Austin Convention Center - Ballroom A
Friday, November 1, 1996, 8:30 - 10:15 a.m.
Dr. R. Malcolm Brown, Jr., University of Texas at Austin
Professor of Botany and Holder of the Johnson & Johnson Centennial Chair in Plant Cell Biology
Department of Botany
The University of Texas at Austin
E-mail: rmbrown@mail.utexas.edu
URL: U of Texas Dept. of Botany
Connecting Science: Critical Ingredients Impact on our Future
ABSTRACT
Understanding science and scientists - the role of science in society is - at best, misunderstood and frequently maligned. The two-way communication pathway between the scientist and the public needs to be re-invigorated. The excitement and utility of science far outweighs perceived mysticisms and fears. Anecdotes relating to the speaker's involvement in science from his days as a high school student through the present will be presented. His philosophy covering the three "Cs" of Science, curiosity, creativity, and credibility will be reviewed. Scientific advances in biology, biotechnology, and materials science, not to mention agriculture and medicine, will forever alter our lives. The advances and the impacts will be presented. His research on cellulose biosynthesis and atomic and molecular imaging will be introduced as a model for demonstrating some new and exciting principles of science and the key players, undergraduate and graduate students.