Durante una mesa redonda de “Washington Post Live” con el presidente de la ASU, Michael Crow, la presidenta Sally Kornbluth analiz\u00f3 c\u00f3mo las universidades est\u00e1n preparando a la pr\u00f3xima generaci\u00f3n de cient\u00edficos para liderar en el panorama tecnol\u00f3gico estadounidense, que cambia r\u00e1pidamente. \u201cMuchas de las cosas que tenemos en nuestra vida cotidiana, ya sean avances m\u00e9dicos o tecnol\u00f3gicos, son el resultado de 30, 40 o 50 a\u00f1os de trabajo de cient\u00edficos que intentaban comprender c\u00f3mo funcionan las cosas\u201d. \u201cEl MIT ha dado origen a m\u00e1s de 30.000 empresas. El impacto econ\u00f3mico del MIT en este pa\u00eds equivale al del decimocuarto PIB m\u00e1s grande del mundo.<\/p>\n
Without federal support for curiosity-driven research, the innovation and talent pipeline that has helped ensure our nation\u2019s prosperity and safety could run dry, warned President Sally Kornbluth during a\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0Live event.<\/p>\n During “The Next Generation<\/a>,” a panel discussion moderated by\u00a0Washington Post<\/em>\u00a0reporter Zachary Goldfarb at\u00a0The Washington Post\u2019<\/em>s \u201cBuilding America Summit<\/a>,\u201d Kornbluth and Arizona State University (ASU) President Michael Crow joined forces for a spirited discussion on the importance of curiosity-driven research, examining how universities are preparing the next generation of scientists to lead in America\u2019s rapidly changing technological landscape.<\/p>\n \u201cMany of the things we have in our everyday lives, whether they be medical advances, technological advances, a lot of these things came from 30, 40, 50 years of scientists just trying to figure out how things work,\u201d emphasized Kornbluth.<\/p>\n Kornbluth pointed to MIT\u2019s curriculum that focuses on teaching foundational skills that can be applied to a myriad of technological advances,\u00a0skills that will be indispensable to leading in an AI-enabled world.<\/p>\n \u201cI do not think that any of our traditional subjects are now outmoded [by AI]. It\u2019s how you approach them,\u201d said Kornbluth. \u201cIn our new curriculum, not only are we leaning into basic STEM fields. We really feel we have to resurrect some of the old, moral and civic and ethical educational goals much more strongly because we want all these kids that are learning to be leading-edge technologists, to come at it from a moral, civic and ethical perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence<\/strong><\/p>\n Key to Kornbluth\u2019s mission is maintaining a human-centric approach to AI. Inspired by MIT\u2019s motto, \u201cmens et manus\u201d (mind and hand), she shared: \u201cWe really want students to be able to use physical AI. We want our students to still be able to build things, but use AI as an augmentation tool.\u201d<\/p>\n Kornbluth expressed the importance of teaching interested faculty and students how to best use AI as a tool and her commitment to uplifting student collaboration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re putting a big emphasis on things like teamwork. So, [students] need to be able to use these tools and come together towards goals, because you could imagine a situation that AI becomes your buddy instead of your study group. We don\u2019t really want that to happen,\u201d said Kornbluth.<\/p>\n Using AI effectively requires writing strong prompts. Kornbluth discussed how foundational knowledge in fields like math, physics, biology and chemistry, along with teaching students how to write and communicate clearly and effectively, enables students to use AI responsibly when it comes to applying these new technologies to scientific research.<\/p>\n Students need to be able \u201cto take that knowledge and think about how they can use AI to the greatest good and also learn to write the right prompts,\u201d said Kornbluth.<\/p>\n Kornbluth noted the MIT Sloan School of Management\u2019s unique role in AI exploration. \u201cIt\u2019s because the students are all coming with business experience and the demand out there in the field for them to have really strong AI knowledge is very high,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The impact of frozen funds<\/strong><\/p>\n Federal funding fuels curiosity-driven research\u2014the groundwork of medical, technological and countless scientific breakthroughs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very difficult to make a groundbreaking discovery that\u2019s going to revolutionize human life because you want to do that. You really have to be figuring out how things work and traditionally that sort of research in this country has been funded by the government because it does not have an immediate return,\u201d said Kornbluth.<\/p>\n Discussing issues with federal funding, Kornbluth said that although money has been appropriated for universities, it has not been released to them by and large.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re really trying to figure out what the funding stream is going to be going forward,\u201d said Kornbluth.<\/p>\n When asked about the consequences of these frozen funds, Kornbluth pointed to the long timeline required to develop life-saving treatments.<\/p>\n As one example, Kornbluth pointed to diabetes treatments.<\/p>\n \u201c[Treatments] started with injections of insulin saving people and now it\u2019s automated pumps and CGMs [Continuous Glucose Monitors],\u201d said Kornbluth. \u201cThe next phase is going to be an actual functional cure, which is stem cell implantation\u2014masking the cells so they\u2019re not rejected by the immune system. But it takes a lot of basic work to be able to get there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat [diabetes] is just one area. You can extrapolate that to cancer therapy,\u201d said Kornbluth.<\/p>\n Investment in basic research can advance treatments such as immunotherapy.<\/p>\n \u201cImmunotherapy is just in its infancy\u2014it doesn\u2019t work in every possible kind of cancer at this point. But all of the modifications that are being done now in basic science laboratories through to pharmaceutical companies and biotech are making it more and more broadly applicable so that pancreatic cancer is not absolutely a death sentence now,\u201d Kornbluth emphasized.<\/p>\n National impact<\/strong><\/p>\n Beyond research and AI, the president concluded by highlighting the strength of MIT\u2019s student body, programs, and spinouts.<\/p>\n Kornbluth underscored the value of an MIT education for students and the greater economy.<\/p>\n Twenty percent of MIT\u2019s class of 2029 were first-generation students. Education\u201cis the best pathway to economic mobility,\u201d said Kornbluth.<\/p>\n She continued: \u201cMIT has spun out north of 30,000 companies. The economic impact of MIT on this country is equivalent to the 14th<\/sup>\u00a0largest GDP in the world. We are having a huge impact on the economy and we\u2019re producing the next generation of talent.\u201d<\/p>\n Though MIT is highly selective, Kornbluth noted it is financially accessible through its free tuition program for students with parental incomes under $200,000. She further highlighted\u00a0MIT for America,<\/a>\u00a0an initiative expanding access to calculus, a required course for institutions such as MIT, in under-resourced high schools nationwide.<\/p>\n Kornbluth and Crow concluded the panel by highlighting how their respective universities learn from one another.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we [ASU] learn from MIT is, where\u2019s the edge of technology,\u201d\u00a0<\/em>said Crow. \u201cWe learn how master technologists, and master scientists work in small groups.\u201d For ASU, which has a student population of over 150,000, \u201c it\u2019s instructive to learn and then operate at a different scale and in a different way. There\u2019s a lot of back and forth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Kornbluth expressed her hope for MIT to continue its longstanding tradition of research and education in service of the nation\u2019s next 250 years.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a smaller private institution, we\u2019re putting a much stronger footprint in how we can impact people well beyond the MIT walls,\u201d said Kornbluth, \u201cas well as having a scientific impact on society through our discoveries.\u201d<\/p>\n