TEXT OF DR. PATRICK CREAN'S COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS

STONY BROOK

MAY 16, 1997

Good morning! Before we go any further -- congratulations to each member of the graduating class. You have waited a long time and worked hard to be here today; I applaud you.

Let me begin by telling you a little bit about your heritage. Forty years ago today, Dwight Eisenhower was president of the United States and Stony Brook was yet to start it’s first semester. In September of 1957, I was one of 157 freshmen that started studies at what would become the Stony Brook we are all a part of today. We were the first of the progression that you continued with your participation here over the past several years. Your chemistry faculty today is more than twice as large as the entire institution’s faculty in 1957. In fact, there was no chemistry faculty or chemistry courses -- we had what was referred to as "Natural Science" which was mostly a Physics course sprinkled with a little philosophy. Our laboratory facility was what had once been a laundry room on the estate of William Robinson Coe in Oyster Bay. One of today’s NMR probes costs more than all the lab equipment we had that first year. By now, you might be thinking we might have used an abacus for calculations -- wrong, we had slide rules! Handheld calculators were still a decade in the future. There were less than 6000 computers in operation in the entire United States -- the integrated circuit had not yet been invented and the computer chip was in the very early development stages. You don’t have to look very far to realize that things are far different now. There is every reason to believe that the pace of technology implementation will actually accelerate as we look toward the future and that you will be a big part of it.

Fortunately for all of us, a man named Francis Bonner arrived on the scene during Stony Brook’s formative years. He had a vision for a Chemistry Department and a strategy to attain it. He also recognized the roles other people would have to play for this to all come about. It was no accident that from the very beginning, the Chemistry faculty would be staffed by very special people. We have all reaped the benefits of having been able to collaborate with them.

By the time I was a junior, the Department was taking shape and there were three of us majoring in Chemistry. Needless to say, we each got a lot of individual attention. It probably wasn’t always appreciated at the time, but in retrospect, that nurturing was one of the most valuable experiences that could be known to any student at any time.

Commencement took place on the Oyster Bay campus on a beautiful spring day just thirty-six short years ago. There were twenty-five graduates and three times as many faculty members in attendance. More than 65% of the Chemistry BS recipients went on to earn Ph.D.s. John Kennedy was president of the United States and the Berlin Wall was yet to be erected; it stood for some thirty years as a symbol of the cold war.

That is behind us now and we are here today to again celebrate -- this time it is you that we honor. You each know what it took, in terms of dedication and sacrifice, to reach this milestone. What you learned here is important, but at least equally important is the process of learning since that is what will sustain you as the knowledge base broadens. For each of you this has been a successful endeavor that we recognize today. You may not have thought of it this way but the elements that made it successful are similar to those of Professor Bonner’s in establishing the Department -- a vision, a strategy to achieve it and involving quality people along the way. Upon analysis, you can usually find these elements in successful endeavors.

In the next several days, you will be scattering all over geographically and I suspect that most of you would like to consider the rest of your lives as successful endeavors when viewed from some vantage point in the future. Let’s use the Bonner model and your experience here at Stony Brook as guides to facilitate a process we might follow. So it’s now time for you to seriously think about your vision, your dream or whatever you prefer to call it. Imagine it as a state of perfection from your perspective. It’s usually a good idea to aim for perfection because even if you miss by a little bit, you will still end up in pretty good shape. It might help if you examined your personal values and beliefs and test your personal vision against them. Frequently, frustration and failure are characteristics of circumstances wherein there exists incompatibility between an individual’s beliefs/values and their aims. It is usually worth the time to clarify for yourself just what it is that you stand for -- your values -- your beliefs, before developing your vision. This activity should not be considered merely a punch list item; it deserves your careful consideration. It will help you understand yourself a little better and lead you to more rewarding journeys and destinations.

If you can think of your vision as a destination in time, then the strategy to get there can be thought of as your road map. There are choices to be made when setting off on a journey -- do you want the quickest route, the most scenic route -- are there specific places you wish to visit along the way? These are the sorts of issues to be addressed early on, remembering to keep focused on your vision and that the direction you are headed will get you there.

It is important to realize that the plan that is developed is not nearly as valuable as the process used to develop it. The discipline of planning is what equips you to deal with the detours and forks that you will surely meet on the road you travel. Often, the greatest opportunities, at first, may seem like obstacles to your well thought out plan. It is this discipline of the planning process that will allow you to see these ‘bumps in the road’ as opportunities. This is particularly powerful when abetted by intense scientific curiosity.

For example, in 1938, a young chemist at DuPont was executing a plan to develop improved refrigerants. He cocked the valve on a cylinder of tetrafluoroethylene and did not get the expected delivery of the gas. Instead of discarding the cylinder, as many might have, and moving to the next one, he cut it open and discovered what we refer to today as TeflonÔ. The chemist’s name is Roy Plunkett and TeflonÔ is still a lucrative product. More recently, Charles Pederson deviated from his original plan and investigated some unexpected crystals in the bottom of a reaction flask at the end of an experiment. In so doing, he discovered the "Crown Ethers" and was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1987; the only DuPont employee so honored. Although I am an Organic Chemist by training, I spent almost half my career with DuPont in the manufacturing process measurement arena. I recognized the potential advantages of bringing process measurements closer to the manufacturing operation. This was made possible by the then emerging generation of analytical instrumentation equipped with on-board computers. We were eventually able to equip Operators at the manufacturing line with measurement capability rather than having to wait for results from the traditional central lab. Better decisions could be made quicker and the manufacturing processes became more profitable. Today, this concept is practiced in most of DuPont’s manufacturing processes throughout the world. In each case, the chemist had a plan but deviated from it -- perhaps the discipline of the planning process prepared them to better recognize opportunities disguised as snags to their original plans. Consultants in the area state that companies and individuals that plan do better than those that don’t and those who plan and don’t follow the plan do even better. It is the discipline of the planning process that prepares us to deal with the unforeseen.

You have not yet met most of the people with whom you will deal on the journey towards your vision. Having a good grasp on your own values, beliefs and goals will naturally direct you to like minded people. It is with them that you will have pleasant and rewarding experiences. But don’t limit yourselves here -- there is great value in dealing with diversity in it’s many forms. Opportunities that present themselves usually don’t fall neatly into a given discipline (such as chemistry). It wasn’t that long ago when one could know all that was known in science. As the knowledge base grew, ‘science’ evolved into chemistry, physics and biology and today we have fields like physical chemistry, chemical engineering, bio-chemistry and so on. It seems that many really interesting opportunities fall in the interfaces of the traditional disciplines. This usually requires a coordinated, interdisciplinary approach to beat them into submission and claim triumph.

So then, what are some of the key ingredients of successful endeavors?

o Setting a vision based on your values and beliefs,

o Disciplined, flexible planning to develop a strategy to achieve the vision,

o Recognition that the planning process, not necessarily the plan, will equip you with the wherewithal to deal with the unexpected,

o The need for and value of diversity in dealing with opportunities that come your way,

o And you could easily add to the list.

There is really nothing surprising or revolutionary here. The surprising aspect is, that although much of this is evident, there are many who do not follow this approach. There is much talk but hardly enough walk. Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers rarely surprised their opponents with what they did, it was how well they did it that made them perennial champions.

You have the technical tools; it’s now up to you to not only be aware of the things you must do, but to actually go ahead and do them and do them with passion. You are bound to meet people who are good at loading a gun, people who are good at selecting a target and aiming at it; but all that is in vain if you don't pull the trigger. Be prepared to do it all, select your goal, focus on it and start marching.

Earlier I mentioned a little of what it was like here forty years ago. I’ll finish by sharing what Oliver Wendel Holmes offered 140 years ago.

"I find the great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving... We must sail sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, ---- but we must sail, and not drift, nor lie at anchor."

Thirty six years ago, the theme of my commencement was "Pioneers". Today, there are new and very complex frontiers and you are the explorers and pioneers who will explore and conquer them. That is your challenge -- Now get on with it.

Again -- congratulations, Godspeed and thank you.