u/SurrealPlanet1112

I have been observant of myself and I noticed that lack of self confidence is the root cause of losing soo many opportunities, and taking terribly wrong decisions.

In my college,I find so many students so confident about themselves like they maybe wrong but respond with so much conviction. On the other hand, although I am right I rarely speak and over analyze myself and never speak up.

I regret every single time I do this. What can I do?

I have been observant of myself and I noticed that lack of self confidence is the root cause of losing soo many opportunities, and taking terribly wrong decisions.

In my college,I find so many students so confident about themselves like they maybe wrong but respond with so much conviction. On the other hand, although I am right I rarely speak and over analyze myself and never speak up.

I regret every single time I do this. What can I do?

Hi everyone,

I'm a Chemical Engineering undergraduate participating in a national-level sustainability hackathon by Optum i association with The Times of India (TechGig). One of the themes focuses on climate technology, circular economy, clean energy, carbon management, and environmental sustainability.

My team doesn't want to build another generic AI chatbot, carbon footprint calculator, or IoT dashboard. We'd like to work on a core Chemical Engineering innovation—something related to unit operations, process design, separations, reactors, catalysis, heat transfer, membranes, adsorption, process intensification, or similar areas.

We're looking for a problem where there is still room for genuine innovation, rather than just applying AI to an existing process.

Some questions I'd love your thoughts on:

• Which areas of Chemical Engineering do you think are still "stuck" and need innovation?
• Are there industrial pain points you've experienced that students rarely know about?
• If you had 2–3 months to develop a prototype, what problem would you choose?
• Are there any technologies that have great research potential but haven't yet been translated into practical industrial solutions?
• If you were judging a sustainability hackathon, what kind of Chemical Engineering project would genuinely stand out?

I'm not looking for someone to give me a complete project idea—I'm more interested in identifying overlooked problems or bottlenecks where innovation is actually needed.

Any insights from industry professionals, researchers, or PhD students would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I have been observant of myself and I noticed that lack of self confidence is the root cause of losing soo many opportunities, and taking terribly wrong decisions.

In my college,I find so many students so confident about themselves like they maybe wrong but respond with so much conviction. On the other hand, although I am right I rarely speak and over analyze myself and never speak up.

I regret every single time I do this. What can I do?