Interrupted!

I've been thinking more about being constantly interrupted in lab. It breaks my concentration and it takes time to refocus on a task. It doesn't happen too often at the bench, but often at my desk when I'm trying to concentrate/work through something. As a solution, I think I'm going to try and make signs that let people know if it's OK to bother me or not. Plugging into my iPod hasn't worked so well. Hopefully this will be a successful experiment. I can just point to the sign if someone tries to interrupt, and I avoid feeling like a complete jerk by telling someone I can't talk to them right away, which seems like the expectation when someone is standing there looking impatient.

Back after 5 months- and postdocs still have issues.

OK, I've taken way too long off this blog. But I am now determined to do this more than ever as a writing/communication exercise. "Nature" did a whole issue (the news section, at least) and part of their web page to the value of a Ph.D and problems with the system of academia the world over. It is a hard system to be a part of. Though I can feel proud to be a Ph.D. at some level, I can't help but think I'm one of the ones who isn't "worthy" of it. The big issue is that there are too many Ph.D.'s and postdocs, so we're clogging the system and may give it a heart attack sometime soon. Although I know I might be smarter than average (I caught a pretty egregious error in the Washington Post crossword today...), but it does seem like the pressure is to be more perfect (this seems to be a pressure in society generally too). Not only do your own specialized research, but network, learn to be an economist, internet guru, expert communicator, master whole new fields in a single bound! That said, my research is going better lately- which is a welcome change. And I'm slightly more optimistic about my future too, which is also good. Let's hope I continue to feel more positive, despite what seems to be a permanently bleak outlook for a Ph.D.'s the world over. Science is amazing, the business side of it seems to continue to get worse.

Not sure how I did with this post...going to cut myself a slight break since I haven't posted for a long time and I don't write nearly enough.

Related articles

• Education: The PhD factory (nature.com)

The future as a postdoc?

I read a report in "Science" the other day talking about the state of the scientific workforce. It was a bleak picture for the most part, particularly with regard to how postdocs are invisible in many ways (this may be improving a little bit). There are too many of us to all get scarce academic jobs (what the current system primarily trains us for), many private companies that might hire us are choosing to hire overseas due to the lower cost of labor. So where does that leave the current generation of postdocs who are highly educated and specialized? To fend for ourselves for the most part. To do the best we can and explore more than just research as a career. I hope the picture will improve, but for now it's stress and pressure (like in many other fields- but typically, we're not paid as much as other professionals). I know there's a drum beat in the United States to train more scientists, engineers and mathematicians. I'm all for a more educated populace and science is amazing for what it provides, but the business side of it is currently not a pretty picture from where I currently sit.

Explaining nature to those who don't study it intensely.

An increasingly urgent and new job of practicing scientists (and not just our representatives who are journalists or the PR department of a university or professional society) is to explain our work to people in the general public who's money we use to further human knowledge. 

I can speak to the fact that it's hard when I get asked by family/friends "how are the plants?"...that's such a broad question and I struggle to explain how my research is going without getting the blank stare back. I understand this to some extent, they're not molecular biologists, don't tend to think of biological organisms as machines that are capable or adaptation and interact in a very dynamic way with their environment like us researchers do. I can also say it's the wrong question to ask- "What have you been doing?" strikes me as a better question to ask a scientist. Asked that way, I feel I can better explain some of the experiments I'm doing in terms that might be more understandable- though it does get complicated when explaining some of the tools I use in my work too.

But I guess when I get asked "how are the plants?" I'll do my best to explain what I've been up to in the lab (and perhaps tell some other stories from the literature that I  find fascinating). It's something we as scientists are going to have to get better at- our work is important- maybe not immediately, but in the long run, innovation and invention drive the economy and provide us with all the great products we enjoy in modern life.

Experimental failures.

I know that science is riddled with failed experiments, many of which are actually informative (and some great discoveries were made through "mistakes"), though mostly unpublishable. I take most experiments that don't seem to work out actually pretty hard- especially ones where it's hard to conclude much from except that I've messed up somehow. The pressure to make progress and get results is intense, not to mention the expensive nature of many experiments these days and the focus on the short term grant cycle vs. long term arcs that larger scientific stories and progress tend to take. I'm not sure how to deal with all of this very well. I can go back and try an experiment again of course, I can not be a hyper-perfectionist, and I am really working on trying to enjoy the process of science and rise above the stress of it all. All easier said than done, of course. I know science is of vital importance, but the practice of it is often highly psychologically stressful.

Timing.

I just got back from Thanksgiving weekend at my parents. I spent 15 hours in a car on the way back and have been kind of out of it so far this week. I keep finding that it's hard to focus on lots of things at once, which is sort of required to work in a lab, but isn't good for my efficiency- I prefer one thing at a time that requires my full attention. I have been slowly getting organized and am generating things I need to do experiments, but the lab is a distracting environment to be in just now. Going to try and take a deep breath and plunge along. 

A few weeks later....

OK, so I've neglected my blog...cardinal rule 1 of blogging I hear is to keep posting consistently/changing content/keeping it interesting..let's see if I can make a habit of that. 

My last post was how I'm feeling about science as an industry in 2010 and the thoughts about it still cause me a great deal of stress. I have made some slow progress in my actual research after dealing with a setback of an insect infestation where we as a department had to throw out a lot of plants....but some progress, some good experiments designed at least, hopefully I can carry them out soon. So I guess I'm forging ahead despite the seemingly grim realities. I know a few experiments that are to come, but still have no idea about my longer future. 

Here's a short "This I believe" essay by Anthony Fauci (it has a lot of the reasons I like science in it), one of those "rock star" scientists- I find what he wrote interesting..especially that part about striving for excellence and having constant low grade anxiety (to be sure, mine seems ratcheted up more than his):

"A Goal of Service to Humankind"

OK, signing off from postdoc street. Til next time.