What Matters: September 2001
Twice Fortunate!
By Paul Gray '54, SM '55, ScD '60
During my nearly 45 years of working for MIT, I have had the good fortune of serving as a teacher and advisor to students over two intervals. The first, in which I began as an instructor and eventually became the Class of 1922 Professor, ran from 1957 to 1971, at which time I resigned my faculty appointment to take on administrative responsibilities. The second, which continues, commenced when my time as president ended in 1990. These opportunities to engage the young men and women who come here to study—both in the classroom and laboratory, and in office conversations about curriculum, careers, and the concerns of growing up—comprise the most stimulating, rewarding, and satisfying experiences I have had at this special place. I expect to continue as long as my health holds, I get good marks from my students in the Course VI Underground Guide, and support from my department head.
I frequently get the question—from students and faculty as well as from alumni/ae—"How are students now different from those who were here 40 to 50 years ago?" Here are some thoughts in response.
First, the student community is very much more diverse now, and this has changed the student culture. Women now comprise more than forty percent of the undergraduate population. Americans of African, Hispanic, and Asian heritage together make up a similar fraction. There are many more international students here now, particularly in the Graduate School. This mix of life experiences, perspectives and cultural backgrounds makes the MIT community a richer, more lively place—a place which prefigures the growing diversity of this nation in the twenty-first century, and helps prepare our graduates for their life experiences in this new time.
Second, students now are, in the large, quite knowledgeable about the world and about current affairs, certainly to a greater degree than was the case in my generation. At the same time, many are in some respects less well educated that their predecessors. Some have had too little experience and instruction in writing clearly and accurately, and a significant fraction of the entering class is advised or required to improve their writing skills. Some have not yet developed their facility with secondary school mathematics to the point at which they are at ease with algebra, trigonometry, exponentials, and complex numbers, and are able to use math confidently as a "second language." As I see it, many of our entering students have simply not had sufficient practice with these topics. These shortcomings are a puzzlement to me because these young people are, by all available measures, an extraordinarily well-prepared subset of the college-bound population—as strong as the cohorts admitted to the very strongest and most selective institutions of higher education. My hunch is that the evident difficulties in writing are a consequence of too little emphasis on these skills in many schools and too little time spent in writing which is reviewed and revised. The weaknesses in math are quickly overcome as new students engage the Institute Requirements.
Third, most students now are open to a much wider range of career possibilities than I perceive the case to have been in much earlier years. Furthermore, recent graduates seem accepting and open to the premise that—career planning notwithstanding—their lifetime activities are likely to see unforeseen and unanticipated changes. The need for ongoing learning is understood. For the EE graduate in the fifties, success in the hunt for that first job usually meant employment by a large, well-established company, such as ATT Bell Laboratories or IBM. In recent years there has been much more interest in start-ups, small developing companies, and in starting one's own enterprise. I continue to be surprised by the number of seniors who have laid the groundwork for a new business before they graduate.
It is, for me, a great privilege to work with the wonderful young people who come here to study and learn. And it always has been.
About the Author
Paul E. Gray, former chairman of the MIT Corporation (1990-1997), served as president of MIT for 10 years from 1980 to 1990. As a member of both the faculty and the administration of the Institute, Gray served as associate provost, dean of engineering, and chancellor prior to becoming president. He earned the SB, SM, and ScD degrees in electrical engineering from MIT. His areas of specialization are semiconductor electronics and circuit theory, and he has participated in the development of courses in electronics devices, models, and circuits, as well as core courses. At present, he teaches and advises undergraduates as professor of electrical engineering and computer science.
Gray was involved in the establishment of the Institute's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program in which undergraduate students become working participants in research projects. For four years, he served as a member of the White House Science Council, also serving as a member of the Council's Panel on the Health of Universities. He is director of Boeing Company and Eastman Kodak Company, and a life trustee of the Boston Museum of Science. He is trustee emeritus at Wheaton College (MA), where he was active as a trustee from 1971 to 1997 and was chairman from 1976 to 1987. Gray has been awarded honorary degrees from Wheaton College, Northeastern University, the Technical University of Nova Scotia, Cairo University, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a life fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and a member since 1975 of the National Academy of Engineering, where he served as treasurer from October 1994 to June 2001. He is also a member of Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, and Sigma Xi.
What Matters is a guest opinion column written by a different MIT alumnus or alumna. The views expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Alumni Association or MIT. Interested in writing a column? Email whatmatters@mit.edu.
