Looking for PhD positions

Many times I am asked this question by students: What should I be looking for when I am searching for a PhD position.

Well, as I look back at my own career, the first and foremost thing I realize is that how lucky I was to have Joel as my PhD supervisor. I was lucky because when I stumbled upon my discovery serendipitously, instead of dismissing it off as just one of those things, he encouraged me to chase it. The rest is history.

So if I were to look at a PhD position, that is the first thing I would look at. What is my comfort level with my PhD advisor? Can I talk to him/her? Can I discuss experiments with him/her? Will she/he listen to my ideas? Will he/she encourage me to explore?

The best thing that happened to me at UVa was the opportunity to learn. Many of us believe that learning days are over with M.Sc. and that all we have to now do is to work in the lab. Well, I had to sit back in the classes when I joined PhD. And my experiences in the classroom cloud the way I teach. It was a joy to know that I was not required to memorize reams and reams of textbook pages. What I was required to do was to understand the concept. Now when I teach, I remember my own moment of discovery, and try to bring that experience into my student's lives. So what I would advise the prospective students is that wherever you go, remember, your learning days are not over. Ask yourself whether the place you are going will enable you to learn.

One of the most wonderful memories I have is of the day when I finally figured out what it takes to make my protein active. The purification procedure was long and tiring involving two entire days with just about 3-4 hours sleep in total. The third day when I would start the assay to test my protein I would be half dead on my feet. Usually the assay would turn out negative but on this particular day the assay turned positive. I stood staring at the tubes, my mouth half opened. I spluttered and pointed at the thing as though it was some venomous thing. Patrick, my lab mate, asked me what happened and I tried, incoherently, to explain the whole thing. At the end of it I was laughing and just then Joel walked into the lab. He was of course clueless so Patrick kindly clued him in:

"She is drunk Joel."

That is another major requirement. Your labmates should be friendly. Of course you too need to have good interpersonal skills but if your labmates are the unfriendly sort, it does not matter how good your interpersonal skills are, you are going to be extremely unhappy.

Finally, and most importantly, you should like the work. If it does not excite you, does not motivate you to be in the lab, then there is no point in doing that particular project.

The remaining factors like whether the scientist is publishing in high impact factor journal or not, whether the University is amongst the top 10 or not, etc. does not matter. Publishing depends on the kind of work you do. Some areas you can publish many papers and some areas you cannot. Many of the scientists will not think it worth to publish unless there is a good story to tell. Similarly, the University might by amongst the best but if your PI expects you to be in lab 24 X 7, then what is the point?

There is also prevalent opinion that abroad is better than India. It depends where you trying to go. There are bad labs abroad too and there are good labs in India too.

So when you make your decision, try to think through what you want rather than going for glamour.

Looking from the other side

Many of my students, who are now doing PhDs abroad, come back to see me. Today was one such day. This student completed his M.Sc with us, was keen to go abroad to do PhD. Of course the GRE did not work out so he looked at alternative pastures. He got in a PhD program in Germany.

I asked him about his experiences. He said that he has to work very hard because when his boss says that the data has to be on his desk in the morning, it has to be there, no excuses accepted.

That of course is the difference. Here they would saunter in at 10 in the morning, go for a cup of chai, then think about doing the experiments. Deadlines are never met. There are so many excuses to trot out. The electricity was not there, the instrument was no available, the instrument was not working, I fell sick, and so on and so forth. There is no rush to do anything. Not even when there is a deadline for a paper resubmission. I have a paper sitting on my desk that needs to be resubmitted. It has been two months. The student concerned first made an excuse that these experiments proposed by the reviewers cannot be done. Since he has been trotting out this excuse since the day he joined the lab, my colleague and I refused to accept it. Beaten down, but not defeated, he did the experiments. Of course it worked but he refuses to acknowledge that we are right. But to complete the experiments, he needs one chemical. He knew from the beginning that he would need it but his argument was why we need to show so many proofs? Isn't one sufficient? Finally, after yelling at him, we got it ordered. Now, we are waiting for the delivery. Or rather he is waiting calmly and patiently. It will arrive one day. If not today then tomorrow. If not this week, next week. What is the hurry? My colleague and I are like cats on hot bricks- hopping impatiently. The editor is not going to wait, can you please chase the chemical? Can you find if any other lab has? Can you borrow?

The student is not bothered...

The Culture of Hooliganism

The culture of Delhi can be described in one word: Hooliganism.

As I write this blog, the gates of the university have been closed down. A bunch of drunks entered the premises in a car (license number starts with DL 3C Y...I forgot to taken down the number. Silly me!). The versions vary. According to the security guard posted in front of my building, the security at the gate asked for verification. Instead of showing ID cards, one of the car occupants took out a pistol. The security immediately closed the gates. However, according to one of the faculty, the car occupants went to one of the dhabhas and started misbehaving with one of the girls. When someone objected, the guys flashed a pistol. The students immediately tried to gherao the hooligans who tried to escape. The gates were shut down.

The police have arrived with an alacrity. They want the hooligans to be released and an FIR to be filed in the police station. However, the students are adamant. The FIR will be lodged within the premise. The hooligans will not be released till then because no one has any faith in the police. The arrival of the police with such speed makes the community suspicious that the hooligans have some tie up with big shots.

Their suspicions are not without foundations. Witness what happened to Manu Sharma. The difficulties that it took to punish him or Vikas Yadav or the killer of Priyadarshini Mattoo. And when they were punished, did they learn their lesson? Oh no. Daddy dear ensured that his darling spoilt son gets a parole. The parole was given thanks to the Delhi Government. The son went back to doing what he knew best- go to a bar and create a ruckus.

Delhi is witnessing an increase in this sort of behavior. Guns are flashed at the drop of a hat. Road rage is common. Mowing down others is routine. My colleague told me a story. She was driving a car and waiting at the stop light. The road was as usual jammed because no one wants to follow any rules. One of the driver got annoyed at another driver. He got out to remonstrate with the fellow. The fellow took a gun out and said: Do you want to get shot at?

That is Delhi.