'I Consider Teaching to be a Sacred Profession'

Why, after pouring his life into pioneering research in materials, composites, and metallic alloys, this passionate educator committed the rest of his life’s work to teaching and mentoring students.

By Professor Vilupanur Ravi

When I started my journey in materials research, it was very exciting—days just dissolved into one another, each one bringing new insights and horizons. Late nights, early mornings—it did not matter. It was an ongoing pursuit to unearth new knowledge and open up new avenues to investigate. I was an undergraduate student in metallurgy at India’s top research university. My debut project involved studying the interaction of materials with lasers, a newly emerging field of research at that time. It was an exciting subject, rich with possibilities for doing innovative work. I was very motivated, and excited about my work. Reflecting back, the project was ambitious for an undergraduate student, and the lack of equipment and infrastructure critical to this new field was a big hurdle. However, my continued persistence yielded results! I found the equipment I needed in a different department, and folks that were very kind, and supportive, resulting in a big adventure for me. My faculty advisors took a special interest in me because I poured my heart and soul into the project, working hard, not because anyone told me to, but because I wanted to. My advisors were world-class researchers who inspired me with their excitement about materials research and provided invaluable guidance. Graduate students provided support and cheered me up when the going got tough. My efforts yielded two peer-reviewed publications, and a prestigious award for the outstanding undergraduate project.

Once I moved to the US to pursue my PhD, I dealt with homesickness and the mid-west winters, but eventually, I got into the groove. My first project was on thermal energy storage, developing unique experiments and moving the concept forward. My doctoral thesis was on high temperature coatings for nickel and nickel-based alloys used in turbine blades for aircraft, a challenging yet rewarding experience. I was able to achieve many milestones during this time– conducting path-breaking research, writing papers, delivering my first conference talk, teaching my first class, and receiving the top student awards from the leading professional societies in materials and corrosion. I interacted with students and visitors from all over the world and made many life-long friends. I worked with my advisor on many interesting projects. All of this was excellent preparation for my career.

After finishing my PhD, I joined a small, startup company on the east coast, which was developing an innovative new technology for making ceramic- and metal-matrix composites. My projects included research and development of unique high temperature superconducting composites, ultrahigh temperature ceramic composites, metal matrix composites and coated graphites. This was all new work and resulted in several patents. The discovery, the “aha” moment, is so exciting, and even more so if you are the first to do it in the world. I was also involved in product development of these new materials for a range of applications–rocket engines and motors, automotive and train brakes, semiconductor processes, orthopedics, glass manufacture, food processing, etc. It was all very cool, very new, and exciting. After a few years, I shifted to a midsize manufacturing company with an innovative product and unique management style. I worked as a global R&D technologist with many leadership opportunities. During this time, I learnt a lot about manufacturing processes and solved some critical problems. I traveled to different plants across the world and led global teams. Again, new adventures!

In my industry life, I was truly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with almost all classes of materials (metals, ceramics, polymers, composites) at the cutting-edge, but also the different aspects of engineering (R&D, manufacturing, process and product development, failure analysis, management, leadership, etc.) at a global level. Few people get this type of experience, and I am profoundly grateful. Of course, all of this required a lot of skill and hard work; however, the joy of finding things out and learning new skills was a strong and continuing motivator.

Life is a journey with twists and turns, resulting in my career shift from industry to academia, and location shift from the north-eastern to the south-western ends of the country, and on to Cal Poly Pomona. This was a major career change with significant financial setbacks, but I decided to take the plunge anyway, powered by a sense of altruism and purpose to serve the students, and with support from my family. Our materials degree program was new, and we did not have much in the way of infrastructure.

So, I embarked on building capacity. This turned out to be a long-term process where progress was measured in years, not days or months. Meanwhile, we went through some rough times with budget challenges (losing our program along the way), but I kept going with the conviction that we would bounce back. What has sustained me through all the peaks and valleys is that this is a noble service, molding our future generation. Providing our students with cutting-edge opportunities—especially at our university, where many students come from low-income, first-generation backgrounds, and rarely proceed beyond bachelor’s degrees–is really meaningful. I felt that if I could offer them a world-class hands-on learning experience, they would be well set for challenging and rewarding careers, just like my educational experiences did for me.

Year after year, we conduct research into advanced materials and corrosion. We blaze new paths, discover new knowledge, develop new insights. This is amazing stuff, given that most of my students are undergraduates. I feel a deep sense of satisfaction as I witness their gradual transformation from shaky beginners to confident researchers, presenting posters, giving talks, co-authoring papers, and winning awards. Hundreds of them have worked with me, getting great jobs right after their degrees, or moving on to graduate programs including our own master’s program.

I consider teaching to be a sacred profession. I have always admired and respected this avocation because my dad, a professor in the field of veterinary science, taught me by example what a special privilege it is to teach and mentor students, spend time with them and play a critical role in their lives. In many ways I consider my career a tribute to his memory, his dedication to research in spite of adverse circumstances, and to the lifelong bond between him and his students.

My journey continues, the challenges are different as the years go by, but I remain steadfast in my purpose. This path that I have chosen consumes enormous personal resources, presents many challenges, and definitely takes a toll on my family and me, but in my heart and mind, I know that I am doing the right thing. I will continue to serve the students, inspire them through my teaching and research, provide them excellent project opportunities, and launch them into their successful futures.

My students are my living legacy, and I am indeed privileged to have the opportunity to guide them through this important stage of their life. To borrow Robert Frost’s words, I have “promises to keep” and “miles to go before I sleep.”