PNNL

Abstract

Not everybody who likes independent research is suited for it. Why, then, are many young scientists so reluctant to consider alternate careers? My experience suggests that it is, in part, due to the obsessive-compulsive nature of most young scientists, who get a fixed idea in their heads that they want to spend their lives understanding the nuances of biological systems. But it is sometimes due to self-interested faculty mentors who think of students as more a source of cheap labor rather than budding young scientists. In fact, our graduate committee excluded a student’s advisor from evaluations of their prelims because advisors would reflexively want to keep students regardless of actual performance.