Computer Vision News - February 2023

17 Katherine Kuchenbecker I would be able to succeed as an academic. You need funding for your work, and that means you need to have good enough ideas and explain them to other really smart people who will give you money. That is indeed a big responsibility to take taxpayer money or a company's money, or a foundation's money and try to create new knowledge. But I believe it's worth it. You have to have patience and persistence and a positive attitude, and work hard. For that, I think, again, teamwork can really help you get to the end. So even though it might feel impossible, it's achievable. The Germans say “ Schritt für Schritt”, step by step, and then you get there. Over 100 inspiring interviews with successful Women in Science! make some progress and feel good about something else. Even if that's something like updating your CV or making the video for your paper or redoing a plot, or, I don't know, doing your laundry. Then you can come back to the hard thing, and your brain keeps working on these things in the interim, andyoumight havenew ideas. I also personally like getting outdoors and doing some exercise brings positive energy and gives me a fresh perspective. Also, talking to people, my friends, and my family. Your robots... [ laughs ] Yeah, maybe I'll go down the hall and get a hug from HuggyBot . [ laughs ] No, I find the people inmy life aremuchmoremeaningful than the robots. Though I do like the robots, too! One message for the community? My first impulse on how to respond was to point to the sign that's behind me. It says, “ It always seems impossible until it's done! ” I bought this when I was on a vacation trip. It just resonated with me how things often feel in research, that we work on something for so long, for years. We get it to work. We submit our paper, and it gets rejected the first time. This is normal. Reviewers see things we didn't see. We are actually a global scientific community helping each other solve problems and explain our work and figure things out. If you keep persisting, eventually, it often does pay off. Not always. And then all of a sudden, it's done, and you have your paper accepted, or you have the job you wanted, or you finished your PhD. You figured it out. Or you get your grant! Or you get your grant! It felt like a miracle when I got my first grant. I remember it felt like the skies opened up and were shown upon me. Until that moment, I wasn't sure “Schritt für Schritt”, step by step... Axel Griesch