Since the tender age of 13, my path hitherto has led me on a journey of self-discovery - from a shy and introverted school student in my native village to a confident and inquisitive person in one of the top technology university (TU Delft) at the picturesque coast of Netherlands for postgraduate education. My two-year stint at studying abroad was a dream I had diligently pursued.
In a foreign land, out of my comfort zone, 'learning and exploring' were my main motivations, be it from academia or through my interactions with culturally diverse people. During my master's in the Netherlands, I worked in a team with varied nationalities including German, Dutch and Chinese in a yearlong project on energy management featuring real-world issues. The project's objective was to investigate new working liquids in Absorption refrigeration cycles and their properties using Computer Simulations (molecular simulations) for higher operating and thermal performance efficiencies.
Working with these highly culturally diverse people comes with its own inherent challenges. Besides working extensively on techniques and skills to get desired results what was more intriguing were the cultural differences and the facilitation of the entire process from setting goals and expectations to achieving them. By organizing team's social gatherings, weekend trips and barbecue sessions what I learnt from leading such a team was that it is essential to adapt and be flexible to the external diversity and challenges of any specific demography. It is equally important to diplomatically cooperate and accommodate the views of others to make communication easier. I had a 1:1 conversation with each team member to address pertinent knowledge gaps and align each other's motivations and goals to the project's objective. Since I was dealing with people really senior to me in age, qualification and experience, I had to choose my words very carefully to strike the right balance of not coming across as too bold and yet firm and unbiased. Most importantly, I learned how to survive and excel independently outside the cocoon of my home and country.
These experiences made the versatile and adaptable person I am, extremely comfortable interacting with diverse people. Furthermore, working with a team of varied nationalities have helped me glean the subtle nuances of teamwork and gain insights into interpersonal conflict resolution and team management.
Eventually, my efforts paid off as my project was selected for 12
th IEA (International Energy Agency) Heat Pump Conference (HPC) in Rotterdam, resulting in an international journal publication (
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.iecr.8b00442) and a conference publication of my work (
http://hpc2017.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/O.4.6.3-Molecular-Simulation-of-NH3Ionic-Liquid-Mixtures-for-Absorption-Heat-Pump-Cycles.pdf). Personally, I felt immense self-validation and pride that my determination and persistence opened unexpected doors to achieve success.