Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday! Happy Juneteenth! Happy Helen Keller Day!

I have no recollection of a day in the last few months that I was not asked about the potential impact of the evolving national policy changes on higher education. Impact on higher education in general and S&T in particular. My response? I don’t know! I don’t know what tomorrow will bring but I know in the long run, higher education will be around to provide, well, higher education!

I also respond by acknowledging that right now we, like many institutions of higher education, are in the thick of it! The disruptions, the changes, the ambiguity and the uncertainty. The ambiguity and uncertainty that has hazed the horizon, but one thing is certain; the horizon, albeit shaded, is still there and we must continue to march to it. I then add: that perspective alone helps me expect and embrace the unexpected!

You see, as an institute of technology, here at Missouri S&T, as our name implies, our focus is on science and technology. Indisputable science and technology and their application in real life. Regardless of any ideological leaning, thermodynamics works one way and one way only. Heat and mass transfer from high potential to low potential regardless. In fact, a review of our programs and curricula highlights the fact that our programs map well into the national agenda — any national agenda! Our educational programs are vastly focused on physical sciences and engineering, life sciences and medicine, organizational operations and business information technology, management science and enterprise efficiency, and many other fact-based scientific, empirical and experiential domains.

Our research pillars address the most pressing national priorities. Critical minerals and semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and extreme engineering materials, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems, intelligent and resilient infrastructure, bio-innovation and biotechnology, efficient energy use and resource sustainability, geological and geospatial science and engineering, just to name a few. In all these globally needed fields of endeavor, our researchers work directly with relevant industries and national knowledge centers to ensure that their work is application-driven and solution-inspired research. Our sophisticated laboratories conduct experiments to verify and validate (V&V) their concepts and don’t purely rely on hypothesis-driven, theoretical work. To be clear, our basic science faculty have also established terrific records of achievement in fields of theoretical mathematics, physics and chemistry, and others as well, but even those studies have their roots in application-oriented work.

No wonder our graduates fetch the highest starting salaries in the state of Missouri upon graduation and S&T is consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally for return on investment (ROI).

The challenge, of course, is to keep on keeping on despite all unsettling perturbations, discombobulations and the movement of the goalposts. This is not unprecedented, of course, as this country and the world have gone through many periods of uncertainty only to reemerge stronger! Our university, like thousands of others, was essentially shuttered during the two historic global conflicts, only to see the greatest growth after both world wars.

So, to all our students, faculty and staff, I say, I know it’s hard, but let’s focus on our mission of educating and training the next generation of engineers and scientists. The nation needs them, regardless of, and particularly because of, the stated national priorities of onboarding manufacturing, addressing critical minerals and materials needs and providing the human resources needed to rebuild our industrial base.

We all must take a moment and pause to appreciate what has been achieved and then let’s keep our momentum in the face of the changing landscape. Just remember that we are the change that is being called for, we welcome it, and we will continue to provide critical contributions to critical national challenges.

Warmly,

-Mo.

Share your thoughts!

Read previous Friday morning messages.

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• The historical legacy of Juneteenth
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• Remembering the remarkable Helen Keller
• Choose your adventure – browse summer camps at S&T

Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu