Research and Development

We have seen throughout the world where lots of innovations, inventions had been achieved by undergraduates. In Japan, Asimo which has developed as one of the most advanced robot in human the history of human’s creation, was invented and upgraded by a group of students in a university there(I just can’t remember the name of it). Sometimes I wonder how on earth, did they manage to come out with such ideas and products.

In The Outliers written by Malcolm Galdwell, average people need at least 10000 hours of training in order for them to be a specialist in whatever fields they are into. William Bill Gates was just ‘happened’ to be among the richest persons in the world because he was exposed to the environment where he can access to the computers since he lived just next to University of Washington. There, he managed to sharpen his skills in programming by sitting in front of computers for almost 8 hours for everyday, plus he skipped athletics and other stuff he was not interested in.

So, what does the story of Bill Gates has to do with the achievements mentioned? The answer is simple. TRAINING. Bill Gates succeed because he completed his 10000 hours training and if students or researchers complete their 10000 hours of training, great invention can be produced.

With the aim to ‘provide’ training for the FKK students, me and some colleagues came out with an idea to initiate a unit what we call Research & Development Unit-Students Chapter. This unit was formed with the intention to help the students who are interested in R&D world to find the proper path towards R&D. This unit will collect information from lecturers who are planning or already running their projects and publish it to students. Therefore, students who are interested in doing research will approach the respective lecturers, with the aid from the unit.

Hopefully, with the establishment of the unit, the awareness of R&D among students will bloom. We have seen in the media that lots of achievement among students from abroad in terms of producing new inventions or new solution towards getting life to be more comfort. So, why not one of the news that we read or see in the media is about the accomplishment of the students from FKK. Remember, achievement is talents plus preparation. Maybe this is the beginning of something awesome. Maybe. vJv