I first heard about NTT Laboratories while visiting Japan for an academic conference in 2004, as the organizer of the conference worked for NTT Laboratories. I did some research after returning to England, and found that NTT conducts advanced research and development in close contact with industry. This interested me, so finally I sent my resume and ended up joining them. Once inside the company, I had the great fortune of meeting my supervisor, a dedicated and inspiring person.

I studied nano-size resonators upon joining NTT Laboratories, but 2.5 long years passed without producing any tangible results. The struggle to succeed nearly broke my spirit many times, but I refused to give up and continued my research. At last my efforts bore fruit in the form of a nano-size mechanical resonator that could form the backbone of new generation of parallel low-power computing. A few years later, some this research even led to the development of the first mechanical phonon laser which was internationally recognized including the “Breakthrough of the YearEas awarded by the American Physical Society. I could not have achieved these results without the unflinching support of my boss and NTT Laboratories, both of whom created the environment for me in which cutting edge research could be executed.