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Issue 71 September 2010 A NEWSLETTER OF THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY UNSOLICITED ADVICE Eugene Martin My first week of graduate school, back at the University of Florida, was This last part sometimes requires an intervention. a lab course focused on molecular and protein analysis techniques. The fact that you’re getting a doctorate in Biology makes friends When I asked the professor why we were doing these techniques, he and relatives ask you about their health issues. Even after explaining basically said, “Over the last few years we’ve realized that a lot of you the difference between ap h.d. and an m.d they will still assume you’re [first year students] are terrible at them.” Let there be no mistake, after being trained as an m.d. That said, I urge you not to diagnose the mala- that first week of graduate school I was still pretty terrible at these tech- dies of your friends and relatives. It’s fun when you’re correct, but it is niques, but I also learned my first lesson of graduate school—I wasn’t so easy to be wrong. And then it’s a knock on your credibility and it supposed to know how to do science yet. It’s nice to be reminded that puts people at risk. Secondly, when people have incurable diseases, it graduate school is a place to admit what you don’t know, be it a tech- is tempting to tell them about the potential science has for that disease. nique, concept, or fact, and then to try to fill If you choose to do this, do so with caution. the important gaps. Someone suffering or scared often doesn’t I’ve been learning ever since that being want to hear about potential, they want to successful in science requires more than be- hear about a treatment. ing good at science. Since my first week, I’ve On the topic of friends, networking is gotten what I believe to be excellent advice1 actually an easy, natural, and moral thing from mentors across the spectrum of disci- to do. Networking, which you’ll hear about plines and experience levels. I’d like to share all the time as you get closer to graduation, is some of that advice2. not about giving your business card to every When choosing a lab, find a good man- stranger you meet. Instead, it is the simple, ager. If your current lab head isn’t a good but long-term, act of maintaining the rela- manager, try to coax him or her into becom- tionships that are formed naturally. When ing a good one. A lot of management is sim- you meet someone who is interested in your ply assigning tasks to the right person, mak- work, or if you’re interested in theirs, get ing sure he or she can complete the task, and their contact information. And then, once then motivating the person to complete it in a month, spend a day e-mailing, calling, or a timely fashion. As the schedule of complet- setting up lunch dates to let them know what ing graduate school is often defined as little you’ve been up to and to ask what they’ve more than “4 to 7” years, it really helps to have been doing. This should feel totally natural, someone who can put order into the lack of like picking up the conversation where you structure. For those who need to learn how last left off. to help coax their current lab head into being Moving towards the business side of Cartoon by Rossana Henriques a better manager, start by consulting a men- science, many of us, myself included, don’t toring plan3. know how to put a value on ourselves or what we do. Read a book on On the point of ending one’s graduate education: it is nice to be cut- how to negotiate. While science is an idealistic field, the ability to do ting edge in your experiments; it is nice to get publications in Science or it ebbs and flows with politics and money, just as many other careers Nature; but graduate school is only the first step in a long career. That do. We all need to know that we’re the ones responsible for our cur- is, one of the most important parts of going to graduate school (or do- rent state, our future, and the field’s future. Before you leave Rockefeller ing postdoctoral training) is to complete it. You should always try to be University, make sure you have the tools to do that well. Grabbing an running two experiments at the same time: a bold, interesting, high risk occasional book from the business section of the bookstore is a good but high pay-off experiment and a safe, incremental, low risk but guar- way to start getting these tools. anteed-results experiment. The prior is one of the joys of science; the And, as a final note, Professor Richard Axel gave many postdocs latter is a practical way to make sure that you’re always moving forward. and myself advice just last month. To paraphrase: “Science is enjoyable. Speaking of guaranteed results, there are none. Somewhere in the Enjoy what you do.” ◉ sixth year of graduate school or prior, this gets depressing. It is impor- References: tant to remember two things: the most beneficial time to talk to your lab 1. For advice from people in science who have achieved greatness, see Ramon head and committee is when things aren’t working. If you feel stupid or y Cajal’s Advice for a Young Investigator and P.B. Medawar‘s Advice to a like a failure, remember that this is training. If you knew how to do ev- Young Scientist; Fiske’s Put Your Science to Work is also excellent. erything, you would be a professor already. Secondly, while persistence 2.This article has been reposted at incubator.rockefeller.edu; I hope that other is a key to success, it’s equally important to know when you’re wasting people offer their own comments and advice in the comments section. good time on a problem that you’ve spent too much time on already. 3. www.nationalpostdoc.org/publications/mentoring-plans/mentoring-plan Science Blogs on Climate Change Jeanne Garbarino Editorial Board EDITORIAL BOARD Summer has come and gone and the air and the subsequent increases in tempera- Jeanne Garbarino has a certain crispness to it, indicating that tures. One of the most well-written blogs Carly Gelfond autumn is near. Another round of warmth in support of this theory is “Skeptical Sci- Melina Herman followed by a round of cooling—the nor- ence,” authored primarily by John Cook, Collene Lawhorn mal seasonal change that we New York- who, although he studied physics in college Adria Le Boeuf ers have come to know and love (or hate). and graduate school, is not a climate scien- Joseph Luna Sure, we had a few really hot days, but those tist. In fact, he is not associated with any Aileen Marshall moments are just blips in our memories. climate institution and does not get paid to Eugene Martin Should we truly note the feeling as if we keep up his blog. He sifts through the peer- Engin Ozertugrul were in an outdoor sauna as unusual? In reviewed literature and presents it to us, the fact, have we been witnessing a substantial public, in a language that can be readily un- Tobias Reichenbach climate change without even realizing it? derstood. As he says on his site, “Skeptical Susan Russo Unless you are a hermit, you are probably Science” is “strictly a labor of love.” The site Jeff Smith aware of the climate debate raging between is maintained nearly everyday, with posts selections.rockefeller.edu scientists and politicians. However, a ma- such as “Newcomers start here” and “Of [email protected] jority of us are not atmospheric physicists satellites and temperatures.” However, the considers himself a global warming “skep- and our attempts to dive into the litera- most relevant section is named simply “Ar- tic,” Anthony Watts also considers him- ture written by climate scientists can often guments.” In this section, Cook lists 119 ar- self “green.” He drives an electric car and prove to be quite difficult given the amount guments presented by non-agw scientists promotes the idea of alternate energy. As of technical jargon associated with such re- and provides apparent counterevidence for this article is being written, the headlin- ports. Therefore, in honor of Climate Week each argument, including data extracted ing post on this site describes a new paper nyc 2010 (September 20 to 26; www.cli- from peer-reviewed articles. Given the re- whereby the original “hockey stick” graph, mateweeknyc.org), I have resorted to the cent Rockefeller University lecture given by which depicts a sharp increase in tempera- next best thing: interpretations of these Dr. Fred Singer, atmospheric physicist and ture correlating with the beginning of the studies by scientists communicated to the leader of the non-agw movement, who industrial revolution, is reconstructed us- general public via the world wide web. Yes, stated that cosmic rays are the ultimate ing alternative proxies and more stringent folks, I am talking about blogging. cause of global warming, I clicked on argu- statistical filters. These new findings -sug A common misconception about cli- ment number 14 against agw: “It’s cosmic gest that warming has occurred over the mate change is that some believe the debate rays.” What I found was a summary of sev- last century.

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