Why Resarch Matters
Story by Michael Todd
Photo By Corey Mihailiuk

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Why Research Matters

THE REASONS FOR DOING RESEARCH are probably as various as the personalities and lives of the people doing it. Indeed, in talking to the three York professors featured here we found very different approaches to and rationales for their work. But all our researchers shared one thing in common, a belief that their research could make a difference in the "real world" beyond the university.

They thought that while it was important to have the academic world recognize the value of their work, their research wasn't aimed solely at their academic peers. In other words, these York researchers believed their expertise would find its way out into the world we all inhabit and make it a little bit better, safer and healthier.

While profiling their research we thought it would be worthwhile exploring the reasons they pursued what they did - what motivated them? what excited them? how did they see their lives and their academic passions intermeshed? What we found may surprise some of you or perhaps confirm what some of us have always suspected about the value of good research and the motivations of the people pursuing it.

No one could accuse Larry Licht of being ivory-tower. In fact, Licht, a herpetologist who specializes in amphibians, says that as a scientist he never wanted to be closeted away in a lab. "I love being outdoors. I love fieldwork," says Licht. "I don't think one could be a good scientist in my field without getting out there and getting your hands dirty. If you can combine that with work in the lab during the off seasons [for Licht, that's mainly winter] that's a nice combination."

For 23 years Licht has monitored a population of wood frogs close to Toronto. He says long-term studies of amphibians are essential if we're going to even begin to try to understand amphibian population fluctuations and what that may or may not say about the health of our environment. Says Licht, "Amphibian populations can vary widely over short periods of time so long-term studies are essential." (Licht is responding to a report published in 2000 implying that amphibian populations were plunging due to increased UVB radiation.)

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