Charles Vest
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Charles Vest
Charles "Chuck" Marstiller Vestwas a U.S. educator and engineer. He served as President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1990 until December 2004, when he was succeeded by Susan Hockfield. He served as president of the National Academy of Engineering from 2007 to 2013...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEducator
Date of Birth9 September 1941
CountryUnited States of America
advanced agency american-educator bit educate efforts frequently importance might people technology
Agency by agency, we frequently have lost a bit of ground, at least to inflation-but had it not been for the efforts we've made to educate people about the importance of science, technology and advanced education, those predictions very well might have come true.
far future good problems
We concentrate so much on what we're really good at that sometimes we don't look far enough out into the future and see what the problems are.
excellence
We must have excellence, but we must also have accessibility to that excellence.
afford american-educator amount best cannot emphasis few full funding funds given goes increasing possible programs purely simply students
Given the best of all possible worlds, I would make a few changes. I would place emphasis on increasing the amount of funding that goes into programs like Pell Grants, that purely and simply award funds to students who really cannot afford full tuition.
across american-educator budgets defense department enormous extremely federal funding percent research schools support threat
Nonetheless, the research budgets of the Department of Defense are under enormous stress-and they are extremely important because they support more than 40 percent of all federal funding for engineering schools across the country. So the threat was and is real.
accounts american-educator both date decline far impact less percent science technology
For much of this decade, both Congressional and administration budget projections showed a decline in science and technology accounts of between 20 and 30 percent in real dollars. The real impact to date has been far less severe.
across aid american-educator certainly continue income interest less low rates spread
I would also certainly continue to keep loan repayment interest rates as low as possible. And I would spread the financial aid a little less thinly across all income brackets.
across american-educator believe clearly contrary government interact office
I believe that our office has clearly been the leader in building coalitions, in getting other universities across the contrary to interact more effectively with the government and particularly the Congress.