Class News
Don Edwards '64 reports on the 2018 AYA Assembly
Don Edwards is the representative of the Class of 1964 to the AYA (Association of Yale Alumni), and as such he attends the annual AYA Assembly. Here is his report on the AYA Assembly on November 8-9, 2018.
AYA Assembly LXXVIII
November 8-9, 2018
Report to the Class of 1964
Don Edwards '64, AYA Representative
This year's Alumni Assembly was either the 78th meeting of the AYA or the first meeting of the YAA. The "last" AYA Assembly was also the launchpad for the re-branding of the Association with Yale as the first word in its new name, a new logo, and a new website which will debut in the near future. Otherwise, the annual gathering followed a familiar format of presentations by University leaders and helpful workshops for alumni leaders and Alumni Fund volunteers.
President Peter Salovey welcomed the delegates on Thursday and introduced the Assembly theme — "Science at Yale: Shaping the Future" — by citing the recent Nobel laureate, Professor William Nordhaus ('63), who in his acceptance paid tribute to Yale's institutional support of his work on the link between the climate and global economy.
Biochemistry Professor Thomas Steitz, a 2009 Nobelist who died recently, has also noted the importance of this support. Salovey then posed the question: What ecosystem do we need at Yale for scientific progress?
That question was answered this year by the University Science Strategy Committee that Salovey appointed in 2016. The Committee was charged to develop a strategic plan for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) for the coming decade. They looked at organizational structures and recommended a set of "big ideas" for new investment. The Committee's report recommends five ideas for top priority investments, five additional priority ideas, four areas for crosscutting investment, and ten changes to organizational structure. You can read an executive summary and the full report here.
Salovey's opening remarks were followed by a panel of senior faculty who served on the USSC. Peter Schiffer '88 B.S., vice provost for research and professor in applied physics, moderated the panel, which included Akiko Iwasaki, the Waldemar Von Zedtwitz Professor of lmmunobiology and Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology; David Skelly, the Frank R. Oastler Professor of Ecology and director of the Peabody Museum of Natural History; and Scott Strobel, deputy provost for teaching & learning and vice president for West Campus planning and program development.
Strobel, who chaired the committee, says the group was tasked with identifying the biggest challenges that science can address and where Yale can focus its resources to bring about the greatest impact. Over 18 months, the committee heard from over 500 faculty members. Faculty were asked to consider not only where Yale has existing scientific leadership, but what investments they would make if they had an additional $100 million per year. Among the top priorities was an integrated Neuroscience Institute to bring together research across Yale and drive new insights into the development of the brain and the causes of neural disease.
Data Science was another key priority. Whether committee members spoke to faculty in public health, personal medicine, or climate science, Strobel said, they found that everybody needs a better handle on data. Yale recently hired four new faculty in data science and is planning to establish a university-wide Institute for Integrative Data Science and its Mathematical Foundations. Other priorities the committee identified include: quantum science, where Yale is already a leader and has the possibility to build the first fully useful quantum computer; advancing inflammation science; and finding interdisciplinary solutions to climate change.
Iwasaki discussed Yale's leading role in inflammation science, and the committee's hope to develop a Yale Inflammation Science Institute to better understand how inflammation works and how it can trigger disease. She mentioned the important breakthroughs made by Louis Pasteur and the Pasteur Institute in the 1800s, which identified the microbial basis for infectious diseases and developed the vaccines to treat them. Yale wants to develop the counterpart for inflammatory diseases.
Skelly spoke of Yale's unique position to offer new solutions for climate change by bringing in not only science but also the social dimension. Unlike earlier environmental challenges, climate change is global — scientific, political, economic, social, moral.
After a break, a panel of deans talked about "Innovation,Collaboration and Collision," the importance of interdisciplinary work. Med School Dean Robert Alpern focused on neuroscience; Grad School Dean Lynn Cooley spoke about interdisciplinary recruiting of graduate students; and Public Health Dean Sten Vermund described a multidisciplinary approach to the epidemic of obesity involving education policy, social science, biology, and nutritional science.
Delegates fanned out to the residential colleges for lunch, but I chose to join our classmates for the monthly gathering at Mory's. In the afternoon, the Assembly offered an array of breakout sessions. I was particularly intrigued by the one on "Memory and Morality in the Mind and Brain." Two psychology professors, Molly Crockett and Nicholas Turk-Browne, discussed their work in a new Brain Imaging Center that uses functional MRI to analyze learning and moral decision-making. I'm sure the Alumni Fund folks were pleased to learn that MRis confirm that voluntary giving increases the "warm glow" effect!
I began the second day with President Salovey's University Update address. During the Q&A, the still-fresh congressional elections elicited a question about whether Yale should address national issues. Salovey responded that as President he does not take positions on political matters unless they directly affect higher education, e.g., DACA, research funding, taxation of endowment income. With regard to the Harvard admissions lawsuit, Salovey said he's confident that Yale is in compliance with the law and doesn't think the issues raised require changes in Yale' s practices.
After lunch, the program included a wide variety of workshops on alumni programming, and the Assembly concluded with the Yale Medal Dinner, whose honored guests included previous Medalist Terry Holcombe.