Moulding the tech geniuses of tomorrow

MIT chancellor Phillip Clay believes the future is bright for the instituteand its students, writes Karlin Lillington.

Being chancellor of the most famous technology school in the world can't be an easy job. Especially when you step into the role in 2001 at precisely the point at which "technology" has, at least in investors' minds, become a naughty word.

But Dr Phillip Clay, the chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), doesn't seem overly bothered by the pressure of overseeing 10,000 students focused exclusively on technology.

He is also in charge of a diverse, creative and sometimes famously difficult faculty, and more than 3,000 research labs exploring the furthest corners of technological research, including the feisty Media Lab, parent of Dublin's Media Lab Europe (MLE).

And Dr Clay is grappling with an uncertain economy and a loss of faith in the very area that the university sends its graduates out into - the technology and business sectors, which in turn contribute much of the funding that oils the wheels of the institution and its research labs.

But he doesn't seem phased. In part, that's probably because he's been at MIT for more than 30 years, as a doctoral student, then a professor, then an administrator in numerous capacities, from head of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning to associate provost.

He's well known in the US for his work on housing policy and community development, and is the author of two books on the area.

He says the technology downturn and wider economic malaise has failed to dent student interest in attending MIT.

"We've not seen a decline in the number of national applications. In education, it's important to take the long view. Yes, the bubble did burst, and yes, the easy employment opportunities and premium salaries associated with the bubble have disappeared. But the underlying requirement for scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs remains the same."

Indeed, MIT's attraction to students never seems to dim and competition to get in is tough. As one researcher associated with the institution says: "To an engineer, it's hallowed ground."

Since 1865, MIT has brought in the world's brightest technology students and produced tomorrow's researchers, inventors and entrepreneurs. Unlike many other universities - particularly in Europe, where technology students tend to dive straight into industry after getting their baccalaureate - MIT has an extremely high ratio of postgraduate research students, 55 per cent of the total student body. Some 38 per cent of undergraduates at the university go on to graduate degrees, many of them remaining at MIT.

Dr Clay feels this is because research is such a priority with faculty and is also naturally engaging to students.

"We've tried to give students a close exposure to research, even at the undergraduate level, so their excitement is genuine and deep," he says.

He believes MIT is also fortunate in that it doesn't do anything else besides technology, which means it doesn't have to disperse funding and research expertise across other professional schools, like medicine or architecture.

However, the curriculum is surprisingly diverse. Students must take at least 20 per cent of their total classes in arts and humanities subjects.

"They get Shakespeare and philosophy and history, and all that," laughs Dr Clay. "But sometimes it might be the history of technology, or the philosophy of science."

"Innovation" is what he considers to be the most important quality of the university.

"Innovation brings technology to address human problems. We start with the problems, not by creating solutions in search of a problem," he says.

MIT has successfully changed its image many times, from the pocket-protected, white-shirt-and-tie brigades of the 1960s and 1970s through the nerdish entrepreneurs of the 1980s to the digitally hip media, animation and robotics students of the present. How do you keep an institution fresh and relevant, especially in a field where many people would view research and researchers as particularly introspective?

Faculty members are constantly engaged with the outside world, addressing the problems of the future, says Dr Clay. Governments, sponsors and companies come to MIT with problems they'd like resolved, he says. Research ideas "float up out of the ether" as well.

"We have a reputation as an institution that is open to listening to all those voices and then applying our researchers," he says. "The outside world gets to come in and we get to go out to the outside world."

That has perhaps been particularly true in recent years, when research produced within MIT has attracted outside interest and funding, with many faculty members becoming tech entrepreneurs along the way. Hanging on to faculty became an issue for the university, which now has an intellectual property and profit-sharing agreement in place after some dispute about appropriate provisions in the area.

"We don't discourage \ and in fact we have an entrepreneurial centre on campus now," Dr Clay says.

He sees his biggest challenge as maintaining consistency. "We have to continue to look for the best people, to continue doing what they're good at."

That's his advice to the Republic as well, as it seeks to fortify its international research links and encourage technology entrepreneurs. "The Irish Government has sent a signal that it wants to be a player in the global research and development world. Consistency from the Government is important going forward, so it doesn't look like this was just one person's idea. In any effort where you have a commitment to raising a profile, you just must keep at it."