Wash U Frontiers In Technology & Science
First Edition!
Saturday April 25, 2009
WU
Frontiers is a series of 1-day conferences, consisting of talks by WU faculty
that are targeted at non-specialists in the field, and accessible to researchers
in Science, Engineering or Mathematics. Unlike most conferences, though, the
object of these Frontiers talks is to introduce the audience to diverse areas
of research, while focusing on unsolved problems and challenges.
The
speaker and the audience can both benefit from the interaction amongst
different disciplines and from discussions with a variety of
perspectives. In this way, new connections throughout the WashU campus
can be forged. The focus will be on young and
mid-career speakers with the goal of allowing researchers to meet one another
in a setting that encourages open communication.
There
will be six 25-minute talks, each followed by a 15-minute question & answer
session.
Schedule Registration Speakers Ground Rules
These conferences
were inspired by the Kavli Frontiers of Science conferences, run in conjunction
with the National Academy of Science.
Goals
of Conference:
1. The audience will enjoy themselves.
2. Talks will be informative.
3. Discussion will be lively and interesting.
4. Researchers on campus will meet one another
in a forum that encourages dialogue.
5. Serendipity will occur.
Location: 199, Cupples I
Date: Saturday April 25
Time: 9:40-4:10, followed by a reception in Room 200, Cupples I
9:40-10:10 Assemble,
Coffee
10:10-10:35 Talk
1 R.
Pless 10:35-10:50 Questions
10:50-11:15 Talk
2 C.
Anderson 11:15-11:30 Questions
11:30-11:55 Coffee
11:55-12:20 Talk
3 L.
Markson 12:20-12:35 Questions
12:35-1:40 Lunch
1:40-2:05 Talk
4 K.
Thoroughman 2:05-2:20 Questions
2:20-2:45 Talk 5 N.
Saccone 2:45-3:00 Questions
3:00-3:30 Tea
3:30-3:55 Talk 6 R.
Loomis 3:55-4:10 Questions
4:10–6:00 Beer
& Discussion
All are welcome to attend, and registration is free. If you
want to come, please email mccarthy@wustl.edu
by Thursday April 16th so that we know how many people to
expect (and what quantity of refreshments to procure).
Organizers:
Sophia Hayes (hayes@wustl.edu)
Dept. of Chemistry, Washington University
John
E. McCarthy (mccarthy@wustl.edu)
Dept. of Mathematics, Washington University
Carolyn Anderson, Radiology
Rich Loomis, Chemistry
Lori Markson, Psychology
Robert Pless, Computer Science
Nancy Lim Saccone, Genetics
Kurt Thoroughman, Biomedical Engineering
Speakers’ Rules:
Rather than a polished academic
presentation, we are looking for a presentation at an introductory level, while
illustrating some unsolved issues in your own research. Instead of telling the audience what
problems you have solved and what achievements have been made, the goal is to
present challenging topics in your field (either short-term or long-term ones)
that you are working on, and where you have encountered barriers. Borrowing language from the Kavli
Frontiers conferences, imagine you answer the following questions:
What are the major research problems and
distinctive tools of your field?
What are the current limitations in advancing your field?
How might insight derived from other fields contribute to overcoming these
limitations?
Audience Rules:
This conference is targeted at young
faculty members (primarily at the Assistant and Associate Professor levels) to
allow for “cross-fertilization” of research ideas amongst disciplines and
researchers across the WashU campus. All attendees should participate actively
in the discussion periods following talks, during which they learn from one
another (in other words, from other scientists in different fields). Furthermore, collaborative relationships
can be effectively formed with researchers across campus in this manner.
Since young faculty are still at stages of
their careers where they are being reviewed for promotion, it is vitally
important that this conference be seen as an audience of peers—not of
reviewers. Aggressive challenges
(or “grandstanding”) will be strongly discouraged. Therefore, we will encourage a wholly open forum for
discussion, without judgment or critical review.