Reflective Writing (R3)

Alumni: Saul Griffith

Qualification: B.MET.E (Metallurgical Engineering) in Physical Metallurgy [1]

Year of Graduation: 1997

Graduating Institution: University of New South Wales , Faculty of Applied Science

Current Company: OtherLab [2]

Current Position: CEO

Other:

• Saul Griffith is also co-founder of several different engineering/software related companies

including Sunfolding, Other Machine Company, Optiopia, Squid Labs, Potenco,
Instructables.com, Howtoons, Canvas robotics, Roam Robotics, Treau and Makani Power[1].
• He has received several awards throughout his career through his ongoing contributions to
engineering and renewability.
o MacArthur Fellowship (2007) [3]
o Advance Advanced Manufacturing Award (2012) [4]
o UNSW Alumni Award (2018) [5]
o Tällberg/Eliasson Global Leadership Prize (2019) [6]

Reflective Writing and Research:

Saul Griffith is a UNSW Alumni who I’ve found great inspiration from through my research into his
career. Based on this I have learnt:

1. The importance and possibility of true sustainability in major manufacturing processes

o His vast contributions to technology through his company OtherLab shows the
significance of sustainability for both companies and for society. OtherLab is a
research and design lab focused on pairing robotics and renewable energy [7]. As
stated on their website, “Australia is one of the first counties seeing the drastic
effects of climate change [2]”, and so it is pivotal that in my future endeavors in the
industry, a large focus on sustainability of projects and manufacturing processes
must be accounted for. This directly correlates to CLO 2 (Discuss major
manufacturing processes and their relation to sustainability). Also, this is highly
relevant to the materials that I have learnt through CEIC1000 and this significance of
sustainability directly relates to the report that needs to be written. Based on what
I’ve learnt from Saul Griffith, it is evident that sustainability must be at the forefront
of my mind for any projects both in university and in the industry.
2. The importance of working effectively in a team
o Saul Griffith, as previously mentioned, has played a large role in the development of
a vast number of engineering and software companies[1]. In order for him to
achieve this, his ability to work productively with others must have been at the top
level. This assumption is made evident through each of these companies previously
mentioned having up to 5 co-founders, along with Saul Griffith himself. In order to
reach that level of productivity and success, they would have worked extremely well
as a team in order to achieve the highest level of success. This level of teamwork is
something that I aspire to achieve and am working towards. Seeing Saul Griffith’s
level of success through successful teamwork inspires me to be a more valuable
teammate in group projects, such as the CEIC1000 report. This skill will directly
translate into the industry where I will have to work with a number of different
professionals from a number of different professional backgrounds. And so, learning
how to effectively work together, despite such different experiences, will be a
crucial skill to have in all my future endeavours. This directly correlates to CLO 4
(Contribute effectively in a team environment).

3. The importance of communication to an audience

Develop enhanced communication skills for a technical audience (CLO 5) through his
numerous TED talks [7].
o The ability to communicate ideas effectively and efficiently to an audience is a skill
that I, personally, still need much work on. For this reason, I find Saul Griffith
particularly inspiring through his TED Talks [8][9]. His ability to effectively speak
about a topic whilst keeping the audience engaged throughout his presentation is a
skill that is evidently highly developed. This ability is a large reason for his large
amount of success in the industry as well as through his large number of companies.
This skill is highly relevant to myself in this course through the group report. The
ability to effectively convey my ideas and thoughts to the group is one that would be
highly beneficial to both me and the group. Also, this skill directly translates to other
courses which also require group work. Furthermore, in the industry, engineers
often need to be able to present their work and ideas to a group of other
professionals and so developing this skill would be highly relevant to myself as a
graduate working in the professional industry. Through this, I can learn a lot from
the way that Saul Griffith presents his ideas and use this myself in my future
experiences. This relates to CLO 5 (Develop enhanced communication skills for a
technical audience using conventions of the profession).
References

[1] “Congratulations to high-achieving alumni: Saul Griffith,” Edu.au. [Online]. Available:

https://www.materials.unsw.edu.au/news/congratulations-high-achieving-alumni-saul-
griffith. [Accessed: 28-Oct-2021].
[2] “Otherlab,” Otherlab.com. [Online]. Available: https://www.otherlab.com/home/. [Accessed:
28-Oct-2021].
[3] “Saul Griffith,” Macfound.org. [Online]. Available: https://www.macfound.org/fellows/class-
of-2007/saul-griffith. [Accessed: 28-Oct-2021].
[4] “Saul Griffith,” Advance.org. [Online]. Available: https://advance.org/profile/saul-griffith/.
[Accessed: 28-Oct-2021].
[5] “2018 alumni award winners,” Edu.au. [Online]. Available:
https://alumni.unsw.edu.au/alumni-hub/achievements/alumni-awards/winners/2018-alumni-
award-winners. [Accessed: 28-Oct-2021].
[6] S. N. F. Tällberg, “Saul Griffith - tallberg-SNF-Eliasson global leadership prize,” Tallberg-snf-
eliasson-prize.org, 01-Nov-2019. [Online]. Available: https://tallberg-snf-eliasson-
prize.org/winner/saul-griffith/. [Accessed: 28-Oct-2021].
[7] S. Lacey, “Watt It Takes: From self-replicating machines to decarbonization,” Greentech
Media, 30-Apr-2020. [Online]. Available:
https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/watt-it-takes-from-self-replicating-
machines-to-decarbonization. [Accessed: 28-Oct-2021].
[8] S. Griffith, Everyday Inventions. USA: TED Conferences, 2006.
[9] S. Griffith, High-altitude wind energy from kites! USA: TED Conferences, 2009.