Letting Go
Over the last few months, I have felt that I gradually started to slip my PhD down on my priority list.While finishing is still one of my top priorities (don't get me wrong), I've finally managed to let more important…
Taking the Lab to the Stage
Erik Schlangen looks at cracks in buildings and roads, and considers the material to be ill, not broken. And the ill patient can be healed, as long as initially he contains some simple tricks.In utter silence, a scientist in lab…
Manon’s Tales from the Road
On a Saturday night in Fall, with a vague plan of catching up on blogging and delivering guest posts, I find myself completely sunk into the website of the Tractor GirlAs she is preparing the final part of her trip…
Why Blend In if you can Stand Out?
I initially wanted to blog about Dr. Marwa Al-Ansary because she is a female civil engineer and researcher, working on concrete (sulfur concrete) who enjoys writing a poetry – enough to entice my curiosity! Little did I know about the…
The Creative Process: The Importance of Questions
Find the interesting ideas behind the treesThis post is another addition to my series on The Creative Process. We've looked at the conditions and the creative habit previously, and now we look at how important questions are. As James Thurber…
The Creative Process: Reading Sparks Creativity
Reading as part of the creative process? I've discussed reading, and reading loads at length in a previous series of posts discussing archiving, understanding different levels of reading and keeping up with the output. Reading a lot and keeping up…
Never Grow Up: Today, but also Tomorrow
Never grow up is our theme for today. Today is the day to eat from a Happy Meal lunchbox, to hop around and shake to the lunchbeats, to make some new friends, to play games, kick some balloons and forget…
Shear and Punching 101: Distance in the codes
I recently received a message with the following question:Normally when we treat the problem of determination of shear stress in slabs, a critical section at a distance of half the effective depth of slab is taken from the support (like…
Lest we forget
November 11th marks the end of the first World War, and is a holiday in Belgium.While other countries might celebrate Remembrance Day as a day of glorious victory, in Belgium, and especially in West-Flanders, stories about the horrors of the…
The Creative Process: The Creative Habit
In a first post on this series about the creative process, we looked at the conditions you need for creativity. In this post, we focus on a long-term way to find more creative solutions to research questions. Some people might…