Individual Meetings

Typically I have weekly meetings at a set time with each graduate student and postdoc in the lab. Depending on the time of year, on the stage of your research, and other factors, we may decide to make this once every two weeks for a time.

In these meetings, you will update me on the progress you have made on your project(s) since last time we talked. I will ask you questions to help guide your thinking and move your project(s) forward. This kind of Socratic style prompts you to clarify your own thinking and allow you to come to your own conclusions about what to do next and why. In the long run it is much better for your scientific and professional development than if I simply told you what to do next each time we met.

I will sometimes point you towards papers and readings in the existing scientific literature. Importantly, reading papers is an ongoing process that you should be doing consistently over time so that you build up your own knowledge base of the relevant literature.

The ultimate goal is for you to go beyond published research and develop your own new ideas—generating your own research questions and experimental designs.