Purdue Engineering Graduate Student Profiles: Akash Patil
Akash Patil is a PhD candidate working in the Innovation Science Lab of Dr. Joseph Sinfield, Professor of Civil Engineering and Director, Institute for Innovation Science. Patil is seeking to understand how innovation ecosystems operate, and looking at stories of innovators to help him construct a scientific, reproducible, and scalable approach to innovation.
What is your research focus, what investigative avenues are you pursuing?
I am working to understand innovation ecosystems which are collections of resources, administered by actors, and governed by processes, that facilitate innovative activity. In particular, I am interested in how ecosystems function in a bottom-up manner by placing innovators and their journeys, which the ecosystems are trying to support, at the center. The inspiration for studying innovator journeys came from Vladimir Propp’s "Morphology of the Folktale," which I came across in a course I took on Semiotics. Propp analyzed the structure of hundreds of Russian folktales. In our current context, we have hundreds, if not thousands of stories of innovators that are publicly available in the form of podcasts like "How I Built This with Guy Raz.” In my work, I analyze these stories with the aim of identifying the underlying patterns of innovation and innovator activity that could be transferable across contexts.
What spurred your interest in this particular topic and line of research?
Even before getting into this research, I was generally curious about people who seem to change the world and wanted to understand what it is that they do differently. I was already reading books and listening to podcasts on the subject. And after every episode, either I would come out with insights or a better understanding of their struggles, but always with the idea that they are not superhuman — whatever they did, is potentially something that can be learned. While I was pursuing this learning as a side quest, I didn’t realize that it could be done as a full-time activity — which changed as soon as I started my research in the lab.
Why did you choose Purdue to continue your studies as a graduate student?
As I was finishing up my MS in Mechanical Engineering, I had a very strong, nagging feeling that I was missing something when it came to solving the significant problems that we face today, but I couldn’t quite put a finger on what. During that semester, I took a course called “Breakthrough Thinking for Complex Challenges” with Dr. Sinfield. The big insight then was that while engineering is powerful, to tackle the big problems, we need a holistic perspective that integrates social, economic, and technical perspectives. I got hooked on the ideas and promise of Innovation Science immediately, so much so that I ended up pursuing a PhD in that field. Purdue is one of the few places other than TU Eindhoven and the University of Tokyo where you can study Innovation Science through a holistic lens like we do here, so that was a major factor in making the decision.
When did you first get interested in engineering and science?
I would be lying if I say that I knew early on in my life what is it that I wanted to do. It was very much a process of discovery by the process of elimination. As I took more courses and projects in my undergraduate as well as masters, there was a twofold learning of what I liked and what I disliked. Having said that, I am glad to have landed up on my current research area, which I absolutely love.
What’s it like studying at Purdue?
The Innovation Science Lab is quite a special place. Everyone in the lab is working on really fascinating, complex, and impactful problems, like socio-technical transitions, international development, and emerging economies to name a few. Being amongst other students who are curious and passionate about their research not only allows for a lot of learning, but is also very inspiring. Of course, a lot of credit goes to my advisor, Dr. Sinfield, for cultivating this healthy environment that fosters learning.
What else have you learned at Purdue, beyond subject matter?
There is so much learning on so many fronts. The biggest thing is that science is not absolute, but rather it is our best guess, based on the available data that explains most of the observed phenomenon. One of the biggest influences on my view of science has been "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas Kuhn. I am particularly fascinated by “edge” cases, which are difficult to explain using existing theories. As a result, you need a new paradigm that explains everything in the older paradigm, as well as the newer information that older paradigms cannot explain.
What is the Purdue research environment like?
I have been quite fortunate in terms of my teaching experience at Purdue. I have had the opportunity to instruct several different classes. Over time, my perspective on teaching has morphed from a top-down, instructor-oriented view to more of a bottom-up role of someone who facilitates student learning. It is not just the students that are learning — along the way, I have picked up many new ideas, tools, and perspectives that the students bring in.
What advice might you give to other students deciding where to attend graduate school?
Take care of yourself; the schoolwork will take care of itself. With most of the problems that you will encounter in grad school, technical skills are like the tip of the iceberg — there are so many hidden, often unconscious aspects like your attitudes, perception and framing of the problems, beliefs, state of mind, and physical and mental health that affect your ability to solve any problem at hand. The more you uncover and understand these hidden forces that you bring to any problem, the more effective of a problem solver you will become. A couple of notable ones for me were the realization that I should embrace the inherent little failures that are a part of the research process without letting them get to me. Another big one was to learn to separate myself from the ideas so that I don’t take the feedback personally. Finally, the most important one is to reframe the graduate school journey as a process instead of a goal — focusing on progress, be it ever so little, over perfection. Thankfully, Purdue has several resources to support the students’ mental and physical health journey along the way.
What about the future? What are your goals; what are you looking to accomplish?
The foundational idea underlying innovation science is that innovation can be shifted from serendipity to science by systematically studying the underlying patterns that drive innovation. This has two major implications — one on theory and the other on practice, and I want to be involved in both. From a research perspective, I want to keep uncovering new patterns to drive innovations. From a teaching perspective, I would like to communicate these exciting insights that we uncover, with the goal of augmenting people’s problem-solving potential for complex problems.
Might you share with us a little window into your personality: some distinctive trait, habit of mind, hobby/pursuit outside work…?
I would say that I am primarily driven by curiosity and so outside (and even within) work, you will find me reading books on topics that range from philosophy to psychology, to science and technology. Playing pool is another big part of my life. I think it is a great sport that is an amalgamation of physics, geometry, strategy, and human behavior. I participate in a weekly league in the local pool hall, which is a good way to meet the locals. Outside of more logical and planning-oriented activities, I also like making abstract art.