Daniel, residing in Philadelphia, PA is our main Mendeley Advisor Community contributor.  He brings a background in mechanical engineering & materials science research, and has been a long-time Mendeley user. We took some time with Daniel to find out what he loves about his job, and of course Mendeley!

How long have you been a researcher? 

I date my start in the research world from my high school days, so that works out to about 10 years. In that time I’ve gone from microfluidics, to drug delivery systems, to functional fabrics and other forms of 3D printed material systems to understand the way they deform and fail.

What excites you about serving the Mendeley Advisor Community? 

The energy & enthusiasm of a global group of researcher from all fields imaginable…there are fantastic discussions brewing in the community each and every day.

What book did you most recently read? 

Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow…it’s a riveting, data-driven look at this amazing time we currently live in and what may lie ahead in our future.

What’s one thing you want people to know about Mendeley? 

That it’s an awesome research productivity tool – accessible wherever you are. Mendeley is a powerful way to not only annotate, organize, and cite reference – you can also share data and discover your next career opportunity.

How would you explain your current work to a stranger on a bus?

I blend my technical background with my passion for evidence-based learning strategies to help the world’s scientists and engineers work more productively and effectively.

What’s the most exciting part of your job?

I love traveling out to university campuses & conferences to show researchers new, slick ways of working with Mendeley. You might be surprised how many still don’t use reference managers, even in 2018…it totally transforms their world.

What keeps you awake at night?

Netflix. Otherwise, I sleep well most nights, so the saying doesn’t exactly work for me.

What’s the most interesting thing you’ve learned this week?

I come across plenty of interesting things every week I look for data points that point toward the future. One thing top-of-mind this week is that Tesla outsells Lexus and BMW, and is catching up to Mercedes quickly. That is impressive.

What do you think will be the next big discovery or development in your field? 

The tools that engineers use are becoming more intelligent and powerful by the day…from ideation to fabrication.  I think we’re on the cusp of an exciting era where we blend the best of human creativity with machine-partners to make us vastly more productive. For instance, true “computer-aided” design tools are coming online now. They leverage high performance computing algorithms to take problem descriptions and algorithmically synthesize thousands of potential designs that meet the goals and constraints, in the time it’d take an engineer to manually draw one design.