CVPR Daily - Wednesday

I mean, if I can regret not being an astronaut, but I feel like I don't have very much control over that process. I think what I miss the most is being able to do very straightforward repeatable measurements or studies of physics, where once you start delving into biology and organism systems, there's almost no replicability. It is so difficult. Once biology is involved, it's far more complicated. And also natural environments are areas where you're trying to do studies or measurements with zero control over the condition. Set me up in a laboratory any day! You have a resume of 27 pages, and you're not that old yet. What motivates you? I feel old now … You are half my age, and I barely fill one page. I don't know if that's true. What makes you run so fast and so far? I mean, really, it's a testament to the wonderful people I've been able to collaborate with. There's no way if you're doing this kind of multidisciplinary work that I do that you can do it on your own. I've just been very fortunate to be able to work with these people. Can you tell me the best teaching you have received from a teacher? Yes. The best advice I ever received from someone was to make decisions about opportunities that lead to more opportunities. I think that's very clear in some of the stuff that I've done to move forward. I do that all the time. I'll always ask questions that lead to more questions. I'm sure! [ long laugh ] A professional … Without learning that, I knew that already! [ we laugh again ] I suggest that our readers also take advantage of this advice, because it's a very precious one, independent of the field you work in. Exactly. It works for everything. Do you want to say the name of the teacher who taught you that? Bob Breidenthal, who is a professor in aerospace engineering at the University of Washington. Certainly a very impressive person. Yes, very impressive. I'm glad you met him because both of us are wiser now because of him. 15 DAILY CVPR Wednesday MBARI Kakani Katija