Reflection on the movie

When I first started watching the video I was curious as to what the lab was like and how cramped it looked. Being in New York, the space was limited, but graduate students were still able to get their work done. I would have liked to have known exactly how many people worked in that lab not just the students they interviewed.

I was surprised as to the main character, Rob. I could not believe how many set backs he had in life and how he overcame them. I can definitely understand how graduate students are not able to survive on success alone, but I did not realize how independent it was. I guess I was just not aware that students don’t always pick their own projects, but they also often work independently. I feel as if the lab environment would be incredibly stressful and students would devote the majority of their time to their research in the hopes of not only publishing a paper, but also being able to graduate in a reasonable amount of time. Relating back to the articles, I now know why it is important to choose a good mentor over a project of interest. Having someone who will support you in times of failure is crucial not only in terms of sanity, but also in terms of being able to graduate in a reasonable amount of time.

I can identify with not having much of a life outside of graduate school and focusing your time mainly on research… maybe one hobby, not anything excessive. People often have different views on marriage in graduate school and people who are efficient would most likely be able to handle it. I’m not sure I would be able to be married though because not only would I neglect my spouse, but I would also (and maybe my opinion will change) prefer to spend my time training for marathons and reading novels than doing his laundry and attempting to cook (which I don’t know if that is possible considering I don’t even cook now). That is selfish of me, but it is true. I’m assuming that Kim’s fiancé in the movie was an attorney (because of her shirt) and I don’t think finances were the sole issue. I feel that time spent together as well as time in terms of graduating were both too stressful for them.

I would like to know how science graduate programs compare to graduate programs in other disciplines. Is the time spent working on a thesis comparable? I feel as if science graduate programs contain the most stress because the unknown is so great. I felt that the video did an excellent job of really stating that graduate students come into a program not really knowing what will happen.

I also did not understand the process of graduate students getting paid. I knew they were, but I also thought that students had to pay some tuition. I’m confused now as to why students would drop out. I can understand wanting to go out into the world and find a job that makes more than $24,000 a year, but I still feel that Gabe could have stuck it out.

All in all, I felt that the video not only portrayed the science graduate correctly but that it also displayed a very clear idea of perseverance and other strong character traits that are important in students pursing graduate school.

Extra Blog Post...sorry about the font from below. How has my opinion changed regarding intensive research?

How has my opinion changed regarding intensive research?

Hmmm, this is a challenging question for me because I’m not sure I really thought about research thoroughly before taking this course. For me, research always meant coming to see Dr. Schnee and shadowing him in the lab junior year. I had no idea what an aspirator was and was convinced that I would somehow find interest in flies.

 I finally decided that I wanted to study something that combined neuroscience with biology. Dr. Schnee and I began collaborating on different experiments that I could possibly test. I chose to run an experiment testing aggressive behavior types in females. I used yeast as a way to elicit such a response from these females in terms of where they would lay their eggs (flies tend to want to lay eggs near resources, such as yeast). After getting poor results and not seeing much action, Dr. Schnee introduced me to working with cadmium. I then began to think of numerous ways in which I could test flies with cadmium and found that mating behavior was probably the most common and useful in terms of applying my research to live experience.

I had no idea the effects cadmium had on the human body before starting research with Dr. Schnee and I am now more fully aware of environmental factors that can cause damage to oneself. For example: tobacco smoke contains cadmium. I did not realize this and I also learned that second hand smoke, in terms of cadmium, can cause just as much damage. Cadmium is responsible for bone demineralization, renal filtration disturbances, and lung damage.

I feel that my opinion regarding intensive research hasn’t really changed, but possibly grown. I am now more fully aware of what research entails and the amount of time graduate students and researchers invest in their projects. I know that I could come to develop a love hate relationship with research and that it is important to find balance in order to maintain sanity. Dr. Schnee always tells me that when people get tired or do the same things monotonous times, that it can become very sloppy. It is important to not be spending more than 60 hours a week in a lab and to find time to do other things as well.

Intensive research to me is valuable not only for the community it impacts, but also for the researchers who invest their lives into making drugs or discovering new techniques in science. I do feel that researchers are not given enough credit in terms of their work ethic as well as the actual projects that they continuously pursue.

I’m not sure if society is not aware of the demand placed upon researchers or if researchers are looked at as an indirect means when it comes to helping fight diseases and illnesses. In the next 10 years I predict that research will be more popular than ever, and more students will be going to graduate school to work towards a master’s/PhD in a certain discipline. I also think that research might be more competitive and that the research burden students carry might be worse than what it is today.

Extra Blog Post...How has my opinion of intensive research changed?

How has my opinion changed regarding intensive research?

Hmmm, this is a challenging question for me because I’m not sure I really thought about research thoroughly before taking this course. For me, research always meant coming to see Dr. Schnee and shadowing him in the lab junior year. I had no idea what an aspirator was and was convinced that I would somehow find interest in flies. I finally decided that I wanted to study something that combined neuroscience with biology.

Dr. Schnee and I began collaborating on different experiments that I could possibly test. I chose to run an experiment testing aggressive behavior types in females. I used yeast as a way to elicit such a response from these females in terms of where they would lay their eggs (flies tend to want to lay eggs near resources, such as yeast). After getting poor results and not seeing much action, Dr. Schnee introduced me to working with cadmium. I then began to think of numerous ways in which I could test flies with cadmium and found that mating behavior was probably the most common and useful in terms of applying my research to live experience.

I had no idea the effects cadmium had on the human body before starting research with Dr. Schnee and I am now more fully aware of environmental factors that can cause damage to oneself. For example: tobacco smoke contains cadmium. I did not realize this and I also learned that second hand smoke, in terms of cadmium, can cause just as much damage. Cadmium is responsible for bone demineralization, renal filtration disturbances, and lung damage.

I feel that my opinion regarding intensive research hasn’t really changed, but possibly grown. I am now more fully aware of what research entails and the amount of time graduate students and researchers invest in their projects. I know that I could come to develop a love hate relationship with research and that it is important to find balance in order to maintain sanity. Dr. Schnee always tells me that when people get tired or do the same things monotonous times, that it can become very sloppy. It is important to not be spending more than 60 hours a week in a lab and to find time to do other things as well.

Intensive research to me is valuable not only for the community it impacts, but also for the researchers who invest their lives into making drugs or discovering new techniques in science. I do feel that researchers are not given enough credit in terms of their work ethic as well as the actual projects that they continuously pursue.

 I’m not sure if society is not aware of the demand placed upon researchers or if researchers are looked at as an indirect means when it comes to helping fight diseases and illnesses. In the next 10 years I predict that research will be more popular than ever, and more students will be going to graduate school to work towards a master’s/PhD in a certain discipline. I also think that research might be more competitive and that the research burden students carry might be worse than what it is today.

http://www.mcrfmd.com/links/New_Cardiovascular_Horizons_Conf_2008_MCRF_Abstract_2.pdf

Here is an abstract from a previous study that I talked about in my blag.

Research Articles

I think that the article, How to Succeed In Science, is very accurate and portrays science in a correct manner. An outsider of science who is reading this article may be surprised or claim that the article is written in a harsh way. I thought one of the comments regarding small schools in the first article (Part I) was very true and I could even relate to it for the undergraduate level college decision. I, personally, wanted to attend a large university after high school and my mother thought that was a bad idea. I have come to learn that pursuing a science degree from a small school is beneficial to students in that opportunities really do exist because of the close professor to student ratio. Students are able to access professors easily and when interested in research, students can engage in a project that brings interest to them.

I do agree with the idea of very few people, “an elite crowd” being able to become principle investigators. It is competitive to become a principle investigator and also incredibly demanding and stressful. For the past three years of my college career I have worked in the cath lab at my hometown hospital doing cardiac research. I have primarily worked on a left-main drug eluting stent study in which patient outcomes are compared to those patients who undergo CABG. The cardiologist who is our principle investigator chose to perform this study because he is the doctor who performs most of the left main stenting in the cath lab compared to the other cardiologists who are not as experienced with that type of stenting procedure. He is always telling me that the best studies are the studies that not only include all accurate information, large sample sizes, cover a broad range of time, but also include extra components to them. My work has been completed since July of this year and while I work on a new study, and my principle investigator works on our written paper, a new cardiologist was hired through grant money to perform angiograms on all of our subject files. I did not understand why we needed this extra step, but now I know why having all components in a paper help to make the study more creditable.

I am also able to relate to how studies are constantly being updated and new categories are being added. I was not very happy when I had to add 6 more categories onto my database, but as times goes by; I now know the importance of covering all aspects of patient recovery.

I still feel that after reading this article, the best researcher is one who studies a couple different things, but studies them thoroughly and in-depth. Some researchers focus solely on one project and invest their time and energy into making it work, but are not satisfied when negative results or unwanted results occur. In my research, I could analyze data in several different ways and Dr. Schnee and I have engaged in thoughtful conversation on how many different aspects I could look at when preparing my results and writing about it. I think that not all research can do that, but if possible, it is important. This adds to the study and helps other scientists to critically analyze how they may be able to perform multiple t-tests or make multiple graphs that could cover different aspects all within the same research project.

This article has not really impacted my decision on my future career. It raised some issues that I had not really thought about such as: school size and choosing the right mentor. I was aware of these key components of a good research program, but I have not thoroughly invested much time thinking about all the different factors of a science research program. I feel that the earlier a person is exposed to research as an undergraduate or even as a master’s student, the better the student will be in making a choice that fits that student academically, mentally, socially, and personally.

I leave you with a quote hanging in one of my mentor’s offices at the hospital, “If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research.” ~ Albert Einstein

Research Articles

I think that the article, How to Succeed In Science, is very accurate and portrays science in a correct manner. An outsider of science who is reading this article may be surprised or claim that the article is written in a harsh way. I thought one of the comments regarding small schools in the first article (Part I) was very true and I could even relate to it for the undergraduate level college decision. I, personally, wanted to attend a large university after high school and my mother thought that was a bad idea. I have come to learn that pursuing a science degree from a small school is beneficial to students in that opportunities really do exist because of the close professor to student ratio. Students are able to access professors easily and when interested in research, students can engage in a project that brings interest to them.

I do agree with the idea of very few people, “an elite crowd” being able to become principle investigators. It is competitive to become a principle investigator and also incredibly demanding and stressful. For the past three years of my college career I have worked in the cath lab at my hometown hospital doing cardiac research. I have primarily worked on a left-main drug eluting stent study in which patient outcomes are compared to those patients who undergo CABG. The cardiologist who is our principle investigator chose to perform this study because he is the doctor who performs most of the left main stenting in the cath lab compared to the other cardiologists who are not as experienced with that type of stenting procedure. He Is always telling me that the best studies are the studies that not only include all accurate information, large sample sizes, cover a broad range of time, but also include extra components to them. My work has been completed since July of this year and while I work on a new study, and my principle investigator works on our written paper, a new cardiologist was hired through grant money to perform angiograms on all of our subject files. I did not understand why we needed this extra step, but now I know why having all components in a paper help to make the study more creditable.

I am also able to relate to how studies are constantly being updated and new categories are being added. I was not very happy when I had to add 6 more categories onto my database, but as times goes by; I now know the importance of covering all aspects of patient recovery.

I still feel that after reading this article, the best researcher is one who studies a couple different things, but studies them thoroughly and in-depth. Some researchers focus solely on one project and invest their time and energy into making it work, but are not satisfied when negative results or unwanted results occur. In my research, I could analyze data in several different ways and Dr. Schnee and I have engaged in thoughtful conversation on how many different aspects I could look at when preparing my results and writing about it. I think that not all research can do that, but if possible, it is important. This adds to the study and helps other scientists to critically analyze how they may be able to perform multiple t-tests or make multiple graphs that could cover different aspects all within the same research project.

This article has not really impacted my decision on my future career. It raised some issues that I had not really thought about such as: school size and choosing the right mentor. I was aware of these key components of a good research program, but I have not thoroughly invested much time thinking about all the different factors of a science research program. I feel that the earlier a person is exposed to research as an undergraduate or even as a master’s student, the better the student will be in making a choice that fits that student academically, mentally, socially, and personally.

I leave you with a quote hanging in one of my mentor’s offices at the hospital, “If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research.” ~ Albert Einstein

Research Articles

I think that the article, How to Succeed In Science, is very accurate and portrays science in a correct manner. An outsider of science who is reading this article may be surprised or claim that the article is written in a harsh way. I thought one of the comments regarding small schools in the first article (Part I) was very true and I could even relate to it for the undergraduate level college decision. I, personally, wanted to attend a large university after high school and my mother thought that was a bad idea. I have come to learn that pursuing a science degree from a small school is beneficial to students in that opportunities really do exist because of the close professor to student ratio. Students are able to access professors easily and when interested in research, students can engage in a project that brings interest to them.

I do agree with the idea of very few people, “an elite crowd” being able to become principle investigators. It is competitive to become a principle investigator and also incredibly demanding and stressful. For the past three years of my college career I have worked in the cath lab at my hometown hospital doing cardiac research. I have primarily worked on a left-main drug eluting stent study in which patient outcomes are compared to those patients who undergo CABG. The cardiologist who is our principle investigator chose to perform this study because he is the doctor who performs most of the left main stenting in the cath lab compared to the other cardiologists who are not as experienced with that type of stenting procedure. He Is always telling me that the best studies are the studies that not only include all accurate information, large sample sizes, cover a broad range of time, but also include extra components to them. My work has been completed since July of this year and while I work on a new study, and my principle investigator works on our written paper, a new cardiologist was hired through grant money to perform angiograms on all of our subject files. I did not understand why we needed this extra step, but now I know why having all components in a paper help to make the study more creditable.

I am also able to relate to how studies are constantly being updated and new categories are being added. I was not very happy when I had to add 6 more categories onto my database, but as times goes by; I now know the importance of covering all aspects of patient recovery.

I still feel that after reading this article, the best researcher is one who studies a couple different things, but studies them thoroughly and in-depth. Some researchers focus solely on one project and invest their time and energy into making it work, but are not satisfied when negative results or unwanted results occur. In my research, I could analyze data in several different ways and Dr. Schnee and I have engaged in thoughtful conversation on how many different aspects I could look at when preparing my results and writing about it. I think that not all research can do that, but if possible, it is important. This adds to the study and helps other scientists to critically analyze how they may be able to perform multiple t-tests or make multiple graphs that could cover different aspects all within the same research project.

This article has not really impacted my decision on my future career. It raised some issues that I had not really thought about such as: school size and choosing the right mentor. I was aware of these key components of a good research program, but I have not thoroughly invested much time thinking about all the different factors of a science research program. I feel that the earlier a person is exposed to research as an undergraduate or even as a master’s student, the better the student will be in making a choice that fits that student academically, mentally, socially, and personally.

I leave you with a quote hanging in one of my mentor’s offices at the hospital, “If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research.” ~ Albert Einstein