Research Directors Highlight Their Contributions

Late last month, the directors of the 20 campus Organized Research Units-as part of Chancellor Pradeep K. Khosla's "Making Connections" plan to learn the campus' strengths and centers of excellence-presented a display of their achievements and contributions to the Chancellor and to many of their industry partners in the region. Hosted by Sandra Brown, Vice Chancellor for Research, the briefing featured remarks by Brown and Khosla, and trade-show-style exhibits and demonstrations by the ORU directors. In her introduction, Brown praised the research units as "pillars of multidisciplinary, trans-campus scholarship and engines of entrepreneurial initiative," and noted that the units are the principal home to hundreds of self-supported research scientists who bring tens of millions of dollars in revenue, and strongly support UC San Diego's graduate rankings. The Chancellor, in his remarks, emphasized that the university's task is to "tackle challenges of global consequence," and that because such challenges are complex, their solutions must also be complex. "That is where your work comes in," Khosla said. "You are models of the interdisciplinary research that is transforming institutions across America and around the world. By bringing together brilliant minds from the university, government and industry, we can pool our resources and talent, advance knowledge, and further our positive impact on society." As he began his tour of the research-unit demos and displays, he expressed his appreciation to the directors for their efforts.