What next?

I spent yesterday visiting a lab at another university, as a potential post-doc. In general, I have been moving forward with my phd advisor on plans to continue work with him, for at least a short period of time. There's plenty of things to do and great opportunities for training in our facilities, and well, it is the easy thing to do. But, I know that the best thing for my career would be to step away at some point as well. At a conference last fall I had a great conversation with this other PI, and I think my advisor must have really talked me up as the other PI essentially offered me a post-doc slot back then. He invited me over to visit this spring and give a talk, which I did yesterday. It was definitely a good visit. I met with people from several of his related labs, and gave a reduced version of my defense to 12-15 people, mostly students. They've got some cool research going on there that would allow me to continue my interests but in a slightly different vein. And, the one post-doc already in the lab has a somewhat similar background as me so we talked about possibly collaborating on something in that area as well. It was a bit odd in that there wasn't any aspect that felt like an interview. At one point when driving with the PI between two locations, he said that he wants to add one more post-doc and that the slot is mine if I want it. He's got funding for the position for several years and isn't talking to any one else. It sounded like he wanted a decision by summer-time, but I need to confirm. I expected there to be a point at the end of the day where we'd sit down, but there wasn't. After visiting and hanging out with different people, we ate out with many in his lab. That lasted late then it was time to drive home. So one thing that is unclear to me is what his expectations would be - is the funding for specific research projects? It appeared like it could be a little open-ended. I'll follow up this week - first I need to send some thank-you emails today. Then, I'll have some decision-making to do. It is a good lab, and everyone gets along really well. There's the feeling that joining something like that would be intruding on the existing atmosphere...though several others have been added to the lab recently. And, of course, there's the lingering doubt that I'd be exposed if I went somewhere else. I don't have experience doing A, B, or C...I'm more an an experimentalist than someone building a setup or designing modeling code. Neither of those are required in that lab, though many do something similar. It would be cool to live in a new place, though moving will not be fun (ha). And, I know it would help my career. This PI has only been out of his post-doc for 5 or less years. But, his department position doesn't have any teaching requirements. He's involved in a lot of collaborations, though. Can I get the same training opportunities at this new place? I have a few follow-up questions on that that I'll ask. I wish there was a big sign telling me what to do. haha. Where I'm at now, I can see clear paths that could be taken for several publication-worthy studies. I suppose the same is there for their route, but I don't know well enough. Funny how after I get home I think of more questions to ask, especially to specific individuals. I guess there wasn't always the one-on-one time to do some of that. And, whether or not I go there, today or tomorrow I'm submitting an abstract on the 3rd part of my phd for a conference that this other university is hosting in the fall. I guess that doesn't play into things at all, but it is an interesting aside. Well, even though I got in bed after midnight and couldn't help but wake up by 7, it is time to start moving on the day. Too many things to think about...especially when my current advisor is putting in paperwork to try and get me a specific type of post-doc funding (although coy, he doesn't appear to have clear funds for me - he'd "find a way" if needed).

Journal Club

Over the last few months I've thought of several more good things I'd like to do when a PI. Of course, I don't take the time to write them down and they are forgotten.

One I've remembered is that I would like to have a regular journal club. Eventually I've gotten into a good habit of checking key journal TOCs and keeping tabs on certain authors for new items in my field. And, I can do a decent job of critically reading a paper. But, there are still things that others point out when occasionally discussing a paper. Once or twice early in my grad tenure here we tried to do a club, but there wasn't motivation from the students' side to drive it. Another lab here has regular bi-weekly meetings where a different student presents a new paper. I like this general idea, but would probably limit it to once a month, depending on the size of my lab. I can see that my advisor rarely has time now to effectively read new papers, so as a PI I think it'd be a good opportunity for someone else to review the key points for me. And, it is a good training opportunity for the presenters themselves as well as for others to react to and ask questions in response to the discussion. One thing I'm proposing for my post-doc grant training plan is that I'll initiate and direct a journal club within the lab. If I push it, and find the articles to review (shouldn't take too much work) on maybe a bi-monthly basis, it'd be a good learning experience for future use.

Catching up

I've been terrible at putting thoughts on here (obviously). It has been several weeks now since I completed all requirements for my PhD, and it still feels good. The graduation ceremony next month will be enjoyable. But, now I'm in a crunch time working on a post-doc grant. It isn't due until 6/15 but local approval is needed prior to submission. One of the two local deadlines is on Monday. The grant is in decent shape, without any review from my advisor...which could go down a long path if he micromanages. And, setting up mentors is only piecemeal at this point due to the early review. But, getting this in now will provide enough time to make any changes prior to the real deadline later.

Meanwhile, I want to archive a few interesting posts that I've come across recently:

-I gave another talk yesterday, which went well. I'm getting a lot more comfortable speaking. Of course, it helps that I was 95% repeating my defense which I know like the back of my hand. In the Q&A two senior profs asked questions and provided critical feedback on the future work I proposed - in retrospect I may have talked in circles a little while defending my plans. Not terribly, but thinking about pausing a little longer before answering would be a good thing. Either way, their feedback was good. Here's more good thoughts on preparing for a talk. I'll have to keep them in mind when I give an invited talk next week at a potential future post-doc location.

-This is just a funny vid on efficiently folding a shirt. Maybe I'll take the idea sometime to make my drawers more efficient.

I got through several parts within this series on ethical discussions of animal use in research. It looked to be very thorough and well-worth the time. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6. It looks like there may be more parts posted...

This article has some good thoughts on giving lectures.