Spring 2005
What's at Stake
page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |

"The research university offers enormous exposure and opportunities to an undergraduate student. As fine an institution as [my alma mater] Wellesley is, I don’t think the students there have quite the same richness of experience and exposure to what they could do next as they would at a research university. In that way, UCLA has a great advantage."

— Betsy Wood Knapp

Garrett also noted that among the 62 members of the Association of American Universities — the leading research universities in the United States — nine are in California. Among those, six are University of California campuses, and just three are private. Compare that, he suggested, with Massachusetts, where there are seven private research universities in and around Boston alone. In Massachusetts, he said, public research universities like UCLA might be considered a luxury; in California, they are a necessity.

That ability to play a vanguard role as an engine of innovation for the state, however, is threatened by the growing resource gap, Garrett said. With that he initiated the conversation:

Garrett: What have you gained by your association with UCLA?

Samueli: My company, Broadcom, would not exist if it were not for UCLA. There’s no question in my mind that the success of Broadcom, and the wealth that we’ve created for the state, has been because of the academic excellence and the research that was done at UCLA. Besides earning all my degrees here, I came back for 10 years to be a professor, and it was during that time that the core research that I performed with my graduate students helped to build the foundational knowledge behind what we created at Broadcom. It’s a level of excellence that really was unmatched at any other university … a result of being in an environment in which you are surrounded by brilliant students and brilliant colleagues.

All of that together translated into our ability to start a company and lead the broadband revolution. It would not have happened if it were not for UCLA. So I literally owe everything that I have today to the university. This place is the lifeblood of innovation.

<previous> <next>