​In this article I want to encourage a habit in you. The habit of staying up to date with the latest in your specific field.
But first, I wanted to take the time to share with you that this is now the second year of this newsletter. The last issue was issue 52 so this one marks the start of the second year – volume II if you will. I did not plan to publish once a week, but, after publishing the first edition, a colleague, Andrew Waterson, said “I hope to see you doing this once a week from now on.” He tells me he does not recall saying this, but that it sounds like something he would say. Regardless, the effect was that I was motivated to keep on writing. So thanks go to Andrew.
I still have more content to come and I hope that past (future) content has helped (will help) you in some way to become a better engineer.
And that brings me back to the focus for this article: how to keep your finger on the pulse of your engineering discipline to stay up to date – or even ahead of the curve.
Obviously, I would suggest you keep reading my newsletter. You can also join the Global Engineer Group to see other posts, and share questions, thoughts and ideas with others. This is a relatively new group, and members are approved so the quality of others there can be maintained into the future. In addition, you can follow The Global Engineer page to be reminded of past articles and other posts.
But that’s general – what about staying up to date with advances in your specific area of engineering?
This is where Google Scholar is one of the greatest developments in the past decades. I recall when it started back in 2004. At the time, when I was doing my PhD, I would not have used it – it simply did not have the coverage needed nor did it have the search functions in the established databases. However, today, it has almost everything and excellent search functions.
Add the alert function and it is even better – you get the occasional (depending upon the specificity of your search term) email letting you know about recent publications on your topic of interest.
My current alert is just one phrase “engineering cognition” – that’s because this is my current area of interest.
You would obviously choose one that aligns with your industry – or the industry you want to get into so you know what skills you need to demonstrate as you make the transition.
As you read the articles you are alerted to, you will come across ideas you can put to use and better understand your industry. You will also have excellent professional development activities to report if you are a registered professional engineer who needs to do this.
Try Google Scholar now. See what the latest papers on your area teach you.
You might need to have a few goes – sometimes the phrases used by authors are not the like the one you would use.
Once you have a search phrase that gives you articles you like, hit the “Create Alert” link. That way you get automated updates. You don’t even need to go to Google Scholar to get the information anymore. You just sit back and wait for it to come to you in your inbox. To be read when suits you.
But you want to make it even easier? Then combine it with ChatGPT (or other AI).
Type this into your AI system of choice:
I would like to know about recent advances in [your area of interest]. Review articles that are available on Google Scholar that have the phrase [the search phrase you found that worked] in them. Then, give me a summary of the major topics covered and the associated findings.
This will be an even easier read. And it will still give you links so you can read in more detail anything that is of more interest to you. But it will only happen when you choose to do it – the email updates are good because you get the reminder.
None of the above is a replacement for structured professional development courses that are curated and delivered by experts (assuming they keep themselves up to date), but it will still keep you better informed than others.
And stop you slipping behind!

In this article I am going to go over 3 case studies from different engineering fields to show:

1. How sometimes you need to resort to experimental methods.
2. And, when you do, how you might, or might not beat the competition.

Case study 1 – Materials Engineering
Are you familiar with the development of the vulcanisation of rubber?
If you are, then you know how remarkable and strange that story is. If not, then be prepared to be amazed or maybe even disappointed at how much randomness can be a major influence over engineering success.
Charles Goodyear had become obsessed with doing something with rubber.
He believed that he was directed by God to take rubber and turn it into something beneficial to humanity. This obsession drove him to bankruptcy numerous times (meaning his imprisonment for a period), and his family into poverty. To top it off, he almost killed himself a number of times experimenting.
Despite the consequences – his obsession drove him on. Some call him an eccentric, but mentally unbalanced could be a better description.
While he had shown technical insights as a child, he had not been given any advanced education.
He was more a tinkerer. And it was a tinkerer’s approach he used to improving rubber.
A number of experiments had shown some promise, but they ultimately failed. Then, either by accident or elimination of other options, sulphur was mixed with the rubber.
This cross linked the molecules in the rubber – making it tough and durable while keeping its compliance.
Some say he called in vulcanisation and some say it was a contemporary British inventor of the same process. Personally, given his religiosity – I think he would refrain from giving praise to any god but his own.
See below for the short video showing a perspective on Goodyear and how he made this discovery/invention.

Something to note. Charles Goodyear did not found the company Goodyear. The company was named after him by others who wanted to recognise his achievement.

Case Study 2 – Electronics Engineering
Are you familiar with the development of the blue LED? Watch the video below if not.

The key points are:

• Shuji Nakamura was obsessed by the development of the blue LED.
• He focused on growing the perfect crystal – to then make the LED.
• He really only ever had hunches.
• He went against the mainstream, and chose to explore gallium nitride over zinc selenide.
• He defied his boss after being asked to stop working on the blue LED due to a lack of success after decades of effort.
• He replaced the use of an electron beam with simple heating to generate light – this was another hunch – and then understood why the electron beam method worked.
• He at times used brute force approaches that were then later refined through adjustments.
• He continues to work on smaller LEDs after winning a Nobel Prize and developing the blue LED.
• No-one else had been able to create a blue LED.

 
Case Study 3 – Marine engineering
Everyone today assumes boat propellers are short. They are screw propellers, but they are not long like other screws. We know this because that’s how propellers have been for over a century. However, as you might infer from drawings by Leonardo Da Vinci, people first assumed screw propellers would be long – like the screw drill bits used to drill holes in wood or screw presses or water screws used to lift water. It just seemed obvious that screw propellers would also be long.
Around the 1830s there were many people exploring improved screw propellers.
One of them was Francis Pettit Smith. He had been fascinated with boats as a boy and later in life reached the conclusion that screw propellers were superior to paddles.
As did many others.
There was thus a competition on to find and patent the best screw propeller.
Most were doing the sensible thing of trying different configurations: pitch, speed diameter, length. They would build a propeller of one combination, note its performance, build another, note the change in performance, and then work out what to try next.
Our man Francis though ended up doing things a bit differently.
He was not known as being the most precise and methodical of his contemporaries. That probably would have been John Ericsson, and if not for what I am about to mention, John Ericsson, while being noted as a contributor to the screw propeller, would have likely been noted as the sole contributor. Thus, Francis was a bit more random than would normally be considered ideal for an engineer.
Despite this lack of method, Francis had the good fortune to have struck a log while testing a propeller on a boat.
This collision knocked the majority of the propeller off – leaving only a fraction connected to the shaft.
Wisdom of the time would have expected the boat to founder. However, instead, the boat surged forward.
Francis Pettit Smith had discovered/invented a far superior screw propeller. The one that was then adopted by later ship builders.
 
What do we take from this?
The above examples show how sometimes we need to use experimental approaches. Our understanding of the natural laws is insufficient. When we do, there is always the chance that someone else will try that near perfect permutation before we do.
Or maybe we will be the ones who try it first.
Regardless, the lesson to take from this is the same. This was not a matter of genius. Effort and commitments certainly played a role – but luck was the decider once those involved committed.
So don’t beat yourself up if you did not win in those circumstances, do not think you are amazing if you did win, do not lionise those who do win, and certainly do not think less of those who did not. Because, in such cases, all you can do is commit and hope.

In this article I share why one of the simplest and easiest of things to use is also one of the best ways that lets any engineer deal with the big picture and the details.
One of the challenges for all engineers is to ensure they meet the big picture needs (typically the overall functional purpose of the system they are working on) and the detailed needs (typically things like reliability, serviceability, and other minor aspects that can have major effects if they go wrong).
This act of moving your attention from one to the other and back again to ensure that everything is resolved is given the name “Modal Shifting”.
Modal shifting is not something we naturally do. And when we do do it, it usually slows our progress.
What is needed is something you can use to ensure that you cover all of the issues – be they big picture issues or the detailed issues. Something you can come back to as you progress to ensure you have not forgotten anything. Something you can also refer to when you think you are done to ensure you actually are.
Ideally, this thing would be suitable for teams as well. And, if you are a global engineer, then a team of engineers (and others) of various backgrounds.
There is a system for exactly this. And it’s incredibly easy to use.
The issue is that it’s so simple many choose not to use it. Because it is so easy, it’s hard to truly believe that it will help.
And you probably have already worked out what it is.
It’s the checklist.
There is a reason why checklists are so effective. Because it takes on the job that is so easy your brain ignores it while you focus on more interesting and demanding things. It extracts all the things you can think of when you mind is considering the requirements, and then ensures they are not forgotten as you leap into the demanding and exciting work of developing your solution to the challenge – the time when you normally forget all the minutiae that remains vital.
That’s why they are used in aviation. To ensure pilots release the gust lock for example – look that one up to see how it relates to checklists.
Their power is far greater than would be expected given their simplicity and ubiquity. That, as I mentioned above, is why many do not use them even though they should.
Within the global engineering context, checklists are ideal because they also provide a document of absolute truth for shared situational awareness. Everyone, no matter how they naturally think or are inclined to focus on, knows exactly what needs to be done.
So next time you have an engineering task with various attributes – try a checklist. Collate all that needs to be achieved, before you start the engineering work, and ensure you do everything correctly first time around.
 

Did you, like me and 35 million other people, watch the last season of Stranger Things?
If so, then did you get annoyed by the scene where an oxygen bottle was used to blow up the Demogorgons/dogs in the hospital? I certainly was – not only did the makers of the show assume oxygen burns, but they even added a “FLAMMABLE” label to the bottle.
It is a common thing in TV and movies where people think oxygen burns.
Unfortunately, even engineers can sometimes make such a mistake.
I recall being involved in a risk assessment at a previous employer that included an inspection of the compressed gas storage cage. There were two parts to the cage – one for combustible gases and one for others. One of the members of the risk assessment group then asked why the oxygen was not in the flammable section. This was not a token member of the team either – like someone from accounts – this was an engineer.
You could argue that we all make mistakes. But when I pointed out that oxygen is not flammable so it should not be in the flammables cage, he looked at me like I was saying something odd.
Then I was seriously unimpressed.
The truth is, we probably did not need separate cages – the storage tanks themselves were very sturdy, and we just needed to ensure they did not fall over or get damaged by other items hitting them – but an engineer in a team dedicated to the safety of the workplace should understand these kinds of things.
This is high school chemistry – combustion needs a fuel and an oxidant (usually OXYGEN!).
I am unsure if this engineer never really learned when studying or if he had been corrupted by mistakes made in movies and TV – as opposed to pointing out the flaws and laughing at those who made it with a haughty disdain like a real engineer should.
Regardless, it shows how important it is for an engineer to have a solid understanding of first principles. So always be brushing up on everything you have learned as well as always learning more.
You could kill people with your incompetence or look a total fool.