President, National Academy of Engineering

President Emeritus, MIT

Professor Charles M. Vest is president of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He is the author of a book on holographic interferometry and two books on higher education.  He holds 17 honorary doctorates, received the 2006 National Medal of Technology from President George W. Bush, and the 2011 Vannevar Bush award from the US National Science Board.

Abstract:

he most important product of our universities and engineering schools is opportunity – opportunity for graduates, for business and industry, and for states and regions.  We are a critically important part of the innovation system, but are faced with rapid change and stress.  Our universities, especially public institutions, are experiencing serious financial pressures that will drive change.  Enrollment in engineering schools is out of step with our national needs and with the changing demography of the U.S.  Globalization is causing us to rebalance international competition and cooperation.   Despite these stresses, it is a very exciting time to be engaged with engineering and science, and our role in society is becoming ever more central.

Dean of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Distinguished McCormick Institute Professor and Walter P. Murphy Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Northwestern University

Professor Julio M. Ottino is the dean of the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Northwestern University where he holds the titles of Distinguished McCormick Institute Professor and Walter P. Murphy Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering. Ottino’s current research is focused on granular dynamics and complex systems and has been featured in articles and on the covers of Nature, Science, Scientific American, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. He currently is on the Scientific Board of AkzoNobel and several startup companies.

Ottino received his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Minnesota and held positions at UMass/Amherst and chaired and senior appointments at Caltech and Stanford.  Ottino is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the Alpha Chi Sigma and the Walker Awards from AIChE and has been a Guggenheim Fellow and the recipient of the Fluid Dynamics Prize from the American Physical Society, where he is also a Fellow. In 2008 he was selected by AIChE as one of the “One Hundred Engineers of the Modern Era.”

Dr Ottino is also an artist, having exhibited his paintings and sculptures (juliomarioottino.com).  He is currently working on a book about the creative processes connecting technology, business, and art.

Abstract:

Why are people afraid of complexity? Complexity was named the number one challenge in the most recent IBM Global CEO Study, and creativity was named the most important leadership skill over the next five years. However, despite the challenges it presents, it is possible to thrive under complexity. This requires a new way of looking at the world — a world where things that were once disjointed combine, leading to spectacular new results; where science merges with technology and new disciplines appear; where technologies combine with other technologies, services merge with technologies, and services combine with other services; and where thinking is augmented in new and unexpected ways. How do we develop people who are comfortable bridging and blurring these domains? This talk will focus on the evolution of art, science, and technology and lessons that may be transferred across these domains. These lessons can help produce people who see simplicity in complexity and complexity in simplicity.