Villet, M H (Martin Herrer)

English

Villet, Martin H

Rhodes Repository (SEALS)

OF ANTS AND CICADASThinking and DoingTHIS EVENING’S BRIEF“We’d like you to use this as an occasion to …• make your research interests more widely known,as well as to• talk a little about your methods and approaches to  research, publishing and postgraduate supervision, so that others might benefit from your model of success.  The lecture should be pitched at a broad audience.” • MAKE YOUR RESEARCH INTERESTS MORE WIDELY KNOWNTHE ANTTHE CICADAKAROO CICADAS[6.4] / 1.0[29.1] / 1.0[18.3] / 1.0[1.3] / 1.0[9.7] / 0.62[0.6] / 0.98[40.4] / 0.99[4.0] / 1.0[0.2] / 0.55[1.5] / 1.0[31.6] / 1.0[54.9] / 0.86[24.7] / 0.67[23.7] / 0.74[16.4] / 1.0[3.0] / 1.0[35.1] / 1.0[27.3] / 0.54[1.7] / 1.0[50.6] / 1.0[13.3] / 1.0[1.7] / 1.0[6.2] / 0.99 [0.4] / 1.0[3.3] / 0.55[11.9] / 1.0[3.9] / 1.0[4.9] / 1.0BA2030405060708090 01018 000 years ago 40 000 000 years ago • TALK A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR METHODS AND APPROACHES TO• research, • publishing and • postgraduate supervisionMETHODS AND APPROACHES TO RESEARCHMY METHODS AND APPROACHES TO RESEARCH“If we knew what it was we are doing, it would not be called research.” Albert EinsteinEXPLANATIONWhy do I have ants in my kitchen?Why do mosquitoes exist?What are insects good for?…GOD DID ITEXPLANATIONPlato - How?Theoretical / DeductiveRationalExperimental / InductiveMaterialExternalAppliedTechnicalInternalBasicPureDarwinGalileo RediDa VinciEXPLANATIONAristotle - Why?KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION Mode One Knowledge –“traditional” disciplinary knowledge in which universities are typically engaged, i.e. discipline-centredresearch Mode Two Knowledge –”modern” interdisciplinary knowledge uncommon in universities, constructed around solving problemsGibbons et al., 2004RESEARCH VS DEVELOPMENTFocus on making knowledge CreativeOpportunisticIntensely personalSuccess is unpredictableBenefits are global and society-orientatedPublic activityPublication expectedFocus on using knowledgeDerivativeGoal-constrainedCommonly collaborativeSuccess is probableBenefits are local and sponsor-orientatedProprietary activityPublication not necessarySCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY“There will be no jobs in applied science in 20 years if we are not doing fundamental research. Basic science feeds the applied science pipeline. They are deeply complimentary to one another. Everybody knows the applied work is important, but frankly, you can’t do it without the basic stuff”Shirley Tilghman, President of Princeton, 2011WHAT’S KNOWLEDGE GOOD FOR ANYWAY?SimplificationPredictionPersonal SecurityTheoretical / DeductiveRationalExperimental / InductiveMaterialExternalAppliedTechnicalInternalBasicPureAssumptionsPredictionsKNOWLEDGE AND PREDICTIONKnowledge is of no real value if all you can tell me is what happened yesterday.- Richard FeynmanFORENSIC ENTOMOLOGYCatts& Haskell (1990)HOURS02468N = 2t t = log2NDAYS0510152025WEEKS FreshBloatedActive decayAdvanced decayDry remains012345FreshBloatedActive decayAdvanced decayDry remains0123450       1      1       1        0       0        01 0      0 0        0       0        00       0      0       1        1        1       1( )(        )( )(0      47    17 5   0  0 0)(92     0     0 0        0       0      0)(0       0     0       17       7      33      1 )SpringSummerAutumnWinterFBA RFB ARF BARFBA RWiSp AuSuMONTHSMETHODS AND APPROACHES TO PUBLISHINGMETHODS AND APPROACHES TO POSTGRADUATESUPERVISION “And the people shall be oppressed … every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.” Isaiah 3: 5EDUCATION VS. TRAINING “Training is to move people into positions where they can be productive and they are ready for that position. Educating is much broader, in that it gets someone ready for a life to follow. But it also can make them adaptable. It can make them innovators. It can give them curiosities that will enable them to transcend a particular vocational moment and to be ready for a world that is not always predictable and not always immediately definable.”Drew Faust (President of Harvard)(Financial Times, June 12, 2009)SCIENCE AND CITIZENSHIP“A scientific education creates technologists. A liberal arts education creates citizens: people who can think broadly and critically about themselves and the world.”William DeresiewiczFaulty Towers: The Crisis in Higher Education The Nation, 23 May 2011SCIENCE AND VALUES"If I do this what will happen?" That doesn't tell me whether I should do this. We still have another part, which is "Well, do I want that to happen?”Richard FeynmanSCIENCE TAKES AWAY THE MAGICSCIENCE AND MYSTERY “… the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics in the Natural Sciences” Eugene Wigner “Why nature is mathematical is, again, a mystery”Richard Feynman “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” Arthur C. ClarkeTHE ANTTHE CICADA“As for myself, I finally got into the swing of science, saw it as the play that it really is, and became enthralled by the discovery of little bits of knowledge and insight that can be gained through persistent questioning and testing.Posted by Doug Downie at 1:36 AMMake no mistake; the pursuit of science is almost exactly the same as the pursuit of art, and its outputs are often equally abstract and at the same time equally necessary, though sometimes much more practical.”THERE ARE TWO RULES FOR SUCCESS:1. Never tell everything you know.Roger H. Lincoln

Of ants and cicadas: thinking and doing

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