November 2004, Issue #34

Cool Engineer of the Month: Rajeev Bajaj

Music is a powerful universal medium of expression that has the ability to connect and transfer thought and emotion across languages. I envision music that connects to the heart and lyrics that connect to the mind.

Scientific principles, on the other hand, have a very specific language and expression that typically requires training and understanding. While music caters to instinctive emotions in us, science and technology cater to our thoughts and intellect. The idea of combining the universality of music (a trait that makes it accessible and understandable to everyone), and science (a medium that is the basis of all advancement and progress in society) is why I began this project.

I have always enjoyed connecting scientific principles to people principles, and I am always amazed that so many similarities exist. Principles that describe the behavior of materials also describe the behavior of people. For example, Le Chatelier's principle states: "if any change is imposed on a system that is in equilibrium the system tends to adjust to a new equilibrium to counteract the change." In other words, when materials and people are under stress, they react to minimize the stress. Both materials and people try to bend before they break.

"I'm a quiet man I do more with my hands ……" were the first words I wrote for the song "Geek Dreams". It truly captures the essence of the engineering profession. The overarching goal of this song is to tell people what engineers do. Engineers are involved in designing and building things in all aspects of our lives, from air conditioners, refrigerators, computers, and cell phones to satellites, the cars we drive, and the roads we drive on; each and every aspect of our physical world is impacted by engineers. In the lyrics, I worked on weaving the connection between science principles and life principles with lines like, "scalar and vector told me to…. don't go as the scalar do, you gotta know the direction too…."

In the song "Metamorphosis" the emphasis is on 'changing the world,' as engineers go about making propulsion schemes that reach out to mars or robots that do things that people cannot do. The main theme of this song is constant motion or constant change to our physical environment while talking in terms of gear ratios to make things fast or slow and describing the ubiquity of machines in simplifying our lives.

The song "Enjoy The Ride" connects the interdisciplinary nature of computers. From manufacturing to software, it takes a collective effort of many disciplines of engineering such as materials, mechanical, electrical, chemical, and computers. The basis for the entire integrated circuit and computer industry hardware is a short journey that an electron takes from source to drain, in effect switching the transistor from "on" state to "off" state. The result is a world changing technology. Here again I tried to make the journey of an electron more like a journey that people may take in their own lives which becomes a transforming experience.

The track "Free Energy" is about change and what causes change. It can be heard at many levels, personal or scientific. While entropy or chaos and enthalpy or heat describe the physical nature of things, change can be fostered by making the environment conducive for it — making free energy negative. In essence, when, as the lyrics say, "free energy comes at a price; when it goes negative things change in a hurry," it is an interplay on the scientific principle of "Free Energy" and the price that is paid in the real world in making the dynamics of change come together.

In the making of Geek Rhythms, I believe we have made a small place in history by combining the strength and influence of music and technology. By making technology infused with music, we can make learning, appreciating, and working in technology a multi-faceted and rewarding experience.

Bio: Rajeev Bajaj was born in Delhi India in April 1965. After completing his high school in Delhi, he attended Institute of Technology, BHU in Varanasi where he graduated with BS in Chemical Engineering. After working for 2 yrs in an Engineering consulting company, Kinetics Technology India, he joined The University of Texas at Austin to pursue graduate program in Chemical Engineering. On receiving his PhD in Chemical Engineering in 1995, he joined the semiconductor Industry and worked at Sematech, Motorola, Lam Research and Applied Materials in various engineering and management positions. He was last Vice President of Global Programs at Nutool Inc. He lives in Fremont Ca with his wife Laura and two daughters Priyanka and Katerina. His interests are music, reading and philosophy.