On Science

Some people find it odd that scientists have a doctorate in philosophy, as we don’t really get paid to sit around and philosophize about the meaning of life and our existence. I would argue that scientists are indeed philosophers, only we seek to identify fundamental truths about the physical world. What is beautiful about science is that we get to philosophize (i.e., hypothesize) about how things work, but then get to test if we were right. When characterizing a hypothetical gene, for example, we are discovering something that has not previously been known to be true. We generate testable mechanistic hypotheses about what this gene may do in the cell, and we slowly discover something new. Once we have the answer, we can ask more ‘philosophical’ questions like, “Why would a cell evolve to carry out this reaction?” or “How do the millions of reactions happening in the cell simultaneously coordinate to generate a living system?”. For people who want to understand how the world works, how everything fits together, and how it all came to be, research is an excellent avenue. Science is one of the few modern careers where one can get paid a decent amount to philosophize, and this is one of the primary reasons I have chosen the career path of academia.

While there are applied findings within our research, the work in our lab will be mechanistic, reductionist, and basic. My favorite projects involve taking an uncharacterized gene (preferably an acetyltransferase) and characterizing it. If you want to join my lab, you should ask yourself if this will fulfill you. Some scientists prefer more applied approaches, where you harness known biological mechanisms to solve big picture problems (i.e. using metal reducing bacteria to clean up wastewater, developing strains that are more efficient industrial fermenters, developing probiotics to treat IBS, etc.). I prefer highly mechanistic research, where we hypothesize the role of a gene in the cell, and test the hypothesis five different ways to ensure we are correct. If we use the metal reducing bacteria example from above, our lab is more interested in finding the genes that carry out the metal reduction, rather than finding the environmental impact of the metal reduction process. I agree strongly with the sentiments in a particular article from 1939, titled, “The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge”.

On Mentoring

Aside from obtaining grants, mentoring is my number one priority in my career. It is important for me to be available for mentees to answer questions ranging from, “what do I dissolve this pesky chemical in to get it into solution?” to “do you think this small molecule needs to be acetylated to control cell survival?”. I have an open door policy, it doesn’t matter what I am working on, if a mentee has a question they can enter my office and ask. I will put down what I am doing to pay attention and be present. Socializing is also my favorite procrastination technique and I enjoy walking around the lab to see what others are working on.

I take an empathetic individual-based approach to leadership. I believe each person has their own set of strengths and values that they bring to a group, and I find it important to get to know each other personally, to build trust and understanding in moments of conflict. I do not need to know everything happening in your life, but I do like to know the moments of your life that define who you are. In leadership, you must first understand yourself, then others, then how those others fit into the community, and then how your community fits into the world. I use the following concepts to guide myself as a leader:

1.     Leaders seek to understand

2.     Relationships are the currency of power

3.     Leaders are optimists that refuse to be paralyzed by fear

4.     Time is valuable

5.     Everyone has the chance to be heroic

6.     Authenticity trumps everything

I will ask my mentees to take a leadership based test, Strengths Finder 2.0. This assessment is used by universities across the country to aid in developing incoming students into well balanced leaders. The idea is that you can make more progress in yourself by harnessing your strengths, rather than improving your weaknesses. Knowing everyone’s strengths in the lab will help me organize groups, ask for tasks to be completed from members, and help mentor you to find your own mentoring style. My top five strengths are: 1. Harmony, 2. Communication, 3. Developer, 4. Woo, and 5. Empathy. All of my strengths are within influencing and relationship building categories, while incoming graduate students tend to lean towards strategic and executing strengths. In addition to developing my mentees into mentors, I seek to help my lab members find their ideal career path. Perhaps you already know your career goal, but if not, I encourage students to take the IDP AAAS assessment. I will work with you to find the best scientific and extracurricular activities to achieve your career goals.

On Work-Life Balance

I respect the need for humans to have a work-life balance that fits their lifestyle. This will look different for everyone, especially considering we are not cogs in a machine meant to serve the exact same roles in life. It’s important to rest, and connect with family and friends outside of work. I expect my students to work a minimum of 40 hours a week (with exceptions for those with chronic illnesses or disabilities). Getting a Ph.D is a lot of work, and therefore work must be put in. Research will throw you around and spit you out, it takes YEARS to discover something new, and that can become discouraging after coming from an undergraduate degree, where milestones are clearly laid out and checked off each semester. You will compare yourself to your peers, to your past self, and your mentors. Don’t do that! It’s useless and will get you nowhere. Find healthy outlets to this stress (socializing, therapy, meditation, etc.), but know that a Ph.D. will never be stress-less. I have high expectations for my mentees, so do not think that because I support work-life balance that I will go easy on you. There is a healthy amount of push and pressure that one must feel to get work done. But I do believe in leading by example, and I know it is possible to break the academic norms and still succeed. In graduate school I had a no-work-on-the-weekends policy and I tended to work 9-5. This was optimal for my productivity, and I was able to get 8 first author papers from my Ph.D. I say this not to show-off, but to say that one does not have to work 80 hours a week to be an academic. I support students who find that 80 hour work weeks fit their work-life-balance the best, but I do not hold anyone to a higher moral status because of it. Unless there is an urgent matter, I will not respond to emails on the weekend or after 6:30 pm on weekdays. You can choose what your boundaries are for email.

For transparency with taking time off: I provide lab members with 20 days of vacation, in addition to UGA holidays (https://www.uga.edu/holiday-schedule). This will give you 33 days off per year. You can choose to come in on holidays and accumulate days off to apply to a different part of the year. I only ask that you email me to tell me when you will be gone and add it to the lab calendar, so that others in the lab know when you are out. If you are affected by a chronic illness or disability, please let me know so we can change this policy on an individual basis. I will not monitor your daily schedule (unless it becomes a problem) and if you need to leave during the day to run an errand, go to a doctor’s appointment, etc., you can just go do it and not tell me. This freedom is a huge pro of academia, and I suggest you take advantage of it.