tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post4584206811955489505..comments2024-03-25T09:11:17.877-07:00Comments on The Curious Wavefunction: What lessons did you learn from your graduate school advisor?Wavefunctionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14993805391653267639noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-24614816528344130892011-07-20T23:17:25.301-07:002011-07-20T23:17:25.301-07:00OK, admittedly strange that I'd choose these t...OK, admittedly strange that I'd choose these traits, but they're what sticks out:<br /><br />1. Balance is key. To my boss, a full prof in a Top 20, nothing was more important than family, so he made sure to make time for them and was always understanding about travel for family emergencies or Xmas. He was also generous about travel to conferences; he remembered being young and broke.<br /><br />2. I'll re-echo Wavefunction's statement about "the basics" - most of our data were simple measurements of different NMR properties which actually told us a ton about geometry and ligation. <br /><br />3. The ability to take stock of where you are and reevaluate the project. If it's not going after prolonged effort, try something new. Conversely, if something cool crops up, you had the freedom to pursue that, too...my <i>whole degree</i> came out of a "side project" that kept rolling along.See Arr Ohhttp://justlikecooking.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-8680464406759344562011-07-20T08:40:01.957-07:002011-07-20T08:40:01.957-07:00Great points, especially the one about conclusions...Great points, especially the one about conclusions. Keep thinking.Wavefunctionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14993805391653267639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-84184121804982158302011-07-20T04:48:07.358-07:002011-07-20T04:48:07.358-07:00Everything you learned plus one more: "A conc...Everything you learned plus one more: <i>"A conclusion is the point at which your mind stops thinking."</i><br /><br />I was always amazed at his ability to draw the most out of every experiment we ran. Not that it was pleasant at the end when I was trying to finish it all up and he still found more in the data than I did...John Spevacekhttp://www.rheothing.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-53080087740850860002011-07-19T17:11:53.319-07:002011-07-19T17:11:53.319-07:00Always pee before you teach.Always pee before you teach.EcoPhysioMichellehttp://blogs.scientificamerican.com/crude-matter/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9633767.post-34947785077247721392011-07-19T15:41:30.860-07:002011-07-19T15:41:30.860-07:00Your first point, question assumptions, is right o...Your first point, question assumptions, is right on. But I also learned to question facts. Just b/c it's printed in a journal, regardless of its prestige, doesn't mean every piece of data is real and accurate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com