Basic or Applied?
Applied and Basic!
-------------------------------
Three Decades of Lessons from a
Professional Who Happens to be a Researcher
Norm Ellstrand
Professor of Genetics
University of California, Riverside
USA
Basic or Applied?
Applied and Basic!
-------------------------------
One Professional’s Story
(with a little research thrown in)
The dilemma
Is it? A hybrid approach
Misconceptions or not?
– Some empirical data
Some lessons about taking the basic x
applied hybrid approach
Realization of the dilemma…
“He wasn’t talking about botany;
he was talking about
aaaaaaaaaaaaaag-riculture!”
- S. M., March 1978
The dilemma
Basic research – the grand ivory tower, or
angels dancing on the head of a pin?
Applied research – dirty or saving the
world?
UT – to – Duke – to
UCR, September 1979
Department of “Botany and Plant
Sciences”
Applied or Basic?
Department of “Botany & Plant
Sciences”? A brief history
1907
UC Citrus Experiment Station
1954
UC College of Letters &
Sciences in Riverside
1960
UCR “General Campus”
Department of “Botany & Plant
Sciences”? A brief history
Separate Departments of
Horticulture
Agronomy
Vegetable Crops
“Botanists” in Department of
Biology
Department of
Plant Sciences
Mid 1970’s
“Department of Botany &
Plant Sciences”
UCR
Basic Applied
Paternity
Gene flow
Fusion!
Basic Applied
“Escape” of Transgenes into Natural
Populations
Gene Flow & Conservation
Genetics
Hybridization as a Stimulus for the
Evolution of Invasiveness
Basic x Applied Research
More interesting
Precedents
– C. Darwin & G. Mendel
More funding sources
Outreach opportunities
Opportunities to
affect the evolution of science policy
National Research Council
Service arm of the National Academies
Tens of thousands of reports
The “Gold Standard” of Science Policy
Misconceptions or Not?
Some data
“Nobody Reads Applied Research”
Norm’s Top 20 Cited Publications
Crop-Wild (trans)gene Flow = 5
Conservation Genetics = 2
Evolution of Invasives = 2
(all of the above > 130 citations)
“Basic” = 11 (8 > 130 citations)
“Applied Research Means Taking
Money from Industry/Interested
Parties Who Will Seek to Influence
Your Results/Interpretation”
Norm’s Financial “Conflicts of interest”
$150 honorarium from National Wildlife
Federation (1991)
“All Applied Researchers Have a
Pre-conceived Notion of How the
Results Should Turn Out”
… and All Basic Researchers
Never Have Pre-Conceived
Notions?
“Doing applied work attracts the attention of the
media, and
media interviews make you say stupid things”
"It will probably happen in far less than 1% of
the products," warns ecological geneticist
Norm Ellstrand of the University of California
at Riverside, "but within 10 years we will
have a moderate-to-large scale ecological or
economic catastrophe, because there will be
so many [genetically modified] products
being released".
- Science, 1996
Some lessons about the media…
Let the science lead
– Don’t let your ideology interfere with the facts
Don’t be desperate to be quoted
Feel free to correct yourself or ask that a
comment not be quoted
Be ready with the names of others who
can do a better job answering the question
Be excited! Smile when you talk on the
phone
“Credibility as a Scientist Comes From
Peer-reviewed Professional Publications”
Europeans hold doctors and
scientists in high regard.
Some more lessons
“Are we having fun yet?” This is not trivial.
Follow your heart. “Do what gives you
energy”
Some more lessons (continued)
If you are having fun and
following your heart, then it is
wise to give back for the
opportunity
– Examples: Advise the movie
producer, speak to the Botanic
Garden Friends, lead the fund-
raising bird walk, write an op-ed,
give $ to a cause that you know is
good, work for that candidate…
Some more lessons (continued)
Gaia loves you
The safe question gets funded; the best
question gets cited.
Failure is fertilizer.
Your critics give you gifts.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Some more lessons (continued)
All of this may be wrong
(“Don’t stop asking questions”)
Basic or Applied?
Applied and Basic!
A few more – of many – examples in BPSC
Realization of the dilemma…
Karma…2008
“He wasn’t talking about botany;
he was talking about aaaaaaaaaaaaaag-
riculture” S. M.
[Ph.D. University of Texas]
March 1978
- S. M.,Research Chemist
Agricultural Research Service
United States Department of Agriculture
Basic or Applied?
Applied and Basic!
-------------------------------
One Professional’s Story
(with a little research thrown in)
The dilemma
Is it? A hybrid approach
Misconceptions or not?
– Some empirical data
Some lessons about taking the basic x
applied hybrid approach
Thanks! Part One
Sue Lee & the Guys at
UCR’s AgOps
----------------------
“It takes a village to do
research”
Thanks! Part Two
Funding from U$DA, EPA, MWD, CCA, CAC,
CDFG, SJFR, DANR, UCMEXUS, N$F, etc.
“Team Ellstrand”, including…
Janet Clegg Karen Goodell Diane Elam
Terrie Klinger Subray Hegde Bernie Devlin
Caroline Ridley Sylvia Heredia Diane Marshall
John Nason Roberto Guadagnuolo Paul Arriola
Janet Leak-Garcia Melinda Zaragoza Pace Lubinsky
Maile Neel Lesley Blancas Jutta Burger
Joanne Heraty Detlef Bartsch Marlyce Myers
And many more!