After reading the article ‘How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists. Part I: taking the plunge’, I pondered for a while and started asking various strange questions to myself- ‘Is Science really an arena where I want to consecrate my whole life? Am I going to get what I want in the future or at least what I deserve after all my devotion and commitment to this field? Am I going to be happy by embracing this field?’ These questions ran through my mind like a swirling river. It actually covered me with a black cloud of disappointment for a while. I want to attain PhD in biomedical research but I found this article directly pointing to the career that I have always dreamt of. I seriously stopped for a while, closed my eyes and imagined what will happen to me and my dreams if what the writer in the article has written actually happen in reality. As I moved, I found this article more amusing than shuddery and then I decided to continue reading.
I agree the fact that the future of a scientist depends a lot on serendipity but we can do a lot to shape our luck. One who knows how to dance can definitely expect a better luck in a dance floor than one who can’t move his limbs. The writer’s words are also very encouraging. Science is definitely challenging but it does create discoveries. The writer has done a fantastic job by explaining the very minute details that a student should think of in his career for example choosing a mentor or a laboratory. I do choose my mentor whenever I sign up for any class. Before taking a class, I talk to people who have already taken that class with that mentor. I ask them how he/she is as a mentor, his/her way of explicating materials, his/her ability to make the students understand what he/she is saying and of course his grading styles. The way how the writer elaborated the importance of a good mentor in a research lab by giving the example of the story of rabbit and fox is outstanding. Besides that, some tips that he has provided in his article which are crucial to pursue a Science career with success are really helpful to us. He has also made an immense attempt to aware the students that a career in Science not only requires commitment but also talents. If someone can work as hard as Hercules but cannot grab anything related to Science, then it’s beneficial for him to seek some other paths. This article has significant relation with my life, especially with my intended career. I always think what if I don’t get what I want later in my life. To get something that I want, I need to get ready from now. I talk to myself about the commitment I need and the talents that I need to have, to obtain my goals. I did ponder if I will be happy and if I will be in the position that I want to be before choosing Science as my career in high school and college. I excogitated my talents and the limit of my hard-work before pursuing a Science career. I am also sure that I will continue following these principles when I move closer and closer to my intended career.
After reading the Part II of the same article, I became more optimistic. Unlike in Part I where the writer has primarily focused on what do the students need to have a successful career, he has emphasized on what they need to do in order to achieve what they want in this part. Commitment and talents are important but the writer has also underscored the fact that choosing an experiment, designing it, learning how to do it and believing in his/her luck are the crucial factors for a student to flourish. Optimism is required. Willingness to discover something new that will be remunerative for the world is mandatory. Exploring yourself in the field where your heart, not your brain wants you to be in is a requirement. If we have willingness to do something, we should do it. I like how he mentioned “the outcome of the perfect training experience is that you leave the laboratory thinking that your mentor is a good person, but a bit dumb” (Yewdell). He is not encouraging us to think that our mentor is dumb but is urging us to widen the horizon of our willingness to do something. He is urging us to be more anxious as well as more positive about doing something. He wants us to feel that we are doing something for fun not to achieve our goal. I have always tried to come up with my own ideas, tried to use them in an appropriate sector and have always tried to interpret them in the best way. I always trust my luck. I will definitely follow all these when I approach to my intended career.
In the article ‘The importance of stupidity in Science’, Schwartz is trying to explain us how stupidity is fruitful in Science in a hilarious way. I like how he mentioned in his article that we think that we like Science because we are good at it. Getting right answers to the question makes us feel smart but that is not true and this can lead us somewhere that we don’t belong to. He wants us to be very careful about that and then take a right decision. Besides, he also wants us to be stupid but in a productive way. He is encouraging us not to get scared to attempt for something thinking that we might get a wrong result but to learn how to deal with something that is wrong. He is emphasizing the fact that more stupidity creates more knowledge which ultimately leads to big discoveries. I second his belief that stupidity is required for success. Stupidity might open the hidden ideas. Stupidity of course broadens our level of understanding and sometimes can also help us to know something that we don’t have enough idea of.
Overall, these three articles gave me a very good idea of how I should prepare for my intended career, what I should do, how I should handle everything and what actually will make me different than others. These are not only related to my life but also with my career that I am going to pursue.
Source Cited::
Yewdell, Jonathan W. "How to Succeed in Science: a Concise Guide for Young Biomedical Scientists. Part I: Taking the Plunge." Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology 9.5 (2008): 413-16. Print.
Yewdell, Jonathan W. "Access : How to Succeed in Science: a Concise Guide for Young Biomedical Scientists. Part II: Making Discoveries : Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology." Nature Publishing Group : Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.nature.com/nrm/journal/v9/n6/full/nrm2390.html>.
Schwartz, Martin A. "The Importance of Stupidity in Scientific Research -- Schwartz 121 (11): 1771 -- Journal of Cell Science." The Company of Biologists Ltd: Journal of Cell Science
. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://jcs.biologists.org/cgi/content/full/121/11/1771>.
I definitely agree with you regarding your thoughts in choosing a PI. In your view what qualities a PI should have to become a good PI?
ReplyDelete