Dr. Mesfin Tsige is a professor of polymer science. His group uses different types of simulation techniques and theoretical tools to study fundamental problems in diffusion, adhesion, wetting, self-assembly, and rheology. We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Tsige about his career at The University of Akron’s School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering (SPSPE). Read more about his life and career below.
Tell us something about yourself:
I’m a theoretical physicist by training with a keen interest in understanding how things work at the atomic/molecular level. That interest has driven me since my graduate school days to complement my theoretical skills with computer simulations.
What were the driving factors in your decision to join the The University of Akron?
When I was a graduate student in the Department of Physics at Case Western Reserve University, part of my Ph.D. research work was focused on understanding the behavior of solvent diffusion in polymeric materials. My scientific curiosity about polymers early in my graduate school career led me look into The University of Akron, the leading polymer research institution in the world. I eventually connected with Dr. Ali Dhinojwala and had a chance to visit the Department of Polymer Science and meet several faculty members. During my visit, I was impressed by the high quality of fundamental polymer research. My continued interaction with Dr. Dhinojwala and others opened the opportunity for me to join the Department of Polymer Science in 2010 and I’m definitely happy with my decision to move here.
What’s your teaching philosophy or your outlook on higher education?
My teaching philosophy is simple—listen to the students. There is no point to rush from one topic to another in order to cover all the topics listed in a given course syllabus while most of the students are already lost at the beginning of the course. I make sure that the majority of students, if not all, can follow me throughout the course by focusing more on the big picture rather than on technical jargons as much as possible. My outlook on higher education is that the traditional way of passive transfer of information from teacher to students will be slowly replaced by interactive, two-way teaching that has proven to increase knowledge retention in students—similar to the approach we have with our graduate students in group meetings.
What are some of your favorite things to do when you’re not teaching?
Lately, most of my time each day is consumed by meetings when I’m not teaching or doing research. When I get home, my energetic son is waiting for me to play with him. This is a major part of my daily physical exercise these days. With any little spare time left, I like to read or watch documentaries about the cosmos. The fact that each day I’m watching the same moon, sun, and stars that all my ancestors (and all of humanity for that matter) have watched throughout their lifetimes makes me wonder about the secrets the cosmos are holding from us.
What do you love most about your job at The University of Akron and your work on polymers?
The high interdisciplinary nature of our program has given me the unique opportunity to collaborate with many of my colleagues. Of course, the collaborations wouldn’t be successful without the hard work of our graduate students. I love discussion with graduate students from different research groups and that has usually been the trigger for possible collaboration.
What are your goals for the School? How do you plan to achieve those goals?
To keep our long-standing tradition of excellence in polymers, we have been constantly looking out for new research ideas. Our program has strong cutting-edge research on sustainable polymers and biomimicry that are interdisciplinary and require advanced experimental techniques and theoretical tools. I have been incorporating additional simulation techniques in my group in order to complement the current cutting-edge research activities in the School.
What is one thing that you hope each of your students learns from you?
My students don’t know that I never took any class on computer programming but I know most of them have been impressed by my coding skills. I want them to know that anything is possible through hard work and that is why I don’t usually require students joining my group to have prior knowledge about programming.