Page 109 - Technology and Innovation Journal - 19-1

THE NAI PROFILE 447

ideas and perspectives drives innovation. To me, whole lot of time to read. I’ve been forcing myself to
that’s really been why I appreciate diversity as a fun- take time for reading on the weekends. I just read
damental tenet of innovation—that recognition that an amazing book called The Obstacle Is the Way. The
we learn the most from those we have the least in path for so many great things is really embedded in
common with. If you have a thirst for knowledge, the obstacles that one faces.
the last thing you want to be doing is sitting next to
someone who knows the things that you know and T&I: Your career is notable as a teacher and mentor
looks the way you do. It takes a bit of discomfort as well as a researcher and entrepreneur. Given the
and confidence—confidence in what you know and critical issues we face as a society, we need more
what you don’t know—to have a conversation with students to think like you and to take up careers in
someone who knows a lot about something that you the innovation sphere. What are we doing well in
don’t, or who has experienced something that you’ve the area of encouraging students to follow that path?
never experienced. And it’s core. What could we be doing better?
T&I: You are also on the record as an ardent sup- DeSimone: I’ve been using the phrase “Every
porter of a liberal arts education. In a world that moment counts” a lot lately. Thinking about the elec-
increasingly tries to place the liberal arts and the tion, every moment counts, and every vote counts.
STEM fields in opposition, this seems like an import- We got what we voted for. I think everyone has got to
ant point to pursue. How did your early foundation be accountable, and everyone has to recognize that if
in the liberal arts shape your path in science? Why you don’t participate or engage, then you’re going to
are the liberal arts so necessary? get a result that you perhaps didn’t want. Who said,
“Life is 90% showing up?” I think Woody Allen said
DeSimone: I went to a phenomenal residential liberal something like that. There is truth to it. A quote that I
arts institution outside Philly called Ursinus College. love by Goethe also comes to mind: “It is not enough
Our family couldn’t afford for me to be residential to know; we must also apply. It is not enough to will;
there, so I was a commuter and worked a couple we must also do.” You have to show up and you have
of jobs while I went to school. It was a pretty neat to engage and “do” because every moment counts.
environment. I probably hated being put on the spot This is especially important for those following an
so much to describe what I thought about a passage entrepreneurial path.
of literature or other work that I had to read the
night before. There were only 12 kids in each class, T&I: Do you think that universities, by and large,
and there was no hiding in the back! It was pretty are doing a good job of getting students to engage?
uncomfortable at times, yet it became very clear to
me that—and probably more in hindsight than when DeSimone: I think they are. There are probably
I was going through it—understanding what lifelong too many political pressures that universities face.
learning is all about, understanding what’s import- Universities, especially public institutions, are really
ant, understanding the messages in great works of challenged to do more and more and more with less
literature and philosophy, understanding principles and less, and it’s unfortunate that a fundamental
from different fields like economics and psychology, ratio that points to educational quality—the student-
and seeing how this understanding resonates in our faculty ratio—is the same ratio that some lawmakers
world today is key. Just look at what’s happening look at to gauge inefficiency. You can’t get around that
around us. You can make many analogies to his- math. It’s a simple ratio, and I think it’s challenging.
torically important themes. Having been prepared
by reading all of these different things shapes my CONCLUSION
perspectives and even helps me to understand my One can’t help but be impressed when DeSimone, a
own areas of expertise better, especially in identifying man of conviction and ideals, speaks passionately not
ways to apply specialized knowledge, for example in only of his work in the sense of its scientific impact
polymer chemistry, to have a meaningful impact in but also in its adherence to his own beliefs, especially
society. I still read a lot even though I don’t have a those concerning the centrality of diverse and creative