Liane articulates many of the thoughts I also had on this subject. I would add that refusing to work independently and creatively as a grad student--thereby protecting your own ideas for later use--could backfire if you ever need your colleagues and supervisors to vouch for your ability to generate and execute independent, creative ideas.
You can learn important methods and critical thinking from a mentor and a lab group in the context of a project that is motivated by your own curiosity and ideas. That, in my opinion, is a favorable situation. Of course the correct approach invariably depends on individual personalities, goals, and unique life situations--grad school is not one-size-fits-all. Cheers, Elsa On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 11:44 AM, Cochran-Stafira, D. Liane <[email protected]>wrote: > Aaron, > I very strongly disagree with your statement about not coming up with your > own research idea. My advisor expected all PhD candidates to work on their > own projects - not feed off of his. Masters level students were held by > the hand much more, and they did projects that were spin-offs from my > mentors line of interest. > > PhD's should be "creative" and the best place to learn this is in grad > school where your creativity can be monitored and mentored. Just working > as another pair of hands in the lab is a waste of time. My mentor asked > only to be second author on the first paper that came from the part of the > project that involved his greatest level of mentoring and help. He clearly > stated that all other papers were solely mine. I have continued to work > with the same system since grad school, and there has been no issue with > him stealing my ideas. > > I learned an incredible amount by working out how to do the experiments I > needed to do; how to carry out statistical analyses I never learned about > in class. I could go on, but you get the idea. I am quite amazed at your > strongly negative opinion about this approach to grad school. And, by the > way, I am one of the 14% (as reported in the a recent article in BioScience > ) of female students who was successful in landing a desired academic > position - so there was no effect on my career. > Liane > > **************************************** > D. Liane Cochran-Stafira, Ph.D. > Associate Professor > Department of Biological Sciences > Saint Xavier University > 3700 West 103rd Street > Chicago, Illinois 60655 > > phone: 773-298-3514 > fax: 773-298-3536 > email: [email protected] > http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/ > > <http://faculty.sxu.edu/~cochran/> > > _______________________________ > From: Aaron T. Dossey <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 8:25 PM > Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Advice for 36 year old trying to get into M.S. > program > > If you do for some reason (which I cannot currently imagine) to go to > graduate school, here is some advice that will help you get the most out of > it without putting the future of your career at risk: 1) pick a very > HANDS-ON professor who spends a lot of time with his or her students and > postdocs (eg: they spend lots of time in the lab) in a successful lab with > a great reputation (lots of publications, with students and postdocs who > have left it and have successful careers currently who can attribute it to > having worked in that lab) and 2) insist that you ONLY will work on work > that is from the professor's own ideas - from their grants and based on > their ideas. Do not fall into the trap of working for a professor who > expects you to come up with your own projects. You are there to learn from > them primarily, and also to do parts of their research. If you already > have a certain skillset and can come up with your own research projects and > successfully > execute them, you do NOT need to be a student (at least in that lab). > Pick a lab and a professor who have a lot to offer you in the form of > TRAINING, connections and projects likely to be very fruitful. > > IF and when you have your own ideas you want to pursue, keep a log book of > those and save those for when you graduate and are on your own/independent. > Otherwise, it can get ugly. Many professors will, to put it bluntly, > steal credit and reward for your ideas and independent work. Might as well > avoid that pitfall and keep everyone happy (and keep you learning) by doing > whatever work originates from the professor - besides, it's their job to > drive the research and come up with the ideas. > > Basically, pick a prof and lab who seems to have YOUR CAREER INTERESTS at > heart and act like it. >
