At NYIT’s annual graduation ceremonies in New York, Bahrain, Jordan, Abu Dhabi, and China, I had the pleasure of welcoming the latest NYIT graduates into our worldwide network of more than 92,000 alumni. With the Class of 2012, NYIT’s reputation will continue to grow, bringing new ideas, solutions, and technologies to the forefront of 21st-century global challenges.

In my commencement address, I posed a question: Where did ideas that shape our lives originate? And how exactly did they spread so rapidly—long before the Internet, radio, television, and telephone? Where, in fact, did the creativity that spawned invention come from?

The answer is that many of the most revolutionary ideas are developed as innovators share and improve upon each other’s designs. Before today’s multitudes of communication channels, journals and periodicals published articles and research, the government organized networking opportunities for engineers, scientists, and inventors, and great thinkers communicated in person, surprised and challenged each other, and sparked new ideas.

Put simply, no one did it alone. And the same holds true for the ideas that will shape and improve our lives in the future. Individual concentration and hard work are involved, but good ideas are far more likely to emerge as part of an accumulative process. And that process most often takes place in environments that promote collaboration.

Steven Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, calls these effective structures  “spaces of innovation”—a phrase that describes anywhere that people come together to connect, share ideas, and innovate. Today, those collaborations still take place through journals and conferences but also on Facebook, Twitter, and at global universities such as NYIT. As Johnson says: “Chance favors the connected mind.”

It is because of these connections that the world has seen more scientific and technological advancement in the past 200 years than ever in human history. It is no coincidence that with more ways to communicate, there are more ways to innovate. And today’s social media and mobile devices have allowed interconnectivity among human beings to intensify.

Regardless of discipline and professional aspirations, to succeed in our complex, rapidly changing economy, we at NYIT have made it a priority to cultivate and sustain this interconnected mentality. 

The fast-forward speed of transformations is extraordinary and often disorienting. The challenges of the 21st century are formidable. We need a cleaner environment, efficient and renewable energy, better health care, business models that can keep pace with economic and social change, and a cyber-connected global network that is more connected and more secure. But with connected minds come connected purpose, a reminder that we are all living in the same world, sharing many of the dreams and ideas for a better future.

We have created a unique academic infrastructure that empowers and encourages connections among alumni, faculty, students, and industry. Only through embracing and bouncing new ideas off each other can we embrace, enhance, and transform to create the opportunities and chances that favor our connected, global institution. 

Sincerely,

Edward Guiliano, Ph.D.
President

Vol. 10 No. 3 Table of Contents