Inno'va-tion: Essays by Leading Canadian Researchers

Alex Curran is a former member of both the National Advisory Board on
Science and Technology and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council. He was chair of the Telecommunications Sectoral Advisory
Committee on Free Trade and the first recipien

This is a book we have long needed. It is hard to convey to others the
excitement of a career in research. It is a process best led by a mentor
who is also a leading researcher. But when no qualified mentors are
available, the next best choice is to persuade those we would select as
mentors to describe what prompted them to choose their careers—what is
the current thrust of their work; where do they expect it to lead; and,
most importantly, where lie the challenge, the excitement, and the drive
that keep them interested in and dedicated to their work? That is the
task undertaken by the editors of Inno’va-tion.

Here are personal stories from leading Canadian researchers. They are
practitioners in fields as diverse as superconductivity, the
astronautical time machine, aquaculture, molecular computers, and ethics
in research. They all share a drive that is best described by one of the
essayists as follows: “We seek to understand humanity’s place in the
universe and to understand our origins. We seek to understand how we,
and all that we see around us, came to be.”

What you will not find in this volume is a series of research reports
emanating from the latest surveys and experiments. What you will find is
the human side of research—what creates the excitement that fulfils
the human needs of knowledge creators.

This is a book about career choices that should be available to all
high-school and undergraduate students and counselors.