Monday, March 7, 2011

Getting through the first hitch

I’m just finishing up my 2nd rotation and would begin the 3rd very soon. Following that, I’d have to decide a lab and then at some point decide what my thesis would be on – my research for the next few years of my life.

In contrast to the European system, I think for most students (definitely for someone like me as I was not sure what exactly I wanted to work on) rotation is a very good way to decide what kind of work you like and also if you fit in a particular lab, so on and so forth. Halfway through this rotation, I think I have an idea of what I want to study and also beginning to get a hang of what kind of lab culture do I fit into.

Once you figure out these things and join a lab, the next big thing would be picking up a problem to work on. Though I haven’t been there yet, it is a good thing to know where the field you’re interested in is right now and what are the questions you can ask and also answer them. This reminded me of an article I read a year back that Uri Alon wrote – How to choose a good problem. For all those considering research and just about to begin to narrow down what you really like, this is a great resource. Ultimately, you do want to do what you truly enjoy but this gives an insight into things that you’re probably not thinking of right now. To give you a flavour look at this picture he draws. I think it is a really well thought out one and only a person with a lot of insight and who’s been there, done that can come up with something like this.

2 comments:

  1. "... what kind of lab culture I fit into." was the first line that popped out to me even before I started reading -- weirdly trippy on a bio-tech blog :)

    Rotation sounds like a really good idea. Always better than getting married off to a prof (and her lab) even before you land.

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  2. @Vasanth - Now that you pointed it out, yeah it does sound funny!
    Hope you're having fun time with your work.

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