Dr. Naveet KaurDST INSPIRE Faculty Scientist Published On: Monday, September 05, 2016 Views 7079

Dr. Naveet Kaur is one of the ace Indian scientists working on the futuristic technologies such as piezoelectric energy harvesting and structural health monitoring. At just 30 years of age, she has been able to create a name for herself in the world of research and academia, not only in India but at an international level as well.

After completing her PhD in Structures from IIT Delhi, she worked with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University advising on the deployment of her research for real life bridge monitoring. But, the desire for working in India proved too strong to resist and she came back in March 2016 and took up a position at the prestigious CSIR-CRRI.

Dr. Naveet’s current area focus is developing energy harvesting techniques using piezo-electric materials. Her work has been recognized and celebrated across the globe. She has delivered talks on her research at prestigious international institutions such as Stanford University, University of Bath, and South China University of Technology among others.

Dr. Naveet is married to Harshdeep Rapal, co-founder and CEO of Mumbai based Feelance Co. and balances her time between Delhi and Mumbai.

There is nothing called overnight success. Great things take time to materialize, so be ready to get your hands dirty and keep working hard.

There have been no major challenges as such but I have been trying hard to make academic research more relevant to the real life problems. There are issues in bringing out the research and inventions from the laboratories to the outside world where the common man can use it. I see a disconnect there and am working towards bridging the gap.

There have been setbacks and challenges in life, but the only way to beat them is to bounce back with much more vigor and aggression.

Dedication, Hard work and Focus

If you have to achieve something big, dedicate yourself to it. Keep working hard without loosing focus till you achieve the desired results.

My day is packed with multiple activities on professional and personal front. One App that I regularly use to manage all my to-do lists in a single place is the Wunder-List. The beauty of this app is its  seamless integration with the Chrome browser as an extension and keeps data in sync with the phone app.

Punctuality. I put in all efforts for meeting deadlines and execute things when they need to be done. This had made me much more productive.

I am notorious for calling a spade ‘a spade’. I tell people truth in their face, which sometimes hurt their feelings, and they start avoiding me. I feel, I need to be more diplomatic and maintain good terms with everyone.

One tip to success:

Keep working hard, there are no shortcuts to success.

One mistake you believe every individual must avoid:

Do not put all your eggs in one bucket. If you put all your efforts in one thing and that does not work, it will definitely bring negativity around you. Keep doing multiple things; put your efforts in multiple tasks so that outputs keep coming from at least some of them. If one thing does not work at least there will be two others showing good results and keeping you charged-up.

One most important lesson that you have learnt till now:

Your efforts and hard work will never get wasted. They will definitely get paid back to you someday.

I am planning to concentrate on research for next few years. Post that I plan to teach at IIT Delhi or some top University in the United States. That is because one can do a lot in the field of research with the kind of funding the US universities get. But, first preference will definitely be India.

Well, I think I have been able to achieve most of the things I planned for myself about a few years ago. I don’t think I will do anything different if I have to start all over again. May be avoiding some mistakes I did. But then, mistakes give you chance to progress.

I am quite satisfied with what I am doing right now. I am planning to involve in research for next couple of years and then take up a career in teaching. That will be 2-3 years from now. Overall, it has been a satisfying journey so far.

Macau & Amsterdam. I love the summers of Europe and Amsterdam has been best of them all.

“Just hang in there long enough and something good will happen”