Agreed 100%, that's what worked for me. "I've got this molecule here... [he then described it a bit, showed me the physical metal model he'd made of it (from a more permanent variety of the plastic models people use in organic classes)], and the current approaches are inadequate..." and then he lent me a book that would get me started on learning what I needed to know to approach the problem.
Basically, if you can largely offer a "fire and forget" proposition, i.e. you need a problem and pointers to learning but not a lot of hand holding, you should be able to find a professor who has one or more things he'd like to investigate but that he doesn't have the resources of one sort of another to do, and that you can offer your particular talents towards solving.
Basically, if you can largely offer a "fire and forget" proposition, i.e. you need a problem and pointers to learning but not a lot of hand holding, you should be able to find a professor who has one or more things he'd like to investigate but that he doesn't have the resources of one sort of another to do, and that you can offer your particular talents towards solving.