Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007 - (Page 2)

FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DESK WE OWE IT TO THE CLASS OF 2058 I was honored once again in August to take part in one of Lehigh’s grand traditions: The annual First-Year Student/Alumni Rally, during which the incoming class is “adopted” by the alumni class from 50 years earlier. So this year, the Class of 1961 returned to campus to adopt the Class of 2011. When you consider that one day the Class of 2011 will return to adopt the Class of 2061, you realize that this custom bridges a century of tradition each time the ﬂag is passed. It is important to take this long view as we think about Lehigh’s fundamental mission: “to advance learning through integration of teaching, research, and service.” Fifty years ago, the launch of Sputnik ushered in a new era of university teaching, research, and service that produced the exemplary U.S. system of higher education we have today. By the time this year’s graduating seniors, the Class of 2008, adopt the Class of 2058, electricity generation worldwide could be three times the level it was in 2000 and overall energy needs by that time are projected to be in the range of 22 Giga tonne of oil equivalent (Gtoe) per year, or the equivalent of about 140 billion barrels of oil1. While this is a model estimate and clearly we will not derive our energy solely from oil, the extent of the problem is evident. These growing energy and water needs come with the specter of a host of attendant problems in many areas: international relations, environmental, economic, human health, and climate, to name a few. As the world confronts these problems, we must assess what we at Lehigh are doing to address them as well. The complexity and interdependency of these issues should not be underestimated. As speakers at the recent Lehigh conference, “Balancing Energy and the Environment: An Exploration of Future Research Needs,” noted, global energy needs will grow more critical in the next 25 years as the world’s population increases, the standards of living improve, and geopolitical issues effect energy accessibility and price. Universities such as Lehigh need to pre2 lehigh alumni bulletin pare well-equipped, talented graduates who can solve hard, complex problems. We also need a setting where the most talented among us are able to apply our creativity and innovation to pursue the diversity of solutions needed to make progress on these daunting problems. Over the past several years, the Environmental Initiative, EI, has involved professors and researchers from all four colleges to provide educational and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students interested in the environmental problems facing society. The Environmental Initiative (www.ei.lehigh.edu/) combines environmental activities in science, engineering, politics and policy, communication, history, anthropology, sociology, economics, ethics, education and other traditional disciplines. The EI directs an undergraduate major and minor in Environmental Studies, a graduate certiﬁcate program in Environmental Law and Policy, and has just launched a master’s degree program. We now have an opportunity to advance Lehigh’s ability to tackle these challenges with the Science, Technology, Environment, Policy and Society (STEPS) Initiative, a program integrating teaching, research, and service to address these important issues. The initiative includes plans for a building to support this mission. (For more on STEPS, please read the article on page 5.) Bringing the economist, historian, scientist, and engineer under the same roof to work on technological approaches that can be put to use by businesses, governments, and people is precisely the course these complex problems demand. We will teach undergraduate chemistry, biology, and earth sciences laboratories in the same building where students can learn about minimizing wasteful side-reactions or creating microbes for environmental remediation. We will have graduate and undergraduate research programs pushing the search for solutions to the next level. We will have a culture and environment of exploration and innovation that will breed creativity among our students and faculty. Lehigh owes it to the world to apply our talents to these hard problems. We owe it to the Class of 2058—and all the classes that will follow—to lead in this mission. Alice P. Gast President 1 World Energy Technology Outlook projection from the European Union date 8/01/2007. PHOTO BY THEO ANDERSON http://www.ei.lehigh.edu/

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Table of Contents From the President's Desk Mailbox On Campus Arts & Culture Sports Research Cover Story - Forward March Little Man Overcomes Huge Odds Lights, Camera...Antiques Linderman Renewed From the Publisher's Desk Alumni News

Alumni Bulletin - Fall 2007

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