"Basic Research and the University"

There are two views of the primary mission of a university. One is that it should focus on the education of the young; the other is that it should be a community of scholars devoted to the finding and understanding of knowledge, i.e. basic research. Rice University is attempting to achieve excellence in carrying out both missions. We are not alone in this. All of the great research universities are trying to excel at both missions. However, Rice is one of the smallest schools in the world trying to do both. How are we doing compared with others? Do basic research and education complement each other or conflict? What special problems or perhaps advantages does Rice have in trying simultaneously to be a research university and an institution devoted to excellent undergraduate education? What should we aim to do new, to do better, to do differently, to stop doing in order to become a better place?

Panel Discussants

Andrew Barron, Chemistry

Richard E. Grandy, Philosophy

Jordan Konisky, Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies