A TED Talk in Progress: Finding My Way as a Researcher

As Materials Scientists and Engineers, we work on the most basic building blocks of devices, products, or systems. Our work is multi-disciplinary by nature, but this along with technical area of study are not all that make various jobs in materials science unique. In this talk, I will share how I came to understand the diverse and constantly evolving job market for materials scientists, and how I determined I should fit into it. I'll give examples of researchers, alive and dead, whom I admire, and reflect briefly on how their chosen research areas and work environments have influenced how I think about my own career pathway. Retrospectively, it is easy to say I would have loved to be part of a team featuring a Nobel Prize Winner at Bell Labs in the 1970s or 1980s. It was and continues to be harder to predict, as I have been honing my technical skills in school and early in my professional career, where to find my perfect balance of personal satisfaction and impactful research. I have been lucky to find a home in the Army Research Lab (ARL), where my expertise is needed to solve a diverse set of technical problems. As I am early in my career, the impact of my research on solving these technical problems is yet to be determined. This pessimistic tone is intended to reflect my struggle to accept that my research is good enough and is an appropriate use of my skills. Only recently during reflection in the long COVID-19 isolation, have I begun to feel more proud of my research and more comfortable in my environment. That being said, I will proudly present results from a few programs I have worked on over the last 3 years, including multi-phase ceramics for personal protective armor and infrared window materials for demanding environments.