Public funding for academic research

“Short-term research makes money for a company. Long-term research, if done well, instead will create new companies. It will create new markets. It will create new industries.”
— Computer science professor Calvin Lin at the College of Natural Science’s Importance of Funding Research panel Friday, advocating for the need for the government and for universities to fund pure academic research. One of the criticisms of the public university model is that research benefits companies and should be privately funded.

“Why on earth would you give $100 million of your tax money to me to study frog gastrulation? If instead of saying ‘I’m very interested in frog gastrulation,’ I say instead, ‘I’m using the animal models for human birth defects,’ then suddenly it makes a little bit more sense.”
— Associate biology professor John Wallingford at the panel, arguing that researchers should better communicate the potential benefits of their research.

Texas A&M’s SECession

“The SEC is a perfect fit for us. It is a 100-year decision. We are confident it will be there 100 years from now. We are not so confident that the Big 12 is going to be here 100 years from now.”
— John Sharp, Texas A&M University System chancellor, in an interview Thursday with The Texas Tribune on A&M’s decision to bolt the Big 12 and join the SEC.

“The fact that one is in one conference and the other is in another conference has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you continue those games. That is a game since 1894 that has belonged to the people of Texas.”
— Sharp in Thursday’s interview on the issue of continuing the Texas-Texas A&M game each Thanksgiving. Sharp has supported continuing the tradition, while UT Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds has said its continuation is unlikely.