Posts under /Me Category
Back when I was just starting graduate school, I remember already feeling as if I understood the components needed for great scientific research: knowledge of a domain, the ability to implement a system or execute an experiment, and a creative insight about a phenomenon worth studying. While the domain knowledge and ability to execute seemed like pre-requisites for doing science at all, the capacity for creativity seemed to the element that separated a great scientist from the good. Since I felt like I was good at identifying creative research, I hoped that once I immersed myself in academia and started gaining domain knowledge and engineering skill, the creative ideas would come to me. Now, almost a year into my PhD program, I feel like I have learned a great deal, but I am left with the question: Where are all those good ideas?
I’m currently reading Albert-László Barabási’s second book, Bursts. Though the book is primarily about predicting human behavior in the future, the book is peppered with interesting anecdotes about historical figures (i.e. from the past). One such figure mentioned prominently is Siméon-Denis Poisson, the 19th-century French mathematician. A element which may seem trivial out of context but is rather crucial in the book is Barabási’s description of Poisson’s organizational habits (a sort of 19th-century French GTD):
For a comprehensive look at applying for NSF (and other similar fellowships), you should check out Philip Guo’s Fellowships Tips page, which is really good and very comprehensive. I personally learn best by example, so in this post, I’d like to provide a personal perspective on the application and review process; hopefully, this will prove helpful to some of you applying in the coming fall. While I did not win this year, I think it’s helpful to see the essays of others with reviews to get a real sense of what the reviewers are looking for.
This fall, I’ll find myself back at Stanford for a couple of reasons. The first is my 5-year reunion, which is strange enough. More improbable, however, is the fact that I will be starting on my way towards a PhD in Computer Science. In many ways, the coincidence of these two events makes me appreciate all the things that have happened since graduation that have brought me to where I am today.
