On December 12, 2017, we had a great opportunity to listen to an inspirational talk from Prof. Roderick Smith of Imperial College London. The talk was held in conjunction with our lunch meeting participated by all GSEP students of the 1st and 2nd batches, as well as the faculty of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering Department. He also kindly gave us a lecture in 2016.
Prof. Smith delivered a very interesting talk about his journey during the whole year of 2017. For example, he shared us his story in the Philippines where he was asked to evaluate the fatigue strength of a rail-clip component installed in the country’s railway. While he enjoyed the works with his Filipino colleagues, the hot temperature made the job became very difficult.
Then, he continued telling us his other journey, such as attending the 5th UK-Japan Engineering Education League Workshop in Glasgow-UK, flying to Hong Kong to referee a doctoral dissertation, visiting several countries in Europe for research collaboration works, and doing a solo flight. The year of 2017 has been a year full of trips abroad for Prof. Smith. He told us that because of his travels he spent countless hours on board an airplane. He emphasized the importance of time management as an essential skill to handling multiple tasks. He advised the students to smartly utilize the time.
Below are photos taken during the meeting.
Background of Prof. Roderick Smith:
Professor Roderick Smith, ScD, FREng., is currently Royal Academy of Engineering Network Rail Research Professor of Railway Engineering, Imperial College and Chair of the Future Railway Research Centre. He is an Honorary Visiting Professor at Central Queensland University, Australia, and of the Academy of Railway Science of China and York and City universities in the UK. Formerly, he was Chief Scientific Advisor Department for Transport and the President Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the UK. (for more detail click this).
Written by Farid Triawan