Basic Research and Societal Impact : the Example of Mark Cane

Basic, or “curiosity-driven” research is sometimes thought of as being in some degree of tension or conflict with applied, or “user-driven” research. While the latter clearly draws upon the former, influences in the other direction can be less obvious, and many scientists focus on one to the exclusion of the other. Mark Cane’s career offers a dramatic demonstration that one scientist can do both successfully and they can be mutually reinforcing. This talk will consider the relationship between the drives to understand nature on its own terms and to make a positive difference in human society as they both manifest in Mark’s career, and attempt to draw out some lessons that might help the rest of us learn from his example. We might start with his work as a student activist in the civil rights movement, continue with his research on equatorial wave dynamics with Ed Sarachik leading up to the first successful dynamical prediction of El Niño with Steve Zebiak, and then continue to consider of the many important studies, both of basic climate dynamics and climate impacts, that have marked the rest of his career to date. Mark’s influence on other scientists, both as an individual mentor and as an institutional force at Columbia University, is of course a critical part of the story. In addition to the rest of the historical record, we’ll draw on interviews done with Mark for the podcast Deep Convection.