The author mentioned not taking on too much risk and avoiding straying to far from the lab.
When I studied CS I was never that excited with the pure, abstract CS-bits. I was a lot more interested in how we could apply those bits in the real world to affect change in peoples lives. Volcano sensors may be high risk, but may also have a lot more impact than more theoretical/abstract work.
That being said, I'm grateful we have researchers interested in the theoretical stuff, otherwise practical guys like me wouldn't have anything to apply. So it's important to realise that while "minimise risk" might be good advice for the author, for another researcher "maximise real-world impact" might be sounder advice.
When I studied CS I was never that excited with the pure, abstract CS-bits. I was a lot more interested in how we could apply those bits in the real world to affect change in peoples lives. Volcano sensors may be high risk, but may also have a lot more impact than more theoretical/abstract work.
That being said, I'm grateful we have researchers interested in the theoretical stuff, otherwise practical guys like me wouldn't have anything to apply. So it's important to realise that while "minimise risk" might be good advice for the author, for another researcher "maximise real-world impact" might be sounder advice.