It's the story of a radiologist and an IT guy from one of the most distinguished universities in the country who thought it just might be possible to use virtual reality to tackle tangible problems in medicine, and it could revolutionize the way medicine is practiced and taught.
This is especially so, since the established system of electricity supply does not pose tangible problems (e.g., in the form of blackouts).
Working on practical problems in business, government, and communities connects academic and practitioners to tangible problems, bridges the chasm between theory and practice, and reinforces the application of education to effective leadership.
But as groups such as the Association for Women in Science and campus initiatives have shifted from addressing tangible problems such as misogynistic photos in textbooks and participating in antidiscrimination lawsuits to prioritizing networking, awareness, and mentoring, I find myself wondering if the current model is working at all.
But one of the most tangible problems is that it resembles what, in game theory, is known as a "dollar auction".
Perhaps, in this vast city of 18 million people, air pollution simply takes its place in the queue behind more tangible problems.
In part, said Robert Stone, an independent documentary filmmaker whose history of the American environmental movement is being broadcast on public television this week, the movement has been a victim of its own success in clearing up tangible problems with air and water.
Every Thursday afternoon, students gather in a light-filled teaching studio of Jacobs Hall to develop technology-based solutions to a very tangible problem: ideologically motivated violence in the United States.
It allows for the integration of tangible and intangible, measurable and unquantifiable criteria, which are characteristic of water resources management problems, in the decision making process.
The tangible problem would be raising taxes on the middle class could slow the economy.
