Tao Wen 文涛

Incoming students often ask what the secret is to come up with new ideas, especially now when it seems like there is so much literature on pretty much every topic. Everything has already been done it may seem. However, I'm of the belief that all one has to do is pick a subject, any subject, and just observe, really observe. Better yet, pick a subject that nobody seems to care about and dive deep into it. If you're observing, you will eventually find something new. Usually, it begins with something small, seemingly trivial, but eventually these tiny new things reveal something bigger. It's important to read papers of course, and occasionally ideas can be inspired by other people's papers, but if you read too many papers without making your own observations, you're guaranteed to isolate yourself in a box with little hope of generating your own idea.