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FINDING A HOME: A STUDENT’S PERSPECTIVE TO CHOOSING LAB ROTATIONS & A MENTOR
August 19, 2013
Prepared by:Amie Eisfeld (MVM)Amanda Boehm (Pathology)Jake Hughes (MVM)VJ Rubenstein (BMG)Robb Tomko (Pharmacology)Hillarie Plessner (Immunology)T. Brooke McClendon (MGDB)Emily Wickline (CMP)Hilary Stevenson (MP)
Hilary Stevenson and T. Brooke McClendon
Always keep in mind…
Everyone has an agenda
Communication is leadership
You are your best advocate
Before you start looking
Assess what’s important to you What qualities did you admire in past
mentors? What qualities didn’t you like? In what environments do you work best? Hobbies/recreational activities Family/friends/partner What might you be interested in doing after
graduation?
Lab Rotations
Three options for finding a good home Take your time deciding (but not too much
time) Not every rotation is going to turn out
perfectly
Choose rotations that will help you reach your career goals (or teach you a new technique) (or let you work with someone/something
exciting) “You think you know what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.”
Tara, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Restless”
Step 1. Look around
Websites IBGP website (www.gradbiomed.pitt.edu) Program websites Pubmed
Ask around 1st year advisors Program directors Grad students
Attend seminars/research in progress
Getting around
University of Pittsburgh Shuttles
UPMC shuttles
Port Authority Buses (www.portauthority.org)
Bike (http://bike-pgh.org/campaigns/commuter-bike-maps/)
During your search
Be OPEN MINDED Projects outside your comfort zone Different programs Other buildings
Be REALISTIC Reasons for rotating Commute time
“I work from midnight to eight, come home, sleep for five minutes, eat breakfast, sleep six more minutes, shower…
then I'm off to the power plant, fresh as a daisy.”
Homer Simpson, The Simpsons, “Lisa’s pony.”
Step 2. Set up a meeting
E-mail (more than 3 PIs)
Face-to-face meeting
Send thank you e-mails afterwards
Preparing for the meeting
Be familiar with their research – do your homework Come with questions Come with proposal(s) Come with an air of excitement
Be prepared to sell yourself and talk about your lab experiences Potential is more important than experience
At the meeting
ASK QUESTIONS. LOTS OF QUESTIONS. Project options: Can your rotation project turn
into a thesis project? Mentoring experience/mentoring philosophy Their expectations for you/your expectations
for them Is there a spot/funding for you? Travel schedule/availability Who will you be working with? Are they tenured or up for tenure soon? Program affiliation
Step 3. Check out the lab
Talk to everyone in the lab! Especially grad students
Pay attention to nonverbal cues
Note available resources and space Quality and quantity of equipment People are resources too! Will you have a desk and bench?
Talk to program directors They know if there were issues before“It’s 12:02 [am], just me and you – and seven other dudes – waiting
for the centrifuge.”Most Beautiful Girl in the Lab (Flight of the Conchords parody),
youtube
Transitioning into a lab
Learn where common equipment/consumables/ reagents are
Read protocols and understand the principle behind each step Helps with troubleshooting and finding
shortcuts
Be mindful of others’ time and resources Plan ahead and schedule help if needed Ask informed questions
Goal: become independent as quickly as possible
Be stupid
“One of the beautiful things about science is that it allows us to bumble along, getting it wrong time after time, and feel perfectly fine as long as we learn something each time. No doubt, this can be difficult for students who are accustomed to getting the answers right. No doubt, reasonable levels of confidence and emotional resilience help, but I think scientific education might do more to ease what is a very big transition: from learning what other people once discovered to making your own discoveries. The more comfortable we become with being stupid, the deeper we will wade into the unknown and the more likely we are to make big discoveries.”
MA Schwartz. J Cell Sci (2008) 121:1771
Ideal Lab (…Is Different For Everyone)
Funding for supplies (at least for your project)
Technique gurus
The opportunity to share your data and have it critiqued
Right environment for you
Warning signs
High turnover rate, students rotate but don’t join
Grad students and postdocs have been there awhile with little to show for it
You find yourself making excuses “I don’t get along with my PI/lab mates, but that will
change when I join the lab.” “If I just work harder, things will get better.”
Your PI downplays your needs and your input
It’s difficult to communicate with your PI well when things go wrong
If you haven’t found a lab to join
DON’T do nothing
TALK to an advisor/gets lots of advice from professors you trust
Don’t be afraid to switch rotations, even at the last minute
Think very carefully about what you are looking for and be proactive
Part 2. Project
Part 2. Project
Project options Risk vs. reward
Is the project reasonable?
Is the project reasonable?
1. Look up papers in the field. How many authors are on the papers?
2. Are all the papers coming out of one or two labs?
3. How much optimization is required?4. Will this project win the Nobel Prize?
Is the project reasonable?
1. Look up papers in the field. How many authors are on the papers?
2. Are all the papers coming out of one or two labs?
3. How much optimization is required?4. Will this project win the Nobel Prize?
Is the project reasonable?
1. Look up papers in the field. How many authors are on the papers?
2. Are all the papers coming out of one or two labs?
3. How much optimization is required?4. Will this project win the Nobel Prize?
Is the project reasonable?
1. Look up papers in the field. How many authors are on the papers?
2. Are all the papers coming out of one or two labs?
3. How much optimization is required?4. Will this project win the Nobel Prize?
Part 2. Project
Project options Risk vs. reward
Back up projects
Publications and meetings
Collaborations in and out of the lab
“In my rotation, you said guaranteed/One year first author is all I would need/But you just lied/Lied, lied, lied,
but you just lied.”I
“Bad Project”, Zheng lab (Baylor College of Medicine), youtube
Part 1. The Mentor
What type of relationship “Hands-on” vs. “Hands-off” What do you need to work best?
Travel schedule and availability
Time commitment Policy on vacations, weekends, classes
Past mentoring experience Previous grad students? How long were they
there and what are they doing now?
Publications and meetings
Part 3. Funding
Can he/she pay my bills? Short-term Long-term
RePORTER (http://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm)
Predoctoral Fellowships NRSAs (individual) NIH Training Grants (university)
If there is trouble…
Step 1: Talk to your mentor or a PI you trust
Step 2: Consult your program director
Step 3: Talk to Dr. Horn
THERE ARE ALWAYS OPTIONS!
Anticipating change
Transitioning into grad school Your first semester is especially challenging, but it
won’t stay that way
You will probably feel mediocre/pathetic/stupid/ill-prepared/alone/lost/etc…it’s normal and it’s not true
It is possible to invest a lot of time into something that doesn’t work
Sometimes, no one knows the answer
Be proud of your challenges…they build character
Helpful reading
At the Bench: a laboratory navigator. Kathy Barker
MA Schwartz. “The importance of stupidity in scientific research.” J Cell Sci (2008) 121:1771
K Powell. “When personalities clash.” Nature (2006) 439:758.
K Powell. “Mentoring mismatch.” Nature (2006) 440:964
