Brenda Russell advises faculty to "dream big" and take advantage of developing technologies to expand research collaborations.

Research capabilities change along with times: Brenda Russell

In her keynote address at the second annual BGSU Research Conference Nov. 6, Brenda Russell affirmed the University’s own motto: Dream BiG.

Because of the increasingly interdisciplinary nature of research and the ability to communicate and share information easily through the use of technology, she said, regional universities such as BGSU can conduct high-level research just as she can at the University of Illinois-Chicago, where she is executive associate vice chancellor for research, as well as a professor of physiology and biophysics, bioengineering and medicine.

“With the new ways in which knowledge is spread and teams share, you can interact with the world as well as someone in a metropolitan area,” she said, adding that not every institution needs to have the most expensive, high-tech equipment, the —big toys— because sharing of samples and data has become so easy.

“Dream big,” she reiterated. “You don’t have to constrain your thinking because you don’t have the most money. No matter how large an institution you are, today it takes collaboration to compete nationally and internationally.”

In her talk on “The Value of Research,” Russell noted that changing times have brought significant changes in the way research is conducted, offering some word pairs that describe the differences, such as “Old way: solo, Ivory Tower. New way: teams. Old way: jargon. New way: communication. Old way: fixed, established. New way: ever-changing. Old way: memorization. New way: Google.

“We’re still teaching and testing based on memory,” she said, “but imagine if we still gave our exams in class but we let students use computers to link to the facts. You don’t have to remember everything anymore but you have to be able to find and evaluate information.”

Teaching critical thinking skills becomes ever more important in the new environment, she said, noting that Bowling Green has recognized and acted upon this need.

Still, she said, it is important not to discard the old ways but to build on them and grow from them. “We still need solo specialists but we also need to add on a new flexibility,” she said.

One of the great values of research is its impact on students, Russell said. Engaging students in research is an important way to boost critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. In addition to creating knowledge, research also communicates discovery, facilitates mentorship of students, increases their confidence, stimulates their curiosity and enhances their communication skills, she said.

Partly because science students must learn to communicate their findings and partly through general education, they tend to pick up the necessary verbal skills and knowledge of history and the world we all need, Russell said. “But I would strongly stress that we give humanities and social science students the same science and quantitative skills. I see an inequity at the undergraduate level. Don’t put humanities and social science students at a disadvantage in the world,” she urged. “They can learn these skills very well.”

She also advised taking a practical approach to research, and learning to ask the right questions. “As academics, we’re good at giving answers but we don’t have much practice in deciding what questions are worth asking,” she said.

And communicating findings well to the public is key, she added. “If we can get the right message through, we could make a lot more difference in the world,” she said, as opposed to communicating complex technical information. As an example, she cited a Swedish study on longevity that found that simply adding a bit of daily exercise is the most crucial factor in attaining a long life.

Although teamwork and the exchange of ideas are essential in research, she cautioned that the current climate has become “less academic and more entrepreneurial, with people thinking twice about sharing their ideas with their colleagues. Intellectual property is skewing the way universities feel about putting information out and being protective.”

She advised faculty to write a disclosure for discoveries they feel may be significant in the long term, which can be done for about $1,000 and gives protection for one year. “My advice is to protect quickly and share readily.”

And even though patents are often prohibitively expensive, she said, there are very marketable ideas that can be sold, and faculty need to be aware of this.