The following is a letter for new colleagues joining the lab, written with graduate students in mind.
October 18, 2017
Dear New Colleague,
Congratulations on joining the Everhart Lab! I am pleased that you will be joining our team and welcome you to the Department of Plant Pathology. This will be an exciting chapter in your career. It should also be an enjoyable and memorable time of your life. It is my goal is to help you achieve your highest potential. Keep in mind that unlike undergraduate education, you are responsible for guiding and seeking out opportunities to expand your skills and knowledge.
As you begin your career as a scientist, I encourage you to become involved with the trajectory of your career early on. This is a rewarding but also a challenging and competitive field of research. You will grow professionally and personally. It is important for you to focus on topics important for your research project and also gain experience relevant to where you want to go after graduate school. Although you are probably aware of many of the challenges of graduate school, such as strategic planning and stress management, graduate school will challenge you in ways you probably won’t expect. But don’t let this intimidate you! We all went through this and survived. Here are some more specific suggestions:
Getting to this point in your educational training means you have already demonstrated that you have considerable ability and a track record of being able to apply yourself. Now you need to remain active and productive in your science and to give it high priority. I expect you to show initiative in developing your research project. I encourage you in this and am always happy to suggest ideas or act as a sounding board. You will have opportunities via your courses and our regular lab meetings to express your research ideas. I also encourage you to read widely and keep an “ideas” notebook to develop your research ideas and take notes from seminars and conversations/presentations at professional meetings.
Keeping up with the scientific literature is an important aspect of your research that should not be neglected. Try to scan journal contents and read abstracts of papers that you find interesting or relevant for at least a few hours per week. Read key papers thoroughly and critically asking: How did they approach this question? What methods did they use? Were they appropriate? What conclusions did they reach? Are they justified? What further questions does this work raise? Review papers and edited volumes can be particularly useful to introduce new areas, but don’t rely on these alone. Remember that science is an incremental process where we often add one piece at a time. Your job is to figure out which piece needs to be added next and how to do that.
Despite the popularized image of a lone scientist, the reality is that science is actually quite social.
Your peers and other scientists will represent a key source of ideas, references, feedback, and skills. By joining our lab group, you have become a member of the team. We have a regularly scheduled lab meeting most weeks to encourage interaction, as well as to present ideas to each other and plan our schedules and equipment needs. You’re expected to attend and participate actively in these or let me know when you can’t. The culture of our field of work is unique in that it is very professional and goal driven but can also be a collaborative and fun team environment. Our lab is a great place to work hard among highly motivated people, in friendly and accepting environment.
But don’t limit yourself to just people in our lab group! As a new graduate student, you have license to pester senior grad students, postdocs, and faculty – use it! By traveling to meetings or other labs, you’ll have the opportunity to meet and talk with scientists from elsewhere, gaining the benefit of distinct perspectives, a chance to try out your ideas on a fresh audience, and perhaps pave the way for a collaborative research opportunity or future job.
Within our lab, we share equipment and supplies, and often assist each other when faced with time-sensitive or labor-intensive tasks. Please help out when you can (and ask when you need help). Also, share in routine lab neatness and cleaning. Be considerate of others. From time to time, I will also ask you to assist with other tasks (ie. reviewing a paper). As you gain confidence and experience, expect to share your time and ideas with junior graduate students and undergraduates who will need your help or supervision. Recall that most of us are receptive to reciprocity and are more inclined to help, share ideas with, and trust those that we see as generous with their own time and ideas.
My role as your advisor is to encourage you, coach you, provide constructive feedback on your ideas, analyses, and writing, and to collaborate on research. This is the main reason we are both here. Below are ways that I will try to assist you as I can in helping you develop your ideas, choose a research project, and refine your approach. Specifically, I will:
In exchange, I expect you to:
If time and energy permit, you might also consider doing a “side” project. These sometimes become as (or more) important than main projects you’re working on. Please keep me informed of these as well.
I am pleased to advise you on your academic program. Expect your Ph.D. to take about 5-6 years from the BA/BS, and MS to take no more than 2.5 years. You should try to assemble your graduate committee as soon as possible and regularly update them on your progress and plans. It will be your job (and not always easy) to schedule committee meetings, distribute background materials, pre-lim proposals or theses, and to assemble the relevant materials at these meetings. Remember, these are the folks who will be giving you your pre-lim exam and eventually writing letters of recommendation for you so that you have a better chance of getting the job you’re hoping for.
Scientists are judged via the currency of published research results. A high quality record of first-author publications can be a ticket to a good job. This gives publication its pre-eminent importance in the scientific enterprise. In addition, it helps explain why some of us are touchy on the subject of originality and priority.
From the start, think about your own research in terms of the publications that will result from it. Research that goes unpublished might as well never have been done from the point of view of the rest of the scientific community. Try to see your experiments and results in terms of what papers they will lead to, and write the protocols with a view toward the Methods sections that they will become.
Clear and effective writing is important in science. I take it seriously and I expect you to, too. There are books about writing scientific papers, but imitating what you are reading in terms of excellent papers is perhaps even more useful. Be familiar with the topics and styles of different journals and attempt to match your writing, in length, style, and format, to the particular journal you are aiming for. This isn’t always easy. Exactly what is written form your work will also depend on the context, so ask me and your peers if you are uncertain.
In addition, I suggest that you ask for editorial comments from me early, so I can give constructive suggestions and guide you to areas of your writing that may need more attention. I will always try to give you detailed suggestions on your writing, particularly on jointly authored proposals and papers. Please go through these carefully and try to learn from them. If I’ve taken more than 2 weeks with something, bug me about it.
While you are focused initially on the immediate demands of graduate school, let me know early where you want to be headed – academia? small or large school? industry or extension? This will help us both make strategic decisions that might affect job or career prospects later. I also pledge to assist you in finding a suitable position following graduation - telling you of suitable positions, providing letters of reference, etc. If I feel that I cannot write you a positive letter, I will say so.
Please share with me your reactions to these expectations. In addition, please come to me first if you are dissatisfied with my interactions with you, or anyone in the lab. I will do what I can to resolve these issues, or suggest a course of action. I would also appreciate hearing whether you found this letter useful. Communication is crucial, so stay in touch on a regular basis. I look forward to working with you.
Sincerely,
Advisor & Mentor