Associate Professor Ben Lear Completes Fulbright Fellowship in Finland
The ability to take a sabbatical is a unique opportunity that is open to scientists working in academia. These experiences allow faculty members to step away from their ordinary work for a time in order to pursue intellectual development and achievement. Beginning in 2019, Associate Professor of Chemistry Ben Lear travelled to Finland to complete a yearlong Fulbright Fellowship at Tampere University. The Fulbright Scholars program is sponsored by the federal government of the United States, and it offers research or teaching awards to university faculty and other scholars in over 125 countries.
Lear was awarded this fellowship in order to study computational chemistry. He notes that his previous training and experience was experimental in nature, so he decided to use his time in Finland to learn more about this branch of chemistry. “During my time in Finland, I learned both molecular dynamics and DFT,” explains Lear. “The former focuses on describing large-scale systems using Newton’s laws of motion... DFT seeks to apply quantum mechanics to smaller-scale systems...In both molecular dynamics and DFT cases, I was applying these tools to try to understand the nature of gold-ligand interfaces around nanoparticles. This is an interface that is present and important for most of the projects in my group at Penn State.”
The Fulbright program seeks to promote international good will through the exchange of culture and science, and Lear certainly accomplished this during his time in Finland. Aside from acquiring scientific knowledge, he also gained valuable insights from his yearlong immersion in Finnish culture.
For example, Lear learned that there were major differences between American and Finnish work cultures. “In Finland, your colleagues are not automatically your friends—or even close acquaintances,” observes Lear. “In the United States, social circles are more loosely defined than in Finland... This is not to say they are not social...But social engagement is done in the workplace—mostly at lunchtime—and not outside of it.”
According to Lear, the workday is also shorter in Finland. People are more task-oriented at work, and there is little small talk, which allows everyone to get their work done much more quickly. “There is just a sharper divide between work and personal life,” Lear notes. “Work is not as defining a role for individuals. I was friends with several people in Finland, and it might take months of friendship before people discussed what they did for work....Simply put, ‘work’ on its own, is just not valued in the same way it is in the United States. And, for this reason, workloads are not nearly as heavy.”
In a similar vein, one of Lear’s most important takeaways from his time at Tampere University was the value of lunchtime in the workplace. “Lunch is a major social time, and is valued,” explains Lear. “Though much of the workday focuses on work, lunch is the exception. In Finland, everyone takes an hour for lunch, and people leave their desks for cafeterias and restaurants. While in the United State, it is common for people to bring lunch and eat at their desks, in Finland, lunch is an almost sacred chance to leave the desk...To me, this was one of the healthiest changes between Finland and the United States. It also is a way to spark truly collaborative work, as it gives people a chance to have meaningful interactions...If I could change one aspect of American work culture in order to improve both personal and professional outcomes, it would be to make American lunch as social as Finnish lunch.”
Outside of his work at the university, Lear and his family were also able to enjoy cultural experiences like spending Christmas with Finnish friends, mushroom hunting with a friendly cat, biking through an archipelago, attending an opera at a castle on a lake, and traveling around Europe before the COVID-19 pandemic. During their final days in Finland, they were also able to celebrate midsummer's eve, a major holiday in Northern Europe.
Although Lear is now back at Penn State, he continues to make use of the lessons he learned in Finland. “From a scientific perspective, I now have new tools to address the puzzles that we find in our data,” he says. “From a non-scientific standpoint, I have seen the value in creating a clearer distinction between work and non-work...I have tried to make an effort to identify time that I can be home and not working. I think this is not only better for my sanity, but probably also helps focus my efforts when working.” He is looking forward to putting this new knowledge to use within his research group at Penn State. “I learned so much more on my sabbatical than I could have hoped for—both scientifically and personally,” Lear adds. “I am already looking forward to my next sabbatical!”