I moved to Cornell from IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights in 1999 following a long period of research, pursued individually and with colleagues, and much learning from many of the rare intellects that made the 20th century research laboratory environments fountains of progress in information and condensed matter sciences and technologies. Times have changed. Industrial research is largely product centric. The center of gravity of the world is shifting towards East and South Asia, and the world, economically and industrially, a very different place. The forces that drive industry and academia can be substantially different but overlap. As a faculty, one wants to take on the hard intellectually challenging problems, yet for many, and certainly in engineering, one also looks for the ones that have a chance at benefiting the world. As a student, one is looking to learn and discover - for some with the intent of getting a job in the commercial world, and for some in academia. In either case, knowing the world and guessing where it is headed and learning to best take advantage of your surroundings to prepare for your goals are among the thoughts that one should always have in the academic life.

Here, you will find some public lectures on being a graduate student or finding your way as an undergraduate student.

• Hedgehogs, Foxes and Wolfpacks in Science and Engineering; You and Your Research: A talk given in September of 2008 to Cornell Electron Device Society students on research and being a graduate student. (View PDF)
• Past 25 years and next 25 years in Electronics; Reality, Dreams & Engineering in a Changing World: A talk given in May of 2008 to Rochester Institute of Technology's Microelectronic Engineering Department's 25^th year celebrations. (View PDF)
• Engineers as Gods?; A broad interest talk to undergraduate engineering students around the country exploring the nature of challenging problems, and how engineering and science can make a difference while being in harmony and respectful of nature. (View PDF)
• Nanoscale Science & Engineering. Undergraduate Education & Nanotechnology: A talk to Undergraduate Students at meeting of Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers on undergraduate curriculum content and connections to nanotechnology (View PDF)