Podcast and Video with MSE Professor and Students from India's Maharashtra Institute of Technology Airs
After delivering a well-received talk on glass science in November at an international conference in Pune, India at Maharastra Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Materials Science and Engineering Professor Ashutosh Goel was invited to record a podcast and video with a student group.
His conference talk focused on how the discovery of glass impacted history — from lenses for microscopes to the gorilla glass shielding smartphones and laptops. Glass, Goel explains, is more than kitchenware. "It's the hidden, silent hero of the technology revolution."
In a country where he says glass research is relatively "insignificant," he was complimented by a professor after his talk who said a student of hers approached her asking about switching a PhD focus to glass.
The conference talk also led to a Spotify podcast and YouTube video organized by MIT's bioengineering student group, Adaptiv. He explains, "I wanted to show the students a different perspective. Glass is much more than what you actually see. It can be a biomaterial and can go into the body and act as a medicine."
One surprising example, according to Goel, is toothpaste, where glass helps to protect teeth from decay.
"I enjoy interacting with students and giving them a different perspective and making them think whether here or in India," Goel reports. "We see what is in front of our eyes, why something is happening, and what mechanism is at work. But if you are becoming a scientist or engineer, you have to think from more than one perspective."
His recent experience with MIT's team of MIT students who shot and recorded his time with them has sparked an idea for the SoE to consider of doing something similar to highlight faculty and their research.
