Tackling Technical Research

At the end of their studies, master's degree students can get very close to solving research problems, but sometimes they can be very easily discouraged, dropping the option to earn a Ph.D. degree. Their listlessness and disorientation might be due to their lack of knowledge of what is research, science, and engineering (and innovation). The lack of understanding combined with 1) the impact of deal ing with heavy research subjects (the analysis of the state of the art, the understanding of the problem, and the project development) and 2) the memory of their just-finished, often-boring laboratory sessions, reporting activities can be disappointing and cause students to lose interest, especially if some basic ideas are not clear.