Message from the Dean of the School of Science
Dear Friends,
These are challenging times for the School of Science and MIT, as I am sure they are for many of you as well. The financial crisis and the contraction of the world economy have caused our endowment to decrease in value. As a result, we anticipate an increased need for undergraduate financial aid, which will decrease our tuition revenue. This has led the Provost to call for a reduction in the MIT budget of 15 percent over three years. He has put in place a task force to examine ways in which we could do our work more efficiently. However, while we plan for changes that will reduce costs, we continue to find ways to lead the world in research and education. Whereas some competing universities have hiring freezes, MIT is continuing to hire young scientists. We will not recruit as many as in the past, but this is an opportunity to hire some outstanding faculty members. And our faculty and students are making remarkable discoveries. For example, there is an article in our newsletter, Science@MIT about the amazing research results of Lenny Guarente, who has discovered the genes that determine how rapidly we age. Since aging is closely related to many diseases, drugs that control the functioning of these genes might dramatically improve our quality of life. Another example from Science@MIT is Chris Williams. A graduate student supported by a Bruno Rossi Fellowship, he is traveling to Australia to help assemble a new radio telescope array that will look back in time to only about 400 million years after the Big Bang.
The federal government’s stimulus package is likely to help us for the next year or two. Large amounts of short-term funding have been given to the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Department of Energy. Some of these agencies have announced competitions for funds for equipment and research infrastructure. We are working furiously to submit proposals to secure this funding, which will help us improve research opportunities for our students and faculty. However, when the economy recovers, the gigantic federal budget deficits will most likely place severe constraints on science funding. We must plan for the tough times ahead. While we do not expect alumni and friends who are dealing with their own financial difficulties to be as generous now as they have in the past, we hope that you will keep the School in your giving plans for better times. And for those of you who still have the means to help us, your gifts are now more meaningful than ever.
Sincerely,
Marc A. Kastner
