Interview with Nariman Farvardin, President of Stevens Institute of Technology
Nariman Farvardin is currently the President of the Stevens Institute of Technology. He was formerly a faculty member and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost at the University of Maryland.
Rana Myneni: The university's 10-year strategic plan, The Future. Ours to Create., focuses on making Stevens a premier, student-centric, technological research university. How is Stevens supporting their faculty and students in their efforts to research?
Nariman Farvardin: So obviously, the answers to these questions could be very lengthy if I wanted to go into a lot of detail, I’ll try to keep my answers relatively brief but if you want to know more, please tell me. One very important aspect of our strategic plan is the research aspect of the university’s operation. We are proud to be a very technology-centered university and we’re very proud to be at the frontier of a number of science and technology-related fields. So to answer your question, in order to fuel the research engine of the university, essentially you need three things, and we are working on all three. So what are the three? First, you need superb, world-class faculty members and researchers that would lead the research effort. You need human capital, and one important component of human capital are those faculty who work on the forefront. The second thing that you need is students that will work with these faculty members. And I mean the right caliber of students. Students who are creative, students who have the right scientific and technical background, students who have the fire in their bellies, and students who understand and appreciate the value of innovation and entrepreneurship. So that’s the second component. What’s the third component? You need to have the right infrastructure, you need to have the right labs, you need to have the right equipment, you need to have the right supercomputing capability, you need to have the internet and intranet environment in order to facilitate research. So really, the short answer, which didn’t end up being too short, is that we are working on all three of these. The other thing that Stevens is doing, which I think is, in some ways, somewhat- I don’t want to say unique- but very special. It’s that we don’t want to be everything to everybody. We want to be among the best in what we do. We’re not going to do everything. So we’re being very selective in identifying a few research areas which we want to be among the best in. So that allows us to be focused but be very, very good.
RM: Aside from those plans, are there any other specific steps that you’re taking to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in your student body?
NF: Yes, first of all we have an office that is entirely dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship. So the job of that office is to promote the kind of activities that are related to innovation and entrepreneurship. To support those students and faculty members who come up with an interesting idea that they think can have applications beyond that idea, that might solve a major societal problem, that they are interested in wrapping a business around that idea. An idea by itself is an idea. An idea might result in a scientific paper, it might get published, but in order to change the lives of others, you need to take that idea, take it further, maybe build a company around that idea, develop a product or service that could be deployed or scaled up. So this office that we have has the responsibility of supporting the faculty and staff that come up with these ideas. In addition to that we have, associated with this office, created four years ago an entity called “Stevens Venture Center”. This is specifically for those faculty and students that have actually come up with an idea, they have found a problem that this idea can be applied to, and they are interested in converting their idea to a company. I would mention one more thing that we are doing which is very exciting, all related to the same ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship, you may not know this but, maybe in the future, you’ll find out, but at Stevens, every single student has to do a very major senior design project. Every single student who graduates, this is one of the requirements. This is a major undertaking. Design is a big thing at Stevens, it actually starts in the freshman year, and then it culminates in the middle of the junior year with this senior design project that starts in the middle of the junior year and continues to the end of the senior year. So just to give you an example, this year alone, we had about 200 senior design projects. And each project has multiple students associated with it. Some of these senior design projects themselves are focused on real-world problems. So at the end of this process, typically in April or early May of each year, we have a competition for those projects who believe that they can take the idea from just a project they’ve worked on and develop a company. So a large number of students apply, typically we whittle down the list of those to the ten strongest projects, and those ten participate in a competition which is one of the most exciting events at Stevens. The competition is actually named, and the top three winners received a monetary reward to use as seed funding for their companies, so it’s called the Ansary Entrepreneurship Competition. So all of these things create an ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship.
RM: As we said, our project is really focused on innovation so we’re not only interested in how Stevens is promoting innovation in their students but also how the university itself is innovating, so how is Stevens keeping up with the changing world with technology and other challenges that come up, and how is Stevens innovating to be at the forefront of education?
NF: That itself requires a two-hour conversation because we are reinventing and innovating the entire university in so many domains, so I will not be able to tell you everything about all that we do, but I will mention a few things. For example, we are a very strong believer in technology. We are a believer that technology is a key driver of human progress. I hope you agree with me. You, the younger people, typically appreciate this more than others. But there is almost nothing important that happens in our lives that is not somehow related to science and technology. But if you agree with me, and not everyone agrees with us, so that’s why we are on the innovation edge, we strongly believe in transforming the educational experience of students who go to college, regardless of what their major is. They could study computer science or they could study music. Or they could study business, or finance, or the arts. But regardless, we are a strong believer that science and technology have to be woven into the overall educational experience. That’s a very innovative concept. Not too many universities in the country are doing this. Another thing that we are a very strong believer in is that technology itself will play a very big role in the delivery of education. I am assuming that you guys are taking your classes online. Just imagine, I’m assuming you guys are using some simple technology- are you using Zoom? Just imagine if Zoom was not available. Just imagine if this was five years ago. You would’ve had to stay home, with no access to your courses, no access to your teachers. Now take this, and think five or ten years down the line. Think about the day where you don’t need to really have a person intervening in your educational experience, but a machine will be so smart to not only be able to teach you but will be able to learn about your learning habits, to learn about your strengths, to learn about your weaknesses, and to personalize your education for you. These are the kinds of innovative concepts that we are working on. If you come to Stevens after you graduate from high school, if you take calculus courses, the role of machines is much more important than the role of professors in teaching calculus because we’ve come up with a totally revolutionary way to innovate the teaching of calculus. I’ve just given you a couple of examples as a teaser.
RM: Technology and innovation are some of the most important parts of Stevens, and especially now, universities are trying to take more sustainable initiatives to become better for and help the environment, so what are some of Stevens’ current sustainable initiatives?
NF: Actually it’s interesting that you ask this. I cannot rattle off a whole list, but we are working on every imaginable aspect of sustainability to the point that just about two weeks ago, we received a gold star recognition for our efforts in sustainability. There is an organization, I forget the name of it but the abbreviation is ASHEE I think, but don’t ask me to spell it out, so this is an organization that focuses on only higher education, and on sustainability. So what universities do a great job in sustainability efforts, not only in their instruction activities but also in their research activities and also in the way they run their campus. So I’ll just give you a couple of examples of the more recent things we are working on. For example, the rooftops of many of our buildings are covered with solar panels, so we generate a lot of our electricity using sunlight. We have embarked on a project to convert the lighting in all of our buildings to LED. That’s a big thing- we have about 50 to 55, 56 different buildings, so just think about the commitment and the cost. We are installing chargers for electric vehicles throughout our campus. If you come to Stevens and you go to a bathroom, the material that is used for the toilet paper and the paper towels is all totally clean and doesn’t come from trees. I don’t know what kind of material they use which is both biodegradable and doesn’t require cutting a tree. So, many more things like that. In fact, if you go to our website there must be a place where we outline our sustainability efforts
RM: As you said, there are a lot of plans regarding sustainability for the future as well, so is that taking a priority for you right now?
NF: If it was not a priority, we wouldn’t have received the gold start that I was talking about. It’s a big priority for us, we believe in it, we believe in preserving our environment, and we also believe that the younger generation is much more committed to sustainability, and we want to be as responsive as we can be to our students
RM: Stevens is the third-fastest growing university in the country. How do you plan to maintain that rapid rate of growth?
NF: You referred to the strategic plan, so when I came to Stevens we developed a strategic plan, and it became part of our ten-year strategy to grow, for reasons that I do not have the time to explain right now, but there were very good reasons for Stevens to grow at the time. We felt that we were too small. So that puts us on this growth trajectory, and we’ve been growing at an incredibly fast pace. This is not going to continue forever, and it will certainly not grow at this rate. So my expectation is that between now and 2022, so in two years, we’ll continue to grow at the same pace because that will be the end of our ten-year strategic plan. Beyond that, I think we still will continue to grow, but at a slower pace. There are two reasons for slowing down the pace. We are not necessarily believers in growth just for the sake of growth. We want to grow in order to have an impact, so there is no reason to continue to grow forever- there is some optimal size. Stevens is a relatively small university, but because of that we are a very close-knit community. We care about each other, we are almost like a family. I personally know hundreds of students by their names. If we had 40,000 students, that would not be possible for me. So, we don’t want to become too big, but at the same time we have some limitations. We have a beautiful campus in Hoboken with a magnificent view of the New York waterline, and do you see the construction site behind me? That is the site of a magnificent construction project overlooking Manhattan. It has two dormitory towers with one thousand beds and a student center. So when the project is finished, it’ll be a dazzling project. We love our location, but our location is relatively small. We can’t grow indefinitely in that location, so we have physical limitations as well.
RM: Stevens is also focusing on building six inter- and multi-disciplinary “foundational pillars”, mostly centered around technology. How will you continue to grow these pillars, and what part do you see them playing in the school’s future?
NF: If you remember in your very first question when you asked about research, I alluded to the fact that we’ve chosen to be very selective so we can be very strong in those areas. So we are selecting a small number of areas, approximately six, in which we want to be the best. So how are we doing that? We are doing that by being very focused. So let me just give you one example. One of the big areas for us is now artificial intelligence and machine learning. How do you build this up? You recruit the best and the brightest faculty from anywhere you can find them in the world for n number of years in a row, to amass a critical mass of expertise in that particular area. That’s one important concept. The second thing that you do is create the right research environment for them. If there are laboratories that you need, if there are facilities that you need, if you need a supercomputer capability in order to enable work in artificial intelligence, you provide those for the faculty members that you hire. And then, you let the student community know that you’ve become one of the strongest in this area and you attract those students interested in artificial intelligence. So by putting the faculty, the infrastructure, and the students together, you build that ecosystem that you need. So we’re doing that for each and every one of these selected priority areas. I don’t know if you heard this or not but just a few days ago we got a major research center in the area of brain research, as brain research is another area of priority for us now, so we are hiring faculty in mechanical engineering, in biomedical engineering, in mathematics, all working on different aspects fo the brain, we are creating laboratories and facilities for them also, and then we are attracting students. So in the future, ten years down the line, if somebody in the country is interested in a place that is the go-to place for brain-related research, they know that one of the places is Stevens Institute of Technology.
RM: To go back to sustainability, I know that Stevens takes a very strong approach to sustainability, so how do you try to instill and teach the value of sustainability in students?
NF: Well, two things- there are not only optional seminars and classes but there are required seminars and classes that a lot of our students have to take. In addition to that, we have sustainability-related degree programs, so, for example, we have a program in environmental engineering, we have a program in environmental science- you can get a degree in these areas. And then there is a whole host of seminars and lectures that are offered on a very regular basis that are available not only to the students but to other members of our community, even faculty, and staff. So the whole community is aware of the importance of sustainability, not only students
RM: If you could fast-forward 20 years, what would Stevens look like?
NF: I like these kinds of idealistic questions, let me walk you back to one of the comments I made earlier. We are strong believers in the role of technology in human progress. That’s a lofty statement. If you were to name three of the most influential companies in the United States, what would you say? Is there one company that is not exclusively technology-oriented? I didn’t have to force you- you came up with these ideas, and if I gave you more time and if I asked you to give more examples, you would probably give me more examples of companies that are either exclusively technology-oriented or science and technology-oriented. I would say the company that will come up with the vaccine for the Coronavirus is probably going to change lives, right? So when you think about the role of science and technology in our lives, it’s paramount. No reasonable person could disagree. So I’m trying to answer your question about Stevens 20 years down the line. I am strongly convinced that there is a critically important role for a technology-focused education and for a technology-focused university. There are some, Stevens is one of them, MIT is another one, CalTech is another one, Carnegie Mellon is another one, but 20 years down the line, I would like Stevens to be known as one of a handful of the very best technology-focused universities anywhere on the face of the planet.
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