Keynote Speaker – Ernest Joseph – June 2000
“Thank you Mr. Yi for your kind introduction. It is my pleasure, especially as a parent of the student of spring valley high school to address the science and Math inductees tonight. However, tonight I will be speaking to these exceptional students as a friend. That’s right, just like a friend who would share with you his experiences, I would like to share with you my experiences about what it takes to achieve academic success. I am sure this will help you in your future endeavor that lies ahead.
You have reach the stage of your life where you will soon start making choices, important choices that will shape your life as an adult and as a professional. Let me tell you my friends, from now onwards making choices becomes as routine as waking up every morning. In fact, you already have made an important choice. You have selected your career path for yourself. Being inductees tonight, you have already won confidence and approval from your teachers and parents, and respect from your peers. Making choice by yourself is often hampered by doubts and uncertainties. But today, your choice has support of your teachers, parents and peers. And that to me is most difficult mission accomplished. Now the rest is easy. The goal is set, the path is chosen, just go and get it.
Science and technology has unlimited boundaries. Based on this foundation of science and mathematics, some of you will go on to become a scientist, a teacher, an engineer, a doctor, a physicist, an astronaut ….. the possibilities are endless. If you have noticed, I said possibilities. Any of these possibilities can become reality based on the path you have chosen, but you have to get there. So how do I get there?
You have heard umpteen times from your parents and teachers about how important it is to work hard. And it is the most fundamental quality you must have to be above average, to be an honor student. This quality you have already demonstrated. But what are the other qualities that will make your goals possible?
Stay In Focus:
Never lose focus from your goal. On an average, a student who chooses the career path you have chosen, will put on 6 to 10 additional years after high school to reach the goal. You are in for a long haul and staying in focus is the key to success. By staying in focus, it reminds you of your priorities and helps you accomplish your goal. I always compare this with running a marathon. Just a thought of completing one might make you want to quit, but if you stay focused, you know you will reach the finish line and it will be over soon.
Develop inquisitive mind:
This is the one significant quality that attributes to most of the major breakthroughs in science. Remember, no question ever asked is silly question and therefore, never be afraid to ask. In yesterday’s New York Times, there was a front page article on drugs called angiostatin and endostatin, the drugs that eradicate tumors in mice. It will be at least a year before we know how the tumor in humans responds to these drugs. Dr. Falkman, the inventor was obsessed with this idea but rather unpractical notion that cancer cannot grow beyond the size of a pinhead unless they have their own blood supply. If he could block the tumor’s blood supply, he reasoned, the tumor should shrink to the miniscule size. 30 years ago, when he proposed this notion, he did not have many believers. Now, as Dr. Watson, a Nobel prize winner and a director of cold spring harbor laboratories in long island puts it. “Dr. Falkman will cure cancer in two years. And he will be remembered along with Charles Darwin as someone who permanently altered the civilization”. Pretty profound words.
Be a Dreamer:
To make dreams come true, you must be able to dream. In the 60’s when president Kennedy announced that we will put man on the moon by the end of the decade, he had shown full confidence in the dreamers who happened to run an agency called NASA. All the big inventions that change lifestyle dramatically, starts with a dream. The inventor of polymerase chain reaction, PCR for short, had this idea while driving on route 101 on the coastal California. He stopped and made notes of his ideas. The rest is history. With PCR, exponential quantities of DNA can be made in 1 hour that would take days by conventional methods. Thanks to this invention, Human genome project is possible. This project is carried out in dozens of labs around the world with single goal of mapping the entire human genomic sequence in mind, therefore to know exactly what we are made up of right down to the molecular level and even more importantly, which genes are responsible for various diseases.
Be persistent:
Without being persistent, none of the above qualities mean anything. There will be enough share of disappointments along the way, but persistence will get you there. In science I do not like to use word failure because in scientific research, there are no failed experiments. What happens is that cumulatively, all experiments will lead to the successful one. As Winston Churchill once said, and great basketball coach Jimmy Valvano used to say to his team – “Never give up, never ever give up”.
Always Watch, Listen and Understand:
These are the simple qualities of life we take for granted, but often underestimate. Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of telephone, devoted his life working with and understanding deaf. Both his mother and wife had hearing impairments. By understanding them, he gathered knowledge of the shapes of sound waves that lead him to the basic principle of telephony.
Read:
In these days of television and other electronics means, reading seems to be a forgotten art. When I say reading, I do not mean just your textbooks. I am a firm believer that something you read somewhere never goes to waste. All readings put together makes you a well-rounded person.
So just to summarize, stay focused, develop inquisitive mind, Be a Dreamer, Be persistent, watch listen and understand and Read.
So now you may ask “what are my career choices in the next millennium?” There are always the old favorite ones like a doctor, a nurse or a teacher. But there are also emerging fields of genetics, genetic counselling, computer science, robotics…. And list goes on. These are some of the cool things happening! You have a wonderful opportunity to participate and may even become a trend setter for the next generation. Whatever you choose, choose because you love to do that, and not because everyone else is doing it. This will help you tremendously in your professional life later on, may be 20 or 30 years later, when you wake up each morning, you will have same enthusiasm to look forward to for the day because you will be doing something you love, and not because you have to.
I congratulate you all and wish you all the best. Thank you.”
Ernest Joseph
Background – Undergraduate degree in Microbiology from India and graduate degree in Immunology from New York medical college.
Past & Current Work – Past research includes development of Immunoassays to detect colon cancer, prostate cancer and neural tube defect.
Working as a researcher in the field of diagnostics at Bayer corporation. Present work involves development of Immunoassays to detect infectious Diseases.
Professional Affiliation – American Society of Microbiologists
American Society of Clinical Chemistry
Reflections on Running & Life 