This quote of our first seminar speaker to Fall 2011 seminar series still rings in my head. ‘We have a pilot friend who told us about how planes operate. I mean, all of us drive cars – but how many of us drive aeroplanes, huh?’ Thus said Dr. Megan Ryerson, Assistant Professor of University of Tennessee- Knoxville, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, as she made a compelling and mesmerizing introduction to the topic of aviation transport. As Dr. Ryerson spoke, students and faculty alike (myself included!) learned loads of insightful material that would have otherwise taken many years to learn in graduate school the conventional way (i.e., burning the midnight lamp reading books). It soon became clear, after listening to an hour of her talk where time flew very fast, that having eloquent speakers for gaining a broader view of Civil Engineering beyond the domain of individual research is an absolutely essential component to the graduate student experience.
During the Sept 13, 2011 seminar, we all learned, with an engineer’s curiosity, about the inside scoop on airline fare pricing in the US and why Southwest airlines has done so well. Or why charges for using the restroom while airborne may one day become a reality for American Airlines if Dr. Ryerson’s research is not heeded. We also got reinforced on the concept of ‘Occam’s razor’ –alternatively known as the ‘law of parsimony’. When faced with competing choices that are equal in other respects, Occam suggests selecting the one that makes the fewest new assumptions. While many of us may have been already taught about this, it is not until you experience the journey of dealing with complexity that you sometimes realize that ‘small and simple’ is indeed much more beautiful. Dr. Ryerson found out that a simple linear model like A=B+C worked out on the back of an envelope can sometimes actually achieve comparable levels of accuracy as a complex technique that takes years to set up and execute. As Albert Einstein once said, ‘Everything should be made as simple as possible but not simpler.”
So folks – please dwell on the Occam’s razor as you each perform your own research in a subject area. And please take inspiration from Dr Ryerson style of lucid introduction that was both persuasive and easy to understand (for anyone!). The complex topics were broken down to the simplest parables using the simplest of language. Most of all, please learn to enjoy what you do as research and share that joy unabashedly with your colleagues (it gets infectious in a good way to help others understand your point of view).
Lastly – on behalf of the CEE department, I want to thank Dr. Ryerson for visiting us and delivering an outstanding lecture to our graduate students. She did all this braving a 80 mile drive and remaining composed as ever as her eastern standard time wrist watch, unadjusted for the central time zone difference, warned that she had only a minute left for starting the seminar as lunch was being served. For an expectant mother of two who can stay calm against such stressful situations and still give a calm, composed and exciting presentation – we salute her!
[And to Megan personally – please become a pilot one day. I will feel much more relieved as a passenger with such calm company such as hers to steady a ship passing through turbulence that I would rather study only in my atmospheric models].
