakers will be California Institute of Technology professor Daniel J. Kevles; David Z. Robinson, executive director of the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology and Government; Professor Sapolsky; and Bruce Smith, senior staff member at Brookings Institution. The first day will conclude with a dinner at the MIT Museum where the speakers will be Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus Development and chairman of ON Technology; President Vest, and MIT associate provost Samuel J. Keyser. On Friday, May 31, MIT Professor Michael L. Dertouzos, director of the Laboratory for Computer Science, will chair the third session, "Private and International Sponsorship of R&D," which begins at 10am. Other speakers will be Los Angeles Times/Washington Post columnist Michael Schrage; Harvard professor Robert Reich; and MIT political science professors Suzanne Berger and Eugene Skolnikoff. The luncheon speaker at the Faculty Club will be former Raytheon vice president Norman B. Krim (Class of 1934), who will discuss Mr. Bush's role in helping found Raytheon. The concluding session, chaired by MIT professor Joel Moses, dean of the School of Engineering, will begin at 2pm. Its focus will be "Designing Engineering Education for the Future." Other speakers will be Gordon Brown, retired MIT engineering dean; MIT professor Paul L. Penfield Jr., head of EECS; Carnegie Mellon professor Granger Morgan; and MIT professor H. Kent Bowen. Other members of the symposium planning committee are MIT professor Merritt Roe Smith, University of Massachusetts professor Lawrence Owens, Johns Hopkins professor William Leslie, Mr. Schrage, MIT Museum director Warren Seamans and Victor McElheny, director of MIT's Knight Fellowships.