Busy Life

In my thirties, the life becomes flying. More responsibilities, more ambitions on career development, more chances to look for and catch. I still delay my responsibilities of raising a family, because I doubt I can bear the load and can be happier. Last week, I found the new web site of an old friend. It lists so many career activities and it reminds me his/her numerous publications. I can see his/her indulgence, ambitions on career. I also recall another friend of me who also plays the same game and equally successful. Maybe I am on the same way and would be in the same track when I am at their age. Sigh, I do not want to do the networking and play the career games like a politician or bureaucrat. I would rather be quiet and be left alone to do my fewer publications, but more impact results, as a researcher. I would rather be able to talk with a friend for hours on the phone than just rush business conversations. I would rather have a slow down life, but more enjoyable life.

The challenge of launching projects

What to choose for research is a real challenge for a researcher. I do not know if my thoughts are on the right way to a productive career. I want the real problems, the problems from the real life. I do not want to produce papers from my brain. This means a lot of conversations with partners not in the CS research, and a lot of software engineering work before identifying a theoretical topic. I find all my life is to traverse all the possible paths. Only after I tried all the paths, I find a way out. So, I am not so smart and lucky person. Maybe everyone thinks like me?

Philosophy of science

I found some knowledge of philosophy of science is good for guiding research. I like the course, Research Theory of Science, by Dr. Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic very much. She is a researcher I met in MBR04 conference. I added this link to my tips to my students in my homepage.

Frustrated Administration

I almost spent my whole week to deal with the administration this week. This makes me more tired than research. Asking a small amount of money is so difficulty that I doubt if it is worth to do it. It is good to be asked to clarify the IP issues. But it is not so good to find out that if no IP is going to be generated, it is the easiest way to let you go. If you say that there is some IP, then you need to have an agreement with each of the partners. And the “Crown” needs to own everything. It is so old thinking that now the Queen has no right to get our revenue from the IP.