This posting is shamelessly lifted from my good friend’s blog, Really Simple Sidi. Please visit Rafael’s blog to learn more about his efforts in the field of engineering research. My only comment about the Booz and Allen study is that I wish increased spend for R&D showed a direct increase in sales …

Booz Allen Hamilton’s second annual study (pdf)
among 1000 largest corporate R&D spenders shows that just investing
in R&D can’t buy success. (similar to money helps, but does not
bring happiness)

"Money
simply cannot buy effective innovation. There are no significant
statistical relationships between R&D spending and the primary
measures of financial or corporate success: sales and earnings growth,
gross and operating profitability, market capitalization growth, and
total shareholder returns"

"Boosting
R&D spending can increase the number of patents that a company
controls, but there is no statistical relationship between the number
or even the quality of patents and overall financial performance." via strategy & business

MIT’s president emeritus, Charles Vest, recently gave a presentation on the topic of education engineers for the year 2020. Here is the link to his talk:

• Charles Vest – Education Engineers for Tomorrow

Quoting from the MIT World web site, here is a short overview:

Though two years departed from the MIT President’s office, Charles Vest
has lost none of his zeal for issues of education and training. Says
Vest, “I envy the next generation of engineering students. This is
without question the most exciting period of human history in science,
technology and engineering.”

He cites exponential advances in knowledge, instrumentation,
communication and computational capabilities, which have “created
mind-boggling possibilities,” cutting across traditional boundaries and
blurring distinctions between science and engineering. At the same
time, globalization is changing how engineers train and work, as well
as how nation’s resources are directed. “The entire nature of the
innovation ecosystem and business enterprise is changing dramatically
in ways we do not yet fully understand,” says Vest. These dizzying
changes require an accelerated commitment to engineering research and
education, and compel research institutions simultaneously to advance
the frontiers of fundamental science and technology, and to address the
most important problems that face the world.

Okay … once again, I am a proud Papa! My youngest son, Erik, was just selected as a Presidential Classroom Scholar. My big question … why can’t I attend?! Here is how the program is described: (video)

The Science, Technology & Public Policy Program examines the
role of the government in issues related to scientific discoveries and
technological advances. PC Scholars receive a firsthand look at the
political responses to scientific advances, environmental quality,
space exploration, disease control and changing technology. Students
also study hot topics in the biotechnology community. The Junior
Engineering Technical Society and the Engineering Foundation assisted
in the development of this program.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

• National Security Agency on-site seminar and small group meetings with agency officials
• Seminar on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives
• Seminar with a NASA astronaut
• On-site seminars/visits to facilities such as the Navy Medical
  Research Center, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center or the U.S. Army
  Night Vision facility
• National Academy of Sciences seminar
• National Science Foundation seminar
• Smithsonian Air & Space Museum Visits
• Capitol Hill Visits
• Meeting with an inventor and venture capitalist
• “Careers in Engineering” panel

I’m sitting in a hotel room, just off Harvard Square. Tomorrow I will be the guest speaker at a knowledge management conference hosted by Elsevier.  This area is exciting, and it brings back my Dartmouth student days when I would often be down here competing. However, enough about the "good ole days", Harvard has an active virtual presence. Given all the problems in the world today, and the seemingly lack of morals on the part of so many folks, you may enjoy attending this "Harvard at Home" webcast. After all, it costs the students almost $50k per year … you can watch for free!

• Justice … A Journal in Moral Reasoning

Here is a brief description about the class from the Harvard web: "Hundreds of students pack Harvard’s Sanders Theater for Michael Sandel’s "Justice" course—an introduction to moral and political philosophy. They come to hear Sandel lecture about great philosophers of the past—from Aristotle to John Stuart Mill—but also to debate contemporary issues that raise philosophical questions—about individual rights and the claims of community, equality and inequality, morality and law."

If the topic of morals and philosophy is too heavy, attend this "Harvard at Home" webcast instead:

• The Business of Baseball

Warning! Yankees fans should avoid this webcast. It shows the Red Sox world series celebration!

Experience the True Meaning of Christmas. Use the Google query given below to find a Christmas concert at a local college.

• Google Christmas Concert Query
  • Run the query
  • Replace the word "college" with the name of your desired school
  • Re-run the query

Many colleges in America are holding their Christmas concerts this weekend. Since their students will soon have exams, and then leave for the holidays, schools tend to target this weekend. I will attend concerts over the weekend at Wartburg and Gustavus Adolphus Colleges (and do a lot of driving).  My two older children are in the choirs at the respective schools.

• Christmas at Wartburg
• Christmas at Christ Chappel