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Academic-Industrial Cooperation Can the barriers be overcome? At a recent meeting, L. B. Rogers of the University of Georgia told of a two-week course he and a colleague conducted in the 1950s to teach industrial people how to become "experts" in instrumental analysis—one week on spectroscopy and one week on electrochemistry. "Various manufacturers and distributors," explained Rogers, "brought in equipment for us to use and to show off in the course. One year in the early fifties, an awful-looking contraption called a Technicon AutoAnalyzer was brought in, and I predicted it would never fly. Of course, Technicon only made about $100 million a year on it about 10 or 15 years later, but other than that my prediction was right on. That's why I'm in academia instead of industry." Rogers spoke at a symposium on academic research and industry, held in October to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Institute of Chemical Analysis, Applications and Forensic Science at Northeastern University. The institute will now be called the Barnett Institute of Chemical Analysis and Materials Science, in honor of a half-million-dollar endowment, announced at the symposium, from Louis and Madlyn Barnett, longtime supporters of the institute. Northeastern chemistry professor Barry L. Karger has been its director
ever since it was established in 1973 with Department of Justice Law Enforcement Assistance Administration seed money. Since then it has grown to a research contract funding level of over $1 million and has attained wide recognition in the scientific community. As Rogers's anecdote demonstrates, academia and industry represent totally different cultures, and discussion at the symposium centered on ways to bridge the gap. The mechanisms for
Barry Karger
Karl Weiss
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38 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 56, NO. 1, JANUARY 1984
Focus academic-industrial interaction have long been in place. Therefore, accord ing to Northeastern University vicepresident for research Karl Weiss, in novation will involve "doing new things with mechanisms already de scribed and which we're already using, perhaps not very efficiently at this point." Personnel exchanges between academia and industry are gaining favor, for example, but the idea is certainly not new. According to Rogers, who has been a consultant since the 1950s for a number of companies, "Consulting has been the basis of the most wonderful educational experience I've ever had or could ever imagine having. And I really think that one of the best things that industry could do if it wants to bridge the academic-industrial inter face is to take some of the young facul ty members and make them consul tants for two or three years to give them a nontrivial exposure to in dustry." Personnel exchange goes both ways; the concept also involves academic leave for industrial personnel. But ac cording to Weiss, the movement has been heavily weighted in the other di rection. The temporary assignment of
industrial people to academia doesn't happen to a large extent because, said Weiss, "American industry is in a hurry. Investors are clamoring for re turns, you've got to keep going, so how can you spare a key man?" Weiss would like to see more academic leave for industrial people to pursue shortterm academic research projects or to attend specific academic courses and seminars. What are the benefits of greater ac ademic-industrial cooperation? Weiss stated that industry's primary interest was ensuring itself a continuing sup ply of trained personnel. And for uni versities, he said, "There's no question that academic-industrial cooperation provides support for research at a time when enrollments are leveling off and direct institutional support is becom ing increasingly difficult." In addition, interaction with industry exposes pro fessors and students to practical re search problems of immediate impor tance to society and to a value system in which attaining goals quickly and efficiently is a prerequisite of econom ic survival. According to Weiss, the barriers to greater cooperation spring primarily from a deep disparity between the ac
ademic and industrial cultures: "In dustry is output-oriented; industrial managers want efficient production and results. By contrast, at universi ties we see ourselves as elite scholars, somewhat apart from the crowd. In our hearts we feel that the industrials are OK, but we are the cream of it. Creation of knowledge for its own sake is one of our gods—we pray to it. "Commercialization is sometimes viewed with suspicion. There's a con cern that industry will pollute us somehow, that it will influence choice of research direction, prohibit publica tion, and will do all sorts of dire and terrible things. When you have these kinds of attitudes, perception easily becomes reality. "Industry and academia have dif ferent origins and different cultures," Weiss continued, "and each must re spect the other's distinctive role if they are to work together effectively. Industry must recognize that research at the universities has to be open if you're going to get the maximum ben efit from the academic environment. On the other hand, academia must re alize that applied research involves as much intellect and creativity as does basic research."
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