My Opinion: How to Succeed — Advice from Researchers Who Did

Ed Brown

I always read the blogs written by my associate, Andrew Corselli, because he highlights cutting-edge technical innovations. They range all over the place, but what they have in common is that they all push the boundaries of what is possible. There is plenty of technological knowledge to be gleaned from these articles, but there is also something else. In many of his interviews, Andrew asks the researchers “Do you have any advice for engineers/researchers aiming to bring their ideas to fruition?” The answers he gets are a great resource for understanding what it takes to have a successful breakthrough. I looked at what four different researchers had to say and found some common themes.

Prototyping

Wenzhong Yan, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering Postdoctoral Scholar, developed a new metamaterial with some unique properties. It could be used to build a self-deployable soft robot that can calibrate its limbs’ stiffness to accommodate different terrains for optimal movement while retaining its body structure. And in addition, the metamaterial could help a robot lift, push, or pull objects.

Yan told Andrew that it’s important to focus on early prototyping and continuous iteration: “Start building and testing your ideas as soon as possible, and don’t hesitate to create initial prototypes.”

This was a theme also taken up by Yuki Nagahama from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. He headed a team that developed a way to use a standard smart phone to view a 3D holographic microscope image. “It would be good to have a prototype, even if it is a simple one, on the idea you would like to realize,” he said.

Feedback

A theme that both Yan and Nagahama emphasized was sharing your ideas with others to get their feedback. That’s one of the reasons Yan likes to build early prototypes — you have something concrete to show. “It is easier to get people interested in your idea and to give you advice if you have a prototype,” said Nagahama.

Yan elaborated about feedback: “Seek feedback from a wide range of people — peers, potential users, and those outside your field — to refine your ideas and identify potential challenges.”

Persistence and Flexibility

Professor Dong-Myeong Shin, of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), led a team that developed a new generation of lithium-metal batteries. “My advice is to keep trying and stay persistent. Research is a journey of constant trial and error. The path to achieving your final goal is often full of twists and turns, but it's important to view setbacks as learning opportunities. Adjusting your approach along the way is a natural part of the process, and persistence is key to turning ideas into reality,” said Shin.

Yan agreed: “Remain open-minded and adaptable, as turning an idea into reality often requires flexibility, a willingness to learn, and the ability to adjust your approach.”

Mohammad Malakooti, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Washington, and a team of researchers, developed a flexible and durable wearable device that harvests electrical energy from body heat. He, too, emphasized the importance of persistence and flexibility: “My advice is to be persistent and curious. Don’t get discouraged when results don’t match your expectations; instead, strive to understand the reasons behind any setbacks. This mindset will keep you moving forward and ultimately help you bring your ideas to reality.”

My Experience

**Ed’s Blog**

After decades of work as an EE, SAE Media Group’s Ed Brown is well into his second career: Tech Editor.

“I realized, looking back to my engineering days and watching all of the latest and greatest as an editor, I have a lot of thoughts about what’s happening now in light of my engineering experiences, and I’d like to share some of them now.”

All the above resonated with my own experiences as an engineer. It brought back memories of some of the daunting projects I worked on. One time, I was faced with the unique challenge of modulating the RF output of a high-power radar simulator with different waveshapes. I had what seemed to me a clever idea: buy an arbitrary waveform generator and wire it in series with the RF output. But it didn’t work. I spent many hours troubleshooting, with no success. Then I presented the problem to another engineer, who much to my embarrassment, showed me that what I was trying to do was theoretically impossible. I had been so pleased with my initial idea that I didn’t think it through well enough. But if I had not asked for advice, I would have wasted more hours trying to make the impossible work. Fortunately, my boss, the owner of the company, had many decades of research and development experience, so he understood how that could happen. (Actually, now that I think of it, I had explained my original idea, and he liked it.) The happy ending was that with my new understanding of the problem, I was able to design a successful work-around.

Summing Up

The most important advice, in my opinion, came from researchers at Sweden’s Chalmers University of Technology: Be curious and have fun at what you are doing.