Walter Isaacson Interviews MIT President Emerita Susan Hockfield on Overcoming the COVID-19 “Diagnostics Deficit” and How Convergence of Biology and Technology Will Drive 21st Century Innovation

Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Emerita Susan Hockfield says that the “diagnostics deficit”—the lack of sufficiently accurate, rapid and cheap diagnostics—continues to “haunt” her in the response to COVID-19 and why bioengineering will be the “technology story of the 21st century” in the latest edition of CERAWeek Conversations by IHS Markit (NYSE: INFO).

In a conversation with award-winning author and Tulane University Professor of History Walter Isaacson, Hockfield talks about the inspiration for her new book, The Age of Living Machines; the potential for “nature-based” innovations in energy such as organic batteries and using microorganisms to capture carbon and break down plastics; marshalling innovation to meet the challenges of global population growth and the potential for a revival in U.S. manufacturing.

Dr. Hockfield is author of the new book The Living Machine: How Biology will Build the Next Technology Revolution. A neurobiologist known for her work on proteins and the brain, she is currently professor of neuroscience at MIT. Prior to becoming president of MIT, she was provost at Yale University.

Walter Isaacson is author of many best-selling books, including Steve Jobs, Leonardo DaVinci and Benjamin Franklin. At Tulane, he teaches the history of technology and is a regular interviewer on PBS and CNN. His former positions include president of the Aspen Institute and editor of Time Magazine

The complete video is available at: www.ceraweek.com/conversations

Selected excerpts:
Interview Recorded Friday, June 26, 2020

(Edited slightly for brevity only)

Watch the complete video at: www.ceraweek.com/conversations

• On the origins of her thesis that biology and engineering will lead 21^st century innovations:
  
  “I discovered this convergence of biology with engineering as a major theme almost as soon as I was appointed as MIT's president. I had a few months to get up to speed and I took those months to talk to everyone I possibly could to learn what I could about MIT. I had a pivotal conversation with the then-dean of engineering Tom Magnanti. He told me that of the almost 400 faculty members in the school of engineering, one-third of them were using biological parts in their work.