(gentle music)
- If everybody in training and everybody mentoring
kind of comes from a common background,
then it's not so surprising that they begin to think
of the problems, and interpret their results
through that common background.
And, they think, "Oh well, we all agree.
"It must be right."
Right?
But, if that common background has narrowed our thinking
and that it must be right because everyone agrees,
then we're lost.
- Having diversity is, I think,
the way that good science gets done.
It's having not just a diversity of scientific disciplines,
but it's having diversity in backgrounds,
in educational experiences.
And, coming into science from a different viewpoint
or vantage point.
And, that can only make your scientific question,
and how you pursue it stronger.
- I view science at its best as self-expression.
Each person has their own personality, their own resonance
and if we think of science as a kind of a foray
where a group of explorers are trying to make
increasingly detailed and accurate stories
about the natural world and we engaging with it.
We need all these different points of view
in order to see the incredible complexity
and levels of science.
Some people are really good at this ineffable
creation of new concepts.
And, others are really, really interested
in developing the best ways to measure.
And, others are interested in taking
those measurements tools and pushing the field
to its extremes, in all the applications
and all the details.
And, the others are interested in putting this information
together and transmitting it to the next generation
and making a coherent story and so the more different styles
we have, the more chance we have to engage
with this amazing nature and create more and more accurate,
compelling, rich stories about our world.
- Everyone in science comes from a different background.
I came from a family that was a working class family
and you know, I was the first person in my immediate family
to go to college.
So, I didn't have parents that were PhD's
that sort of knew how to ask questions that would drive
some further understanding of basic biology
or anything like that.
And, instead, I was driven by a family
who was able to think (chuckles) on their feet,
was able to work hard to achieve
what they were able to achieve.
And, to be able to think about transporting those skills
and those sort of life lessons to focus on,
in my case, science.
- I think the capacity to offer a broad view
of ways that people think about scientific problems,
scientific approaches, the ways to map out their lives
in ways that will be enriching and rewarding
and still allow really good science to be done
is an essential challenge that we have to meet.
That in order to make people feel
encouraged and optimistic, that they can map
a successful scientific endeavor onto their own styles
and value sets.
- The goal of science is discovery, to figure out
new things about questions that are of interest
and the questions are very complex.
How does the human brain work?
How does any brain work?
How do organisms survive?
What is the nature of physiology?
All these are very big questions and we can't predict
where meaningful answers will lie.
We can predict to some extent that certain approaches
will give rise to answers.
But, we can't be certain that we have access
to all the variables because the things we're studying
are so complex.
That means that it's necessary to approach the questions
from many different perspectives.
- It's a huge adventure being a scientist.
And, the more we share the ways we do it,
each one can explore and discover their own way of doing it,
I think the more creative science will be
and also the greater our well-being.
- So, there's actually data showing that more diverse groups
are able to solve a problem either more quickly
or in a better way.
Before I became a scientist, I was actually
a professional basketball player.
And, one of the hallmarks of a basketball team
is actually to have different positions,
but to play as a team.
And, to be honest when I think of my lab,
I think of a basketball team.
And, I do think everybody fulfills a different role in it,
but the key is that everybody helps each other
on the level of a project but also personally.
And, basically the environment that I try to foster
and that I'm very proud of that I think we have achieved
is that I do think that we're more than the sum
of our parts and as a team, as a diverse team,
I think we do a lot better than if everybody
were to fight for themselves.
- I'm involved in this human genome editing endeavor.
One of the things that we did was to sponsor
a big meeting at the National Academy of Sciences.
One of the topics that came up in open discussion
was this fantastic opportunity we have to wipe out
a set of diseases.
And, one of the things that was talked about was deafness.
And, so people were pretty confident about that being,
of course, that would be a great thing to do.
Until a person stood up and went to the mic
and said, "I'm deaf.
"My family is deaf
"and we regard this as one of the rich,
"binding experiences of our existence.
"And, don't you stand up
"and take away my disability."
It was a riveting moment that just sort of said to me
and, I think, to many of us, that if we think
about these problems narrowly, we can just get it wrong.
That's one where it has this big social component
and that's really important for us to be thinking about.
But, there are scientific problems
where it's just as dangerous to be thinking
about things narrowly.