Research, Leadership, Engineering: Some of the Best Advice You Will Ever Get

Are Engineers the poets of the 21^st century? To some this might sound like a contradiction in terms. Yet isn’t it engineers who are taking things we hold in the imagination and making them come to life in front of us?

Why am I telling you this?

Adwait has never claimed to be a poet, but the path he has taken from India to the US to discover and explore many different research experiences, should inspire you to think in new ways. That is what poets do too. But if this sounds too abstract let me put this in different terms. I have read many descriptions about the study of engineering and Adwait’s words are among the most detailed, succinct, and useful I have read. Those interested in studying engineering will learn more from this than in most books about these fields of study.

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Adwait with his family

Can you tell us a little about your family and where you grew up?

I lived with my parents and my brother who’s three years younger to me. My grandmother would live with us for a few months at a time as well. My family is from Pune but since my father was in the Air Force we moved around a lot. Mumbai is the place I call home since I attended high school from 7^th grade to 12^th grade there. My family is like any other family next door in India. My father moved into commercial aviation after the Air Force and my mother is a housewife. My parents encouraged me to be well-rounded but grades were always the priority. I loved living in Powai because my school and friends were all in the neighborhood. However, I’m glad I got to go to Dhirubhai Ambani International School for 11^th and 12^th since I got a lot more academic and extracurricular opportunities, made friends from different parts of the city, and became aware of educational opportunities abroad.

You attended Dhirubhai Ambani International School (DAIS). It has been named the best school in Mumbai the last two years. What makes it so special?

Adwait and classmates

The school attracts bright students and runs the International Baccalaureate program well and places great emphasis on academics. The school also attracts excellent teachers from diverse backgrounds. We had teachers from different nationalities and also from different professional backgrounds ranging from management to the navy. The school also has very good resources which enables it to organize extracurricular activities like Paigaam (a cultural exchange where we stayed with students from Pakistan for a week in India).

Dhirubhai Ambani International School 

For an IB school, DAIS is very academically focused. I think this is a natural extension of the intellectual environment fostered in Indian schools. However, the intellectual freedom and the extracurricular opportunities offered by the IB are miles ahead of what I experienced in the national ICSE curriculum. My favorite classes in high school were in IB.

What do you think of the IB curriculum and the overall IB philosophy of integrating academics and service and research? 

The IB philosophy is perfect for students who have many interests and want to expand their horizons. The IB presents a general framework for skills that should be developed but is flexible with how the philosophy is implemented. This is evident in the myriad flavors of IB schools you will find. DAIS is more academically inclined, whereas the United World College at Wales values service more than other schools. Even within the UWCs there is a great deal of variety.

How much competition exists for student to get accepted to highly selective universities?

Since there are a lot of talented students in the school, there is competition among students to get into highly selective universities like the Ivy Leagues. The college counselor’s office is the busiest part of the school in the months leading up to college application deadlines. But I never felt it was cut-throat. We helped each other out by proof-reading essays and openly discussed our application strategies with each other. Everyone knew that there are limited offers that a university can give to students from the same school so we would try and predict who would get in where and alter our list of colleges accordingly. Students also had a broad range of interests and most students got into good universities that they were happy to attend.

High School graduation with parents

What made you decide to pursue study in the US?

I was interested in studying engineering and I found studying in the US a far more attractive alternative than studying at an Indian engineering college. I was not too enthused about taking the competitive entrance exams like the IIT-JEE and the AIEEE needed for admission to Indian engineering colleges. I also wanted to have the option of taking classes in other disciplines and was very excited about studying abroad.

You competed for and earned one of the more prestigious merit scholarships available to undergraduate students from around the US and the world. The 3 criteria are scholarship, leadership and service: Can you talk about how you developed your strengths in these 3 areas while you were in secondary school?

The experience from which I learned the most about teamwork and leadership (I was more of a coordinator than a leader) was organizing Euphoria at Hiranandani Foundation School. It was an inter-school festival where we invited schools across Mumbai to participate in a variety of activities ranging from drama to a day-long treasure hunt race. Such festivals are popular in high schools and colleges in India.

The IB program was rigorous and I enjoyed my classes so I was able to develop my academic and critical thinking skills. I also participated in a service program at school where we went every week to an orphanage to tutor primary school kids. It was difficult to balance extracurriculars and academics, but my experience at the orphanage was a good first step towards service.

Adwait and friends at university

How difficult was your adjustment to the US in general and to your university in particular?

The first few months were great. I was excited to be in another country. I was very outgoing so I made acquaintance with a lot of students. By my second year I had a lot of acquaintances but it was difficult to make close friends. There were a few cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia where a lot of my friends from high school went. Unfortunately, no one was very close to Charlottesville. I also did not have any family close to Charlottesville. Considering this, I did very well. I also got to go home every winter and summer break, which was great.

Being away from friends and family helped me move out of my comfort zone and seek unfamiliar experiences. During my first semester at my University I participated in Sustained Dialogue, which is a program that brings together students from different backgrounds and majors. I got a better sense of the diversity that exists on Grounds and was able to get an intimate understanding of social issues both on Grounds and in the US in general. I really liked the way our group facilitators led the discussions. It was difficult to get to know everyone in a large group, so we had coffee chats with every other person in the group.

Honors Scholars Camping trip

Can you tell us about your course of study? What was your major and what are some of the projects and research opportunities you were involved with as an undergraduate?

I joined the School of Engineering and Applied Science, not knowing what major I wanted to pursue. I was still quite ambivalent when it was time to choose a major. I eventually chose Mechanical Engineering because I liked high school physics and liked the idea of building machines. More importantly, Mechanical Engineering is a very broad discipline so it allowed me to have a lot of options moving forward. I also did the Engineering Business minor. Some of the courses were taught in a case study format which was very different from the way most engineering courses are taught. I found this style very engaging and these courses helped me understand business fundamentals. One of my favorite courses at my university was a Business Ethics seminar which was taught in a case study format similar to business school. It was great because there were only 8 students in the course.

Electric guitar made using CNC machine

During my second year, I became aware of Professor Gavin Garner’s Mechatronics courses at my university which are offered to third and fourth year students. I started seeking opportunities to get involved in this field and I emailed professors to inquire about research opportunities. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the experience or knowledge to contribute to research and the only opportunity I got was for doing microfabrication work. I knew nothing about this field, which was probably good because in my naiveté I chose to accept the offer. I am pretty sure that at least for the first year I had a net negative impact on research; my contribution was less than the resources invested in training me. But I had a good mentor so I continued to do the work and eventually got enough training on the equipment to be able to do my own study. This experience helped me get a basic understanding of research and how an academic research lab works.

In my third and fourth year I was very active in the my university’s student section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Professor Garner was our advisor so our projects were focused on mechatronics. We bought a 3D printer which enabled us to do fun projects and participate in Design Competitions in which we created a series of small (shoebox sized) cars that would trigger each other in a relay (2012 competition), and a rescue robot (2013 competition). We also hosted the student conference at my university during my fourth year.

Adwait in the lab

In engineering, perhaps more so than other fields, finding a mentor and a lab to work is, if not essential, at least very important. Do you agree with this? If so, how did you go about finding mentors and research opportunities?

I certainly agree with this. One of my professors used an analogy that has stuck with me. If you are at an unfamiliar national park and you choose to explore on your own you will have fun for a while but almost certainly get lost. If you are accompanied by a guide, you are likely to find your way. A good guide will lead you to the best spot at precisely the right moment to watch the sunset and tell you where he’s taking you. But an excellent guide will lead you close to the spot and innocuously fall behind and let you take the lead. Suddenly, you discover a breathtaking view of the sunset. It is far more enjoyable because you have discovered it yourself.

Gavin Garner with guitar

Similarly a good mentor will encourage self-directed learning and provide the right balance between independent inquiry and direct instruction. While designing an experiment, for instance, a mentor can help you identify what parameters to observe and what techniques to use to process the data. A mentor will also help you evaluate career choices and course planning.

In my experience, one has to be proactive to find quality mentors. Mandatory undergraduate advising is often inadequate. If you like a course, go to the professor’s office hours. Professors’ biggest complaint is that no one goes to office hours unless there’s a test coming up. If you find yourself drawn towards an extracurricular project, talk to your seniors or professors about it. People have different communication styles so you might not find a good fit at the first attempt, so it is worthwhile to expand your network.

Can you describe your capstone project you took on in your 4^th year?

I enrolled in the Electric Vehicle capstone course. It was a year-long design project. The objective was to convert a front-engine internal combustion engine car to a mid-engine electric motor car. We started off with a Volkswagen Jetta, so we tried to make it more aesthetically appealing by changing the exterior panels and making it a two-door sports car. In the first two months, we removed all the exterior panels and the auxiliary components of the vehicle. We did this very quickly because tearing apart a car is a lot of fun. Then we went through a preliminary and a detailed design phase where we had to decide where the major components in the engine bay and the rear compartment were to be positioned. This required a lot more thought. The biggest challenge was fitting the batteries which were heavy and large. This exercise gave us an intimate understanding of the challenges involved in designing electric vehicles. We had gained a great deal of theoretical knowledge through coursework. This capstone project was a good complement since it entirely hands-on and design work.

You and I have talked a bit about how there exist different forms of leadership. One that is not often talked about is leading by doing research and discovering ways of approaching scientific or engineering problems. Can you talk a little about this?

In engineering and applied sciences, the primary requirement for leadership is an excellent grasp of fundamental concepts, and mathematical and experimental tools. Even within engineering and applied sciences there are different forms of leadership; some are appropriate for industry, some for research, others for teaching. In research, an important skill is the ability to take intellectual risks. Mathematicians have created a vast array of elegant mathematical frameworks. A researcher with good leadership skills has the competence and confidence to use a novel mathematical framework to describe a phenomenon or analyze a system. For instance, the behavior of a material can be described using either a microscopic or macroscopic approach. In many cases one is obviously better than the other, but in other cases a microscopic approach may be too cumbersome without providing additional insight. 

In more advanced research pursuits, effective leaders develop new theories and share them with the scientific community. Through the peer review process the theory is critiqued and modified and the boundary of knowledge is pushed a little at a time. On the computational side, new approaches that help reduce the cost of experimentation are constantly being produced. Computational models always make simplifying assumptions that the user needs to be familiar with in order to use the model judiciously.

A leader must also be able to motivate and inspire his or her peers. In engineering and applied sciences this requires the ability to be able to see beyond the confusing math, graphs and statistics and get to the essence of the idea or product that makes it elegant.

When one hears of leadership, often communication and interpersonal skills are emphasized. These are certainly important, but they should not be at the expense of technical skills.

What activities and organizations helped you in your studies and continue to pursue research?

Capstone project

Professor Gavin Garner’s mechatronics courses captured my imagination. The courses were very hands-on. They were a lot of work but a lot of fun. We had weekly labs that were aimed to teach mechanical engineers the fundamentals of computer science and practical electronics. Some of the projects included programming a printer, designing and fabricating an electric guitar, creating guitar effects pedals using analog circuit components. Soon enough, I found myself spending my weekends at the Mechatronics Lab. I had the opportunity to further my interest in this field through the my university’s chapter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

At the time, I indiscriminately pursued any opportunity to do hands-on mechatronics work and inadvertently neglected the analytical aspects of the field. But fortunately, a course on control theory was offered during my last semester which filled this void. I tried working with other students with similar interests to stay motivated.

Adwait with Gavin Garner

Since I had become quite involved in mechatronics and controls, I stopped doing microfabrication lab work and did my senior thesis in mechatronics (this is separate from my capstone project). Through this I gained some more experience with independent research. Since I was doing this project alone I had to discipline myself to make regular progress.

I also asked my undergraduate advisor for his opinion on my personal statement for graduate school applications and followed up with improved drafts. It was good to get high level feedback. Moreover, whenever I was in a different city (for instance visiting my brother in LA) I would look for labs doing interesting work and try to meet the professors and graduate students. I never fully understood the details of published journal articles and conference proceedings so visiting the lab in person was a good way to better understand the work that was being done.

Are there skills students should begin to develop in secondary school that would best prepare them to do successful research?

Try and do something beyond your coursework. You don’t have to do something extraordinarily difficult. I found that there is a lot of low-hanging fruit in areas such as microcontroller programming. Such projects are great avenues for experiential learning. Find a few other people who have a similar interest and go on a tangent and explore. It might seem awkward or futile at first but you will learn along the way. When doing something different it helps to have a mentor who can guide you. If things work out well, both you and your mentor will learn something new.

Another interesting exercise is to know where your knowledge is coming from. What is the source of the information in your textbook? Are there other textbooks on the same topic? Engineering books tend to present the material as gospel truth, but one must remember that the book is ultimately written by a person who brings his or her own perspective to the subject. Fluid mechanists and a solid mechanists use the same concepts from mathematics and physics, but each apply them differently. The ability to synthesize knowledge from related fields is a valuable research skill, and it’s a lot more fun than solving repetitive problem sets.

Since finishing your undergraduate degree you have continued to do research. What you are working on now sounds both exciting and potentially very helpful for people with certain kinds of injury. I am not sure how much detail you can go in to what you are doing because it may be that you are bound to keep some of it quiet, but can you give some description of what you are doing now?

Our team at the Center for Applied Biomechanics is trying to understand how ankle ligament injuries occur. These are common in American football, skiing and soccer. Our objective is to understand the injury mechanism i.e. identify specific motions that lead to injury and the stresses and strains they create. We depend heavily on a computational (finite element) model of the human foot because it’s the best way to get detailed information about the loads in the many different parts of the foot. But we need to ensure that the model is accurate. We do this by performing tests on biological specimens and tweaking the model so that the model gives the same response as the specimen. We then hope to use this information to develop countermeasures like a safer shoe or a better playing field.

How did you get involved with this?

My graduate advisor was also my undergraduate academic advisor. I also took his class as an undergraduate and he would tell us about interesting applications of the class material in his research. Biomechanics was not my primary interest for graduate study but I found the project interesting. The project presented an opportunity to learn useful computational and experimental tools so I decided to pursue it.

You have developed exceptional skills as a researcher and scholar. What are you thinking of doing with these skills in the future?

I think ‘exceptional skills’ would be an overstatement. There is still a lot for me to learn. I would like to improve my theoretical understanding of mechanics and also become better at mathematical modeling. At this point in my education I am acquiring the skills to solve a research problem that has already been formulated. I intend to continue graduate study to get a doctoral degree so that I can acquire the skills to identify a problem, think critically about what has been attempted in the past to resolve this problem, propose an original idea and defend it. There are many interesting problems whose solutions would be very useful. For instance, it is very difficult to predict blood flow in the heart. Very complicated fluid-structure interaction models are needed to get a useful answer. This is still an area of active research, and it has great benefits for heart surgery. I am still exploring the field to get a sense of what the current state of research is, both on the theoretical and applied front. I also think it would be good to move out of my comfort zone and experience another institution.

Do you have advice for those students thinking about engineering or STEM fields in terms of either how to approach majors, research or even graduate study?

Conventional wisdom dictates that you should do what you like, but for me the biggest problem was focusing on one thing that I liked since I had multiple interests. Therefore I chose mechanical engineering because it’s a versatile major and you can transition to other disciplines with relative ease. I wish there were a formula to determine what your skills are best suited for but there is a wide variety of ways to figure this out. A good starting point is to try and go a little beyond what you learn in your required introductory classes. It’s good to cast a wide net at first and participate in extracurricular activities related to your field of study. Since I had multiple interests, my choices were strongly influenced by the quality of teaching. If you have a good professor or become friends with an upperclassman, pursue interactions outside the classroom so you get a more nuanced understanding of the field.

Always be proactive and seek experiences. If you’re not sure of what you want to pursue, have alternatives. Once you have found your comfort zone, try to push the envelope by gaining depth in a particular field or skill set. I have always favored depth over breadth. In you undergraduate years, I believe it’s better to be an expert at one thing and then learn something new than be a jack of all trades.

In college you will have a wide variety of experiences and you should take the time to reflect on your experiences. Are you learning more in a team brainstorming with others or are you learning more when you try to understand difficult concepts on your own? Each of these is a unique learning style and you need a mix of both but you might find that you’re more naturally inclined to one. It helps immensely to have a mentor or confidante for guided reflection. This approach will help no matter what field of study you decide to pursue.

How has your education changed you in the past few years?

In high school and my first three years of undergrad I wanted to do many things and be good at each of them. It is ironic that I found it hard to follow my own advice of depth over breadth but I think I have now come to appreciate it better. Moreover, earlier I found my intellectual pursuits were neatly packaged into courses and deterministic problem sets. In graduate school the research problems are more open-ended. You are also given more autonomy in pursuing specific topics in a course. The uncertainty can be unsettling, but I have learned to make the most of it.

In my personal life as well I appreciate depth over breadth. I find it better to have a few friends who I know well and have known for a long time.

Anything else you want to add?

Whatever you do, make sure you’re having fun. Enjoyable experiences are ones that lead to growth. They may not be pleasurable when you’re doing them, but at the end of the day they are immensely satisfying.

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Adwait’s words should be read by anyone interested in engineering. I’m not just talking about students; department heads, researchers, and those in firms should learn from the way Adwait has approached his education.

Adwait

His experience in the International Baccalaureate program helped, but so did his family as they instilled the values of loving to learn. But most of what Adwait has come to know is by getting his hands dirty and making things happen. He’s open to try new things in the field but also adept enough to see across disciplines. In this he is leader who will continue to grow and partake in some great discoveries in the not too distant future.

I always learn from talking with people, but this case is special Adwait has given me insights I will pass on to others here, and any time people want to know why engineering is such a poetic field to pursue. I am grateful to Adwait for taking such care to share his experiences.

“Change has always been with us, but the rate of change is changing.  It’s no longer evolution, it’s revolutionary.  The trajectory is changing, and the momentum is accelerating.  It’s acceleration and trajectory change all at once.  And three dimensionally.” Peter Gruber in http://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/technology-doesnt-work-without-poetry