Winter 1999
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What is the Brain, Biology, and Machine Initiative?
TD: The project draws together some of the UO's top scientists in the rapidly growing fields of cognitive neuroscience, molecula
r and evolutionary biology, materials science, optics, and computational sci
ence. The common threads connecting their work to the initiative are information and information processing.
These areas are huge and vastly important. They address questions such as: How does the brain process information, and what are the analogies to modern computing machines and information science? How is information stored i
n the human genome and then expressed in the development of the human brain and body? How did this information evolve over time? What are the best ways to harness the power of new computers to analyze and visualize the massive amounts of data coming from
new experiments? How can information be encoded on laser beams to construct powerful new computers and networks?
Why at the UO and why now?
TD: The UO has built a national reputation in each of the fields involved with the initiative. If this bold plan is funded, the university will be on the leading edge of the next "revolution" in science.
That revolution will take place early in the 21st, century when we will see a remarkable integration of biological and mechanical information systems. Scientists in these fields will come together to explore some of the mos
t important frontiers of science.
What is unique about the BBMI?
TD: The BBMI builds on the university's long and unusual tradition of encouraging and supporting interdisciplinary scientific research--a tradition that man
y of the top scientists on campus say attracted them here. This is the best approach for answering the complex, interrelated questions that the initiative addresses, and for asking new questions that are not even dreamed of now.
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In this spirit, we will cluster many of our top researchers from different disciplines in a new 80,000-square-foot science building. It will house interdisciplinary laboratories and classrooms, faculty offices, and computing an
d network facilities. At the technological heart of the BBMI are a pair of cutting-edge tools: two research-grade functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machines that allow researchers to study the brain as it functions.
How will the new facilities help the UO?
TD: The initiative will allow the UO to attract new faculty members to teach and carry out research in newly emerging areas of technology and science. These top researchers will leverage millions of dollars in federal resea
rch funds for Oregon.
Will students benefit?
TD: Students will have the valuable experience of studying and participating in research at a university that is at the forefront of both intellectual and practical developments. They will participate in and contribute to t
he next stage of the information revolution. UO undergraduates will be able to study under and work side by side with more of the most creative minds in the sciences. Graduate students will benefit from innovative programs such as that under development c
urrently by biologists Mike Lynch and John Postlethwait. This program, where students will study how developmental p
rocesses evolved over time, will provide an interdisciplinary education unavailable at other institutions.
What practical benefits does this investment offer society?
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TD: The dramatic improvement in our understanding of the brain and body will contribute to new ways of treating and preventing disease. In addition, the advanced technologies will generate new companies for Oregon. One exam
ple is the work of UO physicist Tom Mossberg in developing radical new ways of encoding information on laser beams is leading to optical switching and storage devices. A startup company, Templex Technology, Inc., is converting these advances into commercial applications.
Another faculty member, psychologist Don Tucker, has started his own company, Electrical Geodesics, to distribute brain-mapping technology coming from his basic research. This company has grown
from eight employees in 1992 to more than twenty today--many of them UO graduates.
The initiative will accelerate the process of university know-how leading to advanced technology, jobs for our graduates, and wealth for our state. Educating highly skilled citizens and preparing them for high-paying high-t
ech jobs is especially crucial as the state economy shifts from being resource-based to being high-tech oriented.
Are there other ways that investing in this kind of research benefits the state of Oregon?
TD: The BBMI is a successor to the state-funded Centers of Excellence project in the 1980s. That project provided the financial framework that enabled us to recruit and equip many of the university's current younger scienti
sts--including Tom Mossberg. It helped create the interdisciplinary research institutes that have generated more than $130 million in federal funding from the state's original investment of $4.8 million. This is money coming into Oregon. The Brain, Biolog
y, and Machine Initiative is expected to have a similarly spectacular economic impact.
Where will funding for the BBMI come from?
TD: The university plans to seek about $15 million from the state, $10 million from the federal government, and $10 million in private gifts. This will pay for the building and equipment component of the initiative. The uni
versity also needs about $7 million in recurring state funds to hire 20 new science faculty members, ten technical staff members, and 40 graduate research fellows to implement the initiative.
Will all the funding come at once?
TD: We will fund the program step by step. The first phase will establish the fMRI facility. That will cost about $6 million to purchase, install, and operate for five years. Success builds on itself. As we seek additional
funding, we will let the research coming out of the remarkable fMRI facility demonstrate the extreme value of this endeavor.