SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY
New Beckman Institute Promotes Broad-Ranging Research Effort More then 20 research programs are under way in new 313,000-sq-ft institute in Illinois that facilitates and stresses interdisciplinary work Ward Worthy, C&EN Chicago
The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science & Technology is up and running—if not yet quite at full speed—in its handsome new home on the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus. In the scant five years since philanthropists Arnold O. and Mabel Beckman made their $40 million gift to establish the institute, the 313,000-sq-ft building has been designed, built, equipped, and staffed. More than 20 research programs are under way, with others planned. Director Theodore L. Brown, also a University of Illinois chemistry professor, notes that the mission of the institute, stated formally, is "to advance the life and behavioral sciences, physical sciences, and engineering through promotion of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research of the highest quality." In short, he says, it's organized to "transcend the limitations of departmental structure." Architecturally, the institute provides a physical setting that facilitates interactions among researchers from many parts of the campus. Programmatically, it encourages multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research by supporting seminars, workshops, conferences, and visiting scientists. And by providing space and partial funding of startup costs, it helps the departments recruit faculty with interdisciplinary research interests.
Beckman Institute at University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus It's been suggested that the unifying theme of the institute is the study of intelligence. That's an oversimplification, Brown says. Rather, the institute emphasizes—within a broad range of programs—issues of structure, development, and information processing, and advances in fundamental science and engineering that lead to deeper understanding of complex systems. For example, the current catalog of research programs lists 23 separate programs, divided into nine groups. The groups are untitled, and the boundaries between the groups are perhaps a little blurred. Not assigned to a group is the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. It's one of five national centers funded largely by the National Science Foundation. However, the state also contributes, and NCSA is considered a major presence at the institute. In fact, it's the largest single entity there. As an example of the cross-fertilization that can take place in the institute, consider the program group
that includes physical theory, complex systems research, statistical analysis of learning networks, and theoretical biophysics. The programs involve physicists, chemists, and statisticians. Topics include the dynamics of large protein molecules, the growth of crystals, the behavior of "chaotic" systems like global climate and the stock market, the electronic structures of biomolecules, the properties of networks, vision systems, and robotic devices. Yet despite the apparent variety, all the scientists are working toward the larger goal of developing models that can account for the behavior of complex systems. Similarly, the people in the neuronal pattern analysis, cognitive neuroscience, perception and biomechanics, and molecular neurobiology programs also appear to be a varied lot—and they are. However, William T. Greenough, head of the neuronal pattern analysis program, points out that the programs in the group represent a continuum of research that progresses from the moAugust 20, 1990 C&EN
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Science/Technology
Brown: transcend structure limitations lecular and cellular level through neuroscience to cognitive science. And all the programs are concerned with issues of learning, memory, and processing of sensory information in animals and humans. Greenough, by the way, is a psychologist who first trained as a biochemist; he's also associate director of the institute. "Collaboration is the key," he says. "The problems are so big." For example, the group of which he's a part isn't self-contained. The people in that group also interact with other groups, such as the one including the programs on cognitive science and visual perception in complex systems. The psychologists, educators, linguists, anthropologists, and
others in those programs are also part of the research continuum. Meanwhile, the faculty in the artificial intelligence program are pursuing such diverse topics as machine learning, knowledge representation, language understanding and machine translation, qualitative physical reasoning, computer vision, robotics, and the adaptation of those techniques to concurrent product and process design. One of the problems to be faced in organizing the Beckman Institute, director Brown notes, was how to provide a reasonable measure of job security for the faculty—all of whom hold appointments in one or another University of Illinois academic department—yet at the same time provide a mechanism to ease out those faculty members whose research aims no longer coincide with the institute's broad mission. The approach chosen was a "rolling appointment" system, Brown notes. For roughly 35 faculty members, their primary research home is the Beckman Institute, even though they still have departmental responsibilities. These "full-time" faculty members are initially appointed to a five-year term at the institute. However, the appointment is extended every year, "so long as things are going well," Brown says. If the appointment isn't renewed, the faculty member still has five years in which to work out a return to the department. "That takes some negotiation with the department," Brown ob-
Research programs fall into nine groups Physical theory Complex systems research Statistical analysis of learning networks Theoretical biophysics Molecular recognition Center for Prokaryotic Genome Analysis Molecular biophysics Materials chemistry of submicron structures Scanning tunneling microscopy Biomolecular electronics Field-responsive materials Photonic systems
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August 20, 1990 C&EN
Computational electronics Concurrent computation Engineering sciences programs Cognitive science Visual perception in complex systems Artificial intelligence Decision processes in computerized networks Neuronal pattern analysis Cognitive neuroscience Perception and biomechanics Molecular neurobiology National Center for Supercomputing Applications
Greenough: collaboration is key serves, "but it can almost always be worked out." The other 95 or so faculty members are "part-timers" who maintain their primary research homes within their departments but who also work on specific programs at the institute. They don't need such long appointments; three years is the norm. This approach, along with a "use it or lose it" policy regarding space in the institute, will help "keep the institute dynamic," Brown says. "It needs to be said," Brown goes on, "that Arnold and Mabel Beckman have made a really grand contribution to science." He notes with regret that Mabel Beckman died last year. Arnold Beckman, an Illinois native and the founder of Beckman Instruments, "remains very interested in the institute," Brown adds, "but he doesn't tell you what to do." Brown points out that Illinois also contributes significantly to the Beckman Institute. In 1985, the legislature immediately added another $10 million to the Beckmans' $40 million contribution, to cover the total project cost. Altogether, Illinois has put in about $21 million in nonrecurring capital costs. It's also committed to furnish about $6 million yearly for administrative support, operation, and maintenance. In all, some 720 people, including faculty, graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and others work full- or part-time in the institute building. Although the state provides support funds, funding for the research programs comes mainly from outside the university, largely from the U.S. government and from corporations and foundations. D
