Dustin Gilbert, 39, Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Tennessee at Knoxville
On Rate My Professors, a website where college students review their instructors, Dustin Gilbert has a perfect 5 rating. One student describes him as "legendary."
His colleagues at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville describe him as a rare faculty member who has mastered both teaching and research at a young age. He has published 80 peer-reviewed articles, many in top journals, and received more than $1.1 million in research funding.
Without a doubt, landing a faculty position at the University of Tennessee. To become a faculty member, you go through almost 30 years of school, and it all comes down to securing a professor position at a research university. These positions are very competitive, often with 50-200+ candidates for a single position, and less than 10 relevant positions nationally per year. The University of Tennessee, and in particular the Materials Science and Engineering program, is a growing powerhouse for excellence in research and teaching, and I am excited to be part of it.
Supporting new students. Graduate students in particular take 5-6 years of hard work to form them into world-class professional scientists/engineers. By the time they graduate, I am extremely proud of them and admire them personally and professionally. However, the first few years can be very challenging. It takes patience on everyone's part. There are personality conflicts, imbalanced expectations, and each student is unique in how they grow and learn. I have overcome this by relying on my more-senior students, who connect better with the new students. Also, by evaluating and balancing my position as their boss, mentor and, eventually, peer.
That is one of the best parts of being a research professor: Every year, the sky's the limit to do something new and exciting! We will probably grow our existing research investigating magnetic whirls (thanks to DOE support!), making ultra-light materials to support US troops, developing new magnetic thinking computers and investigating magnetism in bees. We will make new collaborations, and who knows where that will go? I hope to expand our work with the new CAMM research center at UTK to discover new fantastic materials. I also have a new baby on the way!
I want my research to have an impact that makes the world a better place. I love exploring and learning everything. But with the many problems that humanity faces today and on the horizon - in health, energy, information technologies, resources, the environment or security - it would be a dream to help solve at least one of them. We have incredible capability and intellectual capacity in our lab and make efforts to focus our research to address problems as we can. But to find the key to solve a major human problem would be a dream come true.
I didn't appreciate that success is compounding. Just like a savings account, if you invest early and allow it to compound, then it pays off later. In academics, that means getting good grades in school and getting involved in professional and scholastic programs early, which helps you go to a good college, and getting involved in research. In my case, not investing early, I found you must work much harder and be much luckier to catch up.
Curiosity. The mechanics of the universe are hidden all around us just waiting to be uncovered.
"You really have to be smart to succeed in technical fields." This is a borderline lie and the most overrated piece of advice I have heard. In academics, there are very few savant-type people because research success is at least as much about hard work, a willingness to take risk and a tolerance for failure, all of which are born out of a love or passion for your work. Being "smart" doesn't give you these qualities. Find your passion, and the "smart" will follow. For professors specifically, being smart also does not make you a good teacher or mentor.
An ideal co-worker is a collaborator. They bring complementary expertise and experiences, a mutual respect, a matched passion and a good attitude.
I would like to see increased celebration of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). UTK has fantastic, world-leading STEM programs, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory is one of the premier research institutions in the world. These things should be celebrated and made accessible to Knoxville and the surrounding communities. I am thinking science magic shows on Market Square, high-school demonstrations, tours of the neutron sources at ORNL, attending UTK's Engineering Day, industry partnerships. The MUSE is a fantastic experience for kids, but I am also excited for the upcoming Knoxville Science Museum.
I have always been a huge hobby science nerd. My love for science started using a battery charger to electroplate copper in 4th grade, a chemistry set in 5th, rocketry in 6th, circuitry design by 9th, energetic matter in 11th. I built tesla coils and electromagnetic accelerators in my dorm room in college and, for something to do in the summer, I mentored students building and launching weather balloon experiments. Before I was a professional scientist, I did science from home because it was fun, interesting and exciting!
Family: Anne, wife; Theo, son; Mary and Kim, mother and father; Marlena, mother in-law; Kai, Ph.D advisor; Julie, postdoc advisor; Lab family: Nan, Namila, Corisa, Cameron, Charlotte, Liz, Noah, Josh, Winston, Will, Maddy
Years worked at company: 6
Degrees and certifications: Tenured Faculty, University of Tennessee; Postdoctoral Fellow, National Institute of Standards and Technology; Ph.D., physics, University of California, Davis; B.S., physics, University of California, Santa Cruz
Community involvement: Technical Committee on Nanomagnetism, chair; IEEE Nanotechnology, council member; American Physical Society Faculty, mentor and registered agent; Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, University of Tennessee Chapter