From the Dean

Investment in graduate education will pay academic and economic dividends

Things have changed just a little since I came to the University of Minnesota as a graduate student in 1969. Shopping for a graduate school was a national phenomenon even then. You didn't just go to the university in your own backyard. You wanted to join a winning team and work with the best faculty. But it was much more low key. Graduate students were more laissez faire about the application process and graduate programs weren't as aggressive about recruiting.

But today it's a different world. Universities use slick Web sites and brochures to sell their programs and fly students in from all over the country for recruitment weekends. That's because they know that the quality and quantity of graduate students can determine the quality of their research programs and the quantity of their funding. And students are much more discriminating about their choices. They have access to lots more information about programs and faculty through the Internet. And they know their decision could make or break their career.

Graduate students are an increasingly important part of the research equation because they determine the volume of work a lab can do and they can take the time to test new ideas. The other parts of the equation are faculty and facilities. The University and the State of Minnesota have invested in those. Thanks to the Molecular and Cellular Biology Initiative, we have 41 new faculty and several new and renovated facilities. But investment in graduate programs hasn't kept pace.

In the past, there was concern about training too many graduate students because there wouldn't be jobs for them. The purpose of graduate programs was to replace retiring faculty. But that's no longer the case. Increasingly, people with graduate degrees in the sciences are going to work for industry and for government. In fact, a graduate degree is becoming a prerequisite for a career just like a bachelor's degree was the ticket 30 years ago.

When a science becomes engineerable, business applications explode. During the 20th century, advances in physics created electrical engineering and advances in chemistry produced chemical engineering. Now it's biology's turn. Advances in molecular biology, biochemistry, and genomics have made it possible to engineer molecules and microbes to create new drugs and renewable fuel, improve crops, and clean up the environment. The potential business applications are unlimited. Bioscience companies in Minnesota are going to need as many people with Ph.D.s as we can provide. If we don't provide the work force, there's a risk that they may go elsewhere.

There's also a risk that if we don't invest in graduate education we could lose our investment in faculty. Faculty rely on graduate students. And if we don't provide them, another university will. It's time for the University and the State to recognize the value of graduate education for research and industry.