Five questions for Dmitri Tcherniak

45-year-old Russian Dmitri Tcherniak is a Research Engineer specialising in structural dynamics and vibration, and is part of Brüel & Kjær’s Innovation group. He has an MSc in Naval Architecture and a PhD in Applied Mechanics from the Marine Technical University of St Petersburg.

Dmitri’s motto is ‘why not?’

What are you passionate about?
Technical progress and Belgian beer.

What was the best day of your life?
So far ... the day I arrived in Denmark to start postdoctoral research at Denmark’s Technical University (DTU). I arrived from a Russia devastated by ‘perestroika’, and I felt I’d landed on another planet. But life goes on, I’m sure the best day is still to come.

Who do you admire most and why?
Project managers who were able to implement outstanding breakthrough projects, for example, Russian and American space programmes. Why? Well, that requires a combination of perfect technical skills and the ability to motivate and organise thousands of people in order to realise their dreams.

What irritates you most about your own personality?
Spending too much time finding an optimal way of solving tiny problems. Sometimes, a quick decision followed by a straight-forward, brute-force approach is more effective.

If you had all the money and time in the world, what would you be doing right now?
Probably the same as I’m doing now. Maybe with a bit more vacation time to see the world.