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HIGHL IGHTS A D V A N C E D M A T E R I A L S & P R O C E S S E S | N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 7 3 EMERGING PROFESSIONALS Early career decisions: stimulating work, meaningful work, or both? A session at IMAT – The Virtual Edition held in October looked at opportunities to build career paths in advanced research and impactful work and how the two intersect. The session was part of the Perspectives for Emerging Materials Professionals track moderated by Alexandra Merkouriou, University of Connecticut. Professor Stefan Schaffoener, from the department of materials science and engineering at the University of Connecticut, began his talk by describing opportunities for advanced research. “High-temperature materials and pro- cesses are very important for the production of basic prod- ucts, including some steel, aluminum, plastics, petroleum products, even the batteries for electric vehicles,” he said. “They all have to either function or they have to be pro- duced with high-temperature processes. And unfortunately, high-temperature materials and processes are also respon- sible for a lot of CO 2 emissions. So that means there’s a high burden and also opportunity for research and development to reduce such emissions,” he said. Doing this kind of work is a personal motivator for Schaffoener, who says he joined the University of Connecti- cut in 2018 for this and other reasons. The school’s strong partnership with industry in New England has led the department to grow to 21 faculty members, many of whom hold leadership positions for the school’s research centers, including the Pratt & Whitney Additive Manufacturing Cen- ter and Center for Materials Processing Data. Another thing that attracted Schaffoener to UConn is support for participation in relevant materials societies and associations at every level: undergrad, graduate, and fac- ulty. Students are encouraged to present papers and attend conferences, and faculty are often organizing symposia, hosting sessions, and making presentations. Where Schaffoener focused on finding the right envi- ronment and advanced high-tech careers, the second pre- senter in the session, Dr. Richard Otis, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, centered his talk on doing work with high impact. First, he described the difference between great work and high-impact work. “Great work is the beautifully engi- neered analysis program, which reproduces the results of your latest paper,” he said. “High-impact work, on the other hand, is the documentation and packaging of that program, the public advocacy you do, and the interactive tutorials you organize to help make that program useful to others.” He added, “Impact has a little to do with smart design and writing good code, but a lot to do with effective storytelling.” Otis said it’s up to you to create your career’s own story. “There is the story you tell yourself about you, which we’ll call identity. Then there is the story your peers tell each other about you, which is your reputation. And one working definition of success is when these stories strongly overlap or converge, when you are able to get your peers to see you exactly the way you see yourself.” Otis concluded by saying there cannot be high-im- pact work without your peers. “It’s not enough to claim the inherent quality of a work. High-impact work requires engagement with your colleagues, your institutions, your professional societies. You can’t assume your work will sim- ply speak for itself. Papers and code don’t talk. People do.” At the end of each talk was a question and answer period moderated by Merkouriou. Both presenters were asked about mentoring. Schaffoener said mentorship is tre- mendously important from both sides, and that professors are naturally role models. They are doing their own research on the one hand and teaching/mentoring students on the other. Otis also feels mentorship is valuable and important and that being a mentor can help shape your career, espe- cially in terms of storytelling as he described in his talk. “Just talking about the work you do in a professional con- text to another person, trying to weave things together in a coherent way,” can help you to tell your story in addition to helping the mentee navigate their own careers. Merkouriou recommends reaching out to ASM’s Emerg- ing Professionals Committee (EPC) to look for mentoring opportunities and ways to connect. She can be reached at amerkouriou@gmail.com . If interested in the EPC or helping with future emerging professional programming or projects, contact Drew Fleming at drew.fleming@asminternational.org. Stefan Schaffoener and Alexandra Merkouriou conduct a Q&A session during IMAT – The Virtual Edition. EMERGING PROFESSIONALS