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by PAM
"In a battery, I strive to maximize electrical potential. When mentoring, I strive to maximize human potential."
- Prof. Donald Sadoway, Ph. D.
Energy Engineer and the John F. Elliot Professor of Materials Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT)
via TIME magazine, "The 100 Most Influential People in the World"
This makes me miss teaching my beloved "Innovation Course" in the University. I am particularly proud of that Course just because I can say that I built most of it from scratch. The challenge of turning what used to be a boring Course into something that is innovative and fresh was truly exhilarating. Seeing students glow upon discovering their own strengths and talents as they clear the innovation "hurdles" along the way brought absolute fulfillment.
So, why am I sounding nostalgic-and-all over this? It's because, for the first time, since 2007, I am not teaching that Innovation Course, and I miss it. I miss interacting with students directly. I guess, this is just another trade-off involved when sitting on "big chairs", you lose your daily dose of merry wonderment in the classrooms and research labs, and the tremendous joy of watching incredible talents unfolding and innovative minds lighting up and coming to life to bring forth solutions to pressing problems right before your very eye as the semester proceeds. Oh, well....
Since I am already publicly lamenting over not teaching the Innovation Course this Academic Year anyway, let me just go all the way and 'wallow in grief', and turn pathetically green with envy over this...
"Perhaps, overlooked, Volta's invention of the battery, for the first time, also demonstrated the utility of a professor..... So, you see, the liquid metal battery story is more than an account of inventing technology, it's a blue print for inventing inventors."
Aaawww...sweet! Too good, too good... and I feel left out! :(
The happy part is, these "big chair days" will not last forever. One day, they will come to an end, hopefully after a few of those many "challenging puzzles" on the equally "big tables" have been figured out... and all systems are up and running, and humming healthily. Therefore, I look forward to teaching that Course again - the sooner, the better! :) In the meantime, I'll try to find comfort in the great challenge of filling out this "big chair" in my own little humble way, and savor the opportunities to mentor "big kids" from where I currently stand - around the vicinity of the "big chair". Yep, I'm still uncomfortable sitting on the cold "bigness" of it... in fact, I think I will always find it "uncomfortable", just because I'm just a simple dudette with simple needs and wants... I just want to set foot on planet Mars, that's all. ;)
Alright, let's get those "puzzles" figured out then so we could go back to the classroom/research lab soon... aw, yeah! :) Here we go.... one challenge/puzzle at a time. We'll get to the finish line eventually... and then we set out to run the more interesting run, the run that all engineers and scientists committed their professional lives to: the "hard science" for "good life" run! Leeeezdoit! :)
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Video Credits: Thanks, YouTube, for the video links.
