jeudi 3 mai 2012

I receive a letter

Here is an email that I got and the answer that I made :


1. The email :
Hello Dr. This,
 I am currently a 22 year old career student, and my background is in Chemical Engineering. I fear that I have had difficulty finding a passion in a lot of areas of research in Chemical Engineering, and am seeking a new direction in my life.

I've come across your name in articles on Molecular Gastronomy, and have become a big fan of your journal publications. I am particularly interested in the way you have developed a scientific nomenclature to describe the chemistry of food, and admire your passion for bringing food science to a modern standard.

I was wondering if you had any recommendations for research programs that a young student could pursue in this field. Or things that I could do to make myself more desirable for said programs. I feel that my background in Chemical Engineering gives me a unique perspective from the fundamentals of heat and mass transfer, thermodynamics, and kinetics.

2. The answer :
Thanks, but please be rather fan of yourself, making everything to be worth having a fan. Indeed, you put a lot of pressur on me... because I shall merit your trust.
By the way, do you know that there is a good thing to make if you want to get ennemies, i.e. giving advices ? If the friends follow it and it fails, the are angry at you. And if it works, they are frustrated not to have decided by themselves (an idea probably from Oscar Wilde ; to be checked).

More seriously, I am very happy that you recognized that Molecular Gastronomy is clearly a scientific activity.

Concerning "research programs", I have thousands of questions, and we study here a very small number of them. Indeed, collecting "culinary precisions" and testing them can lead to scientific results... if you apply the right method of science. Your background is fine. Just play on !

PS. Do you know the FIPDes Erasmus Mundus Master programme ? www.fipdes.eu