Happy Tuesday, everyone! As we continue spotlighting the innovators who have consistently contributed UNmatched excellence, we’re diving into the world of Electrical and Computer Engineering! Whether you’re a prospective engineer, a current researcher, or a community member looking to see how VCU researchers and students make a real-world impact, today’s discussion is your guide to the creativity at VCU’s College of Engineering!
HAYA: As engineer and inventor, Theodore Vaughn Kaman said, scientists study the world as it is. Engineers create the world that has never been. Behind every breakthrough in engineering is a person, a scientist, who is driven to build, innovate, and reimagine what’s possible. In this episode, we’re spotlighting the journey of a postdoctoral researcher from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, where curiosity, creativity, and community converge to shape innovative research.
HAYA: Welcome back to Grad Pod, the podcast where we spotlight the stories, research and voices shaping graduate education at VCU. I’m your host, Haya Hamid, and today I’m joined by Dr. Lauren Linkous, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the VCU College of Engineering.
She works in a wireless communications lab, to say the least, and Dr. Linkous does a lot there, but she has a unique talent for bridging the digital and physical worlds together with degrees in both bachelor’s in engineering, in electrical engineering, and physics from VCU. Dr. Linkous began her research journey in undergrad.
Today, he is primarily working on using machine learning to automate and investigate wireless security concerns. She is not just asking about how technology works, she is asking about how we can build better systems, develop future researchers, and make STEM fields more inclusive. So Dr. Linkous, welcome to the Grad Pod!
DR. LINKOUS: Thank you so much for having me and for that sweet intro.
HAYA: Thank you for being here. We’re so happy to have you.
My first question for you, well first of all, tell us a little bit about yourself, your journey here to VCU and what led you to pursue such a cross cutting research focus, and what excites you the most about this field?
DR. LINKOUS: Oh wow. So that’s a story! So I started in 2018 with Dr. Laura Elwin is in the math department where she took me on as a student researcher for her publication on neonatal infant lung systems, which is a daunting problem, to say the least; and she is definitely the driving force behind that.
But with her, I learned a lot about how to conduct research early on, what the investigative process looked like when you had a question that really depended on a correct answer, right?
Because that paper and specifically was on how premature babies are, their chest wall is very flexible. So when they were born too premature, they would go into systems collapse and pass away. So we started looking into what happens, why does this happen, and can we mathematically model this in order to hand it off to somebody else that would be able to go?
Cool, now that you have defined the problem, it’s our turn to take and fix it. And since then a lot of other students have worked on it. It’s gone on to be other publications and it’s been Capstone projects and Engineering and it’s, I’m not really in touch with it anymore, but that project was definitely a large inspiration behind what I would do, kind of following into grad school and the next few years.
So I started grad school in 2018 would’ve been that fall. I had my first year of classes with a professor, was getting to learn hands-on, a lot of, hands-on research, a lot of robotics, and then COVID shut everything down. So from there I started more digital work, which was a different kind of interesting, I think, and that’s kind of where I started branching into more wireless devices and that computational research.
Right, because when you’re shut up at home with just you and your cat, there is not a lot of hardware or experimental work that can be done. So I got more into this automation process and more into learning how things work at a low level. And I think from there, that really spiraled out the next five years of my research and led into all of these other projects I’m now on and working with all of these awesome people.
HAYA: Thank you so much for sharing that and for giving us a little bit of insight about, you know, how you, you came here, and also kudos to you for making the best out of such a dark time without, you know, access to lab and other physical materials. It seems like you really have, you know, created something so beautiful out of your time in isolation or, you know, just not working in person.
DR. LINKOUS: At the end of the day, COVID students, we had to do what we had to do. But take us a little bit before that, pre COVID, pre-grad school, what was that transition like for you from undergrad to graduate school? What were some of the biggest adjustments that you had to make, as a researcher and also as a student?
Yeah, so. When I transferred into engineering, after I was in the math department for my last two years of my undergraduate degrees, I got very heavily involved in engineering’s VIP program. So that’s our Vertically Integrated Projects program where undergraduate students are able to take multiple semesters of courses.
In a research lab. So you start getting hands-on experience with these tools. You learn how to program, you take all of the theory and things that you’ve seen in class and maybe some of your lab sections, and you start applying it. So I was first working in the UAV lab. With Dr. Clinky and I had a very good mentor there that definitely helped me fine tune, you know, what I was doing and some of like the hands-on work I really hadn’t gotten before, just.
Because I didn’t, you know, I’m not from a technological background. I started programming a little bit at 14, but I didn’t have hands-on experience until I really came to Richmond and started being introduced to these hardware labs. ‘cause it’s not an easy thing to get started with. And you really need to community to build up and to learn these and to start putting all of this into application.
So when I was working with Dr. Clinky and in the UAV lab and getting this hands-on experience. I was getting into research early and it didn’t really feel like it because we were all on a team, so we had that sense of community. We could go to each other for help. We could partner up and work together.
It was still a class, but it was, I don’t know, it felt like lower stakes, I guess would be the way to put it. It’s more of my focus was just on learning, kind of at my own pace instead of meeting test and paper deadlines, which I personally think was very good for me and getting this experience. So by the time I graduated I had done several semesters of that and I think that was very critical for my ability to transition into graduate school.
And,I just very much attribute that early research and the investment of my graduate student mentors and the faculty for being able to really just make it to the end of my PhD program.
HAYA: Yeah. Thank you for sharing that; andI love the resilient approach and, it seems like you’ve figured out all the important points pretty early on. So, graduate school often requires balancing technical work with long-term vision, you know, like you just said, in asking the right questions and, you know, taking an effective approach to problem solving. How did you stay motivated during the harder seasons of grad school? You know, you know, during those sleepless nights and what kept your curiosity alive?
DR. LINKOUS: I like to think I’ve always been highly motivated and very curious and that’s just a key part of my nature and what, you know, those sleepless. Yeah. There are a lot of sleepless nights. I really should be here pitching good habits, you know, and I, as much as I wanna be funny about it, I do wanna pitch.
You need sleep, you need to get on a routine. You need to be eating, like, and eating well. Sometimes it is a protein bar, kind of lunch day, but you need to be taking care of yourself during these programs. There’s just no way about it because if you can, if you’re not taking care of yourself first, like the research is second, we’ll joke about it.
We’ll joke about, you know, what drives us and maybe. Cry a little bit because that is honestly just part of the school experience sometimes, and you just need to let it out. But not, not like in a negative way, I promise. We’re, we’re okay, maybe. Mm-hmm.But Jo, joking aside, you know, I, I’ve always been highly motivated and I do enjoy what I do when it comes down to it.
And, it’s getting on a routine, finding this community, and. Not being afraid to reach out and ask for help is going to be like those key driving factors of what do you do when it’s three in the morning, nothing works. This was due at midnight; and the answer is, email your professor and tell them you’re, you know, you’re trying, but it’s not working out.
Because a lot of times, you know, they’ll, they’ll understand, they might not give you an extension, but they’ll understand. And then I would say get a hobby. Get, get something that will keep you sane. I like to show people cat pictures. I’ve got a very spoiled cat. I’ve always had, you know, various spoiled cats.
But ha, having something that’s not your work is going to make it easier to get through this. Having friends that you can. Genuinely talk to and not just talk at, it’s fine if they’re your coworkers. It’s fine if you just know them because you’ve been in classes for four years together and you’re all just kind of stuck.
Just talk to somebody. Because a lot of that, without this, without these human factors, you know, you’re just, it’s not insurmountable, I think, to get through a graduate degree, but it does not need to be miserable.
HAYA: Thank you for sharing that. Very real and very human response. You know, especially coming from you who has someone who has been in school for very long and so, that’s very valuable advice. And, she’s talking from experience. Dr. Linkous, VCU has a very strong research community, as you know and have been involved in for many, many years now. How have you found your sense of belonging here and what role has community played in your growth as a scholar, as a person, as an engineer, as a researcher? Can you chime a little bit onto that?
DR. LINKOUS: Yeah, so I think one of my longest running volunteer activities, which I think is what has really helped me find to connect to a sense of community outside of my work environment, is that I’ve been working with the RAM Pantry since about 20 18, 20 19. I think we started collaborating vaguely then, Dr. John Jones over in Life Science is my contact over there for that. And I mean that, that’s been a joy to work with. We started on a shoestring budget with a little magnet sensor to get it working and now there’s two capstone teams, sorry, three capstone teams. I was just involved with like the last two and a couple grants and it’s rolled out across Richmond and you know that I just can’t sing the praises enough of the efforts of everybody involved in that.
I mean there, there’s just so many people that I could thank for my success and to thank for just being there. There are students that I’ve mentored that I just can’t sing their praises enough because even when they’ve had a rough time, you know, they keep trying, they keep at it and I mean, sometimes things don’t work out.
That’s just part of life and part of, you know, learning to work on projects, it’s not all about research, even if so many of those habits overlap. Yeah, I do a lot of volunteering. I do a lot of mentoring and I think that’s part of what keeps me sane.
HAYA: I love to hear it and I love hearing about, you know, your, real, your works application in these settings and community engagement and, working with Ram Pantry and your work is truly cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary. So I love when I get to hear about, you know, things like this. And last but not least, Dr. Linkous, do you have any words of advice for incoming engineering students or researchers who are particularly interested in the path that you’re pursuing? You know, flora is yours.
DR. LINKOUS: You’re gonna be terrified the first time your mother calls you doctor. Ah. Yeah, no. I mean, that one’s only partially serious. Again, I enjoy what I do. I enjoy reaching out to people and working with all kinds of people, and the crux of my interdisciplinary work is just because.
Everybody brings something unique to the table. No, no matter what you’re doing, no matter who you’re reaching out to, there’s always something there to collaborate on, to work towards, to create, to, I think make the world a little bit better in its own way. You know, you, you don’t have to impact everyone. Sometimes one person’s enough, but yeah, for like new, for new incoming students of, of any, discipline, I think.
You know, I think they’re in for a good time. It might not be the easiest thing they’ve ever done. It might be the hardest thing they’ve ever done for some students. And you know, that’s, again, that’s just life. But I think they’re in for something very unique and I think if they stick with it, there is a payoff and you know, there it’s that payoff is gonna be a lot of their own growth and their own potential.
And yeah, I mean, I think they’re just in for something that is very, very unique.
HAYA: Thank you so much Dr. Linkous, for sharing your inspiring journey and insights with us today. For our listeners, whether you’re just starting out or deep into your graduate journey, remember that every breakthrough begins with a question and a commitment to keep exploring.
Thank you so much for joining us on Grad Pod, and we’ll see you next time as we continue to spotlight the voices that shape graduate education here at VCU.
CREDITS:
Grad Pod is produced by VCU’s Graduate School. Haya Hamid is our host. Our producer and editor is Grace Albirtton. Our theme music was composed, performed, and recorded by Austin Sellek and Claudia Andrade, students of Felipe Leitao, assistant Professor of Composition and Sound Design at VCU School of the Arts.
Do you have a question for us? Email us at grad school@vcu.edu and we may answer your question on an episode!
