Amir Nourhani

Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Biology, Mathematics, Biomimicry Research & Innovation Center @ University of Akron

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

My recent paper on biomimetic swarms was featured on Soft Matter cover: https://t.co/IK8xCaClQh
@softmatter

[Physics In History @PhysInHistory]

How physics should be taught in schools ✍️

[Yann LeCun @ylecun]

Intuitive physics from a donkey's world model.

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@softmatter I have developed phoresis kernel theory for translational and rotational dynamics of passive spherical particles, active microswimmers, and potentially microrobots with a non-uniform distribution of surface phoretic mobility. https://t.co/JfNY7QuUaB

[Gravitational Lens @cation_motion]

This is a sensitive topic but we have to face it. A few years ago I also realized this unsustainable trend and discussed in an article in Comm Matt, but the editor forced me to remove this figure. Glad someone is raising it again.

[Oded Rechavi @OdedRechavi]

Emeritus refusing to vacate unused space #AcademicChatter

[Nikta Fakhri @FakhriLab]

Exciting news! The textbook 'Soft Matter: Concepts, Phenomena, and Applications' is now available, complete with its accompanying website.
This is a fantastic resource for the soft and active matter communities.

https://t.co/giI1zXPeR5

[Andrew Akbashev @Andrew_Akbashev]

Rejection of your paper or grant has NO relevance to the opinion of #research community. It is nothing but the opinion of one person.

Several examples:

1. The first paper on graphene was rejected from Nature because “it did not constitute a sufficient scientific advance”. Later, it was awarded a Nobel prize.

2. The first manuscript showing the microbiome-brain connection was published after 7 submissions that took 3 years. Today, this field has exploded. I expect it will get a Nobel prize in the future.

3. Theodore Maiman tried to publish a paper describing the first operating laser in Physical Review Letters and… got a rejection!

4. Peter Ratcliffe, who worked on cells’ response to changes in oxygen levels, got his key paper rejected from Nature (see photo). Later, he was awarded a Nobel Prize for this work.

And there are many other examples…
.

And yet I see so many young scientists stressing about rejections. For some reason, they seem to genuinely expect that the editors should know which study is truly worth it.

As a result, many rejections are met with surprise and disbelief: 
“How could they reject it? They publish so much trash, and yet they think our detailed 3-year-long study is not interesting to the community! WHY?”
.

Well, the reality is:

- Most editors have very little time to delve into your study. They can easily FAIL to recognize the potential impact of your study. Proper communication in the cover letter and clear writing style can help (although only to a limited degree).

- Many reviewers have little idea about the science in your paper. But they can have a big ego. So, if they have a bad day or were rejected recently, it’s easy for them to find 1000 technical reasons to reject your paper as well.

- Most scientists genuinely don’t know if your discovery can make any impact. If we could predict the course of science, we would be living very differently!

My message is simple:

Forget about objectivity. Academia is a very subjective world. Fight for objectivity but don’t take it for granted.

A great study will be found, cited and recognized. Disregard of where it’s published.

A bad study requires a high-impact journal to be found and cited. But the long-time recognition might be a problem.

High-IF journals are simply billboards. Their rejections do NOT represent the opinion of a scientific community.

You can get rejected but don’t reject yourself!
Believe in your results.

#AcademicTwitter #AcademicChatter

[Gabriel D Weymouth @gabrielweymouth]

I made this fun jellyfish simulation for my inaugural Prof Seminar @tudelftme...
An accurate incompressible viscous flow simulation of a deforming 3D geometry that runs live on a laptop GPU. No big deal....

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@wirthlab @cwru @CaseEngineer Thank you, Chris! @wirthlab
Looking forward to our meeting!!!

[Chris Wirth @wirthlab]

Looking forward to tomorrow's visit by @AmirNourhani!

He will give a talk at 12:30PM in AW Smith 152 on "Artificial, Biomimetic, and Biohybrid Microrobots and Active Colloids".

email or DM me for more details. @cwru @CaseEngineer

[Pub.Reading @PubReading]

Listen to PubReading [45] - Built-In Active Microneedle Patch with Enhanced Autonomous Drug Delivery - M.A. Lopez-Ramirez, J. Wang et al. https://t.co/V9fo9vfqsT
@nisargjshah @NF_Steinmetz @AmirNourhani
#MicroneedlePatch
#DrugDelivery
#Painless
#PubReading

[Research @Research_Jrnl]

Multigear Bubble Propulsion of Transient #Micromotors
Click the link below to read this free, open access article @SPJournals @AmirNourhani @FerNanobio @JWangnano
https://t.co/qQMHuav5Yd

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@SarkerShouvik_ @RR_Amini @SaintillanUCSD @cavescience @scelop @JWangnano @nanqprof @UAkron_Engr @UAkronPresident @uakron Thank you so much!

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

Exciting News: I received the NSF CAREER award!

Thanks to @RR_Amini,@SaintillanUCSD,@cavescience, @scelop,@JWangnano,@nanqprof,A. Arzani,J. Gibbs, H. Astley, J. Eagan,T. Cutright,P. Lammert,H. Cressman,C. Menzemer,S. Felicelli,A. Mahajan @UAkron_Engr, @UAkronPresident @uakron

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@FarshadForouz @POTUS @KamalaHarris @SecBlinken @TSA Sorry to hear that. I am glad you are back!

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@nanqprof @RR_Amini @SaintillanUCSD @cavescience @scelop @JWangnano @UAkron_Engr @UAkronPresident @uakron Thank you, Vin! Happy holidays!

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@SaifurR19551283 @RR_Amini @SaintillanUCSD @cavescience @scelop @JWangnano @nanqprof @UAkron_Engr @UAkronPresident @uakron Thank you so much, @SaifurR19551283 !

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@WeiGaoLab @RR_Amini @SaintillanUCSD @cavescience @scelop @JWangnano @nanqprof @UAkron_Engr @UAkronPresident @uakron Thank you so much, Wei! @WeiGaoLab I hope all is well with you! It was great meeting you at CalTech!

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@FarshadForouz @RR_Amini @SaintillanUCSD @cavescience @scelop @JWangnano @nanqprof @UAkron_Engr @UAkronPresident @uakron خیلی مخلصم فرشاد جون! خیلی با مرامی!!! 🙏

[Amir Nourhani @AmirNourhani]

@HitszWang @RR_Amini @SaintillanUCSD @cavescience @scelop @JWangnano @nanqprof @UAkron_Engr @UAkronPresident @uakron Thank you very much @HitszWang!