Joining My Group

If you are interested in joining my group and you are a BU student, the best course of action is to contact me and set up a time to meet and chat. In general, if a strong interest is shown, you will be assigned a project to work on for a semester. Provided that the project is successful from both our perspectives, then we will talk about the next steps in the process (e.g. permanent position, funding, etc).

If you are not a BU student and you wish to join my group, I will need you to contact me with the names of three references as well as a CV and statement of interest (1-2 pages). This statement should demonstrate that you are familiar with my work and explain how you think you can specifically contribute to the group. If you do not send this information, you will not receive a response from me (I simply am too busy to respond to requests that are not serious enough to do this).

In general I have a preference for students with external funding if possible and a stable, established visa status. If you are a undergraduate or graduate student looking for advice on how to get into BU, I will not be able to respond with anything you can't find on the web. If you believe you are a truly outstanding student, get letters to support that, turn in quality application materials, and trust in the process.

Advice for Graduate Students

This list is in no particular order and will continue to evolve.

  1. Grad school is YOUR time. Not your advisor’s, not your friend’s, and not your colleague’s. You need to learn the things that you are interested in and how to do research related to those topics.
  2. You and your advisor should be partners in research (i.e. you are not his/her servant).
  3. Think about what you want your “resume” to look like when you graduate. Look at students in your department to find those with similar resumes NOW. See what groups they are in, find out what they did, etc.
  4. Network, Network, Network
  5. You are a research peer now. Don’t be afraid of professors. Your eyes are fresh to the problems they have been looking at for years. Perhaps you will find something they missed.
  6. Be confident but not cocky. Look for ways to be constructive in your criticism, not destructive. Find ways to make things work, not why they won’t work. People don’t like “know it alls”, be humble but assertive.
  7. Think about the goals of the people you are working with. Find a way that both your goals and their goals align.
  8. Remember that you have already accomplished a lot just by getting to grad school. Try to keep life in perspective and keep your priorities straight.
  9. Do good research and then publish. Trying to force a publication before you have done all the work is really hard and not sustainable.

Here is a link to a presentation I gave at the GEM National Convention in Las Vegas in 2007. It covers issues surrounding becoming a post doc. Good for those who are considering a position but are undecided.

Here is a link to post doc opportunities - http://www.pathwaystoscience.org/Postdocs_portal.asp

Here is an article from the New Scientist entitled "Life on the Cutting Edge". I am featured as an example of someone who "took a risk" by switching career focus.