“I need to find Professor Wilcourt. Tripp, would you like to come along?” Josie frowned, staring at a set of experimental data.
When Tripp saw that set of data, his surprise was beyond words. He stammered, “Yes, I’ll come. Tell me, what’s wrong with this set of experimental data?”
Josie recalled related experiments from her previous life. “The experimental process went wrong. If I’m not mistaken, there’s a problem with the experimental steps and the solution’s ratio. I need to recalculate the specifics!”
Josie had already pinpointed the problem, but she couldn’t say it directly, as this was an intermediate experiment, and all the experimenters were official researchers from the institute. Given her current academic progress and status, it was impossible for her to simply identify the issue. Even if she could, it was unlikely anyone would believe her proposed solution, let alone accept it.
Things went just as she expected.
When Jeremy gathered the members of the relevant experimental group for a meeting, the team leader looked at Josie with disdain. He said, “How could a student not majoring in this field find an issue with our data? I admit our team’s experiment has stalled, and we haven’t produced accurate experimental data yet.”
The team leader turned to Jeremy. Then, he continued, “But, Professor Wilcourt, this isn’t a valid reason for you to question our abilities. Even if you had someone else raise the concern, I would feel better. She’s just a senior in college. How can you expect us to be convinced by her viewpoints?”
Jeremy frowned. He knew this was a bit questionable, but this team had already run the experiment several times without obtaining the correct results. If things continued this way, it would impact the overall experiment’s progress, and he wanted to explore other options. He had heard a bit about Josie’s work at school. Knowing that she had extensive experimental experience, he believed that she might be able to identify the experiment’s flaws. But he didn’t expect such a strong reaction from the team leader.
He thought, ‘Why are they questioning her qualifications? Does academic background account for everything in our field? The graduate students under David are not necessarily much better than Josie, who is just a senior!’
His expression turned cold, and he threw the documents onto the table. He said, “She entered the intermediate research lab for the first time today, and in just half an hour, she identified your issues. Doesn’t that prove her ability? You didn’t even let her finish speaking before questioning her abilities. Is this how you lead your team? Is this how you treat your work? Moreover, she isn’t questioning your experimental data. She is clearly stating that your experimental data has issues. Josie, tell us, what exactly are their problems?”
Josie didn’t want to create conflict and had intended to address the issue gradually. But it seemed that taking her time would only make others doubt her abilities more. She stood up and walked to the whiteboard in the conference room, where she wrote down several sets of experimental formulas. Then, based on the experimental progress, she obtained the relevant experimental data. She said, “If I’m not mistaken, these are the experimental formulas that failed for you, right?”
She didn’t give anyone time to answer, and directly wrote down a new formula. She added, “This is the new formula I derived by reverse-calculating from your experimental results. If all goes well, this new formula will ensure the experiment succeeds and yields the correct experimental data we need!”
“That’s a bold claim!” The team leader was somewhat annoyed. He had been surprised when he initially saw the old experimental formulas, but now he realized Josie must have looked at their experimental logbook. He asked, “How can you guarantee it will succeed?”
Josie shook her head. “I can’t guarantee it, but since you’ve been wrong so many times, one more experiment won’t hurt. I recall this experiment takes seven days. Before you come up with a new formula, why not try mine?”