The Importance of the Fundamentals

When Simona asked me to contribute an article to her regular I&M Magazine column, I was immediately honored that she believed I had something worthy to contribute and then immediately nervous -- “What will I say?” As I thought about it, wondering what my own future trends are and will be as I proceed in my own academic career, the same concept kept coming back to me: fundamentals, fundamentals, and fundamentals. When I am not teaching as an Assistant Professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology, much of my time is spent writing proposals, oftentimes submitting to agencies that emphasize fundamental science. The other side of the academic paradigm focuses on applied science and engineering (which will never happen without a solid scientific and fundamental basis). So, as you can imagine, the fundamentals provide an important and critical footing upon which everything I do is built.