Basic or Applied? Applied and Basic! ------------------------------- Three Decades of Lessons from a Professional Wh

1. 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

2. 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

3. Realization of the dilemma… “He wasn’t talking about botany; he was talking about aaaaaaaaaaaaaag-riculture!” - S. M., March 1978

4. The dilemma • Basic research – the grand ivory tower, or angels dancing on the head of a pin? • Applied research – dirty or saving the world?

5. UT – to – Duke – to UCR, September 1979 Department of “Botany and Plant Sciences” Applied or Basic?

6. 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”

7. 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”

8. Basic Paternity Gene flow Applied UCR

9. Basic Applied Fusion! “Escape” of Transgenes into Natural Populations Gene Flow & Conservation Genetics Hybridization as a Stimulus for the Evolution of Invasiveness

10. Basic x Applied Research • More interesting • Precedents • C. Darwin & G. Mendel • More funding sources • Outreach opportunities • Opportunities to affect the evolution of science policy

11. National Research Council • Service arm of the National Academies • Tens of thousands of reports • The “Gold Standard” of Science Policy

12. Misconceptions or Not? Some data

13. “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)

14. “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)

15. “All Applied Researchers Have a Pre-conceived Notion of How the Results Should Turn Out” … and All Basic Researchers Never Have Pre-Conceived Notions?

16. “Doing applied work attracts the attention of the media, andmedia 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

17. 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

19. “Credibility as a Scientist Comes From Peer-reviewed Professional Publications” Europeans hold doctors and scientists in high regard.

20. Some more lessons • “Are we having fun yet?” This is not trivial. • Follow your heart. “Do what gives you energy”

21. 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…

22. 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.

23. Some more lessons (continued) All of this may be wrong (“Don’t stop asking questions”)

24. Basic or Applied? Applied and Basic! A few more – of many – examples in BPSC

25. Realization of the dilemma… “He wasn’t talking about botany; he was talking about aaaaaaaaaaaaaag- riculture” - S. M., March 1978 Karma…2008 S. M. [Ph.D. University of Texas] Research Chemist Agricultural Research Service United States Department of Agriculture

26. 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

27. Thanks! Part One Sue Lee & the Guys at UCR’s AgOps ---------------------- “It takes a village to do research”

28. 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!