Symbolic of FSU's need to invest in STEM -- Ben Wang, the Director of the High Performance Materials Institute and inventor of buckypaper, has left FSU for Georgia Tech. FSU cannot afford to lose its top researchers in engineering such as Wang, and badly need to make some high impact investments to replace departing faculty such as him. Wang was also a VP for research at FSU. Another big loss for the university, and the unfortunate thing is we are not seeing similar level hiring of senior faculty in STEM.
Our university system is in shambles. It's quite apparent that our governor and a legislature think that the State is incapable of providing anything of value. They see our entire state university system as nothing more than an opportunity to cut costs.
In addition, neither the governor nor legislature will allow individual state universities to raise tuition to cover the cuts in revenues. The politicians keep a vice grip over tuition in order to use the state university system as a political bargaining chip. It's about power.
A perfect example is the ridiculous new J.D. Alexander university that no one wants or needs.
They don't care about brain drain.
The whole thing is depressing and is helping to destroy the State of Florida.
Dr. Richard Smalley first invented buckypaper. Dr. Ben Wang's group at FSU was primarily responsible for upgrading the production of this film from test-tube sized batches to large roles of it, useful in airplanes, solar farms, car batteries, etc. And to help sell the technology, (so that there's a need to produce it), he encouraged application level research to give the sheets unique properties or enable multi-functionality within host structures. Obviously, this meant producing a business/research model similar to that of what happened with Taxol, having FSU generate it's own research dollars despite what the state does. The university's inability to hire and expand research capabilities might be reason enough for any career and "big-picture" person to leave (nothing makes me feel more inadequate than looking at his resume http://www.eng.fsu.edu/~indwang1/). Despite his leaving, the research labs he left behind are still fully capable of generating trans-formative research and finishing out this model with the people they currently have. And I quote Darth Vader "Pray the deal is not altered further."
It hurts FSU though, and administrators know it. He's been gone for ~4.5 months now and news is just now starting to break out. Obviously, they don't want a mass exodus, so letting the news eek out slowly lessens the severity of the actual problem, preventing/stunting further departures.
Talk to Jack Sullivan from the Florida Research Consortium if you're upset about the brain-drain. He's a non-for-profit advocate of statewide research that would turn Florida into an innovation hub. Obviously, he's upset that all the talent state-wide is leaving for 'greener pastures', not just from FSU's labs. Obviously, the money problems the state has can not be solved by keeping/kicking innovators and intellectual-property generators out of the state. IMO and bluntly, that's just really dumb to do. As Mr. Sullivan states, these type of people are the economic incubators the state needs to grow, so that we are no longer reliant on "iffy" tourism dollars dependent on "Good-old-Florida-Sunshine" and "white sandy beaches".
/rant off
GO NOLES!
Posted on 4/17 5:50 PM | IP: Logged
Helluvaengineer, Thanks for the 411 and any further updates are always appreciated.
Really just sucks to have this news today.
Posted on 4/17 9:24 PM | IP: Logged
Rick needs to take down that list of salaries. It's makes it extremely easy for other universities to lure our professors with just the right offer. Let's hope he doesn't ax the preeminence bill too.
Posted on 4/17 9:32 PM | IP: Logged
Originally posted by nooniebird74: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/16/2753732/gov-rick-scott-signs-70-billion.html
Tuition to increase 5%
That's for community colleges. SUS (in particular FSU) got bent over.
Posted on 4/17 11:58 PM | IP: Logged
Actually, there is research going on, and there are being patents being filed. You can find out by reading the research papers that get published after the patent has been filed. Sorry, but I cannot tell you more at this time.
Posted on 4/18 8:32 PM | IP: Logged
If the perception is that FSU and other Florida universities are underfunded and losing the best and brightest, we have a severe problem.
There is always turnover in academia, which is likely a good thing. Bright minds grow dim without fresh challenges. However, normal turnover compared to a mass exodus, even a perception of an exodus, is a significant issue and if our governor doesn't understand it and help, he needs to be turned out of office.
Posted on 4/18 11:21 PM | IP: Logged
Originally posted by badoceanman:
Originally posted by nooniebird74: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/16/2753732/gov-rick-scott-signs-70-billion.html
Tuition to increase 5%
That's for community colleges. SUS (in particular FSU) got bent over.
While many things were vetoed, glad he vetoed this request by a PRIVATE Univ:
Also eliminated were dozens of local programs developed to enhance a university or medical center, such as about $3.6 million earmarked for the University of Miami’s medical school.
Posted on 4/19 8:12 AM | IP: Logged
Originally posted by DynastyNole: Helluvaengineer,
Thanks for the 411 and any further updates are always appreciated.
Really just sucks to have this news today.
Ditto. Helluva first post.
Although, with that handle, I'm not so sure you are all that upset about him going to GT.
Posted on 4/19 12:01 PM | IP: Logged
Always glad to help, folks.
I am sad to see him go, but at the same time I'm not, as my SN suggested :).
I'm a (FAMU/)FSU engineering alumni and Tallahassee native, and I've found myself at grad school at Georgia Tech. While I was at FSU, HPMI and those folk were steadily getting more and more publicity. Know a lot of the professors, lab assistants, and students there, and especially Dr. Wang. Very nice man. If you get a chance to meet him do so. Always thought it was cool when he would casually have lunch with Sir Harold Kroto (Who else would get to have lunch with a Nobel Laureate!?).
From what I hear, he also takes great pride in acquiring the Materials Research Building, which houses the High Performance Materials Institute (HPMI). Plus, the type of research he conducts still leaves him very much connected to the Institute through the academic channels. I still see FSU people in the materials conferences I attend. So he may be out of the building, but he's not "gone".
So in that sense, if you take into account the role in which he is currently playing at GT and with President Obama,(http://advancedmanufacturing.gatech.edu/welcome), the situation could potentially be very beneficial to FSU in the long haul.
Posted on 4/19 3:13 PM | IP: Logged
I'm actually somewhat relieved to read the news...based on the subject heading, I'd assumed Kroto had passed away. It is too bad though.
Yahoo! Sports
