Undergraduates in science and engineering are more than a match for their peers in the arts and humanities when it comes to creative writing, finds Aifric Campbell.
We are eating noodles in the sunshine at Imperial College, London, when my former student tells me about his invention. “Meet SAM,” says Joachim and places his prototypes on the bench – a tiny switch and actuator that will allow everyone to make wireless smart things without knowing anything about coding or electronics. A jacket that heats up when your body temperature drops, a fridge that warns you’re out of milk – it’s an Internet of Things idea and the applications seem endless once you start connecting people and objects. While Joachim answers my questions about how he and his team will manage the journey from inspiration to execution, I’m reminded of another conversation we once had about risk.
It was inspired by a story about an assassin in the murderous heat of a noonday piazza – one of those ambitious narratives whose success depends entirely upon managing uncertainty. For I am a novelist and Joachim is a mechanical engineer who took my creative writing class as part of his degree, and he outlines his business plan with the same passion and precision as he wrote that short story... Keep reading on The Guardian
We are eating noodles in the sunshine at Imperial College, London, when my former student tells me about his invention. “Meet SAM,” says Joachim and places his prototypes on the bench – a tiny switch and actuator that will allow everyone to make wireless smart things without knowing anything about coding or electronics. A jacket that heats up when your body temperature drops, a fridge that warns you’re out of milk – it’s an Internet of Things idea and the applications seem endless once you start connecting people and objects. While Joachim answers my questions about how he and his team will manage the journey from inspiration to execution, I’m reminded of another conversation we once had about risk.
It was inspired by a story about an assassin in the murderous heat of a noonday piazza – one of those ambitious narratives whose success depends entirely upon managing uncertainty. For I am a novelist and Joachim is a mechanical engineer who took my creative writing class as part of his degree, and he outlines his business plan with the same passion and precision as he wrote that short story... Keep reading on The Guardian