Right before departing from my postdoctoral studies at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research in Langer’s group, and before starting my faculty position at the Media Lab, I had one of my shortest—yet most memorable—meetings with my postdoctoral advisor, Dr. Bob Langer:
Me: Dr. Langer, what should I do to be a good mentor like you?
Dr. Langer: There is no equation; just follow your heart.
Keeping this short yet deep advice in mind, I have kept working on my dream projects while mentoring amazing young minds at the MIT Media Lab: the UROPs.
I have been so privileged to be mentored by wonderful people: Drs. Zafer Durusoy, John Rogers, Bob Langer, Wally Gilbert, Ed Boyden, Hiroshi Ishii, Tod Machover, Joi Ito and Sangeeta Bhatia are just a few to be named.
To me, the commonality between these amazing individuals is that they live in the moment and enjoy their life to the fullest. Maybe, one day I’ll write a book about them. ☺
In my research group at the MIT Media Lab, called Conformable Decoders, we have had much luck and joy to work with amazing UROPs since Spring 2018—only 1 year after I formed my research group and designed my very-own cleanroom, the YellowBox.