About the cover: Len Michon took the cover photo. He lives in Manhattan's Battery Park City, a few hundred feet from what used to be the World Trade Center. He was in his 16th-floor apartment eating breakfast with his wife, Carmen, on the morning of September 11, 2001. They heard the explosion from the first airplane crash and saw the second airplane slam into Tower 2. Their building was engulfed in soot, smoke, and dust and it lost power and phone service, but it suffered minor damage — unlike the others on the perimeter of the WTC.
The Michons spent much of September 11 assisting their building superintendent and the exhausted firefighters who came into their lobby for a break. Michon, who retired recently as vice president, tax, at Credit Suisse First Boston, is a 1969 Virginia Tech finance graduate. He is a member of the Pamplin Advisory Council and Virginia Tech's Ut Prosim Society.
Why this cover?
Print freezes events and reactions for our reflection. In the days and weeks after September 11, we were asking:
Why was America attacked?
Can we succeed in a war in Afghanistan?
University researchers and scholars in many disciplines – political science,
history, religion, urban affairs, psychology, geography, sociology…
– held open classes and panel discussions and responded to requests
to speak. Day time and evening time, you could find a discussion,
some one or a group to reflect with you on the horror and possible
outcome of being attacked.
We decided
we had to share with you the wealth of knowledge and caring that exists
at a university. We realized that the situation would be different
in three months, by the time the magazine came out, but decided the
thoughts of the moment were worth capturing.
So we
have included some insights from Edward Weisband of political science
– a scholar of the philosophy and history of many cultures. He
has worked with leaders in many nations to understand and support
successful diplomacy, and has written books that have provided guidance
to peacemakers for decades. He has also given much of his life to
the cause of human rights in many different corners of the world.
And we
have shared the seeming prescience of a younger political science
faculty member, who has also been active in several nations and a
scholar of Eastern history as well as political science. It was the
last week of September as Doug Borer wrote about the potential war
in Afghanistan, knowing his views would be frozen in print months
before you would read them. Meanwhile, we reread the article repeatedly
as the magazine has worked its way through various stages of design
and proofing, each time realizing a critical new perspective from
Borer’s words as events unfold across the world.
Finally,
to share the views and experiences of several scholars, we reported
a few questions and answers from the discussion on campus just days
after the attack.
There
were similar discussions at universities across the nation. Universities
are good places to be at times like these – when it seems as
if we will never realize a shared humanity to prevent such a thing
as mass murder. A university is a place where you can share the wealth
of different perspectives and fields of knowledge.
In addition
to keeping ideals alive, Virginia Tech’s researchers are working
to keep people alive – developing a vaccine for anthrax, and
other disease preventions; developing biosensing technologies; and
creating a high-capacity wireless communication system for rapid deployment,
among other practical defenses and counter-terrorism responses. We
will tell you more in a future issue.
We will
also tell you, in a future issue, about Tom Hammett’s research
to preserve nontimber forest resources and Carlisle Brewster’s
research to keep crops healthy. Hammett and Brewster stepped aside
at the last minute so we could reflect on intolerance, horror, and
war.
Other
articles in this issue also reflect current events.
Remember when blackouts in California were news and we were worried about the cost and supply of electric power? We decided you would be interested in knowing about research in business related to implementing deregulation, in engineering related to increasing the efficiency of power electronics, and in history related to regulating the power industry.
We also
decided we could interest you in the dramatic promise of nanotechnology
– assembling atoms and molecules to perform tasks from medicine
to communication.
And,
with the 2000 census showing us a multicultural nation, we decided
to report research that has revealed how historical inequities continue
in Mexican American communities.
