The 20th Annual UBRP Conference is history. More than 100 students had posters, more than 370 people attended, and not nearly enough cannoli were eaten (but the homeless population of Tucson enjoyed what was left!).  Among our guests were 24 students from Nogales and Rio Rico High Schools, 18 science teachers from Latin America, and 11 students from the Al-Huda Islamic School.  Many faculty mentors, parents, friends, and members of research groups attended. UBRP alumni came from as far away as Australia (Greg Sword '92) and as close as UMC (Steve Carey '04 and others!). It was truly a celebration of students' accomplishments!

One of the many highlights of the conference was the keynote address.  Dr. Jared Ragland, Director of Intellectual Property and Innovation in the Office of the US Trade Representative in Washington, DC and UBRP/BRAVO! alum, spoke.  He graciously allowed us permission to reprint his remarks in the newsletter.

Introduction
Thank you, Saman (Nematollahi).  I also want to sincerely thank Carol Bender and the Undergraduate Biology Research Program for inviting me to Tucson, where it is about 60 degrees warmer than it is at home.  Honestly though, it is an incredible honor for me to be able to address you all today in recognition of the 20th anniversary of this fantastic program. 

Before I begin, I must say something I never had to say in the dozens of presentations I gave as an undergraduate or graduate biology student.  As a disclaimer, my remarks today reflect my own personal opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of the United States Government.

With that over, I'd like to touch on two main themes in my remarks to you this afternoon.  One theme is the unpredictability of the people you will meet or the things that might happen to you and the importance of keeping yourself open to the opportunities that these people and events present.  The other theme is the incredible importance of individuals, like so many in this room, who take up the pursuit of science.  I believe that no less than our future as a country depends on our continuously producing scientifically educated individuals who are able to meet the challenges of the global economy. I say this not only with respect to the productive skills you will learn, but with a view to the value of the mode of thinking that a scientific education develops.  It is my firm belief that this mode of thinking is important not just for the pursuit of scientific questions, but can and should be applied to many other challenges that face our country, our economy, and our society.

Career Paths, Contingencies and Opportunities
I became part of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program just as I was making a transition from a focus on Anthropology to Biology and Biochemistry.  Early during my undergraduate studies here at the University of Arizona, I became interested in linguistics and cultural anthropology, among other things.  As a requirement for a major in Anthropology, I had to take an introductory course in Physical Anthropology, the study of human evolution.  My professor, Dr. Stephen Zegura, insisted that we understand the molecular and genetic basis of the theory of evolution and natural selection.  In that course, I became fascinated with all the things I never learned in my "advanced" high school biology courses, things like ribosomes and tRNA and the molecular dance involved in gene transcription and protein translation.  I decided to pursue a second degree with a major in Biochemistry and shortly thereafter, learned of the UBRP.

The program provided me the opportunity to do research in Dr. Michael Hammer's lab where I studied the modern genetic diversity of the human Y chromosome.  This married interests of mine from molecular biology to human evolution, history, and linguistics and solidified my interest in pursuing a career in science.

Sometime during the winter of 1995/6, Carol came to me with a proposition I really couldn't refuse.  She knew of my interest in East Asia, and suggested I apply for the BRAVO! program to do research in Tokyo.  My initial reaction was, great, I study Chinese for three and a half years and now they want to send me to Japan, but in truth, I had no hesitation and jumped at the opportunity.  My 10 weeks of research on Apoliphorin III in the moth Agrius convolvuli was a life-changing event.  Although I learned new laboratory techniques that served me well later in my graduate studies, the true importance of that summer for me was the placement of an itch in my soul for international relations that I wasn't really able to scratch until I joined the State Department nearly 10 years later.  I often say, and mean, that those 10 weeks in Japan, really living abroad, were the best 10 weeks of my life.  I encourage every student here to explore the possibility of participating in BRAVO! or spending time overseas in some other way.

The next big turning point for me was during my graduate studies.  I was about 3 years into my program at the University of Washington, pursuing my PhD in molecular and cellular biology, when September 11th occurred.  The events of that day affected me in very significant ways.  Specifically, it rekindled my strong interest in "the world" outside the lab, and particularly in international relations.  I began reading the newspapers again, and I was particularly drawn to my old interest in China.  It was a little strange, but when most people's attention turned to the Middle East, mine turned to the Far East.  I began to think about where our country was and where it was going in the longer term and I became very interested in the attention people were giving to the rise of emerging economies, particularly China, but also India, Brazil, and others.  In an indirect way, these feelings led me to where I am now, in the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

The role of particular people and events on my academic and career decisions has been incredibly important and very unpredictable and has made me realize how crucial it is to keep one's mind open to possibilities that may not have even been conceivable before.  Certainly in my case, my adult life to date has been extremely contingent on such events, throwing me in new directions no one, least of all myself, could have predicted.  Some might say that this reflects poorly on my abilities as a long-term planner, but I have always felt strongly that I couldn't really go wrong as long as I was doing what truly interests me.

In my current position, I work with colleagues throughout the federal government to encourage our trading partners into providing adequate and effective protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights to U.S. right holders.  This work has been incredibly rewarding.  I enjoy working the interagency process, developing policies, positions, and negotiating strategies with colleagues throughout the government, who are experts in their various fields.  I also enjoy traveling to other countries, particularly East Asia, and negotiating with our counterparts to establish agreements and policies that are in the interests of U.S. citizens and our companies. 

The importance of the work is clear to me.  Our companies depend on intellectual property both here at home and abroad.  In particular, high technology industries, ranging from biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, medical devices, information technology and software, as well as our creative industries from movies and music, books and journals, are an incredibly important element to our economy.  For example, according to the Department of Commerce, intellectual property made up over half of all U.S. exports in 2006, contributing some $37 billion to our net trade balance and providing for 40% to our economic growth.  IP intensive industries employ a large number of people here in the United States with much higher average salaries and such jobs are expected to grow faster than the national average over the next decade.  Furthermore, most companies, even if they don't fall into the innovative high tech or creative sectors, still rely on brand name protection and trademarks to ensure that their typically higher quality products can be distinguished from market competitors.  So I take very seriously the job of trying to establish a fair and even playing field upon which U.S. companies can compete.

While the work in my office at USTR is heavily focused on IPR issues, we also, along with other agencies, develop policies that promote U.S. innovation and competitiveness more broadly.  These efforts include discussions with emerging markets, such as China, to encourage methods and policies for building their own innovative economies without unfairly harming our economic interests.  They also include more domestically focused policy discussions of which trade policy is a component.

Innovation and Competiveness in U.S. Federal Policy
The goal of improving U.S. innovation and competitiveness, how to ensure that the United States will maintain, indeed expand upon, our leadership in innovation to ensure the long term competitiveness and prosperity of our economy, has been one of the major policy priorities for the current administration and clearly will be so under President Elect Barack Obama's administration as well.  This goal is not only important to ensure our own standard of living, but also clearly accrues benefits to the global economy as well. 

The debate about the federal government's role in ensuring technological and economic advantages for our citizens goes back to the Founders of our Republic.  Some of you will recall in history class the argument between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton on the ideal structure of the future nation's economy.   Today's economic challenges notwithstanding, it is pretty obvious that it is Hamilton's vision that has prevailed.

However, the debate picked up new significance during and immediately after World War II, when the technological advantages of the United States' economy proved decisive in the outcome of that conflict and set the stage for the United States' economic, technological, military and political super-power status we have had since that time.

When people think of federal investment in innovation, many think of direct federal investment in scientific research and development, often through the medium of academic institutions.  This, indeed, is essentially the model of investment in R&D that Vannevar Bush laid out in 1945 in his report to the President, "Science - The Endless Frontier."

The basic idea was, and still is in large part, that the U.S. Federal Government can support innovation by "priming the pump" or "laying the groundwork," by providing the funds for the basic scientific research infrastructure in the country.  This was a significant departure from the much more modest involvement of the federal government in broad based R&D funding prior to the War.  Since WWII, these funds have historically been channeled to national labs, research institutes, the military, and academia.  The private sector, then, is expected to build upon that knowledge and those trained to develop it, to develop the commercial technological infrastructure that has been such an important part of our economic growth and leadership over the last 50-60 years.  Obviously, the details and focus of the research has shifted over time and the relative funding of various fields has varied, but the model is largely still intact.

However, our country is facing challenges, as well as opportunities, that weren't present at the end of WWII.  There are many historical events that people point to as the beginnings of modern economic globalization.  There was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade established shortly after the War, which gave birth to the World Trade Organization in 1996.  There was the opening up policy adopted by the People's Republic of China in the 1970's.  In my personal time frame, there was the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. 

In the last few decades, due to a variety of factors, many clearly technological in nature, the barriers to communication, travel and trade have "shrunk" the world and made all of us much more interconnected.  And this process, at least until quite recently, has been increasing rapidly.  Thomas Friedman probably most famously articulated this view in his book published in 2005 "The World is Flat." 

We are now in much closer economic relationships with people throughout the world, and a significant number of new entrants are coming onto the scene to compete on more equal terms with the historically dominant 20th century Western economies.  As Clyde Prestowitz observes in his book, also published in 2005 "Three Billion New Capitalists," the rise of countries such as China, India, Brazil, the "tigers" of South East Asia, not to mention the hundreds of millions in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Russia, has suddenly put a lot more people into the global economic system, just at the time when the barriers to international economic activity are at historical lows.

While I think that many make this seem more frightening than it should be, for instance, these new competitors are also potential customers and collaborators; there are legitimate concerns that have been raised in this context regarding our economic future.  Policy makers, educators, academics and many others are searching for solutions.  The National Academies of Science issued a report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" in 2005 and in this report, there were a number of important recommendations, such as increasing federal funding for basic scientific R&D and improving the incentives for private sector investment in science and technology.  However, I think what has had the most resonance is the urgent recommendation that we improve our educational system to ensure that we continue to produce, indeed increase our production of, literate, skilled individuals who will be able to compete for the jobs of the future.  And since those jobs, at least here in the United States, are likely to continue to grow most rapidly in the higher value added sectors of manufacturing and in services, the skills these people need include, among others, scientific and technical skills. 

To address the perception that we may be "falling behind" the rising economies in terms of producing scientists, mathematicians and engineers, many so-called "STEM" initiatives have been adopted.  These efforts aim to improve education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics by stimulating interest in these subjects at a young age, improving the quality of teaching and teachers in science and math in secondary schools, and providing incentives and means for more students to pursue these subjects in college.    I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I think it is important to keep in mind how folks like you, the folks that we want to produce as a nation, can contribute in this effort.

Importance of a Scientifically Literate Society
I'm going to make an intentionally provocative statement right now.  At least in my case, the pursuit of an education in scientific research was really a relatively selfish act.  I never took much time to consider the broader social implications of my career path or my research.

And that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Science thrives on independence and there is a legitimate presumption that the self-interested pursuit of knowledge, regardless of any intended utility, will accrue to the social good.  I'm not here to contest or support any particular motivations for pursuing a scientific education.  I will argue, though, that regardless of one's intentions or motivations for pursuing a science-based education, the fact that you have one has the potential to benefit you and society in unexpected ways.

Public policy, everything from debates on consumer safety, the environment, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, international assistance to developing countries, and even domestic economic policy are all informed by science in this increasingly interconnected, global, and technologically complex world in which we live.

It is not just about the knowledge of technical subject matter, but also the scientific way of thinking that is important.  An approach that realizes that until you've analyzed the fundamental data and challenged the assumptions, one's proposals or ideas are untested hypotheses, provides a powerfully useful perspective when assessing challenges and proposing solutions.

My assertion that there is often something "selfish" in the decision of many scientists to pursue their careers and their research interests should not be taken the wrong way.  This is, I've often observed, coupled by an intense passion for science, which I'm sure many of you have seen in your mentors, your professors, and your laboratory colleagues.

My argument is that this passion should be transmitted to as many people as possible, whether it is informally through discussions with friends or families, or more formally, through outreach activities to the members of the community or our government representatives and decision makers.

In the case of community outreach, not only will such activities improve your communication skills in the often-challenging realm of translating complex scientific concepts into terms understandable by (and interesting to) the layperson, but such activities can also help improve the scientific literacy of the general community and policy makers.  Scientists are generally seen by the public to be credible, trustworthy sources of information, so I think it is incumbent on you all, throughout your careers, to cultivate that trust and make it effective in public discourse. 

Additionally, to the extent that your outreach plants a seed that leads some young person to take an interest in science that they otherwise wouldn't have taken, you can be sure you've already made a difference.

And by approaching the world through a lens in which your interest in science is not, in fact, a separate element of your broader interests, and is not a separate field, isolated from the topics splashed over the front pages of the newspapers, non-traditional opportunities may expose themselves to your consideration that you and your advisors wouldn't have even conceived of ahead of time.

Conclusion and Wrap Up
I think my unorthodox career trajectory, although just one person's story, may serve as a bit of a case study regarding this last point.

I entered the federal government and international economic policy through a Science and Technology Fellowship program administered by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the same folks that bring you Science magazine.  As I mentioned before, my career decisions have evolved over time from a convergence of contingent events, and the intervention of important people like Carol, none of which alone would likely have led me to where I have come so far.

My experience over the last three years or so in the federal government involved in international economic and trade policy has been extremely rewarding.  I would have never conceived of this path as an undergraduate, nor indeed even as a senior graduate student who had already identified an interest in "science policy" as a possible alternative career.  As I continue to learn the ropes, the policies and processes by which this organization for which I work operates, I hope and strive everyday that I am making a positive impact on the policy decisions we make.  While curiously the role of bone morphogenetic protein in neural crest formation never seems to come up, I feel strongly that, to the extent that I am making a difference, it has much to do with the mental mind set, both the discipline as well as the flexibility that was established and refined during my scientific training.

And while I would never in a million years counsel an undergraduate who is interested in U.S. foreign trade policy that they should first enroll in a graduate program and earn a Ph.D. in the life sciences, I do hope that this personal story demonstrates how no paths need be set in stone and one who keeps an open perspective can and will leverage the advantages of their previous education with future opportunities that can be both incredibly unexpected as well as incredibly rewarding.  And I hope that is an encouraging thought to all of you as you continue forward in your exciting careers, wherever they may lead you.

Thank you so much for giving me your attention for these few minutes.  And thank you again for the honor of addressing you today.

Keynote Address given by Dr. Jared Ragland '96 to the 20th Annual Conference of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP), University of Arizona, January 17, 2009.  Jared is a UBRP alum from Dr. Michael Hammer's laboratory, UA and BRAVO! alum from Dr. Kozo Tsuchida's lab, Tokyo, Japan.