Summer Research and Reading

I have three research students this summer. The first one started a week ago and was by herself but now she has company. Two of my students are new to my lab. I trained the first student last week and she proved to be a quick learner and very capable of working independently. I think she’s going to make good progress this summer on her project. One of the students who started today is also new so I’m just getting her started on the training process. The other worked for me last semester as part of our required Research Methods course. He will be continuing his project from last semester, which turned out to be quite challenging. That’s what happens when you’re doing research – sometimes you have to try many things before you start to make some headway. I did have a brainwave a couple of weeks ago on his project so he’s excited about trying two parallel approaches to the problem he’s working on. I look forward to seeing what comes out of it.

My philosophy is to give my students their own individual projects to work on, some of which can be quite different from what others are doing. They are inter-related though, so my students can help each other to some extent but they don’t feel like they are competing against each other. (Some labs, none in my department, actually set up students in competition with each other.) However this also means I have to keep track of projects that vary in scope. During the summer, I require my students to write weekly updates that are then compiled into a final report at the conclusion of the summer project. Now that everyone is here we can also start having “group meetings” where students present updates on their research to each other. Both the writing and the oral presentations are good practice and are an important part of their education. We will also have some mini-classes where I teach them “theory” that goes beyond what they have encountered in class.

Summer is also a good time for me to catch up on research-related reading. In fact it was from skimming an article on a different (but related) topic a couple of weeks ago that I had my brainwave to move my student’s project further. I’m not sure exactly how these ideas come up. It may be that “chance favors the prepared mind” although sometimes when I get an idea, it feels like it comes out of the blue! I may not have done any reading beforehand and it’s like a zap of lightning or perhaps en-lightening!

Harry Potter has a similar epiphany in the chapters that I read yesterday night. I’m working my way through Book 7. (I had decided to re-read all the books as part of starting this new blog seven months ago so it seems fitting that I’m now on the last book!) At this juncture, our three main protagonists visit Xenophilius Lovegood, listen to the Tale of the Three Brothers, and are introduced to the Deathly Hallows. Harry draws the threads together and things suddenly make sense to him despite Hermione’s arguments against Harry’s narrative. He can’t satisfactorily answer all Hermione’s questions and counter-arguments but he has this sense that he has synthesized together a compelling idea. I remember when I read this for the very first time I had this sudden excitement – that’s why the book is called Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Wow! (The follow-up epiphany that Harry has in Shell Cottage when he makes his decision is another great part of the story – but I haven’t gotten to it in my current re-read.)

I’m looking forward to having the big encompassing “aha!” moment in my overarching research program. That hasn’t happened yet although I’m not surprised. I’m working on a fun, difficult problem with many avenues to investigate. Back when I was a relatively new faculty member, I attended a seminar by a famous chemist named George Whitesides and one thing he said really struck me. In speaking to younger scientists (he was addressing the students in the audience), he exhorted them not to take the easy path. He said that we scientists should be working on something that is difficult but interesting and meaningful, and not just pick the “safe” projects. Prof. Whitesides practices what he preaches and his interests are wide-ranging. I’m glad that I’ve taken his advice at least for the most part, however I’m a pragmatist (and perhaps not as clever or well-resourced as him). Therefore the projects I give students tend to have some “safe” aspects in the sense that I’d like my students to get some results as part of their education in research. It can be quite discouraging to be on a blue-sky project that yields nothing. Then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Should one go after Hallows or Horcruxes? Hmmm. I’ll have to think about that a bit more