President's Column

"Those that do not adapt, succumb.

Those that adapt, survive.

Those that adapt well, succeed."

Having first become involved with the Mississippi Academy of Sciences over 15 years ago, shortly after choosing this state as a home, I have been singularly honored by election as President, in service to the Academy. Upon beginning my term, I feel that my first task is to assess the current state of the Academy.

The principal reason for this assessment is recognition that we operate, at the present time, in an academic environment that is undergoing change at an unprecedented rate. A major impetus for this change is the catalytic role played by electronic computational and telecommunications technology. The impact that this change is exerting on our society is paralleled, perhaps, only by the effect of introduction of steam engineering in the 19th century, which ushered in the Industrial Revolution. Many have become familiar with the postulate that computing power will effectively double every 18 months, a rate of development that amazes, yet also frustrates, anyone (homeowners, educators, business persons and academicians) who must keep pace with acquisition of continually evolving software and hardware. However, the slope of that curve is flat compared to the rate of telecommunications development. As a pertinent example, usage of the Internet is doubling every 100 days (Hughes 1998). We must endeavor to ensure that the rate of adaptation of our purposes, position and potential are aligned with, or preferably exceed, the pace of this change.

Two major challenges present themselves. The first, as alluded to in the opening lines, is to weather the sharp edge of Social Darwinism. Approximately 250,000 new non-profit organizations have been registered with the United States Internal Revenue Service in the last decade. Clearly, enormous competition will take place among these as we move into the next millenium. Our historical date of incorporation (1930) will, by itself, be no guarantor of survival. We must both capitalize fully on our existing strengths (diversity of membership, a wide base of institutional representation, and a substantive financial endowment), and aggressively explore novel options in order to deflect the Darwinian blade. The second immediate challenge reflects, more directly, the influence of digital technology. Having performed the first statistical test of my scientific career on a mechanical, rotating column calculator, I often marvel at a new breed of information scientist who can so adroitly configure global transmission of megabytes of data in milliseconds, at the same age as I was waiting minutes for a clanking, shuddering instrument to calculate chi-square values for two sets of 10 numbers each. How we incorporate this new breed of scientist and, particularly, those who educate them, into the Academy will be a deciding factor in our adaptive struggle.

Challenges open new doors for opportunity, but only the bold and creative will stride confidently through those portals into the future. Information science, still in its infancy, is one of those doors. Let us adopt the concept of Aota-gai to drive our plans for growth. Aota-gai, a Japanese term, is used to denote being the first to adopt new methods, thereby beating the competition. It derives from a practice of harvesting rice, while still green, to be the first to market. Reaching out to new, non-traditional members, re-evaluating financial management practices, and redefining a strategic goal that permits maximal flexibility of growth can serve as an Academy Aota-gai and configure us for the next fifty-odd years of our service to the Mississippi scientific community.--Rob Rockhold, Ph.D.

Hughes, K. 1998. Gulf States Regional Forum on Developing a Competitive Information Technology Work Force, pp. 22-23. United States Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.