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 The Role of Courage in Applied Research
While the formulation of a research strategy is a business decision for Sun Labs, the choice of a worthy problem is a highly personal decision for researchers. "Selecting a project worthy of your team's time and the company's money requires foresight, passion, suspension of disbelief, luck, and courage," said Dr. Ivan Sutherland, Vice President and Fellow of Sun Microsystems. A pioneer in the field of computer graphics and integrated circuit design, Ivan produced some of the world's first virtual reality and 3-D display systems as well as some of the most advanced computer image generators now in use. His groundbreaking research on asynchronous circuits has resulted in technology that could lead to circuits with much higher processing speeds than currently possible using conventional technology. "A critical first step in picking problems is to understand where the technology will be in 10 years," he said. "And that requires two things: First, you need to project ahead based on your knowledge of the technology; but there's also a critical element of self-deception. The danger in projecting that far ahead is that you'll become overwhelmed with the complexity or difficulty of your mission and never actually get to work. So in part it's a matter of convincing yourself that things are really simpler than they are and getting started before you realize how hard the problem actually is. "It is also important to weigh the opportunity," Ivan continued. "Some problems aren't worth consideration because a solution is simply too far off--a `beam me up Scotty' transporter, for example. I try to select a problem I think I can solve in a limited time frame using the existing base of technology. "And on a personal level, it is important not to overlook the role of courage," said Ivan. "With research comes risk. Researchers daily face the uncertainty of whether their chosen approach will succeed or fail. We sometimes face periods of weeks, months, or even years with no visible progress. To succeed, you must have the personal fortitude to overcome discouragement and to keep your focus on the task at hand." Successful development of technology can also require courage on the part of the enterprise, according to Jon Kannegaard, Sun Vice President and Deputy Director of Sun Labs, "It can be a leap of faith from a business perspective as well as a personal perspective," he said. "There isn't always an objective way to determine whether or not there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, yet the company is called upon to decide whether or not to invest resources to develop the technology. In some cases, ongoing investment may be required to transform the technology into a product, again with no certainty in the outcome. There's courage required at every step." Related Links |
