Today we had Craft of Research in the morning. We learned more about what it means to conduct research. To be specific we learned about what factors make up a good theory consists of, the importance of having an open mind to new knowledge since theories can change over time as new discoveries are made, and what mistakes can happen if people base courses of action on “common sense” if there is no real supported theory to back them up. We were also able to practice writing our problem area paragraph for our group research projects incorporating the key pieces of info that need to be included in them.

After that, we had a lunch presentation from Eliot Winer, the Associate Director of VRAC, where he told us his story of his life in regards to how he got to where he is now. He told us what path he took from high school to get where he is now and emphasized how certain small details actually influenced the course of his life. For example, it was because a certain class in graduate school he took did not meet on Monday that he decided to take it. It led him to develop a good relationship with the professor and after working with her on research stuff for awhile she recommended him to do VR stuff back when it was not a thing. It then in the future led to him where his now having worked at VRAC for 10+ years.