Jagdish Chandra and Stephen M. Robinson
In the post World War II era, the Mathematics Research Center (MRC) was one of the earliest comprehensive examples of collaboration between the government and a university. By taking a broad view of mathematics that embraced both the pure and applied branches, the MRC provided a model of an interdisciplinary effort that interacted very well with the spectrum of sciences. This book deals with the complex and challenging organizational and scientific issues that arose in the operation of this center.
When viewed abstractly, interdisciplinary research is a good idea. Even in a broad discipline like mathematical sciences, many scientific advances have occurred at the interfaces of various sub-disciplines. However, the promotion of an interdisciplinary research in an academic environment has always been a major challenge. As the rich experience at the MRC has clearly shown, such interdisciplinary research crosses different intellectual cultures including science and engineering. The book attempts an honest assessment of how successful it was at the MRC and what attendant lessons are to be learned. But this book is not a purely historical account of what happened at the MRC. Rather, it uses history as a vehicle to draw useful conclusions for current and future generation of developers, practitioners, consumers and sponsors of applied mathematics.
Audience
The audience for this book covers a broad cross-section of the scientific community, including senior research faculty and young scientists, department chairs, deans, and provosts; managers in funding agencies, from program directors to agency directors; research managers in private, non-profit sector and industrial organizations that depend on technical research and development; and long-term policy makers in the national security arena.
Contents
Preface; Introduction: Why This Book?; Chapter 1: The Beginning, 1956-1963; Chapter 2: The Rosser Years, 1963-1973; Chapter 3: Transition and Endgame, 1973-1987; Chapter 4: An Intellectual Crossroads; Chapter 5: Personal Reflections; Chapter 6: MRC--Some Lessons Learned; Appendix 1: A Dove's Defense of MRC; Appendix 2: The Horns of a Dilemma; Appendix 3: Photo Gallery; Index; Notes.
2005 / xii + 89 + photo pages / Softcover / ISBN-13: 978-0-898715-35-4 / ISBN-10: 0-89871-535-0
List Price $58.00 / SIAM Member Price $40.60 / Includes CD / Order Code OT83 |
