Before I go, let me tell you a story…
By Dr. Paul John Michael Mignone
It was late 2013, and I was invited to David Flanders’ house to discuss this new ‘researcher training initiative’ that ITS Research (now known as Research Platforms) was starting. I had met David the year before at a 3D Printing build party, and had helped him run a University-wide build party in early 2013. Aside from being one of the coolest, most dynamic people I had ever met, David had (and continues to have) the fantastic vision of building a community of researchers that were proficient in data science tools, and were able support researchers to do better quality, reproducible research.
In The Beginning: The Pre-ResBaz 3D Printing Build Party!
At this point in time, I was at an ‘interesting’ stage in my PhD/life (same thing back then ;-). My PhD was facing some difficulties (to put it mildly), and I was running out of funding. At the same time, I was trying to setup my own initiative to get CAD training integrated into the engineering curriculum at Unimelb (with little success). Having been in the private sector before returning to academia, I felt the engineering students at Unimelb were at a disadvantage by not having basic CAD skills, especially in a tough job market where employers can be ‘picky’ with candidates.
PhD: Mission Accomplished!
Therefore it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that I said YES when David offered me the job to teach CAD as part of this ‘Research Bazaar’ initiative. For me it was an opportunity to teach engineering students and researchers relevant technical skills, while earning some money to finish my PhD (and cover my mortgage!). Back then we started with only six people: Me, Dejan, Steve, Damien, Katie and Grischa. Nearly three years later, I honestly did not expect to see ResBaz where it is now.
What did ResBaz achieve in under 3 years? Look above…
The journey I’ve shared with ResBaz has been incredibly exciting and highly rewarding. I no longer see CAD as a tool for just designing and 3D printing ‘stuff’, but as a tool to create, manipulate and enrich 3D data. For me, CAD is a tool that is part of the great chain that is data science, and has the potential to be used far more effectively when combined with a dedicated research community, and other data science tools. As ResBaz grew in size (about 30 staff today), I had the opportunity to develop new professional skills by mentoring, leading and managing a team of brilliant individuals (Aliza, Louise and Vincent) under the #Cadventure stream. Today this team, now under the leadership of Dr. Louise Van Der Werff provides community, expertise and training around tools that create, manipulate and enrich 3D data.
#Cadventure: An amazing team to lead!
ResBaz also provided me with the opportunity to work with a phenomenal group of people. People that were friendly, hard working, frighteningly talented and incredibly passionate about data science tools and their fields of research. A group of people that I count among my good friends today. As I head off overseas to do a postdoc, I realised that very few us in our careers will get the opportunity to work for an organisation where you get to build something from scratch. Something that you’re passionate about, and something that will change the way things are done for the better. To have the opportunity to build #Cadventure at ResBaz was a privilege, and something I will never forget. I would like to thank David, Steven, Nicole and all of the Research Platforms staff (current and former) for making ResBaz the amazing organisation it is today.
#ResBaz: A phenomenal group of people!
For those interested in seeing my ResBaz story in the blogosphere, you can catch my work here: http://melbourne.resbaz.edu.au/tagged/paul
If you would like to stay in touch, you can reach me on twitter or my new blog, where I will continue my outreach efforts: https://paulmignone.wordpress.com
As I set towards Ithaca once again, I thank the entire ResBaz community for an amazing adventure :-)
This is Dr. Paul John Michael Mignone, signing off…
