Center for Relativistic Laser Science

http://nanotube.skku.ac.kr/weekly.html 에서 옮김

2011.01.07 11:51:58


New year started and winter break came. For those who came form tropical area like Vietnam and south India, this winter is going be a challenge due to snow and cold weather. I saw some foreign students to cover with heavy coats but still I could see their face almost frozen. For me who grew up in the rural village, we enjoyed the cold winter with heavy snow. I always stayed outside with icing and snow fight with other kids. My foot and hands were frozen to cause serious troubles, although my mom provided a terrible home curing using cow dung. It worked!, although I had ugly scars left in both hands. Now the fall semester is almost over.

Our school system is different from western system. We have every winter and every summer which lasts almost more than two months each. This is actually amazingly long and almost half a year. In another words, if you waste this time, you are wasting half a year for nothing. Many people, I would say normally people believe this is break, I mean really a break to take a rest. Well, it may be true, since you suffered following course works during the semester. However, for us, like doing research, this is in fact the best time to focus on research. Some of the beginner already noticed this from their seniors. Some still don't get it, I guess.

I would like to emphasize that the winter break or summer break is the best time for us to focus on research. During the semester, it is not easy to concentrate on research, because of the classes and because of the teaching sometimes. I understand it. We are all busy. However, if you do the same thing in the break, I can simply regard that as an excuse or your laziness. You are simply dead in this case. This is the time to read papers and do experiments with plans. Your output is always proportional to your effort. Some people complains their failure in experiment and think they did nothing because they did not get good results. I do not agree with this. We all learn from failure. You always learn from every bit of your efforts. One thing you should keep in mind is that you should not give up. If you give up, yes, you did not get much from your failure. Look at some seniors who did not get many papers yet. But they never gave up. I am sure they will get good results sooner or later. They will eventually.

Another thing I like to say is that you always learn from seniors. Yet, they are not always right. Nobody is perfect. So please be aware of that fact. We are here to learn and create something and learn from each other. But keep that in mind that we are all collaborators eventually. Seniors can be more experienced but not always right. You rely on your logic always. Try to build up your own logic. Professors are also a little more experienced than you. They do not know everything or not logical always. You are always welcome to discuss and argue on your subject. I know sometimes lab members quarrel with each other because of the different opinions. This is perfectly fine. One thing you need to consider is we should not hurt each other by hurting each other's pride and feelings. This is the limit one should be careful in dealing with lab members. I will be happy to you guys fighting for logics. In fact I always enjoy this. As long as you keep this spirit of logical argument and you concentrate in the break time, and helping each other well, you will be successful in your career.