Zhigang Suo has some pointers:
We professors usually start our jobs unprepared. In our days as students, we are considered talented if we can solve problems posed by our professors. We might be even considered brilliant if we can solve them quickly and make a few extensions. After solving a few such problems, we write a thesis. We are then entrusted with a job as a professor. We soon realize that the skill of solving problems posed by others only plays a minor role in our jobs. We have to pose new problems, persuade our peers that our problems are worth solving so that someone will fund us, and motivate students to solve them. Each of the three aspects demands a distinct set of skills. On top of these, we have to teach classes and serve on committees. Our days as students do not prepare us for our jobs; we must learn on the jobs. Perhaps these is nothing unusual about this lack of preparation in any profession. Let us just hope that our doctors are better prepared before they learn something while treating us.
Perhaps we can help each other to learn to be professors by recounting our experience. This thought came to me this morning, and I’m writing to tell you about a recent experience of mine.
A must-read piece, even if you are not planning to be an academic since the issues to finding new problems, convincing others of the merits of solving those problems, and motivating others to solve them are necessary for any researcher — be it in academics or in industry.
Tags: Research, thesis advising
