Prof Yogesh Joshi was curious about things as a child. His curiosity was triggered when milk turn to curd and when mayonnaise was made. When Prof Joshi's PhD guide advised him to seek out his own area, he chose an area where his curiosity had got triggered again. When a polymer melt is extruded and if carbon nanotubes are added to the polymer melt, the die swell phenomenon changes to a die shrinkage phenomenon and that made him curious.

Prof Joshi did not though, take up studying the behaviour of carbon nanotube polymer nanocomposites as their study is expensive. He started with the rheology of nanocomposites. Rheology is the study of the deformation and flow of matter. Prof Joshi found another material LAPONITE® (generic name hectorite) to study. It formed a gel when a small amount was added to water, such a phenomenon had made him curious earlier as well.

The story is about how Prof Joshi found that the existing explanations for the phenomenon did not add up and how he formulated a new theory. It is also about his struggle to get his new theory accepted and how he made it more robust by deriving the results using the principles of thermodynamics and by using mathematical modeling. At the end there are tips for young researchers and guidance for engagement with industry.

This is the story of path breaking research that has taken on established models. It has done so by pursuing the core research work with great rigour adopting a first principles approach.

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The birth of something new

In India the monsoon gets mother nature busy. The rain brings nourishment to the seeds which have been lying in wait patiently. They start growing and new growth quickly carpets the landscape. After the monsoon though, all but the most tenacious growth withers away. The tenacious growth becomes a part of the landscape. Just like the seeds, embedded widely in mother earth, phenomena which are potential research inspirations are part of our everyday life.

Finding a research inspiration  

Some research inspirations emerge in routine public life and others emerge in laboratories in research establishments around the world. Our curiosity often reveals them to us. Once they become known to us they need to be nurtured. Nurturing research inspirations is not easy, often only experts can do it. Here is a story about an expert at IIT Kanpur nurturing a research inspiration.

The emergence of a researcher

We visit the life of an eminent researcher, Prof Yogesh Joshi, a rheologist at IIT Kanpur. He has been curious about the world around him since childhood and this innate curiosity led on to his profound interest in research.

Initial encounters with unanswered questions

Great researchers will tell you, they mostly lead dull lives. We will take their word for that and visit their lives only at defining moments.

One such moment is when as a schoolboy, Prof Yogesh Joshi sees a small amount of curd being added to milk. After a while the milk turned to curd. The physical appearance was now very different. What changed that it is no longer milk and appears so different now? Curiosity had taken root and the mind had an unanswered question to reflect upon.

The next time he is a little older and is curious about mayonnaise. How when oil, lemon juice and egg are blended together they turn into a white paste? Prof Joshi though does not have the means to nurture his curiosity yet. The questions went unanswered…

Having a need to find a research inspiration

The wisdom of those who guide us, nudges us to a path filled with possibilities. When Prof Joshi's PhD guide advised him to seek out his own area, he looked for something that made him curious. He was now well armed with knowledge and skills to investigate a phenomenon.

An unexplained behavior

Prof Joshi's curiosity did get triggered again. When any polymer melt is extruded to form tubes, pipes, wires, etc., the dimensions of the extrusion, after emerging from the die, increase beyond that of the die. This phenomenon is known as die swell and its physics is well understood. However, during his literature reading he came across a report, that informed that when carbon nanotubes are added to a polymer melt, the die swell phenomenon changes to a die shrinkage phenomenon. Although this report had appeared in a reputed journal, Nature Materials, the physics behind such phenomenon was not clear. That triggered his curiosity and emerged as an opportunity to apply his now advanced knowledge and skills.

Prof Joshi did not though, take up studying the behaviour of carbon nanotube polymer nanocomposites as manufacturing and processing them requires expensive equipment. Instead he took up a theoretical approach. He started by reading a number of papers on the rheology of nanocomposites. Rheology is the study of the deformation and flow of matter. He identified a few problems for which he could build theoretical models to investigate.

Striving for a theory to explain the behavior

It was his very first year at IIT Kanpur and he had no students doing PhD under him. While reading papers on nanocomposites he stumbled upon one paper wherein he felt things did not add up in the way the supposedly anomalous experimental results had been explained. He started on his theoretical approach and he wrote down all the possible scenarios mathematically. He used simple concepts of mechanics, polymer reaction chemistry and statistics which may lead to the observed result.

Interestingly out of several possibilities one situation did lead to the scenario that was reported experimentally. This diligent theoretical approach had got him far enough to get fresh new insights and publish a paper. It was his first paper after becoming independent and was submitted to a well-respected journal, Langmuir. It received very favorable reviews and the paper got accepted within a month. It was a single author paper, and Prof Joshi still cherishes that paper for the mathematical details presented in it and how it provided an insight into a paradoxical observation.

Preparing to validate the new model

Consequently, he worked on his theoretical model completely by himself and published a second single author paper in the Journal of Chemical Physics. This paper was on LAPONITE® (generic name hectorite) an interesting material, about which we will find out more soon. This paper got rejected thrice before being accepted. Since it was his first paper on the topic without any history in the area, it was difficult to enter the domain with a new thought. These papers were very important to him as they boosted his confidence of doing independent research. Having single author papers published in the budding years also had a significant impact since it reinforced his self-belief. With a theoretical model in place he was now ready to study a material with a view to validate his model.

Choosing the material to study

Manufacturing nanocomposites made out of carbon nanotubes is very expensive. He therefore took up investigating the science underlying the observation of die shrinkage using less expensive materials. This required manufacturing a suspension of anisotropic (having a physical property which has different values when measured in different directions) particles.

It was reported in the literature that a suspension of anisotropic, rod like or plate/disk like particles leads to negative first normal stress difference. This is when material flowing in one direction induces stress in a different direction, a property that is not present in simple fluids. This is the opposite of what happens in polymer melt. For polymer melts the first normal stress difference is positive and that is why a polymer melt swells when it comes out of the die and does not shrink.

Since clay particles are known to be plate/disk like and disperse in water very easily he expected that clay suspensions should show a similar die shrinkage behavior. Nobody had explored possible die shrinkage behavior of suspended disk like particles. On top of that disk like clay particles (such as bentonite, hectorite, montmorrilonite, etc.) were inexpensive and their suspension was easy to prepare.

He found hectorite to be a very attractive system as it comprised of nearly monodispersed (having uniform size of particles) disks with a diameter of about 25 nm and a thickness of 1 nm. The fact that they were nearly of uniform size made their study relatively simpler.

The incentive for studying them was three-fold:
1. It appeared to be a unique and useful research problem as nobody had worked on disks yet.
2. Cheap disks (that is clays) suspended in a variety of continuous phases exhibiting die shrinkage phenomenon could lead to interesting applications.
3. Clays are regularly used in pharmaceutical, agrochemical, home and personal care products. Research on this topic may lead to a better understanding of the rheological behavior of these products.

Getting started and encountering the unexpected

Prof Joshi had to take a first principles approach to start understanding the phenomenon. The first principles approach can be described as an approach to understanding a phenomenon or solving a problem where only the most basic assumptions, with the knowledge available at the time, are accepted. Such assumptions cannot be deduced further at the time.

The idea was that only those materials will show die shrinkage that show negative first normal stress difference. There were some theoretical predictions that suggested suspensions of disk like particles will show negative first normal stress coefficient. However, when they started doing the experiments, the behavior was completely unexpected for one more reason. This was when they studied a hectorite and water system. Very interestingly they observed that a very small amount of hectorite (around 1% by volume) turned a beaker full of water into a gel within hours.

This brought back Prof Joshi's childhood memories of milk turning to curd quickly! The expected behavior was to get a very low viscosity suspension containing clay and water without any time dependency. The gel was so strong that it could support its weight upon inversion, in just a few hours. Furthermore, the stiffness of the gel kept on increasing as a function of time indefinitely.

The preliminary analysis of the behavior and study of the available literature on this topic indicated this subject is a gold mine for research. There were clear gaps in the knowledge about the subject. Some models were available in the literature, but the literature had contradictory theories and debates were ongoing.

The primary contradiction lay in predicting how the particles have to get arranged to explain their behaviour. The arrangement had to lead to such a high stiffness of the resulting suspension that it practically forms a soft solid like state. Some groups indicated, but without substantial evidence, that this can happen due to an attractive percolated gel like structure formed by disks of hectorite. While this explanation appeared to be sufficient, starting in the late '90s various groups started claiming the structure is devoid of any interparticle contact and stiffness arises due to a particle remaining self-suspended in the repulsive environment of the neighboring particles.

These proposals were opposite in their contention. The second aspect that needed to be explained was the very intriguing time dependent rheology. Nothing in the textbooks or available literature could explain what was observed. The task that needed to be undertaken was to understand the rheological behavior in terms of the fundamental underlying principles and develop a theory to model this behavior. While undertaking that task Prof Joshi realized that existing models were unable to explain some behaviour of the material.

A new explanation brought with it a new challenge

Prof Joshi came up with a model which seemed to explain the phenomenon better. The earlier explanation for the structure was based on repulsion, with the disk like hectorite particle faces repelling each other. This model was proposed by many groups as a formation and consolidation of repulsive glass. However, this had an inherent contradiction because the experimental observations could only be explained by an attraction dominated picture.

Applying shear is a standard test for understanding the behaviour in rheology, so being a rheologist was clearly of help! When shear was applied to the hectorite dispersion it should have gone back to its original state.

One can draw here similarity between the regular panel glass. In this system shear is replaced by heat. The way heating any matter increases thermal energy of atoms and molecules eventually causing it to form a liquid by obliterating any structure associated with apparently solid glass, shear also increases mobility of the constituents making them flow like liquid.

Therefore, soft solids of hectorite dispersion, should have gone back to their original liquid state when shear was applied. In this case they did turn to liquid but the viscosity kept on increasing. This implied an irreversible structure was being formed. If the structure was the result of predominantly repulsive forces it should have been reversible. So maybe some bonds were being formed. And only a fraction of the bonds formed were being broken down when shear was applied. And in fact in many cases the electrostatic bonds got stronger and stronger with time as the particles' orientation became more and more favourable for bonding.

For bonding the one obvious option was the edge to face attraction model. Prof Joshi himself had been a firm believer in the face to face repulsion model and his first two papers were based on that. But now confronted with facts that did not fit well with the face to face repulsion model he started to work with the edge to face attraction model.

Prof Joshi's model proposed such an attraction dominated structure. The edges of hectorite disks are positively charged and the faces of hectorite particles are negatively charged and they would attract. So, the model proposed was an edge to face structure.

Prof Joshi was now faced with a challenge of getting his viewpoint heard. Writing the papers with this view point was difficult as several groups were not ready to accept a different point of view. The existing models belonged to stalwarts who were backed by major journals. So he had to struggle and persist to be able to get a paper accepted.

Prof Joshi has a humorous analogy to describe this, he says it is like getting into a crowded bus, it is difficult to get in, but once you have got in, it is not easy to throw you out either! It took a few years to establish his group among the peers. But once a paper had got published he had his standing and it was not easy for others to dislodge him.

So how are the phenomena explained?

As it turns out, formation of curd is a very complicated phenomenon. Although we understand the overall philosophy behind curdling, rheologically the signals we get are very complex. We are still trying to decipher their meaning. Also, although Prof Joshi's curiosity was triggered similarly by the formation of curd and mayonnaise earlier, the underlying phenomenon are not the same. And the formation of a gel using hectorite is a distinct third phenomenon.

FORMATION OF CURD

The constituents that form milk are fat, proteins, lactose and water. The fine droplets of fat are stabilized by a protein leading to emulsion formation with water. Addition of yogurt culture to the milk causes fermentation of lactose to produce lactic acid.   Consequently, as time passes, the pH of milk decreases which causes the oil droplets in milk to attract each other. This eventually leads to the coagulation of the fat droplets to form a soft gel that is popularly known as yogurt.

Some drama on the last mile while developing the theoretical model

When the theoretical research on rheology of time dependent behavior was nearing an important milestone, Prof Joshi found he was stuck at a point while deriving the theoretical framework. Moreover, he was traveling. He was visiting Edinburgh as an INSA RSE (Indian National Science Academy – Royal Society of Edinburgh) visiting scientist. To resolve the issue while he was traveling, he took the opportunity and sought an appointment with a highly regarded researcher, Prof Mike Cates, (a Lucasian Professor of Mathematics in University of Cambridge). He was hoping to seek Prof Cate's advice on the vexing mathematical equation issue which was preventing the completion of the theoretical framework.

He did not want to take up too much of Prof Cates' time, so in preparation for the meeting he was carefully going through the equation to identify the exact place where he was getting stuck. And this is where the drama happened.

While doing the fine check, he spotted an error in his calculations and once that error was set right everything fell into place! The meeting was now not required to resolve the issue. And when he met Prof Cates he happily informed him that his problem had been resolved. The discussion then moved on to the results that had a robust theoretical framework. That the issue was resolved while waiting to meet Prof Cates was particularly joyful for Prof Joshi as he finds Prof Cates an inspirational person, who works 14 to 15 hours a day, is always on time, has time for others and is never hurried.

• MAKING OF MAYONNAISE: Mayonnaise is prepared by vigorously stirring oil, egg yolk, and lemon juice (or vinegar) to make an emulsion. In mayonnaise lecithin in egg yolk acts as a surfactant that stabilizes oil droplets in lemon juice. Typically, the volume fraction of oil droplets is around 80%, and as a result the drops are polygonal in shape and are jammed together like a jigsaw puzzle giving a high stiffness to the mayonnaise.
   
• HECTORITE SUSPENSION: In a hectorite suspension the interparticle attractive bond between the nano-disks leads to percolating network forming a soft gel.

A deeper foundation for a more robust model

Meanwhile Prof Joshi strengthened his own model by deepening his understanding using even more fundamental principles now that he had more knowledge about the phenomenon. This again involved making a choice. He was young and had recently been asked to teach thermodynamics. He had studied thermodynamics during his graduation, and it had not played a role in his research years. However, when he joined IIT Kanpur, there was a requirement that a new faculty must teach thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. For Prof Joshi it was a great experience and he thoroughly enjoyed teaching thermodynamics at undergraduate as well as post graduate level. This also gave him an opportunity to look at the experimentally observed behaviour from a very fundamental point of view using the principles of thermodynamics. And explaining the phenomenon using the second law of thermodynamics gave Prof Joshi a deeper foundation for his research work.

The time dependent evolution of physical properties is possible only if a system is out of thermodynamic equilibrium. The concepts of thermodynamics helped him understand time dependent behavior of the hectorite suspension, particularly how the second law of thermodynamics is at play as far as the material behavior is concerned. He proposed a non-equilibrium thermodynamic theory that modeled time dependence of decrease in free energy under application of deformation field, which explained many of the observed behaviours.

Tips on how to build a first principles approach using thermodynamic

Thermodynamics, shows the way to a very fundamental understanding of a phenomenon. The thermodynamic parameter that remains constant during the process, temperature, pressure, volume, energy, etc. provides a clue as to which parameter is the key to a problem. Furthermore, the system under study itself tells you whether the behavior is entropic or enthalpic. Understanding the details of the thermodynamics involved, reveals a lot about the system.

A broader approach for an even more robust theory

Prof Joshi also added mathematical modelling using his skills as a theoretician to the deeper understanding obtained using the second law of thermodynamics. The field had involved a lot of experimentation and now Prof Joshi turned his attention to further validating the experimentally obtained results with the help of mathematical modelling. Supporting experimental investigation with mathematics has huge benefits. It allows you to fathom underlying physics to a far greater extent. As a matter of fact, his upbringing as a researcher during his PhD and Post-Doc days was as a theoretician. He did not perform experiments until he joined IIT Kanpur as faculty. Therefore, expressing an experimental behavior using theory and bringing in mathematical modeling came very naturally to him.

Richer articulation of concepts leads to greater acceptability

It is usually observed that while carrying out research on fundamental problems, physicists dominate the research, and engineers working on related areas feel the former have an edge over them due to their pure science based approach. However, engineers have their own advantages. So, for both a physicist and an engineer, it is important to use their strengths.

Rheology is inherently multi-disciplinary. Its principles apply in myriad ways in our daily lives including phenomenon such as mud slides and avalanches. The subject gets enriched when people with diverse backgrounds such as physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and engineering contribute to it. Everybody brings to bear their own strengths. Consequently, if a person develops strength in more than one domain, it helps the research immensely. It is then possible to investigate a problem from different perspectives and form theories that explain the observations from the different perspectives.

The advantages of thermodynamics and mathematics based modelling

In Prof Joshi’s case, a deeper understanding using thermodynamics and mathematics based modelling added value to his theoretical model and experimental work. His papers were now being accepted much more readily. It is observed that to get work published in high impact factor journals, experiments need to be supported by theory as well as simulations. You can target more prestigious journals, by including mathematical modeling.

Prof Joshi's single author paper in Soft Matter (Joshi Y. M., "A Model for Aging under Deformation Field, Residual Stresses and Strains in Soft Glassy Materials", Soft Matter, 11 (2015) 3198.), sums up his mathematical modelling endeavours. In this paper, he modelled a large number of experimental observations from various groups including his own, to propose a non-equilibrium phenomenon based thermodynamic theory. He was working on this model for three years, and it was a very satisfying to him when the paper got accepted in Soft Matter.

Tips on how to get started on mathematical modeling

There are various ways of undertaking mathematical modeling. What Prof Joshi prefers is to look at an event by fragmenting the event into small pieces that can be modeled easily with some simple assumptions. And then putting the whole picture together. One will need to understand and use knowledge from several domains. Different parts of an observation may require understanding from different domains, such as thermodynamics, kinetics, transport phenomena, etc..

Good command of the underlying science leads to consulting opportunities

Although Prof Joshi got into the domain of thermodynamically out of equilibrium soft materials accidentally, he soon realized that many materials that we use daily such as toothpaste, pharmaceutical and cosmetic creams, hair gel, mayonnaise, jam, ice cream, etc. belong to this category. There are many problems that the industry faces while formulating, manufacturing and storing these. And there are other such materials as well that have important applications.

Hectorite is an important additiveIn

 the case of hectorite, it is vital to understand the origin of liquid to soft solid transformation because hectorite is used in a variety of industries as an additive. This knowledge enables fine tuning the rheological behavior of the finished products containing clays in general and hectorite in particular.

Armed with a deep knowledge of the subject, and a new theoretical model, Prof Joshi wanted to get in touch with industrial partners. The aim was to solve practical problems. He was not keen on the monetary benefits, it was just that he wanted to apply his knowledge to industrial situations. However, he was a young assistant professor and he could not convince people in the industry. For a long time he had practically no association with people in industry. Importantly, that did not stop him from taking up every opportunity to work with the industry. He would request colleagues from industry to invite him to give talks and to discuss the science associated with their materials. In 2012, eight years after he joined IIT Kanpur, his interactions finally bore fruit, and he started getting consultancy work.

Teaching helps research

As mentioned above Prof Joshi had not had occasion to apply his knowledge of thermodynamics before he joined IIT Kanpur.

However, he was required to teach thermodynamics immediately after joining. He immensely enjoyed teaching this course to UG and PG students. It benefited his research a lot as he realized the rigour that can be obtained when a theory is derived from first principles using thermodynamics. A lot of progress made in his research, was a consequence of this opportunity to teach the course on thermodynamics.

The challenge of external validation

Even after a researcher has produced work that measures up to rigorous internal standards, external validation may still pose challenges. External validation is a cornerstone of scientific endeavour. At the highest level though, this is something that a researcher needs to know and understand afresh. This is because there are dynamics in place when hypotheses and theories compete for greater recognition and acceptance.

The metric of papers published as a measure of quality of research is inexact. It is fraught with flaws that have crept in over time. But it is still accepted by many. If you are good and persist, with time you can get on to "the crowded bus" and create and sustain your own space.

The researcher has an independent view of the researcher’s work. This view may not be validated by what the metrics show. For example the most cherished paper may not be the most cited one. The researcher should accept that and rely on his own internal sense of accomplishment. The researcher should not go recognition by the wider scientific community and society alone.

The challenge of the need to persist

When you take a risk of getting into a new area, it is very difficult to publish your first few papers. Prof Joshi has had as many as four rejections before some of his papers were finally accepted. It was extremely frustrating. He used to get sleepless nights. He used to check the status of his papers at 2 and 3 am in the dead of the night. Many times after rejections he used to have heated email exchange with the editors. It is not unusual and it is a part of the process before the community engaged in the area which you wish to join accepts you. On one thing though he did not compromise, that is the quality of journals he selected even after repeated rejections. Looking back, it was indeed a risk. Thanks to his strong theoretical ability, basically sound theory and persistence, all the papers were published in respected journals.

The journey goes on

Prof Joshi now publishes experiment related papers and theory related papers in a ratio of about four is to one. The theory related papers are fewer at about twenty percent but they give him a lot of satisfaction. He continues to love teaching thermodynamics!

GUIDANCE FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS

What is the source of Prof Joshi's confidence?

Prof Joshi is strong in rheology, his core area. Therefore when debating a phenomenon with a person from another area, such as physics, he can be sure that his broad approach is strong. He will also know where it is weak. Rheology has over the years become more rigorous and less empirical.

This has made rheologists more capable of explaining phenomenon from first principles.

Rheology is important for material processes. Its principles apply in myriad ways in our daily lives including in phenomenon such as mud slides and avalanches. Rheology is an attractive subject for physicists. A fluid dynamics course is an important one for rheology and the fact that a chemical engineer does this course at an early age, gives a rheologist an edge over a physicist.

What is the source of Prof Joshi's resolve to pursue research in his area?

Prof Joshi says, there is no single reason other than the fact that the area is a great one. In fact resolve is built over time by researching various aspects of the phenomenon. Once the area is a great one, quality versus quantity debate of papers published does not have meaning. Even a paper, that does not display great intellectual prowess, can play a key supportive role for a more important paper.

On intellectual ability, sincerity and diligence

Prof Joshi offers this quote from Prof CNR Rao: You do not require extraordinary intellectual ability for research. You need extraordinary ability to work hard.

In Prof Joshi's experience hard work will take you further than great intelligence. The key is perseverance. Regarding motivation to work hard, Prof Joshi says people can have different motivations.

Sometimes motivation can be worldly such as money, awards, fellowships, etc.. At other times it may be inborn. He laughs and says many researchers don't have anything better to do than working! He adds that a researcher should realize that when you are your own boss the sky is the limit and the trust of those who depend on you, gives you energy.

Prof Joshi feels a key area where the modern researcher should focus is mathematics. In addition to insight based on physics, a strong mathematical ability is important for modeling. Strong mathematics gives an incisive analytical ability to a researcher. There are more options available to attack a problem if you have good mathematical ability. You can conceptualize and analyze in greater detail.

Relaxing and rejuvenating is important as well. Though other activities should be aligned with the habit of embracing excellence, even if they are for light entertainment.

On how to have a vision

Prof Joshi offers this quote from Prof Mashelkar: One should not work on the problems that can be solved, one should work on problems that are needed to be solved.

Prof Joshi feels a researcher must be willing to take on tough problems even if that involves taking on others who are more established. Adverse comments on a paper should motivate the researcher to take on those who have made them. Of course humility is important as well and a researcher should otherwise be humble when discussing or debating an issue in the researcher's area of expertise. Prof Joshi also says, you should not doubt oneself. Self-belief is important. You may face some challenges while establishing yourself. But once you have established yourself even a little, you will get sufficient recognition and respect to have your say and be heard patiently. You should broaden your scope of knowledge, but knowing where to draw the line can be challenging. You have to build your judgment. Sometimes you will succeed and sometimes you will fail. In time your judgment will improve. Remember you will need to retain your focus so do not get the attention diluted too much.

Other suggestions for researchers

1. Wording papers very precisely may seem to be the best thing to do, but it can mean that the paper is not found in a usual search by all persons for whom the paper is relevant. So using more than a minimum number of words can be beneficial and helps make sure the paper is found, read and cited more widely.

2. Choosing which journal to publish in can test a researcher's patience. But one should aim high and avoid publishing in lesser journals just to have a paper accepted quickly, say for a short term goal such as a promotion.

3. Regarding citations he says, people tend to cite work from major universities more since they have more credibility, so one needs to take this into account while judging papers by the number of citations alone.

4. It is important to publish in a journal where your peers publish. It is they who give you critical feedback and the research gains in quality. Finally, papers published in the right journals are taken seriously by the community. It may not be a high impact factor journal, but it may be the right journal for that subject.

ADVICE FOR RESEARCHER-INDUSTRY ENGAGEMENT

1. The researcher should know that industry often gets the researcher working on the wrong problem. Once you start working you realize the problem definition is wrong. So, the researcher needs to redefine the problem to solve it and deliver results to the client. As an example, a client had asked Prof Joshi to investigate a problem in the method of making a formulation because the proper dispersion was not being obtained. It turned out the method was fine but the formulation itself had a mistake. Industry will only be able to broadly identify a problem. The researcher will need to define it properly.

2. Researchers should have interactions with the industry and should consider giving stake in the research to investors. If a researcher has credibility businesses will invest in knowledge generation.

3. The investor should have sufficient ability to judge and decide to trust a researcher. How does an investor make this decision? The investor can find out about the researcher's credibility among the peers. The investor should aim to be an active participant and yet be willing to give the researcher enough freedom.