Kuala Lumpur, Juni 2008.Aku excited saat mengenali salah seorang dosen lama di UMIST, Manchester, yang hadir sebagai key note speaker Conference hari itu. Dr Narayanan dulunya satu ruangan dengan dosen Dynamic Analysis kami, Dr Bell.
Singkat kata, setelah aku memperkenalkan diri sebagai alumni UMIST, beliau senang sekali bertemu denganku. Apalagi saat aku mengatakan ingat kalau beliau teman seruangan dosenku, Dr Bell. Kami sempat bernostalgia bersama mengenai jurusan Teknik Sipil UMIST, soal merger UMIST dengan Univ of Manchester, serta berbagi cerita mengenai dosen-dosen lain di sana.
Begitu mendengarku sedang bersekolah lagi di Australia, beliau langsung memberikan banyak wejangan, yaitu:
a) PhD study is enjoyable
b) Read as much as I can
c) Do work hard, think about the project 24 hours a day
d) Get positive exposures to improve my project
e) Think about application of my material
f) Check the prominent parameters that influence the material, don't spend too much time for unuseful parameters
g) Write a thesis that makes external examiner happy
h) Think about my study can contribute for the concrete technology field
i) It is important to like the topic
j) When get stuck in the work, make an effort to find the solution comprehensively to overcome the problem
k) Work bit by bit, try to complete the overall picture of my thesis, and suddenly we don't realize that it is done
l) Develop necessary skills for the future work while we do the PhD study.
Banyak juga nasehat beliau,
Insya Allah kita jalankan...
Terima kasih Dr Narayanan.
Perth,
Found those pearls when I read back my old notebooks today...
