BIOTECHNOLOGY LECTURE FOCUSES ON THE FUTURE OF THE RESEARCH UNIVERSITY IN THE DIGITAL AGE

PITTSBURGH, April 2 -- James J. Duderstadt, President Emeritus at the University of Michigan, will address the future of higher education in the digital age in a lecture hosted by the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Biotechnology and Bioengineering on Thursday, April 9, at 3 p.m. in the Frick Fine Arts Building, Schenley Drive, Oakland.

Duderstadt's talk is the third Perkin-Elmer Distinguished Lectureship at Pitt and will focus on the changing environment in higher education--from the previous reliance on extensive partnerships between research universities and the federal government--to an era of rapid technical change at America's universities.

"Powerful forces, including obsolete cost structures, changing societal demand and rapidly evolving information technology are driving a massive restructuring of the American higher education enterprise, similar to that occurring in other critical industries such as health care, telecommunication and energy," said Duderstadt. "All must cope with a future of unprecedented change, presenting both unusual challenges and opportunities."

Duderstadt is director of the Millennium Project, a research center concerned with the future of higher education. His teaching and research interests have covered a broad spectrum of science, mathematics and engineering including work in areas such as nuclear systems, computer simulation, science policy and higher education. He is the winner of the E.O. Lawrence Award for excellence in nuclear research, the Arthur Holly Compton Prize for outstanding teaching and the National Medal of Technology for exemplary service to the nation.

Serving as president of the University of Michigan from 1988 to 1996, Duderstadt currently holds a university-wide appointment as University Professor of Science and Engineering at Michigan.

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