 Through this award, the university has reminded the wider population of the central importance of science and technology to our country’s development. It has endorsedthe pioneering work that NIHERST undertook to increase scientific literacy, to build awareness and capacity in science and technology, and to boost the creative and innovative potential of all our people, across every sector of the national community.
It is also an honour to have been invited to speak at this ceremony. I know it is customary at these commencement addresses, as they call them, for the speakers to share with the graduands the wisdom they distilled from their own life experiences.
But I have decided not to do that, for two reasons. First of all, in a short while, probably by this afternoon, you will have forgotten everything I said here this morning especially if you don’t look up from your Blackberrys!
But the second, more important, reason I won’t give you any advice about life is that it won’t make any difference. Even if you do remember what I say, it will not resonate as truth and have any meaning for you, until you have walked the miles that I have, and discovered for yourselves everything that I might impart to you now. The French writer, Voltaire, asked, “Is there anyone so wise as to learn from the experiences of others?”
The great scientist, Albert Einstein, said the same thing differently: “All understanding is from experience. Everything else is just information.”
So instead, I will just share a little of my life story as it related to helping to build Trinidad and Tobago’s capability in science and technology,with the hope that a point or two will illuminate your own paths in science somewhere in the future.
Forty years ago, in 1972, I was one of you … sitting at my own graduation ceremony on this campus, about to receive a BSc degree in Chemistry and Zoology. And I can tell you, the last thing I imagined that day was my going on to be a pioneer in anything … not even in science.
In 1979, some years after graduating, I joined the newly established NIHERST – the National Institute for Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology. A big part of the NIHERST mandate is to promote and develop Trinidad and Tobago’s capacity in science and technology. Our main focus in the 1980s was to fund research and development projects, in sectors that were of importance to national development. That emphasis on R&D and innovation is an even greater imperative today, with the increasing pressure to diversify our economy and compete in knowledge-driven global markets.
However, in 1990, when I started serving as President of NIHERST, I felt that our focus on research was only part of the equation for building a critical mass of scientists and engineers. All around the world, just when even more scientists and engineers would be needed to meet the demands of the 21stcentury, there was actually a decrease in interest by young people to study and pursue careers in science, technology and engineering and mathematics, or STEM as it’s called. And we see the impact of that more than ever today, where improvements in STEM education is one of the biggest priorities for every country, including the United States, in terms of preparing their workforce for the job markets and industries of tomorrow.
So, in my view, we also needed to educate the wider population about the role of science in society and development … to bring everyone into the loop, so to speak. And we needed especially to capture the hearts and minds of the very young, before they could be turned off science in school. Science popularisation was gaining ground internationally as a key solution to the lack of interest, understanding and engagement by the public. Sciences centres were going up everywhere, many of them very sophisticated and exciting places for people to experience the wonders of science and technology outside of research laboratories.
So I began to focus NIHERST strongly in that direction … to take science to the people. We started off with a small travelling exhibition of about 20 exhibits. And, although the exhibits were hands-on and fun, they were very rudimentary in appearance. They were homespun, clunky and low tech.
But my philosophy has always been that we just have to start. Somewhere, with something. And you know what? People, children loved it.
Unfortunately, we did not get the same response from the leaders in the public and private sectors. Non-formal science education for the masses was seen as frivolous, not worth investing heavily in.
In 1998, with the help of the National Gas Company, we set up the NIHERST NGC National Science Centre in D’Abadie, in a warehouse that was, of course, not at all custom-built for a science centre.
And I would like to point out that the Caribbean region was then and still is the only region in the world without a network of science centres. Every other region, every continent – Latin America, North America, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe – has had them for decades, as a key component of their science education infrastructure. Trinidad and Tobago is the only country leading the region so far with our National Science Centre.
In 2001, NIHERST had a feasibility study done for the establishment of a state-of-the-art facility. And we lobbied every administration since then to have it built, but we did not succeed.
Until this year. Tomorrow morning, at 10am (October 26), NIHERST will finally turn the sod to begin construction of the NIHERST Science City… a sprawling complex covering 52 acres, which will include a purpose-built and, I hope, spectacular national science centre.
So we did not wait in vain. And if we had not persisted with what little we had and expanded it, there would be no substantial science popularisation platform on which to build the NIHERST Science City today. Our success has been entirely because we believed that this was important for the country in the long run, and we had the passion and energy and commitment to stick with that vision and to keep going.
The development of Trinidad and Tobago’s scientific capability cannot, of course, be the domain of just one institution. Our future will rest on the work of every scientific and educational institution; on greater public and private sector investment; and on a literate and engaged population. And, of course, on every one of you graduating here today.
As I look out at your bright faces this morning, I truly hope that everything you are dreaming for in the future – a successful career, money, family, whatever it is you want, I hope it comes to you.
I also hope that you are aware of how very privileged you are, even compared to your peers in developed countries, to have received the education that you did at this university. It would have been at no or little cost to you but that doesn’t mean that it was at no cost to our society. The money – taxpayers’ money – that is being invested in tertiary education could have gone to other sectors of the economy like health and public utilities. So I hope that you will make good on that education and give back to the country that has given you what many others don’t give to their people.
Every generation brings forth its own cultural and technological revolutions. My generation had the post-colonial task of building the infrastructure for modern Trinidad and Tobago. I am not so sure how well we have succeeded, looking at the physical and social infrastructure we are handing over to you. But our work will be in your hands, to continue and improve on.
Your generation stands on the frontiers of revolutionary new knowledge and extraordinary technologies. And at the same time, the tremendous challenges confronting humanity as a whole will fall squarely on your shoulders to resolve. Scientific and technological solutions will be needed more than ever to conserve natural resources, reduce carbon, and cope with climate change, and the food, water and energy crises that lie ahead.
For my generation, it was easier to get employment as a new graduate. For you, the reality is that the job market, in both the public and private sectors, especially for graduates with no work experience, is at saturation point. And that employment Catch-22 is a global phenomenon. Post-graduate qualifications are a necessity and an advantage but still not a guarantee that you will be hired.
But the good news is that opportunities to create your own employment and wealth abound in this era of globalisation. And often it requires more ingenuity than capital or resources, at least at the start. There are no barriers to smart ideas and a bold spirit. “A wise man makes more opportunities than he finds,” as the philosopher/scientist, Sir Francis Bacon, noticed. Innovation is not the exclusive domain of scientists and engineers, but your education and training does give you the advantage to create new products and to solve problems using science and technology.
And you don’t need to be based at high-tech labs in order to innovate and create ingenious, low-cost solutions and technologies. Three years ago, an A-level student in Britain, working from her grandfather’s tool shed, invented a portable, solar-powered fridge built from household materials that is now helping to improve the lives of thousands of poverty-stricken people in African. And there are many more like her out there, including, I hope, some of you sitting in this hall right now.
I know I said at the start that I wasn’t going to give you any advice on how to proceed in your lives, but which older person can resist telling young people what is good for them? So if I were to give you even a teeny weeny bit of advice; some wisdom, this is what it would be:
When you walk out of these doors, no matter where you find yourselves, whatever you are doing, whomever you are working for … always, always go the extra mile ...go beyond the call of duty, beyond the job descriptions and the duties andfunctions. That is the hallmark of excellence, and every single person who has ever succeeded in any arena has done that one thing.
And I am not just talking in your work but in your relationships as well. The extra mile is not the extra number of hours you put in per se. It is an internal position, a mindset that you take towards whatever you have to do in life. The extra mile will hone your abilities and talents. And you aren’t doing it to make more money or to get a promotion or even to please your bosses, although such things usually do follow. The extra mile is the distance between you and your best self. And even if it doesn’t yield the fruits you want immediately, it will in the long run … although maybe not in the ways you might have imagined. And along the way, it will have built your character, your fortitude, your integrity and your work ethic.
As you make your way out into the world from today, know that overnight success is a very rare thing. And a problem-free life is impossible to have. Life will send each of you your share of good fortune, but you can be sure it will also send you disappointments and losses. Plans will go wrong, the things you want may or may not materialise, and you might feel completelyblown off the course you charted for yourself. But it will teach you how to adjust your sails, how to navigate open and rough waters, and how to reset your sights in new directions, for new destinations.
And if you remember nothing else that I say here today, remember this one thing: you have the power within you to overcome whatever life sends your way. And overcoming does not always mean changing thecircumstances that arise but changing how you look at and respond to those circumstances. The world is teeming with examples of astonishing human greatness; people who have emerged from the most tragic, heartbreaking and disabling events and remained intact on the inside. That same greatness is in every one of you. Never let your spirit be defeated by anyone or anything. The power to be happy, no matter what, lies within you. Seek and find that power. The one and only guarantee in life is that you can always find happiness inside you.
To The University of the West Indies, I thank you for this honorary degree. I will cherish it as a symbol of the struggle that we have all undertaken, all who have fought in the trenches to develop Trinidad and Tobago’s capability in science and technology. As a country, we are not nearly where we could and should have been by now in building a strong national culture of science and technology. So those extra miles still lie ahead of us. But we are veterans in this now, undefeated. So on we go.
This is the address delivered on October 25 to the graduating classes of the Faculty of Science & Agriculture/Pure & Applied Sciences. |
