Reflections From a Most Unlikely Academic About Research and Academia

In his talk, Dr. José Holguín-Veras will discuss his experiences and lessons learned from his atypical career path about: the importance of knowing ourselves, the impossibility to know our potential, the importance of "T" and "I" researchers in convergence research and the choice of research topics, the need to follow the insights of Winston Churchill's about failure and Ernest Hemingway's about life and career, how to deal with failure and success, and thoughts about how to live a life without regrets.

Dr. José Holguín-Veras is the William H. Hart Professor, and Director of the Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment; and the Volvo Research and Educational Foundations (VREF) Center of Excellence on Sustainable Urban Freight Systems at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He received his BSc in Civil Engineering, Magna Cum Laude, from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in 1981; his MSc from the Universidad Central de Venezuela in 1984; and his PhD from The University of Texas at Austin in 1996. He has been a faculty at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, City College of New York (1997-2002), and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2002-present). His work has received numerous awards, including the 2013 White House Champion of Change Award for his contributions to freight transportation and disaster response.