Engaging the minds and hearts of the university community for excellence

Stanford University is committed to fostering collaborative research in areas vital to our world, health and intellectual life. The University currently has 18 interdisciplinary laboratories, centres and institutes under the oversight of Vice Provost and Dean of Research, Prof. Kathryn MOLER.

In April 2023, Prof. Moler visited PolyU and delivered a distinguished lecture on designing the university for modern research teams. In this issue, PAIR and Prof. Moler dive deeper into modern interdisciplinary development in higher education from the perspectives of research, student learning and community engagement.

Fostering knowledge diversity at Stanford with the first new school in 70 years

Stanford has more than 40 years of history in supporting interdisciplinary collaboration. In 2022, the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability (“Stanford Sustainability”) was established as the University’s first new school in 70 years. The School has adopted a novel organisational structure that facilitates an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability issues. How is Stanford Sustainability different from existing research entities?

The idea behind Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability was that by creating a new school, we would create new interdisciplinary departments which provide primary homes for faculty members and focus on important problems of sustainability. The formation of Stanford Sustainability is therefore a further evolution of the University’s academic structure.

The academic transformations at Stanford so far have entailed the addition of new institutes and units while keeping the academic departments. Thus, faculty members including professors and senior fellows may have dual appointments in an academic department and a research institute. Many faculty members have their primary appointment in Stanford Sustainability.

Introducing data science and artificial intelligence into Stanford research

Stanford’s independent labs, centres and institutes are grouped under five themes, i.e., Chemistry & Biology; Culture & Economics; Environment & Climate; Medicine & Healthcare; and Physics, Materials, Energy & Space. Have any research entities been formed under additional or new themes?

Two new independent academic units were formed after a long-range planning process which we just completed. One is the Stanford Data Science Initiative, which is a university-wide effort to promote data science. Another is the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), which conducts technical research on various aspects of AI; policy research covering AI usage, regulation and societal influences; as well as studies on human-first developments.

HAI supports many collaborative projects which may involve members from various schools, departments and clusters spanning medicine, philosophy and computer science who work together. In the robotics project, for example, ethicists, doctors, sociologists, psychologists, scientists and roboticists are collaborating.

Towards a collective good? Reflecting on data sharing in university research

Stanford embraces a culture of resource sharing. More universities are sharing data and establishing central data platforms or registries to help expand projects. What should university administrators be mindful of?

I think it is very important that we are sharing data appropriately, rather than data sharing all the time. In the current world, we need to be respectful of the desires of other people to share data or not. Data sharing is an important decision for institutions and entities.

Sometimes we do encounter resistance to data sharing among faculty members. But there is public interest in the data. It is vital to have university policies that recognise the public interest in data that was paid for by taxpayers. If the data funded by the public is intended for improving our understanding of humanity, then data sharing should be honoured.

Yes, the data is obtained through the hard work of professors and students. However, the government and the people are the ones who fund the work and provide opportunities for such work to be performed.

There is a need for an open discussion and a shared understanding of the value of data sharing. The communication should not only be between the administration and faculties, but also within faculties, so that universities can enjoy greater openness, transparency and reproducibility in research.

Standing out from the crowd and leading with excellence

Many universities are engaging in interdisciplinary research and interinstitutional collaboration. Universities are both collaborators and competitors. How can universities maintain their unique positions when they are doing similar work? How can universities ensure that they benefit from their special roles while working with others?

Interdisciplinary research is not so unique since it is done by everyone. The challenge is to do it well. In joint university collaboration, it is very important that everyone, including leading universities, supporting universities, funders, etc., has a voice in the planning process for the collaboration. Engagement efforts in research planning should also be something that funders look for when they make decisions about funding joint research.

The Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance is an excellent model of Stanford’s joint university collaboration. The Alliance is an independent interdisciplinary life sciences academic unit that translates scientific principles underlying athletic performance in order to improve human health. It is a public-private partnership and joint-institutional scientific collaboration which comprises six institutions, and Stanford is the lead institution.

Philanthropist Ms Clara WU TSAI, founder of the Foundation which funds the Alliance, actively led the discussion and selection of a university that has both a reputation for excellence and a demonstrated commitment to partnerships to be the lead institution. The Alliance has brought hundreds of members from different universities together wonderfully at Stanford to share research findings with each other.

Students’ creativity as a powerful promoter of interdisciplinary research

Attaining excellence in interdisciplinary research requires that university stakeholders at different levels, including the administration, faculty members and students, understand and embrace a culture of collaboration. The administration and faculties have been active in setting the stage for and implementing interdisciplinary developments via research, academic programmes and other initiatives. How can universities ensure that these values are well-understood and appreciated by students?

I personally find that students are the biggest promoters of interdisciplinary research at universities. On one hand, students are less knowledgeable than faculty members in that they do not possess the decades of experience and intuitive sense in identifying the specific research efforts that work. On the other hand, students have the creativity to come up with truly transformative research ideas that experts from particular disciplines may not have thought of.

Therefore, the faculty should empower students to collaborate across disciplines and engage them in problem-solving oriented research. Students should be involved in the entire research process—from problem identification, opportunity identification, and research planning to research execution. This can be achieved by providing them with the encouragement and space that incubate interdisciplinary and creative thinking, and by helping students to identify problems. For students, the derivation of solutions to a problem may not be the hardest part, but rather the formulation of a good research question.

Immersive learning as a key process for fostering interdisciplinary creativity

The paradigm shift towards interdisciplinary education affects not only university research and development (R&D) but also teaching and learning (T&L). Traditional teacher-driven education focuses on training students in subject knowledge and skills. Modern student-centred education focuses on providing students with the necessary exposure, e.g., accessible advanced equipment or learning beyond their primary major, to understand complex real-world phenomena. How has this shift impacted curriculum planning and student experience at Stanford?

In interdisciplinary education, it is important to balance the depth and breadth of learning. Students have to be knowledgeable in at least one discipline, or even two or more. We cannot give up depth and just be broad all the time.

At Stanford, the Faculty Senate, the Committee on Undergraduate Standards and Policy, and the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education have been working together to encourage all academic departments to review the requirements for their major programmes, and to ensure that the major can be completed within a small enough number of units that students also enjoy the time and space to explore disciplines outside their primary majors.

Instilling elements of student empowerment and engagement in curriculum planning

Modern T&L emphasises student engagement via problem-based learning. Can you share some of your recent experiences in this aspect? 

There was an excellent class on decision-making for sustainable energy which I co-designed and co-taught with Dr Arun MAJUMDAR, the inaugural Dean of Stanford Sustainability and a well-known expert in mechanical engineering and energy. We were advised by Prof. Carl WIEMAN, Nobel laureate in Physics, whose current research interest is enhancing student learning. Prof. Wieman encouraged us to deliver the skills, content, and context of decision-making.

Therefore, we designed a progressive course comprising three modules, with the aim that students would create a proposed energy mix towards the Nation’s goal of attaining zero-carbon by 2035. The first module (which lasts for two weeks) requires students to evaluate their own carbon footprints and set personal and societal action plans to reduce so in modern living.

The second module (which lasts for three weeks) gets students to study Stanford’s scope emissions, i.e., types of direct and indirect greenhouse gas emitted from the various activities of an organisation, as well as Stanford’s current efforts to reduce so. Teams of students presented their proposals for reducing Stanford’s Scope 3 emissions—indirect emissions resulting from university-related activities which are beyond the control of the university (e.g., goods purchasing). The presentation was attended by our Chief of Staff, Ms Megan PIERSON, who selected two proposals and further introduced the student teams to the university administration to explore actual implementation at Stanford.

The third module engages students in formulating their proposed national energy mix and justifying so in terms of affordability, reliability, equity and security. This class is an example of good teaching. I have been deeply impressed by the process of students collaborating to solve a problem they care about and becoming motivated to study the content.

Science has limits: Appreciating the beauty of all disciplines

From the example you shared, science students can benefit greatly from problem-solving activities since they witness how theoretical content is applied or translated to address real-world problems. How can we provide similar experiences for students in the humanities and arts?

Humanists, artists, designers and social scientists have a big role to play in thinking about how people have grappled with these real-world issues over time. Generally, humans do not live to be centenarians, so our personal experience is quite limited. It is important to look back at history and understand what previous generations and other people around the world have experienced and thought about these issues.

As an example, in energy optimisation, one concern is about the best place in the United States to install solar power plants. Each state in the country has its own priorities, constituencies, regulatory environment, incentives and barriers. For instance, a state with solar power manufacturing capability could also be one that generates cheap power, but it might prefer keeping that energy to selling cheap power to other states. The complexity and trade-offs embedded in real-world problems are areas in which the humanities, arts, design and social sciences can help society to achieve a higher level of understanding, enabling people to confront things that may be both inspirational and challenging.

Therefore, it is useful for the faculty, administration, students, alumni and society at large to discuss the importance of different disciplines with an open mind, both about their own subjects and other people’s subjects, and to ensure that people from all backgrounds are recognised for their contributions. Stanford deeply believes in the importance of the humanities and arts and supports them very strongly.

A world of knowledge at your fingertips

Technology is another driver for the paradigm shift in higher education. How has this impacted student learning in terms of pedagogical delivery, in your experience?

The information accessibility enabled by technology is another thing that has changed greatly since I began teaching. When I was a student, if there was something I did not understand, I would visit the library, pull out relevant books, and sit on the floor looking through them. Searching the internet is the modern equivalent of that, but students can do it much more efficiently and effectively.

The internet was still evolving when I started teaching as a new assistant professor. When students asked me questions that I wasn’t sure about, I needed to spend time searching for answers before getting back to them. Now, however, I would ask students to look for the answer on their devices and share with the class.

With all the knowledge at your fingertips, you no longer have to worry obsessively about knowing everything. The internet has some well-written articles on the relevant subjects which you can always access quickly.

Leveraging cross-border resources to actualise an ambitious research vision

Universities are pursuing new developments with finite resources, in terms of both funding and campus space. At PolyU, PAIR currently has 16 constituent research units and plans to form more in the next few years. How can the University manage these resource constraints?

This is really a difficult question. I personally think that Hong Kong universities have a special role to play as a bridge and as a collaborator to impact developments in mainland China. In China, there are very significant philanthropists who have been hugely successful and have made a lot of money in the country. They are proactively giving back to society. Hence, there is a strong case for Hong Kong universities to expand their funding and resource portfolios.

Apart from that, the University has a big responsibility to argue very hard for planning permission to build some very tall buildings, as well as to acquire other space, maybe outside the metropolitan area, where the institution can expand.

Functional specialists and scholars as a collaborative team for institutional advancement

It can be challenging for scholars to find time for scholarship and securing funding. Incubation of scholarly innovation and research excellence requires time and secure space. How can the University provide a supportive environment?

Scholars can benefit from help to ensure that their time is well spent—that is, distributed in a balanced way among forming collaborations, thinking creatively, questioning ideas, analysing these ideas and creating a compelling story to disseminate the ideas.

For people coming from STEM fields (i.e., science, technology, engineering and mathematics), the process of proposal writing, such as formatting, filling out forms, etc., usually takes a very long time. At Stanford, we already have initiatives on these matters. In the planning stage of these initiatives, it is important that the University gather high-quality people who specialise in areas like team building, proposal writing, and planning who can really elevate the work of academics to a higher level.

Empowering minds and inspiring hearts: Lesson learnt from academic leadership

On 31 August 2023, you will step down as Vice Provost and Dean of Research and will return to teaching and research as the Marvin Chodorow Professor in the departments of Applied Physics, Physics, and Energy Science and Engineering. Is there anything further that you hope to achieve in the near future? How has your comprehensive experience in teaching, research and leadership at Stanford affected your beliefs about education?

Being a full-time administrator and researcher is challenging. There are three priorities in my plan. First, I hope to do more fundamental experiments in quantum phase transitions and seize the research opportunities brought by greater investments from the industry and government in quantum technology. Second, I would like to devote more time to working on the course on decision-making in sustainability for every student, not only engineering students. Third, I would love to employ a reflective and scholarly approach in designing university lessons.

The most important lesson I have learnt as a teacher, researcher and administrator is that you have to lead, collaborate with, and motivate other people. The process of scholarship requires engaging individuals’ hearts and minds. When you honour others at the individual and collective levels, the community’s hearts and minds are engaged. As a result, people are inspired to excel as individuals as well as team members. When the community is empowered, the university can accomplish great things.

Remarks: The interview, which this feature story is based on, was conducted before August 2023.