9 Dec 2024
This month, we caught up with Matt Watson, who was recently on sabbatical in the United States. Learn about his experiences, highlights and what he’s bringing back to the University of Canterbury.
Where did you go on sabbatical?
Most of the overseas portion of my sabbatical was spent in the US, and primarily I was in the northeastern part of the county, with stops in Ohio, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Maryland, with a short stop in California on the way back to New Zealand.
What was the aim of your sabbatical?
One of the perceptions I find most people have is that a sabbatical is a holiday. It is anything but! At the University of Canterbury (UC), the lecturers and professors need to apply for a sabbatical with a plan in mind. Generally, the sabbatical is time to focus on your research, and as such you are relieved of teaching and administrative duties.
I have used my sabbatical to communicate my research through presentations at conferences and universities, academic journal publications, the popular press, and social media (LinkedIn for me). A summary of my research activity can be found here, click on “Publications” to see conferences and journal articles.
I have also used my time to write research grant proposals, review the work of my postgraduate students, and to build collaborations with international universities.
Matt jogging around the junction of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio Rivers showing the skyline in Pittsburgh, PA. Image: Supplied
Tell us about your highlights?
From a professional standpoint, it was wonderful be invited to give a presentation at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH. The presentation was based on the work my team and I have been doing on producing maple syrup in New Zealand. It felt a bit weird for a NZ-based academic talking to folks from a maple syrup producing state about how maple syrup might be produced here in NZ, but they were very welcoming. A summary of our research can be found here.
From a personal standpoint, it was wonderful to catch up with friends and family while I was over there. I had a very lucky run of fantastic warm dry weather, and I only needed to break out the puffer jacket once. It was a wonderful opportunity to visit different parts of the country and do a little traveling in between events, work, and meetings.
Did you miss being in the classroom?
In Semester 1, I led the teaching team and taught part of the large first-year Foundations of Engineering class (ENGR101) to ~850 students, as well as a small final year chemical engineering class on renewable energy processes and renewable liquid fuel synthesis (ENCH483) to ~20 students. I also helped to arrange some of the final year process design projects (ENCH494). I probably missed the final year design class the most – this is where the students get to apply all their knowledge from the previous 7 semesters into a large team-based project. For some students, you can literally see everything clicking into place for them, and it’s an honour to be part of their transition from student to professional engineer.
While I enjoy teaching, it was good to take a break from teaching for 6 months and re-energise.
As it’s been a while since you travelled to the States, what has changed? What has stayed the same?
I was there until right before the election, and the country seems to be so polarised now that nobody wants to discuss politics. I think this is exacerbated by a hyper-confirmation bias which is constantly being reinforced by social media and search engine algorithms. There is hope however, as most of the people I spoke with are aware that this is a problem.
Sunrise over the Schuylkill River with Philadelphia, PA in the background. Image: Supplied
What learnings will you be taking back to the University of Canterbury?
In addition to low-cost, over-the-counter allergy medications?
I managed to reconnect with one of my PhD supervisors at one of the conferences, Professor Helen Chan at Lehigh University. She is doing some interesting research on steel alloys, and she was quite interested in using some of the equipment and research capabilities that I have established at UC. So, quite literally, I am bringing back steel alloy powders to UC.
Complete the sentence...“Wherever you go in the world, engineering is..."
all around us, but it is definitely done better in some places compared to others.
What was your favourite piece of engineering while in the States?
I’m no civil engineer, but the bridges in the US are something to behold. Some examples are the George Washington Bridge on Interstate 95 crossing the Hudson River, the Henry Hudson Bridge on New York 9A crossing the Hudson River, the Senator William V. Roth Jr. Bridge on Delaware 1 crossing the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, and the Coronado Bridge on California 75 crossing the San Diego Bay.
