Let’s call it creative destruction, borrowing from a popular term in economics. The idea is that the very essence of capitalism is the destruction of old structures and the building of new ones that inevitably face the same pressures as the structures they replaced. It’s the reason the buggy whip industry fell on hard times. The information management business of the Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) is in constant flux too, where the next big thing can soon become the next big flop.
Overlooking the eastern shore of the beautiful San Francisco Bay is UC Berkeley, founded during the gold rush days as the flagship institution of the University of California. This campus has become one of the preeminent universities in the world. UC Berkeley has consistently ranked highest among the world’s public institutions for its achievements in teaching and for the quality and breadth of its research enterprise.
Berkeley’s core research community is made up of some 1,600 full time faculty, 10,000 graduate students, and approximately 1,400 post-doctoral fellows from throughout the world. An astounding 22 current and former faculty and 29 alumni have received the Nobel Prize. The first atom-smashing cyclotron was developed here and UC Berkeley faculty played a key role in building the world’s first atomic bomb.
The coolest people are found on OSTI’s .EDUconnections Spotlights. Penn State’s Dr. Prabhu and Dr. Paulsonresearch different fields but discovered a possible cure for leukemia over a pizza faculty lunch.
When you think of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), what do you think of? The national laboratories? DOE’s leadership role in reliable, clean and affordable energy? Scientific discovery and innovation? Nuclear security? DOE has a role in all of these things, and more. Now, do you think about DOE’s connection with higher education? Probably not, but we want to change that.
EDUconnections is a year old project, and through it we celebrate our university partners, spotlighting a different higher education institution every month.
There was good news coming from the University of Tennessee (UT) and the State of Tennessee in 2009! A $1.8 million grant was announced that will help put more math and science teachers into Tennessee schools! This program, called VolsTeach, is designed to meet the increasing need for more math and science te
One of OSTI’s founding missions is to support education. From the early 1960s when OSTI provided educational materials on the atom and published the booklet called “Understanding the Atom” we have been committed to education. While information in OSTI databases can be used by teachers, students and parents for Kindergarten through High School, many of the technical documents and research findings are better suited for university studies.
OSTI’s databases contain thousands of university research projects that were either funded by DOE or sponsored through partnerships. Who needs this higher-level information? University students, professors and librarians need ready access to this information to advance scientific discovery! OSTI’s goal is to provide all of this information in an easily accessible, organized, online format that is available at no cost. And we’ve done just that! Now OSTI is focusing on how we can help communicate better and ensure that the DOE laboratory research communities have immediate access to these priceless resources. We’re working hard to connect with research universities across the nation to let them know about these great resources.
Printer-friendly version
