Dean's Message, Spring 2006

Dear friends of the college,

Thanks to the creative efforts and hard work of faculty, staff, and students, the Eberly College of Science has been enjoying great success. The College teaches over 200,000 student credit hours per year, providing excellent opportunities for students in our 15 different majors in the college, and providing an introduction to the sciences or grounding in science and mathematics for students in other majors across the University. In addition, last year's research and development expenditures in the college reached $86 million, another all-time high and an increase of 110 percent over the last eight years.

I'm delighted to see an apparent increase in the number of students intending to major in science.

Last year (2005) brought a 12 percent increase in the number of undergraduate students matriculating in the Eberly College of Science at University Park. This year, undergraduate applications to University Park were up 17 percent overall, and applications to the Eberly College of Science were up 23 percent. Every indication is that the number of students matriculating in the College in 2006 will be up another 12 percent over last year. Over the last several years, the numbers of freshmen and sophomores at University Park has been increasing as more students on other Penn State campuses have stayed there to complete their degrees. We've also seen a decrease in the average time students are spending to finish their degrees. Both of these factors lead to an increased fraction of freshmen and sophomores at University Park, although there is no plan to increase the total number of undergraduate and graduate students at this campus, now approximately 41,000.

These very recent increases in applications and enrollments in the college take place against a backdrop of rising national concern about economic competitiveness and quality of life in a rapidly evolving global environment. Over the last year or two, there has been a notable shift in attitudes and concerns in Washington. There have been several reports by governmental, business, and academic organizations. For example, the Council on Competitiveness convened a National Innovation Summit in 2005 and issued a report with a number of recommendations for U. S. universities and the federal government. The report notes two unprecedented shifts:

1. The world is becoming dramatically more interconnected and competitive.
2. Where, how, and why innovation occurs are in flux in multiple ways.

Some of the reports, including one by the Association of American Universities, an organization representing the top research universities in the nation, draw a direct parallel between the present time and that of the post-Sputnik era in the 1950s and 1960s. A very influential book reporting on these same issues is The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas Friedman, the New York Times columnist and author. The most influential governmental report is a 2005 National Academy of Sciences report titled Rising Above the Gathering Storm. A committee of business and academic leaders, chaired by Norman Augustine, retired chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, was charged to recommend 10 actions that federal policy-makers should take so that the United States can successfully compete, prosper, and be secure in the global community of the 21st century. The committee responded with four recommendations and a number of associated actions. The recommendations are:

1. Vastly improve K-12 science and math education.
   
2. Sustain and strengthen basic research.
   
3. Make the U.S. the most appealing place to study and perform research.
   
4. Ensure that the U.S. is the premier place to innovate.
   

This report, particularly its recommendation about improving K-12 science and math education, has generated substantial activity and support in congress. A number of bills have been introduced to implement recommendations in the "Gathering Storm" report, the other recent reports, and the President's American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI). The ACI, announced in the State of the Union Address, concerns K-12 science and math education, support for research, and encouraging entrepreneurship and innovation.

Not surprisingly, most of what we're already doing in the Eberly College of Science and most of our plans are important contributions to solving some of the issues raised in the recent reports. We are also taking very seriously the necessity to respond to the issues raised by the increasingly global economy, as well as thinking about the opportunities created for this college, for Penn State, and for science.

If you're interested in reading more about these issues, Rising Above the Gathering Storm is being published by the National Academy Press (http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11463.html). Also, a report titled Recommendations for Urgent Action that lists many of the recent reports is available from Project Kaleidoscope (http://www.pkal.org/documents/ 2006ReportOnReports-National.pdf).

Sincerely,

Daniel J. Larson

Dean, Eberly College of Science