During my first few years in grad school, I proudly told colleagues that my research on earthquake hazard mitigation technology would save countless lives and help prevent trillions of dollars of infrastructure damage. I wasn't lying. My adviser and I truly felt as though we were about to deliver a technological breakthrough. But our confidence came crashing down one afternoon, when we met with representatives of a state agency to discuss moving our work beyond the pilot scale. "The risk of using a brand new technology is too high. The approval and implementation process can take decades" one official told us. I left the meeting feeling deflated.