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"Scientific arrogance is a sign of ignorance, something not to be proud of. Such a behavior is inappropriate and harmful, for it sends a message of what is an acceptable conduct to the larger scientific community, particularly the graduate students being trained under the mentor direction."
-Akbar Montaser September 1981 "So What Is The Secret? 1. Academic background: gives credibility to the message,
2. The ability to pitch the message,
3. Need a clear and graphic Idea, preferably one which runs counter to the prevailing received wisdom. This idea must be rammed home with good, punchy slogans, and
4. Need bags of optimism: must offer hope for future. Nobody is going to pay to be told that all is doom and gloom."
-Akbar Montaser September 1996
"My Philosophy on the Roles of Graduate Students and the Research Director: 1. The Research Director: Defines the broad interests of the Research Group, and acquires enough funding so that the students have the tools needed for their research.
2. The Graduate Student: The role is to work hard, learn to become an independent scientist, work hard, take charge of the research project, work hard, and contribute a few ideas that would help the Research Group evolve and prosper."
-Akbar Montaser July 1983
"My Basic Formula in Communication:Avoid conflict, seek conciliation, express high hopes, and good intentions "
-Akbar Montaser September 2001 Character is King "Despites all efforts, mistakes are inevitable under any settings and institution. Clearly, measured responses are in order in such cases. However, we cannot resign ourselves to passively accepting out-of-proportion reactions to such conflicts because as educators and mentors, we owe it to our students the education suitable for responding to crisis in reasonable fashions. In this world, character is king. It is, finally, all we are left with."
-Akbar Montaser September 1991
“In this world, whatever we do, good or bad, we do it to ourselves. It is important to seriously believe in this basic concept to be a member of my team.”
-Akbar Montaser May 19, 1998
"Why, Exactly, Is It Wrong to Tell a Lie? In real life, falsehoods can sometimes hurt other people, but a lot of times they don’t. Ruthless honesty can often be far more damaging than a polite story! Do you really need to inform your aunt that her facelift makes her look worse?
In general, we honor telling the truth, and we become angry when we discover that that someone has not been straight with us. In analytical spectrometry, the sample introduction system often lies to us, causing multitude of interferences. Surprisingly, this deceit often is neither recognized, nor when discovered, make us angry! A major goal of our research is reducing or eliminating interferences by developing simple liquid sample introduction devices and state of art instrumentation that are suitable for elemental and isotope analysis."
-Akbar Montaser April 12, 2002 RIO Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry,
"The Trouble with Sample Introduction and Stock Market!
In the stock market, as in much of life, the beginning of wisdom is admitting your ignorance. One of the many things you cannot know about stocks is exactly when they will go up or go down. The same principle relates to most sample introduction systems during the course of experiments in a single day! Over the long term, stocks generally rise at a nice pace. Over the long term, review articles on sample introduction systems are of value! History shows stocks double in value, on average, every seven years or so. The similar standard applies to review articles! But in short term, stocks are just plain wild. Over the periods of days, weeks and months, no one has any idea what stocks will do, just like some of the papers published on sample introduction! Still, nearly all investors and analytical spectroscopists think they are smart enough to discover short-term movements on stocks. Similarly, art and guesswork play a major role in dealing with sample introduction systems for atomic spectrometry such as in nebulizer-spray chamber design for plasma spectrometry. Thus, huffs and puffs frequently get us into troubles!"
-Akbar Montaser April 12, 2002 RIO Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry,
"Indirect and Direct Liquid Sample Introduction: Yelling Fire About Smoke!
Nearly 25 years ago, it was commonplace to smoke in elevators, airplanes, the workplace, and even hospital. In the
Akbar Montaser January 7, 2002 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry,
"Let Us Shine!
In life, we often have little choice. For example, would I like to have the hairstyle of John Travolta, the looks of Tom Cruise, and two good eyes? Of course, I would! However, it is not going to happen, so we must work with what we have.
The same principle is applicable to expertise, academic funding, and research at GWU and elsewhere. Such deficiencies do not disturb or bar us from attacking challenges beyond our means. We take pride in teaming with 15 prominent research groups worldwide to address difficult research projects. And this hairstyle or our research policy has been, in more ways than one, a lucky horseshoe for us. Let us face it, people recognize me as much for my baldhead as for my voice or science. In sum, I accomplish complex tasks because my forehead becomes a fivehead! We do not seek pity. You will not see us pleading, “Help the combless!”
We have a lifestyle, a bald lifestyle, both in reference to hair and in tackling science."
-Akbar Montaser March 5, 2004
“When you trust in your graduate students, you are trusting in the same wisdom that created you.”
-Akbar Montaser May 18, 2004 17th Annual Conference ILASS –
"The greatest risk is not taking one.
What does it take to break through a foundation of thinking that has been accepted for years? A bold stroke! But, it does not mean turning things on their heads without understanding all the possible consequences. It takes a complete understanding of what lies on the other side. So, when we are ready to take on a risky venture, we MUST turn to fundamental studies to help knock down the barriers that may be holding us back. "
-Akbar Montaser January 5, 2004 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry,
"One of great joys in life is reading a research study, preferably conducted at a prestigious institution, costing millions of dollars and lasting several years, and arriving at amazing conclusions!
Examples:
Broccoli is good for you!
Exercise lowers the risk of heart disease!
Marrying someone who watches TV all day and never reads can lower your own IQ!
Spouses of snorers may wake up as often in the night as do snorers and thus suffer from many of the same symptoms!
Anyone who has slept next to a serious snorer could have saved the researchers a lot of trouble and the tax payers millions of dollars. I once vacationed with my in-laws for three days and two nights. My brother-in-law snored so loudly that I left a day early! And he was in the other room, next to my poor sister-in-law, who, we now know, thanks to the crack of the research team, has been suffering from a condition called secondhand snoring!
Incomplete conversion of the sample to the free atoms and ions in the ICP can lead to concentration errors, and elemental fractionation!"
-Akbar Montaser January 5, 2004 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry,
"Be a Tiger!
In Every field of endeavor, there are timid, and there are the tigers. Be a tiger."
-Akbar Montaser July 2007
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© 2007 Montaser Research Group. The George Washington University.
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