I am very glad to have the possibility to present Jörg M Colberg on The F Blog. Since I discovered his homepage and blog I am amazed by his inspiring photographs. Jörg was born in Wilhelmshaven in West Germany in 1968 and has since lived in Bonn, Munich, Paris, Boston. He currently resides in Pittsburgh. He holds a doctorate in theoretical astrophysics and is working as a researcher at Carnegie Mellon University. I strongly recommend his homepage and blog Conscientious. Now I leave the word to Jörg and his serie Higher Education.
Higher Education
We live in a bit of a schizophrenic time. On the one hand, we realize how modern sciences have brought improvements that have greatly enhanced the quality (and actual durations) of our lives. On the other hand, we have become increasingly suspicious of science and, especially, academia - where it is not directly involved in the development of new weaponry. We
have seen deep cuts in funding, especially for sciences deemed not useful enough - in particular liberals arts or art itself. And we have come to call scientists 'eggheads' who are out of touch with reality, in particular if the results of their research clash with our political beliefs. But what does academia really look like? In what kind of environments do those people work who, it is assumed, are overly pampered 'liberals', out of touch with the common people? And if we do not want to dwell on the conditions of work of academics, let's not forget that those academics fulfill the role of educators. So by asking what the academic environment looks like we're also asking what the environment looks like that young students are subjected to when learning the skills that are supposed to help them in life. 'Higher Education' is an effort to portray academic environments. It is an ongoing project.
all pictures © Jörg M Colberg
Invited by Fredrik Skott
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